Matt. 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
	Once more, we find ourselves in the consideration of the Words of Christ as delivered in the Sermon on the Mount, or the Beatitudes. We are looking at the characteristics of Christ that are expressed in terms of what is now true of us, as we believe and live our lives out from Him. A better manner of statement is that we are viewing the inward truths that are now ours by virtue of Christ living His life in us and out from us unto others. There is no place for self, as we have, Lord willingly, discovered. We have also been seeing how this world disdains each of these heavenly attributes, and seeks to pervert them into something that would rather promote the earthly values of this age.
	Mercy is at the forefront of this conflict, as we will soon discover. It holds forth everything that this earth decries about God, because it is the essence of how God deals with all of us. It is the bedrock of John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son... That is mercy! It is found in the manner in which God has so chosen to love each of us unto Himself. Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit. That is mercy! It is by God’s mercy that we are brought into a living relationship with Him through the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit. His mercy overshadows all His dealings with us and in us. That is why it is such a target to this present age, and such a delight for the Lord, and so critical that it be manifested in us unto others. That is, after all, why we are on this earth, to be the willing vessels through whom God can make known to all of creation, the Great Love with which He has loved us, and this entire realm.
	According to Adam Clarke, Mercy supposes two things:
	1. A distressed object: and,
	2. A disposition of the heart, through which it is affected at the sight of such an object.
	In line with this, then, mercy enters into the very suffering of the one in distress, and takes upon itself the full brunt of the pain and suffering and does whatsoever it can to alleviate that agony and distress. To quote Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, ...The perfect and central example of mercy and being merciful is the sending by God of His only begotten Son into this world, and the coming of the Son. Why? Because there is mercy with Him. He saw our pitiable estate, He saw the suffering, and, in spite of the law breaking, this was the thing that moved Him to action. So the Son came and dealt with our condition.
	It is impossible for this age to show true mercy, for to do so would mean that it would have to willingly give up its rights, power and position in order to release its hold upon those in its captivity. That is at the core of mercy, you know. It is a willingness to give up that which is needed by others who are in conditions of great suffering and tribulation, in order to salve and to meet those needs. It is to forgive freely any debts that are owed, and to hold nothing against another. It is to set aside judgment, rather than loving to see justice done, no matter what the cost and who has to bear its price. And, it is charity incarnate, without Whom none of us would have any standing before the throne of God. 
	Mercy dovetails into all that we have been considering and ever will consider as we look to Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. He is the Mercy of God in us. He took upon Himself our sin. He became our sin in order to pay the necessary price that we would be set free from its grip.
	In this, we discover that the mercy of God is eternal. There is no beginning nor any end to it. It has always existed with God, because it is an inherent attribute of God. Ps. 103:17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them who fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children.  There is no time that did not see the work of God in all His mercy. Much has been said about the God of the Old Testament in comparison to the God of the New Testament. It seems that there is very little understanding in the truth that it is and always has been the same God. Our God, the One we serve and love is the same, yesterday, today and forever. In that truth, His mercy has been evident from the beginning of His creation unto today. Man’s perception has ever changed toward God, but God has never changed. Even in the giving of the Law, under which the revelation of God in the Old Testament functioned, there was ever at its heart the abundant mercy of God. Ex. 34:6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. The Law was given with the view to how the Children of Israel would be kept and protected if they would abide by it. It was given as a means for mankind to have some fellowship with God as it pointed to the abundant splendor of God yet to be revealed in the giving of His Son. Even in that, there was every provision for the Children of Israel to come into the Promised Land of Christ as they sought after God with all their hearts. 
