Well, as you know, we're gonna consider the next beatitude, which is, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. But I want us to read a couple of passages that speak explicitly of mercy. There are many passages to choose from, but let's read from Matthew chapter 18. I'm going to read verses 21 to 35. That's found on page 1,134 of the Pew Bible, Matthew chapter 18, verses 21 to 35. Then Peter came to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to 70 times seven. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him saying, Master, have patience with me and I will pay you all. Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. And he laid hands on him and took him by the throat saying, pay me what you owe. And so his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him saying, have patience with me and I will pay you all. and he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, and they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, you wicked servant, I forgive you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you? And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So my heavenly father also will do to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses. And then please turn over to Luke's gospel, Luke chapter 10, and another famous passage that Luke's at mercy. Luke chapter 10, it's found on page 1,196 of the Pew Bible. Luke 10, verse 25. Reading to verse 37. And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him saying, teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him, what is written in the law? What is your reading of it? And so he answered and said, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, you have answered rightly. Do this and you will live. But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, and who is my neighbor? And then Jesus answered and said, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among Thebes, who stripped him off his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance, a certain priest came down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he had journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine, and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you. So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves? And he said, he who showed mercy on him. Then Jesus said to him, go and do likewise. Amen, may God bless us through reading of his word. Well, what do you think of when you hear the word mercy? As a child, I heard the word mercy being used in the game Mercy. I'm sure many of you have played this as children. You have to grasp hands with whoever you're playing against and you interlock fingers. And the aim of the game is to find out who is stronger. by successfully twisting the other person's arms or bending their fingers until they surrender. And they surrender by shouting out, mercy. And so mercy is recognizing that your opponent could continue inflicting pain and discomfort, and you cry out to them to stop. And maybe that's a warped view of mercy. Yes, in receiving mercy, you are to cry out, but in giving mercy, it's not by simply stopping inflicting pain. Instead, it's feeling compassion for someone. But it's more than that. You're active in helping them out of their predicament. Sinclair Ferguson says, mercy is getting down on your hands and knees and doing something to restore dignity to someone whose life has been broken by sin. So mercy is different than grace. Grace deals with sin and guilt by offering a pardon, while mercy is dealing with the results of sin, dealing with the misery or the pain or the anxiety that comes from sin. And so I want you to notice from our sermon this morning, you are to show mercy to others. And it's not by being soft on sin, but it's in your readiness to forgive sin and to sacrifice yourself for others, because Christ has shown mercy to you. And children, we just read the parable of the Good Samaritan, and I want you to draw a picture of this, of the Good Samaritan, and I want you to label who you are in the picture. Are you the man beaten up on the ground? Are you the priest? Are you the Levite? Or are you the good Samaritan? So firstly, let's notice, I want you to see the progression of these Beatitudes. So we've been studying the Beatitudes for a number of weeks now. The Beatitudes, they give us the values of Christ's kingdom. They demonstrate to God's people, to you and I, how we're meant to live. And what's interesting in the Beatitudes is this progression that's evident as we move from one to the next. We consider the very first week how we are poor in spirit, how we are spiritually bankrupt. We have nothing to offer for our salvation, and so we need help outside of ourselves. then what do we do with our sin? And what do we do with that problem? Sin separates us from God. And that's why we are to mourn. We are to demonstrate a godly sorrow over our sin for the brokenness that it brings into our lives. And that should make us humble. We should be willing to admit to our sinfulness, and in doing so, we are meek, we are gentle, and we surrender ourselves before God. And in this meek attitude, we are to cry out to Christ for righteousness. We have none of our own. Only through Christ's righteousness can we come before God. And so in these first four Beatitudes, we see how they are about our relationship with God. And in God, through Christ, we see the blessing of receiving the kingdom, of being comforted, of inheriting the world and being filled. However, being brought into God's kingdom and enjoying all these blessings, it cannot be an end in itself. The next four Beatitudes are all about our relationship with others. This new life that we have in Christ is to be evident by the world around us. Scrivener writes, that is the flow, empty before God and so filled by him, now we are poured out to the nations. Grace runs downhill from heaven to us and from us to the world. One illustration of this is children to their parents. Children, I'm sure you're not expecting to pay back all that your parents have given to you. As parents, we are not keeping an account of how much we are spending on each one of our children. We're not planning to present a bill when they turn 18 years old. No, but we do expect that they will do the same for their families and for those who are around them. And all that they've received from us, we expect that they will do the same for the next generation. And that is what we are to do with God's grace. As we've received from God, we are to give to others. You are to pour this grace out. And so, as we have been blessed by being part of God's kingdom, we are to demonstrate these kingdom values. And this morning, we begin with mercy. