September 15^th 2024

10:00 am--------A Message For Young & Old Believers (Faith & its Afflictions)—2 Timothy 1

Wednesday: 7:00 pm ------------------- Blessed Are the Pure in Heart – Matthew 5:8

Mercy – Definition: ‘Compassion (by word or deed) pity, feeling deep sympathy or sorrow for another’

-- “The depth of our misery can never fall below the depth of God’s mercy.” – Richard Sibbes

-- “All the compassion of all the tender fathers in the world compared to the tender mercies of our God would be as a

drop in the ocean.” – Matthew Henry

-- “As there is no mercy too great for God to give, so there is no mercy too little for us to crave.” – Thomas Brooks

-- “God’s reasons for mercy are all drawn from Himself, not from anything in us.” – M. Henry

-- “Christ is the mine of mercy and the gold of grace and salvation.” – Thomas Hooker

-- “The more godly any man is, the more merciful that man will be.” – Thomas Brooks

-- “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” – Matthew 5:7

-- “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” – Luke 6:36

On Being Merciful – ‘Be ye therefore merciful . . .’

Mercy, like love and grace, is what God is. God is merciful; that is His name and His character (Ex.34:6). Mercy is God’s nature, but not man’s. Mercy means compassion, pity . . . feelings of deep sympathy and sorrow for another. If you are a child of God, it is because the Lord God in great mercy looked upon you with love, pity and compassion and sent His Son to redeem your life from destruction. Christ came for His own, being ‘touched with the feeling of their infirmities’, and in great pity and mercy, took their sins and misery upon Himself on the cross, bearing the wrath they deserved, bearing their punishment on the tree. Who did God have pity upon? For whom did Christ shew such compassion? Not the good, not the righteous, but sinners, rebels, those who hated Him (Rom.5:7-8). What MERCY! . . . Mercy higher than the heavens are above the earth (Isa.55:7-9). And so, the Lord tells those who have been shewn such mercy, “Be ye therefore merciful. . .” This is a command to us, not an option. How are we to be merciful?

Our merciful God looked on us while yet in our sins and had pity upon us. In like manner we should pity our fellow man. To be merciful as our Lord, is to know the frame of our fellow man, that he is sinful flesh (and will do what sinful flesh will do) and have pity upon him/her. To have mercy is to look upon them in their sinful state and know that they are dead, blind, lost, ignorant, deaf, captives to the god of this world, captives to sin and self, helpless, hopeless, powerless in themselves to hear the Truth, believe, repent, turn themselves and come to Christ . . . JUST LIKE WE WERE! To be merciful to them as our Lord was to us, is to be kind, considerate (of their ignorance) and pray “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” This is the mercy of God. This is His glory.

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. O’ how far short we come of showing such mercy. But He said, “Ask and ye shall receive.” God’s people ‘are merciful’ . . . if not, they are not God’s people. All of God’s people have been shown the mercy of God and in turn shew mercy upon others, but O’ how we need to grow in this grace. How can we be more merciful? Listen . . . “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; for bearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye” (Colossians 3:12-13). Listen . . . “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God . . . Bless them which persecute you . . . Recompense to no man evil for evil . . .if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink . . . Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12). This is mercy. . . the mercy of God to us and the mercy we must show others. Let us ask that we might receive. Let us be merciful in thought, word (tongue) and deed. Let us be merciful as our Father is merciful to us.

“His commandments are not grievous.” – I John 5:3

It is more profitable and enjoyable to love than to hate, to forgive than to hold a grudge, to smile than to quarrel, to behave kindly than to act ugly. “The way of the transgressor is hard”, not the way of the believer. The life of faith and love is the good life! – Henry Mahan

Compassion without Compromise