The Merciful & The Pure in Heart
Notes
Transcript
Matthew 5 7
The first four Beatitudes have dealt with inner attitudes. The last four deal with action. Our fifth Beatitude starts a new section describing the actions of the poor in spirit, mournful, meek, hungry kingdom people. This Beatitude beautifully describes the believer with the words “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy”.
The natural man is not merciful. Because of sin, humanity is extremely self centered. Mercy is far from what comes natural to the unredeemed person. Mercy always costs us something. It may cost us money, time, or convenience among other things. Sadly, fallen man is not usually willing to give any of these things up. A good example of this is the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). There was a man that desperately needed mercy. He was unknown to the passersby. A priest and a Levite saw him in his helpless condition. They were unwilling to sacrifice their money time and convenience. They showed no mercy. Later a Samaritan came by and helped the man who was in misery. He poured oil on his wounds, gave him a ride, & paid for his lodging. That was mercy.
In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus describes in vivid detail the day of judgment. He distinguishes the saved from the lost by who showed mercy. Those who went into everlasting punishment did not feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, or visit the sick and the imprisoned. Their lack of mercy revealed their lack of salvation.
The crucifixion of Christ shows just how unmerciful man truly is. Christ was the epitome of mercy. He was full of love and compassion. Regardless of this, humanity cried out for His death. When the people had the opportunity to give Jesus mercy, they chose not to releasing a murderer instead (Luke 23:13-25).
In Romans 1:29-31 Paul describes the character of those who are facing the judgment of God. He ends his long list of character traits with the word “unmerciful”. James 2:13 promises a limitless lack of mercy to those who were not merciful upon this earth.
Christ modeled mercy. No person in history has ever modeled mercy like Jesus Christ. Hebrews 2:17 tells us that He is “a merciful and faithful High Priest”. Throughout His life He showered mercy upon others.
* He showed mercy to two blind men by restoring their sight (Matt. 9:27-31).
* He had mercy on a Gentile woman whose daughter was demon possessed (Matt. 15:21-28).
* He had mercy on a little boy that was demon possessed (Matt. 17:14-18).
* He had mercy on ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19).
His greatest act of mercy was the cross. Christ saw the misery of humanity. He saw us in the bondage and under the penalty of sin. In His great love He chose to stoop down and have mercy on us. He endured the cruel death of the cross and the intense judgment of the Father. Through His act of obedience He saved us from our sin. Titus 3:5 says “Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He saved us…”
Christ’s act of obedience proves that God is merciful (Psalm 103:8). Psalm 136 reminds us that God’s mercy endures forever. God pities man in his fallen state. Therefore, He sent Christ to pay the price for humanity owed. Christ’s sacrifice was so great that the mercy of God is given to us for all of eternity. Despite our lack of mercy, God has chosen to have mercy on us.
The practice of mercy. It must be said that we cannot truly be merciful unless we have already obtained mercy. The previous Beatitude implies that we have already been filled with the righteousness of God. Therefore, it is the duty of the believer to practice mercy in day to day activities. We prove that we are kingdom people that have been filled with righteousness as we practice mercy.
God has always compelled His people to be people of mercy. He told the Israelites in Deut. 15:7-8 to be a people of mercy. Every day we have the opportunity to have mercy on others. Let’s consider some practical ways we may show mercy.
We can show mercy in our relationships. Not a day goes by that we do not have the opportunity to show mercy to someone we have a relationship with. Sadly, we are often least merciful to those closest to us. I can think of three relationships that the Lord wants us to be merciful in.
*Our relationship with our spouse. Marriage is not easy. In marriage we see each other at our weakest point. Sometimes a spouse does something that costs us money. Sometimes they do things that hurt our feelings. Sometimes they do something that embarrasses us. Generally, if the spouse is living for the Lord, they come to us in humility and ask for forgiveness. It is important for us, at that point, to show them mercy. A child of God experiences the pain of conviction and the pain that genuine love brings with it. A believer who has hurt their spouse is living in misery. It is up to the other spouse to alleviate the pain by offering mercy. But even more than that, when someone is not living for the Lord we are to show them mercy. Just as Jesus gave the nine unrepentant lepers mercy, we should offer mercy to the unrepentant as well. The believer is not to be a bitter grudge holder.