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. John Stott has a good quote. To be meek is to acknowledge to others that we are sinners. To be merciful is to have compassion on others, for they are sinners too. Well, secondly, let's consider what this beatitude does not mean. A basic reading of this beatitude is that you are merciful, that if you are merciful, then you obtain mercy. That you can somehow merit God's mercy by demonstrating mercy to others. And you get this interpretation if you simply cut this beatitude out from the Bible. But we can't do that. Any difficult scripture should be interpreted by the rest of scripture. and you don't even have to cut or interpret this beatitude with the whole of scripture, you can simply interpret it with the rest of these beatitudes. As we've noticed, the beatitudes are a progression, and therefore there is context to this beatitude. To be able to show mercy, you have to recognize your lost condition and how you need Christ's righteousness. You need to have the first four beatitudes down before you can do beatitude five. Your heart has to be changed, and as a result, it will affect all your relationships. So this beatitude is not teaching a works-based salvation. Quite the opposite. It's teaching that unless you have been transformed and you're part of Christ's kingdom, you will not be able to show mercy. And we see that in the world around us. The world lacks in showing mercy. We live in a world that teaches us to get even when someone wrongs us. That it's every man for himself. That it's survival of the fittest. that those who are facing struggles are simply getting what they deserve. And if it's not this harsh reaction, then it's a complete opposite reaction of toleration, that we are to tolerate others, we are to tolerate sin. that it's wrong to call out sin. And sadly, sometimes the church can be influenced by the world. And the church also goes to either of these extremes. It tolerates sin, or it's harsh and judgmental and says, they're getting what they deserve. No, that's not demonstrating mercy. do good rights, true mercy forgives. Christians are to be the most forgiving people. We're not to be soft, but we're not to be hard either. And so this beatitude does not teach us that we can secure God's favor by the mercy we show. There is no amount of mercy that we can offer that would merit our salvation. So thirdly, consider that you're to recognize that you deserve God's justice. but have received his mercy through Christ. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I was at Indianapolis Airport, and as I was leaving the terminal, I paid for my parking ticket before going to the parking lot to get my car. I drove out of the car park, and I get to those booths, and as you leave the airport, where you hand in your ticket, but I could not find my ticket. look throughout the car I still could not find it. I must have left it back in the machine and I could see on the booth there's a sign lost tickets face a fine of $20 and so I'm thinking I have to pay this fine. I've lost my ticket that would be justice. Thankfully, the parking attendant did not make me pay that fine. She showed mercy on me. She worked out what time I had arrived, and so I had to pay again the parking fee. I had lots of excuses, but the reality was, my ticket was lost. I deserved justice. I deserved to pay the fine. But instead, I received mercy. Well, we do the same with God's law. We try to excuse ourselves. We try and say that the law is no longer relevant, or we try and say that God will understand. No, God can't overlook when we break his law. When we break his law, it is sinful, and God is not going to simply wink at sin or say, that doesn't matter, that God is holy, and sin is an offense to him. As lawbreakers, you and I are deserving of God's justice, which is judgment. And so our situation is very serious. As we have considered in the previous beatitudes, we have nothing to offer. We have nothing that would gain God's pardon. We are in this humble position where we have no righteousness of our own. And therefore it's crucial that you recognize that you are deserving of God's justice. In yourself, you have no hope. You're completely lost in your sin. You depend completely on the mercy of God. You are a beggar before God. In Victor Hugo's story, Les Miserables, there is this account of Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who struggled to reintegrate into society again. No one was willing to give him a second chance. He could not find boarding until he came upon Bishop Muriel, who kindly let him into his home. But when everyone was asleep, Valjean could not resist the temptation to steal the bishop's silver. And he was soon caught by the local police and brought back to the church. And Valjean is deserving of justice. He has stolen. Everyone knew it. But the bishop tells the police that the silver was his gift to Jean Valjean. His mercy, therefore, spared Valjean from having to return to prison. Well, you and I are in the same position as Valjean. In breaking the law for our sins, we are deserving to be imprisoned. And that prison cell is found in hell. But the good news is the mercy that Christ has shown to us. for mercy is who God is. The title, Immiserable, is linked to the French word mercy. Early in the novel, we read of the bishop in his study, meditating on the names of God, Almighty, Creator, Liberty, Immensity, Wisdom, Truth, Light, Lord, Providence, Holiness, Justice, God, and Father. And as the bishop writes out, brief meditations on each of these titles he sees in scripture, he ends with what he calls the most beautiful of all of God's names, mercy. When God spoke to Moses after the children of Israel had made the golden calf, and God was giving to Moses the second time the tablets with the 10 commandments, this is what God said in Exodus 34. