All right, I have a heart thrilling
task this morning to talk about God's mercy to sinners. The title,
the message, the lesson this morning is blessed are the merciful
for Matthew 5 verse 7. Blessed are the merciful for
they shall obtain mercy. Our Savior definitely is not
teaching us here that we have to be merciful to others in order
for the Lord to be merciful to us. We know better than that.
God's blessings never come to us because of what we've done.
It's always in spite of what we've done. God's blessings never
come to us because of what we are, who we are. It's always
in spite of who and what we are. Sinners are saved because God
is merciful. The Apostle Paul in Ephesians
2 verse 8 said, for by grace are you saved through faith and
that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. not of
works, lest any man should boast. Look over at Titus chapter three. He tells the same thing here,
talking to Titus about God's mercy. Titus chapter three. Verse three. For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, deceived, serving divers lusts
and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating
one another. That's our description by nature. If that's our nature,
those kind of people can't be blessed because of who they are
or what they've done, can they? But, Paul says, verse 4, after
that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness which we've done, but according
to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ, our Savior. Salvation is according to God's
mercy. Now, it would be bad news if
the Lord was telling us here in our text that we have to be
merciful to others before the Lord would be merciful to us.
That would be bad news. That would mean God's never going
to be merciful to us because we would left our own devices,
left our own nature, would never be merciful to other people.
But this is good news. If the Lord is teaching us that
his people are merciful, he's made them merciful as a result
of God's mercy to them. Now that's good news because
that means God does not have to find a reason in us in order
to be merciful to us. God finds a reason in himself
to be merciful to us. Mercy is found in the character
of God. And if you look back at Exodus
chapter 34, Mercy is the character of God. It's his very character,
his very nature. Exodus 34 verse 5. The Lord descended in the cloud
and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord.
Now, when he proclaims the name of the Lord, he's proclaiming
his character. He's proclaiming the character
and nature of God. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed, the Lord, Jehovah, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious. That's his character, merciful
and gracious, long suffering and abundant in goodness and
truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's
children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. Mercy,
is God's character. That's why sinners are saved.
It's because God is merciful. Jeremiah said in Lamentations
3 verse 22, it's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. It's the only reason we're not
consumed. It's because of God's mercy, because His compassions,
His mercy, His tender mercy, His love fails not. So this is
what the Lord's teaching in our text. If we are a merciful The
reason for that is, is because God's already been merciful to
us. He's already given us a new nature, a nature that is like
God's merciful nature. Now it's important for us to
understand how and why God can be merciful to sinners. Before
we can talk about us being merciful, we've got to talk about how and
why God can be merciful to sinners. God is holy. God must remain
holy in everything that he does. So when God shows mercy to sinners,
it's got to be in a way that does not violate his holiness.
Well, the word mercy, I've spent time this week looking up every
time the word mercy or merciful is used in scripture. And it's
surprising how many times, well it ought not be surprising, but
it stood out to me, how many times the word mercy is tied
to the mercy seed. The mercy seat, remember, was
the lid, the golden lid made of pure gold with the two cherubims
on either end of it. It was a lid over top of the
Ark of the Covenant. And on the day of the day of
atonement, the high priest would go in, he'd sprinkle blood on
top of that mercy seat. Now, that's a lesson to showing
us the only way God's going to accept that high priest and the
only way he's going to accept the people, Israel, for whom
he's offering the sacrifice is through the blood on the mercy
seat. And that teaches us something in a picture. God's mercy can
only come to sinners through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's the only way God can show
mercy. Now think about that. In order for God to show mercy
to the likes of you and me, God had to kill his son in the most
horrible way possible. That's what it took for God to
show mercy to sinners. In order to show mercy to sinners,
Christ had to suffer and die as a substitute for his people
to put their sin away. Solomon said this, he said, by
mercy and truth is iniquity purged. Iniquity is not purged by mercy
only. Iniquity is purged by mercy and truth. God can only show
mercy to sinners by truly punishing their sin. And he did it in the
person of his son, our substitute. Now, God can be merciful to sinners
because Christ has died for them. Now, God can be merciful to sinners
and not give them what they deserve. That's what mercy is, not giving
a guilty person what they deserve. God can be merciful to sinners
because he gave our substitute everything we deserve. He punished
our substitute fully. That's how God can show mercy
to sinners. Now, if that doesn't motivate
you to be merciful to others, Nothing will. That's our lesson. That's that is our lesson in
a nutshell. And I want to give you some descriptions
of God's mercy from God's word. This is the kind of mercy we
need if we would be saved. At first, look at Genesis chapter
19. This is the first time the word
mercy is used in scripture and shows us this, that God's mercy
is delivering mercy. Genesis 19 verse 12. And the men said unto Lot, hast
thou here any besides son-in-law and my sons and my daughters
and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this
place. But we will destroy this place because of the cry of them
is wax and great before the face of the Lord. And the Lord has
sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out and spake unto
his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, Up,
get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city.
