This I know, that the Lord Jesus
Christ is all in my salvation. Turn back to Matthew chapter
5. Blessed, verse 7. Blessed by
God, supremely blessed, are the merciful, but they shall obtain mercy. Now you find me a merciful person,
and that is a person that God has richly blessed. I want to be one of these merciful
people, don't you? These are the people that God
says through his son that shall obtain mercy. Now, there are two words in the
Bible that are very closely associated, grace and mercy. Have you ever wondered what's
the difference between the two? They seem very close. What is the
difference between grace and mercy? Grace is God's favor. Now, God doesn't give his favor
to us for any reason in us. Now, let me repeat that. God
does not give his favor toward us for any reason in us. I'm so thankful. That's good
news. His reason for grace is found
in himself. It's because he is gracious. That is who he is. Grace is for the guilty, who,
if there had to be a reason found in them as to why God would extend
his grace toward them, they would not have grace. Turn with me
for a moment to Ephesians chapter two. I hope we won't look at this
passage of scripture as a something we already know and a proof text
for something we believe, but I hope we'll hear what's being
said. I wish every time we heard the
scripture, that's the way we'd hear it. Like it's the first
time we've ever heard it. You're the reason I don't underline
anything in my Bible. I'm not saying there's anything
wrong with underlining anything in your Bible. But as soon as I underline
something in my Bible, when I come to it again, I think, well, I
know that. No, I don't. Now, let's read this as if it
were the first time we'd ever read these words. Ephesians chapter
2, verse 1, and you hath he quickened who were dead. dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in times past, in this
deadness, you walked according to the course of this world. According to the prince of the
power of the air, you are under the dominion of Satan, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, Among whom also
we all had our conversation in times past in the loss of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
And we're by nature, the children of wrath, even as others. But God, not, but you, not, but
you turn things around. Not but you repented, not but
you believed, not but you called up, but God, now this is 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. Here's what all this means. By
grace, you were saved. Now that's the grace of God. Great, aren't you thankful for
grace? God doesn't have to find a reason in me or you to give
it to us. He does it because he's gracious. What about mercy? Well, grace
is God's response to himself. Mercy is God's response to man's
misery. And you remember when that leper
came to the Lord, that leper was miserable. He was full of
leprosy. And he came and fell on his face
before the Lord and worshiped him saying, Lord, if you will,
you can make me clean. He was miserable in his uncleanness. And you know what the scripture
says regarding the Lord? And Jesus moved with compassion. Now you find me a miserable sinner. I use that language. You find
me a man or a woman who's miserable in their sin, and I'll show you
someone he's moved with compassion toward and extends his mercy
toward them. God is rich in mercy. Now his mercy is sovereign. That
means he gives it to whom he will. If it's not sovereign,
really, it's not mercy. It means he's giving you what
he owes you, what he's obligated to you. No, his mercy is sovereign
mercy. I'll be merciful to whom I will
be merciful. His mercy is saving. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. That's what the scripture says.
It's saving. And his mercy is unfailing. His mercy endureth. forever. It's of the Lord's mercies
that were not consumed, because his compassions fail not. Great is thy faithfulness. Now,
when you see a sinner sighing under his sin, sighing, God hears
that, and he's moved to mercy. He delights in mercy. Now, I want to show you the first
time in the Bible, that the word mercy and the word merciful is
used. Would you turn with me to Genesis
chapter 19? This is talking about Brother Lot. What I love about Lot is the
New Testament account of him. The New Testament says he was
a righteous man with a righteous soul. Just Lot, the man vexed
with the filthy conversation of the wicked. That's God's testimony
of him in the New Testament. And yet, if you read this narrative
of him in the Old Testament, you really wouldn't much come
up with that. But let's look at the first time the word mercy
and merciful is used in the Scriptures. Beginning in verse 12 of Genesis
chapter 19. You remember what had taken place.
The angels were there in Sodom, where Lot lived. they were going
to destroy Sodom. Verse 12, And the men said unto
Lot, Hast thou here any besides, son-in-law, or thy sons, or thy
daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them
out of this place. For we will destroy this place, because the
cry of them is waxen 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." You know
what that means? That means they didn't take serious what he said.
And the reason they didn't take serious what he said is because
he was the one who said it. And they had lost respect for
him. And he seemed as nothing more than one who mocked. Who's going to listen to him?
