The Gospel Truth
'Blessed are the merciful, full of mercy ...'
Dr. Charles F. DeVane Jr. First Baptist Church

Jesus' original audience had lost their sense of mercy. The Romans had risen to power by showing no mercy. The Pharisees ruled the religious world by demanding their brand of justice instead of God's tender mercy. Mercy was for wimps. That is, until Jesus said what he said in Matthew 5:7.

"Blessed are the

merciful ..."

To be merciful means to be full of mercy.

Grandmothers' houses are full of pictures and candy because they can never love their grandchildren too much. And Christians are full of mercy because we love so much. However, we love him because he first loved us (1 John 4:19), which gives us a glimpse of the definition of mercy.

Mercy is one side of a twosided coin of which the other side is grace. Grace is God's unconditional love whereby he gives sinners what they do not deserve. Mercy, too, is God's unconditional love. In mercy God withholds from sinners what they actually deserve. So, if you are saved by grace you are also saved by mercy. You are full of mercy and you love it.

A Christian receives mercy at the point of salvation. I do not know how many sins an average person commits in their lifetime. Even if it were only three a day, a person would sin over a hundred thousand times in their life. I am sure the honest figure would be in the millions. But for just one sin, God has the right to cast you away from his glory and into hell for eternity (Romans 6:23a). So what do we deserve? But what do Christians get? Sovereign, sin-cleansing, soul-saving, mercy. We are full of it. Romans 9:16-18; Ephesians 2:4; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:3.

A Christian maintains mercy by the power of the holy spirit. When a person is transformed into a Christian by the power of word and spirit, the spirit comes in to enable our obedience to the word. One of the characteristics of the holy spirit, one of the gifts he brings into our lives, and therefore a chief characteristic of the genuine believer is mercy. Romans 12:1-8, especially verse 8. To be full of the spirit (the gift and goal of every believer) is to be full of mercy. And when mercy comes in and stays in, mercy goes out.

Lost people do not deserve to be saved, but Christians in mercy engage in evangelism and missions. Hypocrites who live lies deserve to be lied about, but Christians in mercy simply tell the truth. People who are physically and emotionally distressed have physicians and family to look after them, but Christians in mercy reach out and seek to share and relieve their misery.

So, one way to know that you are a Christian is to know you are full of mercy. If you are full of mercy, you will give mercy away. And, if you give mercy away, you will find it coming back to you in a big way.

"... for they shall

receive mercy."

To receive mercy means to get what you give. Once again the reward portion of this Beatitude is positioned in the future tense. This is not to deny that Christians received mercy (past tense) when they were saved. Nor does it negate the presence of mercy (present tense) in the life of a genuine believer. But it tells us there is a great reward (future tense) for the Christian woman or man of mercy.

Generally, this is a reward principle that is consistent in the kingdom of God. You can only give away what you receive. If you are rich, know that God has enabled you to become rich and he wants you to use your riches to help others. If you can preach or teach, know that God has enabled you to preach and teach and he wants you to speak to others about the gospel and the word of God. On and on this goes.

Then, at the end of your days, because of the compatibility between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man, you will discover that you will get what you gave away. The widow who gave her two mites is going to have a grander place in the heavenly kingdom than the wealthy American Christian who gave 3.2 percent of his income to the Lord's work. So be careful how you spend your time, talents, and treasure, for with the measure you give you will receive (Luke 6:38).

Imagine the difficulty of forgiving a murderer who killed a child. This does happen and it did happen, two thousand years ago. Actually, the son asked the father, "... forgive them ..." (Luke 23:34). In case after case of repentance and faith, the father has obliged with mercy. Judgment day comes for every man. But mercy is a blessing for the born again follower of Jesus Christ. That's why Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy."

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