But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. I have
to make a comment about that. Do you know why Lot's sons-in-law
thought he was mocking, why he was joking? Because up to this
point, Lot had not lived a life of faith in Sodom. He lived a
life where he just fit in with the crowd. They thought he was
mocking, talking about religion, talking about the Lord. And they
thought he was mocking and they perished because they thought
Lot was mocking. They thought he was joking because
of the way that he conducted himself up to that point. Now
let that sink in. That's sobering, isn't it? Now
verse 15. And when the morning arose, then
the angels hasten lot saying, arise, take thy wife and my two
daughters, which are here, lest I'll be consumed in the iniquity
of the city. And while he lingered, while
he lingered, the man laid hold upon his hand and upon the hand
of his wife and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord
being merciful unto them. And they brought them forth and
set them without the city. Now, why on earth? her would
not linger. The Lord told him he's going
to destroy the city and seems to seems like lot believed he
was going to do it. Yet he lingered. Why did he linger? For the same reason, every last
one of us would linger. It's the love of the flesh, the
love of the comforts of the flesh, the love of this world that's
in us. Now did Lot's evil nature and
his weak faith, did that make God cast off one of his elect
and say, I warned you, I warned you, I warned you, and you lingered,
so now I'm going to let you perish? No. Because of God's delivering
mercy, took hold of Lot's hand and set him outside of the city,
delivered him from the city. That's the kind of mercy that
I need. Look at Psalm 86. I need God. to take me by the hand and deliver
me from destruction, from my sin and my rebellion and my unbelief. And thank God, His mercy is delivering
mercy. Psalm 86 verse 13. For great
is thy mercy toward me. Thou hast delivered my soul from
the lowest hell. He's delivered my soul from the
lowest hell because His great mercy is delivering mercy. All right, second, God's mercy
is turning mercy. And all of us are lost in Adam.
We've turned away from God in Adam. We've been thrust out of
God's presence in Adam, and we've been going the wrong way ever
since. Well, what can turn us back to
God? Just one thing, God's mercy. You're still there in Psalm 86,
look at verse 15. But thou, O Lord, art a God full
of compassion, and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous
in mercy and truth. Oh, turn unto me and have mercy
upon me. Give thy strength unto thy servant
and save the son of thine handmaid. God, turn to me. If you turn
to me, you'll turn me back to you. Now, if you're guilty, I'll
tell you what'll make you turn back to God, what'll make you
beg him for mercy. is His free mercy, that God is
merciful to sinners. That will make you turn to Him.
And God is always merciful to His people. His mercy never stops. He turns His people, and He keeps
them turned. He's turned to them in mercy,
and He's going to keep them turned to Him. All right, now the rest
of these, I'm going to turn to them very quickly. I won't be a smart aleck and
say if you can keep up with the former sword drill champion,
you can try to turn to him. But you might just want to jot
these down, look at them later, because for time's sake, I'm
going to go through these quickly. But God's mercy is saving mercy. Psalm 13, verse 5, David says,
But I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy
salvation. If you trust in God's mercy,
you're going to rejoice in his salvation. Because God's mercy
is saving mercy. That's why David cried in Psalm
109 verse 26. Help me, O Lord, my God, save
me according to thy mercy. Now, this is the sweet psalmist
of Israel. David didn't ask the Lord to save me because I'm a
man after your own heart. He didn't say, Lord, save me
because I wrote all these psalms for your people. He didn't say,
Lord, save me because I went out and fought many battles for
Israel. David cried for mercy. He needed mercy that will save
a guilty sinner. And God's mercy is saving mercy. It's the only reason any sinner
is ever saved, is God's mercy is saving mercy. All right, fourthly,
God's mercy is helping mercy. Psalm 30, verse 10. Hear, O Lord,
and have mercy upon me. Lord, be thou my helper. I don't
know if you noticed that or not. This is what Gene prayed for
as he was praying. Lord, help us. Help us to remember
the things that we've heard. Lord, help us to concentrate
on the message. When our minds wander, Lord,
bring us back. Help us. Help us. We need help. Lord,
help me. Give me faith to trust you. Lord,
I need help. Give me grace for every trial.
