Blessed are the Merciful

If you want God to relieve your pain when you going through your issues, you better stop skipping opportunity that God provides you to show mercy. Dr. Tony Evans says the measure of mercy we receive has to do with how much we give. God loves to give mercy when he gets the opportunity to do so. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr.

Tony Evans. When the sin in our life has us backed against the wall, We don't need sympathy or understanding. We need mercy. Today, Dr. Evans takes us to Matthew chapter 5 to explain how we can find it.

The Bible says that God saves us because of his mercy. Titus 3, 5. Ephesians 2:4 says, God is rich. In mercy. In other words, God is rich.

in relieving people, removing or reducing The weight. of distress, discouragement. brokenness and misery, pain and problems. But come our way. Mercy, in fact, is God's reaction.

to our misery. Mercy is more than feeling sorry for somebody. Because you can feel sorry for somebody and not do anything. Mercy. It always Involves an action to reduce, relieve, or remove the misery.

That has come. Perhaps three words, if we put them together, will... Create a distinction. Grace is getting what we don't deserve. Justice is getting what we deserve.

Mercy is not getting what we... Do deserve. All of us know what it is to call for mercy when we've been pulled over by a policeman. Because we've been going 80 miles an hour in a school zone. The policeman pulls us over.

And finds us guilty of Speeding. And we have all Pleaded for mercy. Give me a break this time. That's a plea for mercy. Justice says you were speeding.

This is the penalty. The request is Don't give me what my speed armor calls for. You're requesting Mercy. Mercy is Against the backdrop of justice. Justice says, This is what you deserve.

Mercy is saying Don't give me what I deserve. Even though I deserve it. The Bible says about God's mercy, Lamentations 3. 22 and 23. That His mercies are new every morning.

In other words, Every day you wake up, you wake up to mercy. The Bible says it is by his mercies, or because of his mercies, we are not consumed. That if God given his holiness, purity and perfection ruled with an iron fist. And gave us line for line what justice demands. It says we would all be swallowed up.

And that's why When you hear about God's mercy, And then with its twin, his grace. That ought to give you a reason To praise him. You got up today with new life. And guess what? New life means new opportunity.

Blessed are the merciful.

So he announces a blessing. to the merciful. That is, those who bestow mercy. on others.

Now there are two reasons. Breatheans, people need mercy. The debilitating impact of sin. on their lives. Or The painful weight of circumstances.

That are weighing them down, even though it did not deal directly with them committing a sin. Many of us are enduring the misery of life because of sin. There has been rebellion against God, disobedience to God. And now we are dealing with the consequences. Of those choices.

Bible says two men went to church. In Luke chapter 18, one was a Pharisee, the other one was a publican. It says the Pharisee came and the Pharisee justified himself. He said, I'm good. I'm good.

I'm so good. I go to church every week. I tithe. I serve, I do all this. I am so good.

That's how he went to church. It says that the publican, he stayed afar off. He was too ashamed to go to the altar. He said, I'm a sinful man. I'm an unrighteous man.

He said, I've broken your rules. I've broken your law. I've shamed your name. And I am not worthy. Jesus said, I say unto you, That the Pharisee.

Left. He left. Still with the sin hanging all over. Yes. He left.

Unjustified. But he said the publican who recognized his failure. Found mercy. If you are not willing to face the sin that is causing the misery, You're not looking for mercy. Because mercy doesn't ignore.

What's caused the misery?

Now there's a second reason for The misery. that needs mercy and that's circumstances. These are things that are out of your control. It's uh Person born blind. It's a cutback on the job and they give you a pink slip.

It wasn't because you weren't doing your job, it was just a cutback. And so now you're in financial straits, and maybe your family's in my financial straits. And so you're now miserable because of circumstances. You're miserable because of situations, and you need something to intervene and lift the burden of the misery of situations that you couldn't control. He says, blessed are the merciful.

Blessed are those Who sympathizes with the pain of others and seeks to relieve, remove, or reduce it. If you want to be blessed, he says, learn. to be merciful. Good man. Me, myself, and our world, dog eat, dog world.

You get yours, I get mine. That's not mercy. That's me. Mercy says I am going to seek to relieve, reduce, or remove. The burden of weight.

That is on those to whom I can pray. provide it.

Now You can't relieve everybody's problem. You can't relieve everybody's pain. But you can relieve somebody's problem. You can reduce somebody's pain. We use this excuse, because I can't help everybody, we help nobody.

He says, Blessed are the merciful. My son uh Anthony was Sherry the other day. He supports some kids through World Vision. In Africa, and he went over to Africa to visit the kid he supports. They've never seen each other.

And so he wanted to see the kid he supports.

So he flies 24 hours to Africa. He gets in a car, drives four hours into the interior. into this village. There, he meets the World Vision person who's going to introduce him to the child he's been supporting for a number of years. for the first time.

They've just been writing and sending pictures. They call for the young boy. The young boy's name is. Forget. That's his name.

That's what he's known by. Forget. Because he's named Yeah. to remind him to forget. His pain.

So they've named them forget. The village has been ravaged by Aids. They call forget. Forget! He says out from behind this tree.

