THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS PART THREE

Matt 5:7

Good Morning CBC Family!

I came across a post this week that got me thinking about our present situation and I wanted to share this with you before we dive into the message this morning. It had to do with Noah and his family when God judged the earth with a worldwide flood that killed everything that breathing; with the exception of everything living in the Ark. This would include the animals that God told Noah to bring into the Ark, and the seven members of his family. That’s eight people cooped up together for about a year in a large boat that had… Only one window that was shut until Noah opened it on the 40^th day. No iPhone, no Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram, no internet for Disney plus or Netflix, no electricity to play your games on your PS4 or Xbox One. No stores open to go get more food and supplies. Just themselves, living on a boat for about a year away from anything they called, “civilization.”

How did they manage?

How did they cope at a time where God was sorry He created mankind?

They focused on God’s provisions….. as He provided for them with the materials to build such a craft and the supplies to survive on this craft. Genesis 6:14-22

They focused on God’s grace over their lives….. Reminding them that God allowed them to continue to live and breathe and not perish with the rest of mankind. Genesis 6:1-8

They focused on God’s love for sinners…. as He displayed mercy to a family who didn’t deserve His love or His mercy. Genesis 7:1

They focused on God’s promises… as He guided them to land that they never knew existed until that one evening a dove that Noah sent out came back with a “freshly plucked olive leaf.” Genesis 8:11

They focused on God’s everlasting covenant… in Genesis 8:20-22 we read, “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease."

So let’s come together in spirit, and remind ourselves of these truths

as we open God’s Word this morning.

The everlasting promises that we have in the gospel

of His love through His Son, Jesus Christ.

We have a great and holy God who is looking over us and He is providing for us in the same way, as we go through this season that is before us. Spurgeon said “You will never know the fullness of Christ until you know the emptiness of everything else.” So in this time of separation let’s remain/continue, to be faithful and patient as we rest in God’s grace. And remember the rain will end one day and that day will shine brighter than ever, as He guides us by His sovereign hands.

Open you bibles to Matthew chapter 5 as we will be 

looking at (v7) by His grace this morning.

The “Sermon On the Mount”, is a sermon that exposes your heart to the realities of your sinfulness as it is compared to His Holy Word. This sermon exposes our hearts to turn away from it and rest in His Beauty found in the gospel. So far the Beatitudes have expose our hearts to the truth that we desperately need God in and over our lives.

Its interesting how Jesus builds the importance of what He is saying in (v6) before He speaks (v7). Jesus said “Blessed/Approved are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (v6) Why do I say this? Because those who are desperate in hunger and thirst, they will extend exactly what Jesus says in (v7). Jesus said “Blessed/Approved are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (v7) They will strive to extend mercy at all times because they are aware of the mercy that is poured out into their lives by a holy transcendent God. It’s not trying to do these things in one’s life….. because this should be the outcome of one’s life in Christ.

Martyn Lloyd Jones wrote “So often that is misinterpreted and people think that what the New Testament exhorts us to do is try to be Christian in this and that respect, and to try to live as a Christian here and there. Not at all… We are not meant to control our Christianity; our Christianity is rather meant to control us.”

The Christian faith is not something that we do on the surface; it’s not putting on a fresh coat of paint on a car or a fence. This is something that happens at the very center/ the core of one’s heart through the new birth; it’s about receiving a new nature. Its new outlooks, it’s a new disposition that we receive from God through the Spirit as you conform the Scriptures.

The question we need to ask ourselves is this! 

Are we merciful?

  

Let me say this before you answer that question Mercy doesn’t mean that we should be “easy going” because that is not being merciful. For example when Solomon penned these words, “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” Prov 13:24. This “easy going “attitude can be dangerous because it leaves one to believe there is no importance to justice or righteousness. This is the idea to be absolutely “free minded” it’s the one who says, “Chive on” or “What does it matter”

“It doesn’t matter if the Laws are being broken or not.

As long as there is a good reason for doing what you did.”

The problem with this is that God doesn’t see it like that because God is holy, righteous in all His ways/judgments. Breaking the Law is unthinkable to God who is the standard of the truth.

Why do I say that? “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.” Heb 12:6-10

God loves His children so much He cannot look past our wrongs and do nothing about it. Otherwise that wouldn’t mercy; and the one it’s been extended to wouldn’t see at as grace.

So what is the mercy that

Jesus is speaking of?

Martyn Lloyd Jones said “I think perhaps the best way of approaching it is to compare mercy with grace.”