They're going to crush me unless you help me. Lord, give me strength. to live as a child of God. Let
me act like I know something. Let me live as a child of God,
not like a son of Adam. Lord, help me. Aren't you glad
to know that God is merciful to sinners? God's merciful to
people that need help. God does not help those who help
themselves. No, sir. God helps those who
cannot help themselves. That's what mercy is. helping
those that cannot help themselves. All right. Fifthly, God's mercy
is forgiving mercy. Psalm 51 verse two, you know,
this story here when David sinned with Bathsheba was exposed, and
this is the Psalm he wrote after that. He said, have mercy upon
me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, according unto the
multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgression. Wash
me throughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. David's only hope of forgiveness
and cleansing was God's mercy. In his mercy, God forgives him. And like I said a little while
ago, God had mercy on David in this sin, just like God has mercy
on the sin of all of his people for one reason. That sin was
already punished in David's substitute, in David's son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the only way we can be
washed from our sin. There's only one thing that will
cleanse us from our sin. It's the blood of Christ and
God's mercy. We've read several times here
by God's mercy being great. God's mercy is so great. He sacrificed
his son so that his people would be washed white as snow and he
could forgive them from their sin, but mercy that is. All right. The sixth thing is this God's
mercy. is keeping mercy. Psalm 94 verse
18. When I said my foot slippeth,
thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. Now, what will keep a believer
from slipping? What will keep a believer from
falling away from God? Now, we will if we can, won't
we? If I can leave God, I will. I
will. I promise you that. Every one
of us, if we can leave God, we will. Then what will keep me? What will keep me in Christ?
What will keep me near His side? What will keep me trusting Him?
One thing. Mercy. God's keeping mercy. God always holds His people safe
in His powerful, merciful hand. We won't fall away. We will persevere
to the end. because God's merciful. All right,
here's the seventh thing. God's mercy is great mercy. Psalm 103 verse 8 says, the Lord
is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy.
He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever.
He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above
the earth, So great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. God's mercy is great mercy. Now, we mentioned this a couple
of times, so why take the time to make a specific point about
this? Well, because I hope somebody here thinks I am a great sinner. Is anybody here a great sinner? I mean such a great sinner that
you've got absolutely no hope of salvation. You can't see any
hope of salvation. You can't see any reason that
God Almighty would save you because you're such a great sinner. I
just think my sin is too great. My rebellion is too great. There's
no hope for me. Somebody here thinks that I got
good news for you. God's mercy is great. God is rich in mercy. There is no sinner anywhere who's
such a great sinner that God's mercy cannot save them. We can
be too righteous to be saved, but we can't be too great of
a sinner to be saved because God's great mercy is always greater
than our sin. All right, here's the eighth
thing. God's mercy is redeeming mercy. David says in Psalm 130 verse
seven, Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there's
mercy and with him is plenteous redemption. With the Lord is
plenteous redemption because the Lord's mercy is great. God's
salvation is plenteous, greater than all of our sin. God's mercy
will save a sinner and God's mercy will keep that sinner saved
because God's mercy is great. His mercy is Plenteous. Plenteous. You never exhaust
it. You never exhaust God's mercy.
You never find the bottom of God's mercy. His mercy is plenteous. So no matter where you are, no
matter what it is you're going through, no matter what it is
you're suffering, no matter what it is you fear, you just remember
this. God's mercy is plenteous. It's
more plenty than the trouble you're in. There's plenty of
His mercy. There's more of it than your
sin. There's more of it than your
worry. There's more of it than your enemy. His mercy is plenteous. Then here's the ninth thing.
God's mercy is comforting mercy. Isaiah said in Isaiah 49 verse
13, the Lord hath comforted his people and the Lord will have
mercy upon his afflicted. Now that's a promise. He hath
comforted his people and he will have mercy upon his afflicted.
Now, if you're afflicted of spirit, you're afflicted of body, you're
afflicted of mind, where's your comfort? I don't know, where's
your comfort? I tell you, the only comfort
a believer can find is this, the mercy of God. The mercy of
God. This is so comforting. God has
promised mercy to his afflicted people. He promised it. I don't want to get too personal,
but two and a half weeks ago, I was
in my study preparing for the, finishing up preparing for the
Wednesday night service. Janet came, busted into the study. and said, Savannah's been a car
wreck, it's bad. We jumped in the car and drove
to Lexington. And you know, it's a two hour
drive. I made a little less time than that, but typically it's
a two hour drive. And this was my thought driving
there. God's promised mercy to his people. And I don't know what we're going
to find when we get there. And I'm afraid I can't go through
it. I was afraid of what we'd find.