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting of the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. God is a merciful God. He could have spoke about his holiness. He could have spoke about his power. Instead, he speaks about his mercy. And this mercy would cost him, not simply silver like the bishop, but his own life. Jesus came down from the glory of heaven into this world. The king of kings, born into obscurity, facing hardship throughout his life, ultimately being rejected and condemned to death on the cross. He received this punishment for he was dying in our place. He was receiving the justice for our sins. And he bore the price of our sin on himself, which was death. So justice would be made complete. And in doing so, God can show us mercy. And so it's because of God's mercy, we instead enjoy a new life in Christ. That's the good news. But it's good when you fully understand how bad our condition is. You deserve justice, but through Christ, you have received mercy. But fourthly, in knowing Christ's mercy, you are to show mercy to others by offering forgiveness. Well, this episode of Valjean receiving mercy from the bishop, it happens at the very start of the book. In the rest of the book, we see that Valjean's life is permanently and forever changed. He becomes a man of mercy. And the rest of the book is how he helps others who are in need. And that's to be true for us as well. You are to show mercy. Jesus says in Luke 6 verse 36, be merciful even as your father is merciful. But we can quickly forget the mercy that we have received. And we just read earlier of the parable of the merciful servant, one who had this huge debt and yet his master forgave him of that debt. But what's so surprising is when he would not forgive his colleague of a debt which was substantially smaller. But is this conduct of the servant that surprising? Aren't we also guilty of being slow to forgive or even not forgiving those who are indebted to us? Now that doesn't mean forgiveness is easy. There may be times when we forgive, and then we have to forgive again when the hurt continues to linger, or reestablishes itself. Forgiveness is costly. Forgiveness, for Christ, to forgive, it costs him his life. For you to forgive, it will mean bearing the cost of whatever the grievance was that was done or said against you. But thankfully, knowing Christ's forgiveness, which is far greater, than any forgiveness that we have had to offer, you can forgive. He will give you the strength to do that. John writes, nothing proves more clearly that we have been forgiven than our own readiness to forgive. So consider the hurt you're holding onto, forgive them now of that sin. Well, fifthly, and knowing Christ's mercy, you're to show mercy to others by your compassion in action. Last week, we celebrated the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and I was reading how historically, in many churches, they would take up an offering at these communion services. And so as you feed on Christ and on his broken body and shed blood and eating of the bread and drinking of the wine, you are to respond to the mercy that you have received by showing mercy to others, by giving to those in need. And we live in a very needy world, a world that has been greatly affected by sin. And mercy is a willingness to show compassion by helping others who have been affected by sin and the consequences of sin. And the key thing in mercy is that you are to be active. So it's not simply to think, oh, that's terrible, or to show pity to someone. No, it's more than that. You're going out of your way to show mercy, and that will mean incurring a cost. It will be a sacrifice to your own time, to your own money, to help people. Earlier we read the parable of the good Samaritan. In this parable, Jesus is not simply saying, be kind to others. The context of the parable is this lawyer who's trying to justify himself. And Jesus is wanting this man to identify with someone in the parable. He's not to identify with the Samaritan who shows mercy, not even the religious leaders who do not show mercy, but the man lying on the ground, lying on the road. And that is who you are. You are the one in need. You need a savior outside of yourself. Religion will not help you. Instead, you need Christ. He is a good Samaritan. So it's recognizing who you are and being recipients of mercy that you go and do likewise. Like the good Samaritan that involves incurring cost, even risking his life. That is how you show mercy. So a good neighbor is one who is willing to help those in need. for they themselves have received help. And so you're only merciful when you recognize the mercy you have received from God. Dodson writes, merciful people embrace inconvenience in order to show mercy to others. They don't enjoy piling others up with burdens, instead consistently relieve the burdens of others. And we as a church, we show mercy. We have a mercy committee. Mercy is important. We want to help those within our church community and also those outside of our church community. And this committee is there to help facilitate this. Now that doesn't mean that you are to leave all the works of mercy, all the mercy needs to this committee, that you're not to get involved. They are helping this church by taking a lead and showing compassion. And they would be grateful for volunteers to help serve. And often when they call out for help, it's so encouraging to hear the many responses that they receive of offers to help. So often it's not a need for money, but those who are willing to sacrifice some time in helping others. Back in October, I heard the terrible story of the discovery of a body that laid in this person's home for 20 years. This