*Our relationships with our children. Children usually do sillier things than adults. There will be times when they anger us. We need to remember that they need mercy as well. They need mercy when they are in rebellion. They need mercy when they are struggling with school work. They need mercy when they are trying to fit it. Our children should know that they can come to us and get mercy rather than “I told you so” or “You’ll never learn”. Our children will learn mercy, or lack of mercy, at home more than anywhere else.
*Our relationships with our friends. Friends make mistakes; they let us down as well. They prove untrustworthy. When friends hurt us or make mistakes we should be willing to offer the mercy.
We can show mercy in our run-ins. As we go about our lives, we inevitably run into people. We run into co-workers, homeless people, waitresses, etc. Some need forgiveness, some need financial help, some need patience. All of them need mercy.
We can show mercy in our rants. As believers, we often find ourselves ranting about how evil people in the world are. We should remember the words of Paul in Titus 3:3 “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish…” It’s easy for believers to become cynical and uncaring toward the enemies of the cross. Open immorality, idolatry and outright blasphemy are common in our culture. The believer should be careful not to forget to show mercy toward those who practice such things. Before we received the mercy of God we were the same way. Mercy can be shown toward such people by praying for them, serving them and witnessing to them. This will do far more good than our endless ranting.
The recipient of mercy. The promise Jesus gives for the merciful is “they shall obtain mercy”. James 2:13 says “Mercy rejoiceth against judgment”. This means that the person who lives a life of mercy will be able to smile when he faces judgment. The merciful person has nothing to fear because God will have mercy on Him. Mercy is the alleviation of misery. We were in misery over our sin; God gave us mercy to remove the misery. There is a sense in which we are still in misery. The physical suffering we endure, the heartache we face, the battle against the flesh are all things that generate a degree of misery in our lives. Ultimately, all of that misery will be swallowed up in mercy. God will give us eternal mercy and we will never face misery again. Our concern should be if we have indeed received God’s mercy through salvation. If we have, we will be a merciful people.
Jesus sermon has had quiet a beginning. So far we have poor, weeping, humble sinners being filled with the righteousness of God. These sinners have now been transformed into merciful servants of God. In this verse Jesus continues His description of kingdom people by calling them the “pure in heart”. This beatitude may be the most perplexing so far. One can understand how to be poor in spirit, mournful, meek, and hungry for righteousness. Possibly one could even understand what it was like to be merciful. But who could comprehend what it means to be pure in heart? Proverbs 20:9 says “Who can say I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” This is easily the hardest thing Jesus has said so far in this sermon.
I view this verse as one of the most profound in the entire Bible. My reasoning is simple. I can think of no two things man desires more than the two mentioned in this verse. Man desires to be perfect. Even the unconverted man desires to be perfect. The uneducated man wants to be perfect. The unreached people living in places the gospel has never been desire to be perfect. Perfection is a universal desire that all of humanity yearns for.
Man desires to see God. The innumerable amount of religions in the world proves this. Since creation man has had the desire to see God. Some desire to see Him out of curiosity others out of love, but no one would refuse to look at a photograph of Him if it were offered. This beatitude speaks to the two great desires of man: perfection and seeing God.
The natural man has a wicked heart. This statement does not go over well in our culture. We are taught that we are all good at heart but sometimes people ignore what their heart says and do bad things. That idea could not be any more further from the truth.
The heart has been described in many ways. One of the most common definitions is “the heart is the seat of the emotions”. This is true, but the heart is more than that. The Bible teaches us that the heart is not only related to our emotions, it is also related to our thinking process.