And this is what I hung on to. God has promised mercy to his
people. He promised mercy to save them. Now you think what it took to
save your sorry soul. Try to imagine, we can't imagine
the greatness of the mercy that it took to save our sinful souls. You reckon God's got mercy to
comfort his afflicted? And this mercy, God's mercy cannot
fail because God's mercy is sovereign mercy. Romans 9 verse 16. So then it is not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth, but it's of God that showeth
mercy. We're dependent upon God's mercy. For the scripture saith
unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up,
that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might
be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore, hath he mercy
on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Now,
it seems to us like there's so much evil and so much pain, so
much sin in this world. And you're right, it is. I mean,
it seems to us that it's that way because it is. But don't
get discouraged. God is ordering all things after
the counsel of his own will. God is ordering all things to
accomplish his will in the redemption of his elect people. And that
purpose cannot fail. God chose Jacob and he passed
by Esau. God chose Israel and he destroyed
Egypt. God chose Moses and he destroyed
Pharaoh. All to teach us this one lesson,
God's mercy is sovereign mercy. And that mercy cannot fail to
save the objects of that mercy, because it's the mercy of the
sovereign, of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The 11th thing
is this, God's mercy is healing mercy. In Philippians chapter
2, verse 25, Paul, writing back to the church
at Philippi, said, yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus was the pastor there
at Philippi. He said, he's my brother and
companion in labor and fellow soldier, but he's your messenger,
he's your pastor. He'd come there to Paul to minister
to Paul's wants. And Paul says, he longed after
you all and was full of heaviness because that you heard that he'd
been sick. He'd gotten deathly sick there,
and he didn't want the congregation to know, but they found out about
it. In his heart, he was so worried about them, worried about his
sickness. And Paul says, for indeed he was sick, nigh unto
death, but God had mercy on him. Not on him only, but on me also,
lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Now, you know, we ought
never to be afraid to ask God to heal sick folks. We know this. God's able. and He heals people
in His mercy. As Paul just said, God was merciful
and He healed him. Now it may be that the Lord is
going to be merciful to one of His children by taking them out
of this world. Could be. And if He does, that's
a mercy. And it's a mercy for God to take
one of His children out of this world of sin and this body of
flesh and take them to be with Him. That's a mercy. And it's
a mercy when He heals the body too. And you know, we don't have
to feel bad, because what is our prayer when we first hear
that a believer is sick? It's not our prayer, well, Lord,
go ahead and take him. It's just not our prayer. Our prayer is,
Lord, heal him. And we ought not feel bad about
that and think, well, I ought to be more spiritual and pray
that the Lord would, you know, heal him. I ought to think it's
good news when I hear that God has taken a dear loved one of
mine who's a believer. I ought to be glad when I hear
that the Lord has taken them home. I ought to be more glad
to hear that and hear that they got well and they got to live
in this world some more. Don't feel bad about that. The
Apostle Paul said, the Lord is merciful and healed Epaphroditus,
lest I'd have sorrow upon sorrow. That was a mercy to me, Paul
said. So we ought not feel bad about
that. We ought not feel bad to ask that the Lord heal folks
in his mercy, because God's mercy is healing mercy. Now, the last
thing I want in the description of God's mercy is this. God's
mercy is life-giving mercy. Peter told us in 1 Peter 1, verse
3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again into a
lively, living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now, the only reason any sinner
has spiritual life is because God gave it to them in His mercy. Regenerating mercy is when God
gives a new heart. He gives a new heart to His people,
and that heart is merciful. It's because it's the mind of
Christ. It is merciful. Now, if God's
been merciful to you, then these descriptions of God's mercy have
touched your heart. They've thrilled your soul. and
your natural desire, if God's been merciful to you, to hearing
about God's mercy, these descriptions, they just naturally made you
want to be merciful to others. And that's what the Lord's teaching
us here. If a person is merciful, it's because the Lord's been
merciful to them first. And us being merciful to each
other is just a reaction to that. You know, a person who's dependent
upon God's mercy, is going to naturally show mercy to others
when they're weak. And they'll naturally show mercy
to others when others make a mistake. Because if God's been merciful
to us, how can we not be merciful to others? How can we demand
of others what God does not demand of us? And I can tell you from
God's word who it is that will be merciful. It's people who've
been born again. God's children are merciful people. Our Lord said in Luke 6 verse
36, be ye therefore merciful as your father also is merciful.
