March 5 - What Results from Mercy?

GracetoYou.org ^ | 2008 | John MacArthur, Grace Community Church

[metmom]

“‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy’” (Matthew 5:7).

When we are merciful and we receive mercy, we experience God’s cycle of mercy. God is merciful to us by saving us through Christ; in obedience we are merciful to others; and God in faithfulness gives us even more mercy, pouring out blessing for our needs and withholding severe chastening for our sin.

But only those who are merciful qualify to receive mercy. David said of the Lord, “With the kind You show Yourself kind” (2 Sam. 22:26). Yet James says, “For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy” (James 2:13). The emphatic truth is that God will respond with chastening for an unforgiving disciple.

Jesus is not speaking, however, of our mercy gaining us salvation. We cannot earn salvation by being merciful. We must be saved by God’s mercy before we can truly be merciful. We cannot work our way into heaven even by a lifetime of merciful deeds, any more than by good works of any sort. God does not give mercy for merit; He gives mercy in grace. He gives mercy because it is needed, not because it is earned.

If we have received from a holy God unlimited mercy that cancels our unpayable debt of sin, it surely follows that we should be merciful to others.

Ask Yourself

At several points along the way, we’ve paused to celebrate the immensity of our salvation. Here at the end of our look at mercy, let’s drop to our knees again in awe and thanksgiving, realizing the depths He has pulled us from and imagining the glories that await us—all because of His grace and love through Christ.

[metmom]

Studying God’s Word ping

[HangnJudge]

The Words of Our Lord, I must attend
I am also reminded of sage words from our Jewish Brethren

..Those who are kind to the cruel,
in the end will be cruel to the kind.

Qohelet Raba, 7:16

כל מי שנעשה רחמן במקום אכזרי סוף שנעשה אכזרי במקום רחמן

Kol mi shena`asa ra haman bimqom akhzari Sof shena`asa akhzari bimqom rahaman

All who are made to be compassionate in the place of the cruel
In the end are made to be cruel in the place of the compassionate