Our heart governs our actions. Proverbs 23:7
Our heart thinks evil thoughts. Matt 9:4
Our heart devises plans to sin and these plans defile us. Matt. 15:18-19
Our heart is to blame for both our sinful thoughts and actions. Mark 7:21
This is what makes purity so difficult. It is not enough that we simply do not indulge in the act of sin. If we really want to be pure we cannot even entertain evil thoughts. Jesus will expound on this in verses 21-30.
The thoughts and actions are set on sin because of our heart. Listen to what the Scripture says about the unsaved person’s heart.
*It is continually evil. Gen. 6:5
*It is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Jer. 17:9
*It is foolish and darkened. Rom. 1:21
The only way a person can be pure in heart is to receive a new heart. That is exactly what happens when a person comes to know Christ. To be born again means to be changed from within. Ezekiel promised a new covenant where God said “A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh (Ez. 36:26). The cry of the unsaved man is “Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10). Kingdom people have had their heart of stone replaced with a pure heart.
Kingdom people strive to live in purity before God. We are pure because God has made us pure. God alone possesses purity in Himself therefore only God can grant purity. While we possess purity positionally speaking, there is still a process that we endure to become more pure in our actions and thoughts. The process of purification can also be known as sanctification. 1 John 3:3 says “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as He is pure.” The pure righteousness of God within us transforms us into a more practically pure person as we practice righteousness. How does this happen?
* God is the priority of the believer. The greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all that we have. The Psalmist said in 27:8 “When Thou sadist seek my face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face LORD will I seek.” The unredeemed heart would have rebelled against the commandment to seek the face of God. The pure heart joyfully obeys the command to seek the face of God. The flesh will battle against this new nature. It will seek to make self the priority. The new redeemed heart of God within us, however, will continue to desire God. It will counter the lust of the flesh with the lust of the spirit. The pure heart will cry out to have God as its priority.
* Sin is disgusting to the believer. The deepest desire of a kingdom person is holiness. The kingdom person knows that without holiness no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). Therefore, the desire to be pure and to see God is inseparably linked. The believer continues to live in purity because of a hatred of sin. This does not mean that he does not struggle with sin, it simply means he does not enjoy it. Sin makes the believer feel terrible personally, it grieves the heart of God, and it keeps him from bringing more glory to the One he loves.
*Integrity is more important than action to the believer. Action is important but motive is more important. The believer checks his heart more than his actions. It is not enough for him to be faithful to his wife; he must also make sure he is not lusting in his heart. It is not enough for her to be kind to someone, she must also be sure she has forgiven that person for hurting her. It is not enough for them to serve in the church; they must also delight in that service in their hearts.
These three basic truths keep the redeemed person on the road of purity.
Kingdom people will see God. The person who is pure in heart is single-minded. He looks forward to the day that he will see God. It is the holiness of God that makes Him so appealing to us (Ps. 27:4, 29:2). An impure heart runs from God (John 3:20) a pure heart runs to God. There are two ways that the believer will see God.
*The believer sees God presently. That is, we perceive Him as He truly is. We comprehend Him. The natural man cannot see nor can he understand the things of God (John 3:3, 1 Cor. 2:14). Therefore, he certainly cannot see God Himself. The believers’ spiritual eyes have been opened. We see God in the person Christ Jesus. We have seen His character, His ways, and His heart. We know God at this present time (John 17:3).
*The believer will see God in the future. It is true that everyone will see God (Rev. 1:7). However, the impure will only see part of God. They will see Him in His wrath. Believers will see God in His fullness. This has never been done by anyone on earth since the Garden of Eden. Moses saw part of the Lord, the prophets saw visions of God, a generation saw the incarnate Jesus. We are looking for the day when we will see the fullness of God. On that day we will fall before Him in adoration and humility. We will eternally sing the praises of His holiness.
Do we really want to see God? Is there a longing within us to dwell in His presence? If so, we will live with a single-minded heart of purity. Is our heart pure? Is it seeking that which is pure? Only the pure in heart will receive the great privilege of seeing God in all of His fullness (Psalm 24:3-5).