Just like father, like son. God's children are like him because
they're born from his seed. God's children are merciful.
God's elect are merciful people. Colossians 3.12, put on therefore
as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy. Put those on. Who's going to
put those on? The elect of God. That's the people are going to
be merciful. And do you know God commands his people to be
merciful? This is his commandment. His
commandments are not grievous to us. In Micah 6 verse 8. He has showed thee, O man, what
is good. And what does the Lord require of thee? He showed you
this. This is what he requires. To do justly, to love mercy. and to walk humbly with thy God. Now, God commands us to love
mercy and to show mercy. Well, the new heart that God
gives loves mercy and shows mercy. And I want to give you a couple
of examples of showing mercy that will be an example to us
and will be an encouragement to us to show mercy. How is it
that I can show mercy to others? Well, number one is this mercy,
a merciful person gives to other people who are in need, whether
it's spiritual. Why is it that you support this
ministry? You care that people hear the
gospel, that they're in spiritual need. When someone gets sick
and someone is in great need, Why is it that y'all are running,
bringing food and offering to do whatever it is you can do?
Why is that? You're merciful people. And this is what Scripture
instructs us to do. John said this in 1 John 3, 17.
But whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth his brother had need,
and shuts up his bowels of compassion. He shuts off his mercy and doesn't
give to him. John says, how dwelleth the love
of God in him? It doesn't. It doesn't. If God has shown you mercy, he's
given freely to you, you're going to be merciful to others and
give freely to them. And the scriptural illustration
of that I thought of is Philemon, who Paul said often refreshed
the bowels of the saints. He did it often. That's a merciful
person. And I'll give you a modern day
example. One of my dear, dear friends, a brother lives in another
place. Heard about another brother of ours who was in a hospital
in sickness and pain and worry and he heard that this brother
of his was suffering with anxiety there in the hospital. You know
what he did? He got in his car, he drove three
hours one way to bring that brother a weighted blanket in the hospital. You know what a weighted blanket
is? weights or balls or something. And this is what they say, that
you put that weighted blanket on you and it just presses all
into your body and makes you feel just better. He drove three
hours one way to bring a blanket to a brother. That's merciful. That's merciful. Here's how we can be merciful
to others. If you see a need, fill it. Don't wait to be asked,
just fill it. That's being merciful. And second
is this, and I turn to Matthew chapter 18. Mercy forgives others
as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. And here is an
illustration our Lord gave of what mercy is not. Matthew 18 verse 23. Therefore
is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king which would
take account of his servants. And when he begun to reckon,
one was brought unto him which owed him 10,000 talents. It's
a fortune. But for as much as he had not
to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold and his wife and his
children and all that he had in payment to be made. The servant
therefore fell down and worshiped him saying, Lord, have patience
with me and I will pay the all. Then the Lord of that servant
was moved with compassion and he loosed him and forgave him
the debt. But the same servant went out
and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him a hundred pens,
just a fraction of what he owed. And he laid hands on him and
took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his
fellow servant fell down at his feet and besought him, saying,
Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not,
and went and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt.
So when his fellow servants 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 wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt because thou
desirest me. Shouldest not thou 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, that he should pay all that was due unto
him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye
from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. God help us not to be that way,
but to be merciful. and to be forgiving as our Father
in heaven has forgiven us. Now, one last scripture in 2
Timothy chapter 1. This is going to sum up the whole
lesson. If God shows mercy to us, we
should be merciful to others and God will not stop being merciful
to us, his people. And this is a good illustration
of what I'm talking about. 2 Timothy 1 verse 16. Paul says,
the Lord give mercy under the house of Onesiphorus, for he
oft refreshed me. I was not ashamed of my chain,
but when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and he
found me. The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of
the Lord in that day. And how many things he ministered
unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well. This is what Paul's
saying. Onesiphorus was merciful to Paul.
He saw a need, he filled it. He went to Rome and searched
through that great big city till he found Paul and ministered
to his needs. He was merciful. Well, it's because
God was already merciful to him, wasn't he? And God's mercy to
him is not going to stop. That's what Paul's praying. God
continue to be merciful to him. And in that day, in that day
of judgment, he's going to realize all of God's mercy to him. Blessed
are the merciful. Alright, the Lord bless you.