	The Psalms are filled with those praises to God for His mercy in such abundance that we treasure Him, in the Psalms, in our worship as His Body of believers. Psalms 108:4 For thy mercy is great  above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. We are filled with wonder at the mercy of our God. There is no limit to it. It is not drained with use like a bowl of water is emptied as it is drunk for refreshment. No, the mercy of God knows no end and no boundary. It is freely given to those who seek after God, no matter what the need. The violence of this age has not diminished the mercy of God, rather it has highlighted the fullness of God in all His mercy. He places no demands, He doesn’t dole it meagerly, He lavishes it freely and abundantly to all who desire it. He longs for all to come into the Glory of God by Christ Jesus. He has made every provision of His grace and mercy available to that end. In Christ is freely bestowed the manifold wisdom of God to make Himself known unto all mankind, through His Body, the Church, and to call forth those who will respond unto His Mercy. That is why it is so essential for each one of us to be so obedient to the Lord that our lives can be the receptacles through whom Christ has every freedom to express Himself in His purity of Being.
	This was even to be true of the Children of Israel, as we find in Joel 2:13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. They were to be the light to the nations of the great Love and Holiness of God, evident in the merciful manner in which He dealt with them. Please note, He did not prevent them from trials and tribulations, but rather, in every instance, He made a way, a provision, through which He could fully lavish His tremendous mercy upon them. He made known the truth that He was their God, and they were His people. That is why the world hated them to such an extent, and worked so diligently to destroy any witness that they were of the Living and Holy God. This world’s success was not recorded in captivity and battle, but in its subtle subterfuge of their hearts. It is there, that the mercy of God becomes most evident, as He lovingly, yet thoroughly removes the filth that infests each one of us. He shines the Light of Christ, and exposes what was true of us, and what is now true of us in Christ, and He does it in all mercy.
	Micah 7:18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He works thoroughly, and as He does so, He forgives and forgives and forgives again in Christ. There is no cataloguing of our transgressions, as we are so apt to do. There is no hit list or settling of accounts, checking ledgers, or however we may phrase it as we are dealing with others, and even with ourselves before God. Many of us have a tendency to track our day, and to put good things on this side of the tablet, and bad things on that side of the tablet, and hope that after the day is done, more good has been accomplished than bad. If we have a particularly awful day, we tell ourselves that we must be better tomorrow. Rather than this emphasis on our deeds and our misdeeds, we need to concentrate on the One Who brings each new day. Our eyes should be on Him, and how He chooses to show forth His tender mercies unto others through us anew, with each dawn. His mercy has covered our transgressions in the blood of Jesus Christ, and all those who are found in Him have received mercy upon mercy upon mercy in the heart of God. That should be our focal point and our testimony. This should be especially true in those times that we blow it, as we say. We should not focus on the error, but ask forgiveness and set our eyes on the One Who has our every misstep fully covered in His tender mercy and loving kindness.
	Not only that, but we are the recipients of renewed mercies in our daily walk on this earth, as indicated in Lamentations Chapter 3, verse 22 It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Each day is a means in which God has the wonderful opportunity to lavish us in His mercy and Grace. It is not a single happenstance, but the very life that we live in Christ, in which the mercy of God emanates forth in all His Glory. There are endless avenues in which His mercy is expressed into our lives and through us unto others. We no longer live for ourselves, but rather are enveloped with the urgency of living forth in the boundless measure of mercy with which we have been blessed. Our entire life becomes a testimony of the One whose Mercy has proven Himself over and over in our beings. We become the evidence of the Great Love of God and His tremendous mercy.
	Our whole being is bound up in the mercy of our God. Prov. 3:3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart. They are to become the very fiber of our being. To tie them about our neck is much the same principle as a cow whose neck is encompassed about with a bell. It clangs with its every movement, indicating its whereabouts. Those in the vicinity know where to find the cow, because of that ringing token around its neck. So are our lives to be so much the confirmation of the Lord Jesus Christ Who indwells us. Everywhere we are, everywhere we go, we are to be that living declaration of the Mercy of God. We are announcing, by our very presence, the truth that Our God reigns eternally and supremely throughout all of Creation. That is the outward expression. As well, having His mercy and truth written on the tables of our hearts is the spiritual, inward declaration of the One by Whom we have our very existence on this earth. Our heart’s desire should be evidenced in the Mercy with Whom we treat everyone brought into our lives by God. This Mercy should be that innate characteristic of the Love of God that springs forth from us unto the entirety of humanity, in such rivers of life, that they are overflowed with the precious life of Christ in all His revealed Glory. Isa. 58:9-11 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day: And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. There should be a renewing vigor in our lives that makes others realize that there definitely is something more to our lives than what they see visibly. They will seek us out because, like a watered garden and an unfailing spring of water, they will experience that something different which is refreshing in this parched and desolate land. The entire essence of Christ in us should be so transparent as to cause others to be uncomfortable in their sin, yet desirous to know more about the love with which they are treated on a continual basis. 