What does he know? I mean, they'd seen his life
over the years. He pitched his tent toward Sodom,
now he's in Sodom. And they said, who's going to
listen to him? Verse 15, And when the morning
arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy
wife and thy two daughters which are here, lest thou be consumed
in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered. Why did he linger? Well, why
would you linger? Why would I linger? I could give
all kinds of reasons why he would linger. A lot of things in Lot,
or a lot of things in Sodom, he didn't want to leave. And
he lingered. How evil of him to do that. But
there he lingers. And while he lingered, The man
laid hold upon his hand, and laid hold upon the hand of his
wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being
merciful unto him. Now that's mercy, isn't it? Lot
lingers in some, he's gonna stay there! And the Lord grabs him
by the hand, and yanks him out. Now that's the kind of grace
I want. I don't want the Lord to leave me to myself, I want
him to grab me by the hand, and yank me out, and cause me to
do his will. Do you want that? The Lord being
merciful unto him. And they brought him forth and
set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they
brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life,
look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain. Escape
to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. And the Lord said unto
them, O not so, my lord. Behold, now thy servant hath
found grace in thy sight, that thou has magnified thy mercy,
which thou showed unto me in saving my life. And I can't escape
to the mountains, lest some evil take of me, and I die. Look,
he's trying to change the plans. Behold, now this city is near
to flee unto thee. It's a little one, O let me escape
thither. Is it not a little one, and my soul shall live? And he
said unto him, This angel, see, I have accepted thee concerning
this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city for which
thou hast spoken. Hast thou escaped thither? For
I cannot do anything till thou become hither. Now that's mercy.
The angel says, I can't even destroy this city until I get
you out of here. You see, Lot was one of God's
elect. Lot was one that he'd extended
mercy toward, and he pulled him out of that city. Mercy. Merciful. Now the Savior says,
blessed are the merciful. Now we greatly err if we say
we must first be merciful in order to obtain mercy. That would
be salvation by works, wouldn't it? It's not like the Lord's
looking for a merciful person and he finds one and says, well,
I'm going to give that person mercy. No, no, not at all. If I'm a
truly merciful person, it's because the Lord has had mercy on me. And I think of the Lord's mercy
in my salvation when he chose me before time began and made
me his own dear child. What mercy there is in that.
He gave His Son to die for my sins. What mercy there is in
that. He blotted out my sins. He justified
me, giving me the very righteousness of His Son. He's preserved me. He gave me life and He's preserved
me. The only reason I haven't left
is because His hand is upon me, because He grabbed me by the
hand and wouldn't let me go. Now aren't you thankful for that
mercy? That's saving mercy, isn't it?
Thank God for his mercy. If a man is merciful, it's because
God has first extended his mercy toward him. You look at the rest
of the Beatitudes, turn back to Matthew chapter five. Verse three, blessed are the
poor in spirit. Now, if God has made you poor
in spirit where you don't have anything to recommend you to
him, you don't have a thing, you don't have a penny's worth
of merit, what mercy has been extended toward you? He says
in verse three, blessed, or verse four, blessed are they that mourn
for they shall be comforted. If you're someone that mourns
before God over your sin, What mercy God has extended toward
you. There's a lot of folks who never
mourn over their sin. Not in this sense. And then he
says in verse 5, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit
the earth. Oh, if you're meek, have God
has blessed you and extended His mercy toward you. Blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for
they shall be filled. Somebody who hungers and thirsts
for righteousness. They can't come up with it. They
know they want it. What mercy has been extended toward them? And blessed are the merciful
for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the merciful. Now,
who are the merciful? And let me answer that from the
scripture. I want to be one of these people, don't you? Who are the
merciful? I want to know what it is to
truly be merciful, but first I want to identify who these
people are. Well, first, the merciful are the elect of God.
Let me show you this from the scripture. Turn to Colossians
chapter 3. All of God's elect are merciful
men and women. Someone who is not merciful has
never experienced the mercy of God. You can just write that
down. All of God's elect are merciful. Look in verse 12 of
Colossians chapter 3. Put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, What's the first thing he says? Bowels
of mercy. Who are the merciful? They are
the ones who have God as their father. Turn to Luke chapter
six. Like father, like son. Like father,
like children. Now look what the Lord says in
verse 27 of Luke chapter six. But 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 you also to them likewise. Do you want men to
be merciful to you? Do you want them to give you
the benefit of the doubt? You do the same thing. For if
you love them, verse 32, that love you, what thank have you?