See Grace is associated with men in their sin, where Mercy is associated with men in their misery. Mercy looks upon the miserable consequences of sin. So mercy is a sense of “pity plus”, a desire to relieve the suffering. So Christians have a feeling of pity for those who are pitiable. It’s having mercy over a sinner and this is where grace is extended to the miserable person.

Great example of that is found in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. (Turn in your Bibles to Luke 10:25-37) In Luke’s gospel we read, “But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise." Luke 10:33-37

This Samaritan man wasn’t looking for the praises of men, or to win favor with God. This was a man who naturally through the out-pouring of his heart demonstrated mercy to a man who was pitiable. It’s an anxious spirit to relieve another’s burden or misery. Being merciful is not something we do to earn or win blessings from God. The condition of circumstances doesn’t determine the amount of mercy we extend to others. It’s the outward display of an inward transformation.

The prime example of mercy is the Lord Jesus Christ who had mercy over our pitiful and sinful souls. In the Gospel of Mark we read, “When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.” Mark 6:34

How did He demonstrate His mercy to

a pitiable people like you and me?

Paul penned these words, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” Eph 2:1-8

Mercy is.... in the heart of the poor, the mourner, the humble, the ones who hunger and thirst for righteous living. The mercy that Jesus speaks of will naturally display a poor, humble spirit because they know who they are in light of the God, who is over their lives.

What do I mean by this?

 I’m poor in spirit; I realize that have no righteousness, I realize that, “face to face” with God, I’m utterly helpless. I mourn; because of the sin that is in me, the Holy Spirit reveals to me the blackness of my own heart. This is why we know Paul cried out “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” Rom 7:24-25

It’s through this that I am meek; because I have experienced the true view of myself and realized I’m loved and nothing can take that away from me. I have hunger and thirst for righteousness because I have longed for it and desire for God to put me right with God.

What Jesus is saying is, “If you are His child, 

you are merciful, you have mercy in this way.”

Why? Because He pours out mercy over your life through His gospel. What does that look like in the life of one who believes? "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it." Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” Acts 751-60

This is a heartbreaking, but a beautiful display for every believer; though this is in extreme event in History. This should humble us to know that we are to display mercy in any situation. More so in times of difficulties, because in time like this it reveals the true you. 

Understand! If I’m not merciful there is only one explanation. I have never understood the grace and mercy of God. 

Meaning, I’m outside of Christ; I am yet in my sins, and I am unforgiven.

An example of this is found in the parable of the unforgiving servant. “Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times." Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents (incomprehensible amount of money). And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii (about three months wages), and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.' So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers (not executioners, but a place of severe discipline, not final condemnation), until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." Matt 18:21-35

As God’s children we are to examine our lives as it lines up with Christ. The Apostle Paul said when instituting the Lord’s Supper, “Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.” 1 Cor 11:28. We are to examine our own hearts if there is any wicked way or sin in us. Present sins that keep us from the fellowship that God set in place through and with His Son. To help to answer that question we need to look back and remind ourselves of the grace and mercy that was poured into our lives through Christ. We look ahead to the promise of eternal life and we look within our hearts to see if there is any unconfessed sin that keeps, hinders us, from the fellowship of His love.

“Approved/Blessed are the merciful,

for they shall receive mercy.” (v7)

Because they have already obtained mercy, therefore they are merciful. They have full compassion towards others; not just that in the fold of God’s saving grace. They have full pity for those who suffer either from sin or sorrow.

What does that look like? Paul wrote, “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” Rom 9:1-3

They endeavour to do good! When Paul’s life was threatened by the Hellenists, there were men who show mercy to Paul. We read in Acts 9:28-30 “…And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.”

Knowing what we know about the mercy that Jesus is speaking of in this passage, should change our hearts forever. Michael, an undeserving recipient of God’s mercy, nothing else would be more fitting than we ourselves show unreserved mercy and compassion for other people.

Indeed, we are commanded to be mercifulas God is merciful! Luke 6:36. It is tenderness of heart toward the needy. 

If grace contemplates humans as sinful, guilty, 

and condemned, mercy sees them as miserable and needy.  

It should change our outward walk amoung others. It should change the way we treat our family, our relatives. It should change the way we respond and act towards each other in the house of God. It should change the way we read the Holy Scriptures. It should change the way we pray.

Heavenly Father we come before you today seeking mercy for our town, our province, our country and this present world. 

Father we pray and seek your mercy for… 

Our brothers and sisters.

Our politicians and leaders.

Our moms and dads.

Our children

Our small local business owners.

Our grandmothers and grandfathers.

And God, may You have mercy on us all. 

I pray this in Jesus’ name and for Your glory 

And the family of God said “Amen”