	This brings forth another reality of the aspect of the Mercy of God to be evidenced through our lives on this earth. It was voiced by our Lord Jesus Christ in Luke 6:36+37 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father in heaven is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Mercy does not rejoice in condemnation, retribution or justice at any cost, as we sometimes grasp for in our imperfect society. The Mercy of God constrains us to love the sinner, while hating the sin. It causes us to give ourselves unto those in dire distress, in their chains of slavery to this world, in every aspect of loving them unto Christ. There is no room for us to be judgmental and condemnatory of the person. That accomplishes nothing but a deepening resentment on their part toward us and toward our God. We definitely cannot condone their actions and their carnal desires, but neither can we determine that they are going to be eternally accursed for their actions. We have no omniscience as to what the Lord is ultimately going to accomplish in their lives, especially as they are treated with the mercy of God living forth from us. To determine a sentence of God’s judgment upon anyone is to limit the very Mercy of God with our restricted, finite understanding. Do we have the audacity to tell God what He can and can’t do in any life on this earth? Heaven forbid! Rather than seeking to point out and separate the lost from the saved, we are simply called to show Mercy to those in such dire need of God’s Mercy. Rather than damn, we love. Rather than judge, we show mercy. Rather than holding ought against anyone, we forgive. Rather than condemning and seeking retribution, we pray the Lord to show Himself in all His Glory through us unto those who have persecuted, demeaned, abused, and tormented us. 
	As a prime example, we turn once again to the Apostle Paul, and the treatment that he continually received at the hands of the Jews. His heart was after their salvation to such a point that in each town he entered, his first stop was the temple in order to proclaim the risen Lord Jesus Christ. He was beaten, stoned, imprisoned, tortured, and yet through it all He did not call down fire and brimstone upon those stiff-necked and rebellious people. Rather, he asked God, if it was possible, to account his own salvation as their salvation. He was so filled with the Mercy of God for the Children of Israel, that he was completely willing to give up his salvation for their sakes. That is the expression of the Mercy of God that we are to show forth in our lives. 	We need to ask ourselves before the very Mercy seat of God, Are we of that same heart? Am I able to say that I am willing to give up my salvation for the sake of those about me who are so enslaved by this present age of darkness? Is that my heart’s passion for this world? It was God’s Mercy in giving Christ! It was fully expressed by Christ on the cross! It was Stephen’s heart as he was being stoned to death! It was the Apostle Paul’s even unto his utmost sacrifice! Is it mine? Is it yours? Is it ours as the Church? Have we reached that place in our walk in Christ that we have His heart of mercy as our heart?
	It puts aside any harm rendered unto us, and meets it in Christ. It sets aside any animosity for evil done and repays it with Christ. It clothes the poor, and feeds the hungry. It lifts up those who are downtrodden and it encourages the broken hearted. Christ tells us this in Matt. 25:34-40 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty and gave thee drink? When saw thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 
	How will our witness stand in the presence of the Lord? Will we be seen as the testimony of the Mercy of God, or will we have hoarded and hidden away that which is so precious in the heart of the Lord? Our entire life, as the Body of Christ must show forth that of which we are indwelled. We know it. We have been so instructed and schooled by the Holy Spirit. Christ’s mercy and the truth of His mercy are met together when we give ourselves over to the Lord Jesus to live forth to His complete and demonstrated Glory on this earth.
	Psalms 85: 10-13 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give  that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.
	And in Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?