For sinners also love those that love them. And if you do good
to them which do good to you, what thank have you? For sinners
also do even the same. And if you lend to them of whom
you hope to receive, what thank have you? For sinners also lend
to sinners to receive as much again. But love your enemies,
and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again. And your reward
should be great, and you should be 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." Now, who are the
merciful? They are the children of God
who have their Father as merciful. Who are the merciful? Well, they
are the ones who have obtained mercy. Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy. And this mercy is not a sentiment. This thing of being a merciful
man or a merciful woman is not simply an inclination of the
heart. It translates itself into actions. And if it doesn't translate
itself into actions that makes me merciful towards others, I
don't know anything about the mercy of God. Blessed are the
merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Turn to first John chapter
three. Verse 17, But whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little
children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but
in deed and in truth. Now, merciful, in deed and truth. What is it to be merciful? Well,
first, if I'm merciful, I am merciful toward those who are
poor in purse. I really am, if I'm merciful. And I see my brother have a need.
I'm merciful to those that are poor in purse. Now, here's the
problem. There's not a problem with this,
but here's where people think, well, people need to be given
to me. I'm in need. Now, if that's your attitude,
you've missed it altogether. It's not, I need you to be merciful
to me. It's how can I be merciful toward
you? Merciful to those who are poor
in health. I don't know how many times I've experienced that.
When I've been poor in health, oh, what a blessing that's been
when people have extended mercy toward me in that. He's merciful
to those who are poor in righteousness. The sinful, he doesn't withhold
himself from them. I'm holier than thou. They don't,
that person he's merciful towards doesn't feel judged and threatened
and held off by him. This man is a fellow sinner.
And he's merciful toward those who are poor in righteousness.
He preaches the gospel to them and lets them know the only way
a sinner can be righteous. Now he's merciful to those who
mourn. He mourns with them. He weeps
with them. He weeps with those that weep and rejoice with those
who rejoice. That one who's mourning over
sin, that merciful person mourns with him because he's mourning
over his own sin. And he understands. Can't you
understand someone who says my sin is ever before me? Can't
you identify with that person and you love that person? That
meek one he loves, the one he sees the work of God in that
man and he's merciful toward him. He's merciful to that one
who hungers and thirsts for righteousness. He's merciful toward him by telling
him the way he can be righteous through the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now how does this mercy express
itself? Remember the Lord says, blessed are the merciful. If
I'm not a merciful person, I'm not saved. If I'm not a merciful
person, God has not extended his mercy toward me. Now, I want
to be more merciful. I really do. I want to be sometimes
I can be so hard and harsh and I don't want to be that way.
I want to be a merciful person. Now, what is this merciful person?
How does it express itself? Well, first, who needs mercy? Who needs mercy? I tell you,
the first person who needs mercy, the person whose sin is all their
fault. Had it coming! Oh, that's not
the attitude of a merciful person. Somebody whose sin is all their
fault. You know, very few ever see that.
They always have excuses and justification. But this I know,
if your sin is all your fault, you need mercy. If your sin's
all your fault, you're not gonna complain with God's way of saving
sinners. You're not gonna complain with His sovereignty and the
dispensation of His mercy. You know you don't have it coming
by way of entitlement. You know your sin is all your
fault. Now you find me somebody like
that, whose sin is all their fault, that's somebody I want
to extend mercy toward. And that's someone God does extend
mercy toward. You know somebody else who needs
mercy? Somebody who doesn't see any of this. He really needs
mercy. That person who you talk about
this and he doesn't say it. All that person needs the mercy
of God. And what I want to do is I want to preach the gospel
to that person and extend mercy toward them. Oh, how they need
to hear of the mercy of God in Christ. The greatest mercy you
can extend to somebody is by telling them the truth, by preaching
the gospel to them. And a merciful person is merciful
toward men's characters or men's character. Now listen real carefully.
I've been thinking about this. A merciful person doesn't receive
accusations against somebody. That's the devil's job, isn't
it? He's called the accuser of the brethren. Now, if I love
you, I'm not going to receive accusations against you. Merciful
person does not do that. He's merciful towards men's character.
Now, not only does he not receive accusations against somebody,
he doesn't report the accusations he hears. Not if he's merciful. He doesn't repeat those. And
not only does he not receive or repeat, he doesn't report,
he doesn't initiate in this thing of murdering men's characters.