Looks this little African boy. The person said, This is Anthony. And the little boy runs out, my son runs out, so they hug. Have a very emotional moment. And my son starts playing soccer with him.

And so they're You know, they're spending the day together.

Well, a lot of the parents are not living, but forgets father was living. And my son asked him, What is your dream? Forget's father said, My dream. is to have A new house for my family. With a roof that's not made of grass.

so that when it rains The water won't come in my house.

So as he says that How much will this cost? A new house? With a real roof, he says. $300. At that point, Andy said, I didn't feel sorry for him anymore.

He said, I felt sorry for me because I had on more than $300 worth of clothes. This man wants a house. with a solid roof.

So He tells the world vision guy. I'm going to send $300.

So they can get a new house.

Now He could have said, I'm going to pray for you. He could have said, I feel sorry for you. He could have said, mmm, mmm, mm. He could have said God is able. He's a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

He's so high you can't get over. He's so low you can't get under. He's so wise you can't get around him. He's the rose of Sharon. He's the bright morning star.

He's the bomb in Gilead. He could have gone Theological only. But that man didn't need theology, Bible study. or a prayer meeting. He needed a house.

with a solid roof on it. It wasn't until my son put up the $300. that mercy had been delivered. Everything else was tall. Dr.

Evans will have more for us on Mercy when he continues our message in just a moment. But first, let me tell you about a special resource bundle we're making available right now. It begins with Tony's current series, How to Be Truly Blessed. In this 10-message collection, he takes you deep into Jesus' Beatitudes, showing you what true blessing really looks like. not tied to status or possessions, but to a life aligned with God, one that brings unshakable joy.

Along with it, we'll send you Dr. Evans' devotional book, Praying Through the Names of Jesus. Scripture uses many different titles for our Savior. and each one reveals something about his character, his power, and how he wants to relate with you. This book will help you discover how those names speak directly into your circumstances and how to weave them into your prayer life.

You'll find strength, comfort, and confidence as you learn that there's a name of Jesus for every need you face. This special offer will only be available for a limited time, so don't wait. Make your request online when you visit tonyevans.org. or reach out to our resource center any time of the day or night at 1-800-800-3222. That's 1-800-800-3222.

I'll repeat our contact information for you after Part 2 of today's lesson. Here's Tony. In the story of the good Samaritan. It says the preacher passed by, the priest. He's probably reading his Bible and praying, preparing his sermon.

It says the lawyer passed by, the Levite passed by. He says, but the good Samaritan. That's a person of another race. That's a person of another race that was a hated race by the Jews. Jesus was telling this Jewish person.

He says your neighbor is not necessarily the person who looks like you. Your neighbor is not necessarily a person who talks like you. Your neighbor is not just the person who raps like you. He says the neighbor is the person who addresses the need. He says the good Samaritan, number one, stopped.

The first thing he did was stop. That means his schedule got interrupted. The second thing he did was Got dirty because the Bible says the man was bleeding all over and he had to bandage his wound, so he had to get himself dirty in order to fix this problem. The third thing he did was inconvenience himself because he got off his donkey. with a leather saddle.

So therefore he had to leave his leather plated ride and share his ride with somebody else while he walked.

So that meant inconvenience. Then he reached into his pocket when he took him to the innkeeper and said, this is to get him help from the hospital. And if this is not enough, keep the bill and I will pay you when I come back. Jesus then looked at the man asking him the question and said, Now, tell me who the neighbor was. Was it the man of the same race?

Was it the man of the cloth? Was it the man? Or was it this person who nobody would have accepted who? Got dirty. and address the need.

See, mercy is compassion in action. Matt! Face. In a Bible class. Mercy is action.

Blessed are the merciful.

The good Samaritan, he didn't need, look. It would have been nice if another Jew stopped. But since no other Jew was stopping, give me a Samaritan. I'm dying out here. I don't have time for racial discussions.

Blessed. Are the merciful.

Well the question is what's the blessing? He tells you. For they shall receive mercy. Yeah. See A lot of folk don't give mercy because they don't need it right now.

Okay, I'm okay right now. Life is going well right now. I'm not having right problems now, so I don't have time to be merciful. But there is coming a day. Yo day.

With your number on it. If you want God to relieve your pain. When you going through your issues. You better stop skipping. Opportunity that God provides you to show mercy because what goes around comes around.

Sometime on the phone, you you call a company and they'll say They'll say something like something like. This call may be monitored for quality assurance. That means somebody may be listening. to see whether customer service is up to snuff. God's saying your mercy is being monitored.

For quality.

So that when you need the same service. We're gonna check how you gave service. Mercy. You can't help everybody. You can't relieve everybody.

But God will give you plenty of opportunities to relieve somebody. That's your neighbor, the one who you come along to remove, reduce, or relieve. At whatever level you can, at whatever level you choose to. If sin is involved, then you don't skip the sin because you can't provide the mercy. You don't skip the sin to provide the mercy because that is encouraging irresponsibility and that is encouraging just more consequences when you finish helping out.

The book of Nehemiah is interesting. Nehemiah is a. Doing a lot of good. He's rebuilding the walls in Jerusalem, which means rebuilding the whole city. And during the way, he's doing a lot of good stuff.

