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 40th 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”
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