Not if he's merciful. You see, if you love somebody,
you want to cover their faults, don't you? You want to cover
their sins. Aren't you thankful the Lord
covers your sins? Covered in the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, they're put away, they're gone. And if I love somebody,
I don't want them to be, you know, do you want the faults
and the sins of your loved ones exposed? No, you want them covered. A merciful man is merciful toward
men's characters, that's what love does. And we're merciful
when we're not so hard on people, not expecting so much out of
them, realizing that they're weak and frail just like we are,
not holding their feet to the fire. That's a merciful individual. You know, I've seen people who
have businesses, for instance, and they pay people not as much
as they should, and yet they expect so much out of them. expect them to be just as dedicated
to their business as they are who own it. They're making all
kinds of money, and these people are making a pittance. That's
not mercy. That's a wrong attitude. You
know, if I have people working for me, I want them to be the
best paid people of all. That's the attitude every believer
is to espouse, a merciful attitude. Am I a merciful person, merciful
to the fallen, merciful to the straying? Compassionate, moved
to sympathy by men's weakness. That's what a merciful person
is. Now, the merciful, blessed, blessed by God are the merciful. And here's the promise. They
shall obtain mercy. Let me show you this in 1 Timothy
chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. Verse 12, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord,
who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting
me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor,
and injurious, But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly
in unbelief. Now, I used to read that passage
of scripture, and it used to scare me to death. It almost
seems to appear that he's saying the reason I got mercy is because
I didn't know what I was doing. There wasn't a really knowledge
in what I was doing. I was just ignorant in what I
was doing. It wasn't willful, and that's why I obtained mercy. But if my sin would have been
more willful, I wouldn't have attained mercy. Now, that's really
not what he's saying. If that is what he's saying,
there won't be any salvation for me. and there won't be salvation
for you. What is he saying? He's saying
I was so ignorant, I was so unbelieving, I was so given over to sin, a
blasphemer and persecutor and injurious, that the only way
I could be saved is by the sheer free mercy of God. You want Paul? I'm right there
with you. The only way I can be saved is by the pure, free,
sheer mercy of God. You remember that parable the
Lord gave of that fellow who owed 15 million dollars, something,
I can't remember, it's thousands of talents of silver, but it's
the equivalent of 13 or 15 million dollars. And his master said,
pay me what you owe or I'm going to throw you in prison. Well,
he didn't have it. He said, have patience with me and I'll pay
you all of it back. Now, where's he going to come
up with money like that? He can't. It was just talk. But the scripture
says his master was moved with compassion and forgave him all
of his debt. Isn't that the way the Lord saves
us? Isn't that the way the Lord forgives us? Freely forgives
us. of all of our debt. Now what
did this fella do? You remember the story. He went
out and his buddy owed him $15. And he said, pay what you owe! And the fella said, have mercy,
I'll come up with the money. And he wouldn't do it. After
he'd been forgiven all that debt, he took his buddy and he had
him thrown in prison until he could come up with the money
to pay that pittance. Now you remember the other servants
saw him and they were very sorry and they went and told the Lord
and their Lord and he said to them, I forgave you all your
debt. Shouldn't you forgive your brothers?
So he had him thrown into prison and the Lord says he'll do the
same to us if we from our heart don't forgive everybody their
trespasses. mercy. All that's what I want
is mercy. Now I'd like to close by looking
at a passage of scripture in 2nd Timothy chapter 1. I think
this illustrates what a merciful person is. 2nd Timothy chapter 1. Now Paul says to Timothy, and
this is one of those many sad scriptures Verse 15, This thou knowest,
that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me. And he
mentions two of them by name, of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. And he talks about these two
men in other places. But he says all those people
in Asia, they turned away from him. Can you imagine how discouraging
that was to Paul to see that happen? Remember when he said
in Philippians, I have no man like minded who naturally will
care for your state. All seek their own and not the
things that are Christ Jesus. He was bad then. He was bad then. He said in my first answer, no
man stood with me. You think of Paul, how he must
have felt over things like that taking place all the time with
him. But now he talks about somebody else. Verse 16. The Lord give mercy. And remember,
this is just as inspired as John 1, Romans 9. This is the inspired
word of God. It's for our learning. The Lord
give mercy. unto the house of Onesiphorus. For he oft refreshed me, and
he was not ashamed of my chain." And notice what he says. He says
regarding this man Onesiphorus, he said, the Lord grant him mercy.
He doesn't say, pay him back for what he's done for me, does
he? He says, the Lord grant him mercy. What Onesiphorus needs
is mercy. What Todd Niver needs is mercy.
Oh, Todd ought to be rewarded for all the good deeds he's done.