happened not in some anonymous city, but in rural Ireland, a place that prides itself for close-knit communities. But for 20 years, this man's body lay in his bed. He had to be identified by dental records. While 20 years is certainly extreme, more and more frequently, we are hearing similar stories from our community. Loneliness is an epidemic in our society. And as one journalist writes, the real sadness is not that others did not notice his death, but they did not notice when he was alive. How many others are going unnoticed in our society? And it begins here in our own community, in our church community, with our friends and our family. You're to be visiting those who are isolated, those who are in need. And it's having a willing attitude to show mercy. When a friend calls you and they are in need, are you willing to help them? Now remember, you are helping them. That doesn't mean you do whatever they ask. That might not be what is most helpful to them. And so you must use wisdom in helping others. When your friend falls into sin, are you willing to show mercy by being there for them? And that doesn't mean you condone their sin or you tolerate their sin. Instead, you are pointing them to Christ and in his forgiveness. Jeremiah Burroughs writes, mercy causes one to put himself into the same state, to be in the bonds with those that are in bonds and weep with those that weep. And so mercy will mean pouring yourself out onto others. It's compassion in action. But how can you keep this up? Maybe you're finding the sermon overwhelming. You're thinking, I can't do that. That's just too much. I don't have the strength for that. I don't have the time for that. Well, you can do it because you know Christ's mercy. And in a sense, you're to be a channel of Christ's mercy into the lives of those you come across. This is the blessing of this beatitude. You can keep on showing mercy because you have received mercy. That is what enables you. It's not because you will get something in return for helping out some of the neediest people. They can give nothing in return. But you know that in Christ you have and you will receive Christ's mercy. One day we look forward to when that mercy will be complete and you're with him to all eternity. So you are to show mercy to others, not by being soft on sin, but in your readiness to forgive sin and to sacrifice yourself for others because Christ has shown mercy to you. So who will you show mercy to this week? Showing mercy is not an easy thing. For some of you, it will mean showing compassion and forgiveness to someone who has hurt you greatly. And no one exemplifies this more than Corrie ten Boom. I was reading her story this past week. Corrie ten Boom, as you may know, she hid Jews during World War II in her home in the Netherlands. And she and her sister were later captured by the Nazis as a result. Let me share you a slightly longer story of how she had this powerful instance of having to show mercy. Corrie was speaking at a church in Munich in 1947, and at the end of the service, a man stepped forward to greet her. Corrie froze. She knew this man well. He had been one of the most vicious guards at Ravensbrück. One who had mocked the women prisoners as they showered. And it came back with a rush, she wrote. The huge room with its harsh overhead lights. The pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor. The shame of walking naked past this man. And now he was pushing his hands out to shakers and saying, a fine message for a line. How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea. And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course. How could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women? But I remembered him, the leather crop swinging from his belt. I was face to face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze. "'You mentioned Ravensbrück in your talk,' he was saying. "'I was a guard there, but since that time,' he went on, "'I have become a Christian. "'I know that God has forgiven me "'for the cruel things I did there, "'but I would like to hear it from your lips as well, Fraulein.' "'And again the hand came out, "'Will you forgive me? "'And I stood there, I whose sins "'had again and again been forgiven, "'but I could not forgive. Betsy had died in that place. Could he erase her slow, terrible death by simply asking? The soldier stood there expectantly, waiting for Corey to shake his hand. She wrote, I wrestled with the most difficult thing I'd ever had to do, for I had to do it. I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition, that we forgive those who've injured us. And standing there before the former SS man, Corrie asked for strength. Jesus, help me, she prayed. I can lift my hand, I can do that much. You supply the feeling. And so Corrie thrust out her hand, and as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes. I forgive you, brother, I cried with all my heart. And for a long moment, we grasped each other's hands, a former guard and a former prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then. But even so, I realized it was not my love. I had tried. I did not have the power. It was the power of the Holy Spirit. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Amen. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we approach you only because of your mercy. Lord, forgive us when we have not understood your love and kindness, when we have presumed upon it. Instead, Lord, help us see our unworthy position. We have nothing that we can bring before you, and yet you and your love show your mercy to us. Help us then show mercy to others, that we would be quick to forgive, that we would be quick to reach out and to help those in need. And so, Lord, even this week, Give us opportunities to channel your mercy to others. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Please turn your sound book to Psalm 67 C. Psalm 67 is a prayer for God to show his mercy to us. But not only to us, that God would show his mercy all over this world so people would know him and know his salvation. So let's stand and sing Psalm 67c.