He's helping folk. people being treated unjustly, he would come and bring justice and You know, he would feed people and clothe people. He would defend property and Nehemiah was always doing some good stuff to help folk. But all through the book, you'll find a phrase. It's a phrase you can pass over so quickly, but the phrase is deep.

Guess what Dehemiah says all through the book? Whenever he does something to help somebody, He then looks up to heaven and says, Remember me for good. Remember me, talking to God. Remember me for good. I fed some folk that remember me for good.

I help some folks that remember me for good. In other words, God. Write this down.

So when my day comes. And I'm gonna need somebody to help me. I want you to check my mercy record. And see, I did all this good for them.

Now, boomerang it back. to me. That's what the Bible means when it says it's more blessed to give than to receive. Because when you give, you set up yourself to receive. James chapter 2, verse 13.

James chapter 2, verse 13. You don't want to miss this verse. This verse will change your life. It says in James 2:13, for judgment will be merciless to the one who shows no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Let me read that to you again. It says, For judgment will be merciless to the one who shows no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Whoa, this is deep. The Bible says in Matthew chapter 18, there was a man who owed the king hundreds of thousands of dollars.

He owed the king hundreds of thousands of dollars. He said, have mercy on me, O king. I can't pay you. The king felt sorry for him. The king had mercy on him and removed the debt.

Didn't reduce it, he removed the debt. of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The man is shouting. He's praising God. He's getting his praise on.

You know, shout to the Lord. You know, he was getting into it. He's a happy camper. Yeah. He goes down the street and runs into one of his homeboys who owes him a couple hundred dollars.

Now he owed the king a couple hundred thousand dollars. He runs into one of his boys who owes him a couple hundred dollars and goes off on him. Where's my money? How come you haven't given me my money yet? How come you, you know, you know, and then gets him thrown in prison?

They had debtors prison. Gets them thrown in prison until you pay me my money back. You going to jail. It says the king heard. About what the man did.

And got Evangelically ticked off. He got ticked off.

So the king reinstated the debt. On the man who refused to give the mercy that he received. What? Because Judgment will be merciless. To the one who showed no mercy.

If your life is so full of you. That, when given opportunities to reduce, relieve in a responsible way, or remove the misery of somebody else, you skip over everybody else because you're only concerned about you, that when your day comes and you cry out for mercy, there will be none to give you because you will have stored up none. But the last line says But mercy. overcomes judgment. You'd have messed up.

You'd blown it royally. And judgments coming your way. You'll do judgment. You deserve judgment. You qualify for judgment.

And judgment's heading your way. You go before God and you say, God. Do not give me what I deserve. That's called mercy. Do not give me what I deserve.

I know I deserve justice. I know I deserve judgment, but I need mercy. He says, Mercy overcomes Judgment.

So on that day when you deserve judgment. when you ought to have judgment. Because you were merciful, you positioned yourself to not get everything that you deserve.

Now, you don't know how much he's gonna give you and how much he's not gonna give you. That's God's determination. But at least you positioned yourself because God loves to give mercy when he gets the opportunity to do so. Mercy. It's a powerful thing.

Because you're joining the heart of God and helping others. which frees God's heart to help you. At the judgment seat of Christ, see mercy overcomes judgment. At the judgment seat of Christ, we're going to be judged for our words. and our deeds.

In terms of reward, not in terms of salvation, but in terms of reward.

So we'll have all the slate of things we didn't do, we said, we shouldn't have said, we did, we shouldn't have done. Counterbalance by all the acts of mercy. He said, I just read it to you: mercy overrules judgment. Yeah, yeah.

So you actually Can reposition yourself for the judgment seat of Christ. Through your acts of mercy. By your acts of love for the well-being of others, you're actually overruling. Things that you will be ashamed of when you stand before him at the judgment seat of Christ. Because he said, mercy overrules.

Judgment.

So, some of us, we need to get busy with mercy right now. as much as we can. A little boy one day came to his mother. He said, Mama, give me a peanut butter sandwich. Mother made him a peanut butter sandwich.

But then he looked at it and he smiled. He said, Mama, I asked you for a peanut butter sandwich. And you put jelly on it too. You know what mercy is? Mercy is when not only God gives you what you ask for, but he springs a little jam on it too.

He gives you more than you deserve. Dr. Tony Evans, talking about how we can give God that opportunity to show us the mercy we need. If you'd like to have a copy of today's message to review on your own or to share with a friend, Just visit tonyevans.org where you can take advantage of our current special offer that includes the full-length version of today's lesson. For a limited time, you can receive all 10 of the messages in this series on how to be truly blessed, along with Tony's popular devotional book.

praying through the names of Jesus. It's all yours in appreciation for your contribution. to help us keep this program coming your way. Just visit us online at tonyevans.org. or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222 to make the arrangements.

There's someone there to help with your resource request around the clock. That's one eight hundred eight hundred three two two two. The old saying goes, Two heads are better than one. But tomorrow, Dr. Evans warns about the dangers of being double-minded.

and shows why having a single focus on God is so essential. Be sure to join us for that.