Well, if that's the case, Todd Naird will end up in hell. I'm
sure of that. What I need is mercy. That's
what Onesiphorus needed. But what a merciful man he was.
Look at the way he treated Paul. He was not ashamed of my chain. He identified with me in the
afflictions of the gospel. He stood with me. He identified
with me. He says in verse 17, when he
was in Rome, and that was a big city, and this was before they
had garments, this was before they had cell phones, this was
before they had cars. I mean, they didn't have anything. But
when he was in this big city, what did he do? He sought me
out very diligently and found me. I was in jail. How many different
jail cells were there in Rome? Who knows? But he kept looking
until he found me. Oh, he oft refreshed me. He wasn't ashamed of my chain.
I was put in the prison for preaching the gospel, and he stood right
there with me. He oft refreshed me. He wasn't
ashamed of my chain. Now that's somebody I want to
be. I want to be a refreshing person. Don't you? I want to be this
Onesiphorus. He was a merciful man. But look
what Paul says about him in verse 18. Again, the Lord grant freely
given to him that he might find mercy of the Lord in that day. Now he's talking about the day
of judgment. And what's the one thing he asked
for? Mercy. The Lord grant that he might
find mercy of the Lord in that great day. Now here is a merciful
man. Everybody else had turned against
Paul. It's amazing all the passages of scripture that you see regarding
that, but Onesiphorus, his name means benefit. Oh, what a blessing
he was to Paul. He oft refreshed me. He was not
ashamed of my chain, but when he was in Rome, he sought me
out very diligently and found me. The Lord grant, graciously
bestow unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day,
that great day of judgment. Now, what do you want on the
day of judgment? What do you want? I want mercy. I want grace. I want the free
favor of God. Now, that's what he wanted for
him. Onesiphorus was a great guy. I mean, you see that he was a
great guy. You're thankful for him. What did Paul want for him?
Mercy on that great day. And that's what I want for myself.
And that's what I want for you. And I want to be like this man,
Onesiphorus, don't you? Wherever the gospel is under
attack, that's where I want to be identified. I don't want to
be ashamed of the chain of the gospel. And I want to be just
like him, seeking out diligently and being a refreshment. Blessed are the merciful. for
they shall obtain mercy. Now I don't obtain mercy because
I'm merciful, but I am merciful because I've obtained mercy. That's my, that's one of those
be attitudes that we want it to be a me attitude, don't we?
I want to be a merciful person. May God give us grace to be that.
Now we're going to observe the Lord's table together and you
know what we're celebrating? We're celebrating the mercy of
God in Christ Jesus. Who's to take the Lord's table?
I can remember when I was younger, I always dreaded the Lord's table. Because particularly that scripture
that says, if any man eat unworthily, he's guilty of the body and blood
of the Lord. And I always felt, well, I'm
unworthy. Well, who's the Lord's table for? It's for everybody who's unworthy. everybody who's unworthy and
their only way of being saved is the Lord Jesus Christ, his
broken body and his shed blood. Now you discern the Lord's body.
If you're somebody who your only way of acceptance before God
is the broken body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, you're
commanded to take the Lord's table. you're commanded to. Every believer. Somebody says,
well, I'm, I don't think I'm ready. Well, you're not ready
to die then. You're not ready to die. If you're a believer,
you ought to take the Lord's table. I've heard people say,
well, you need to be baptized before you take the Lord's table.
Well, if you haven't been baptized and you're a believer, you ought
to be. That's disobedience. I mean, baptism is the answer
of a good conscience toward God. I don't know what in the world
you're waiting on. If you ought to be baptized, be baptized.
Confess Christ in believer's baptism. You'll be such a blessing
if you do. But baptism still is not the
requirement to take the Lord's table. What is the requirement
to take the Lord's table? Faith in Christ. That's it. If you believe the gospel, the
Lord's table is for you. Now, once again, let me remind
you in this issue of baptism, quit, be baptized. If you haven't
been baptized, confess Christ and believers, baptism that to
not do so is disobedience, but the Lord's table is not for the
baptized. The Lord's table is for those
who believe. If you believe the gospel, the
Lord's table is for you. And our Lord said this do in
remembrance of me. And what I'm doing is I'm remembering. I'm remembering right now that
there's one reason that I'm going to be in heaven. because of the broken body and
shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the one reason
I'll be in heaven. And when I'm there, there won't
be anybody that'll have a reason to sing any louder to the freeness
of his grace than me.