Mercy. [ Ephesians 2 v1-10 ]

Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy[ Matthew 5 v7]I remember a man telling me about his brother who fought in the 2nd world war,that as he was retreating from the Germans,he taken prisoner.The German officer pointed him in the direction of Dunkirk and let him go.Later when the Allies invaded Normandy he showed mercy to captured Germans.The sad thing was some Allied soldiers did not always take prisoners,but that person showed mercy.In James 2 v13, we read,He shall have judgement without mercy,that hath showed no mercy.Shakespeare wrote,/How shalt thou hope for mercy,rendering none/,in other words if we do not show mercy to others ,we should not expect mercy to be shown to us.Our dear Saviour said ,that there is a blessing upon those who show mercy,and of course  He was speaking to his disciples. Those whom He saved have been shown extraordinary mercy,the least then they can do is to show mercy to others.
                                Years I spent in vanity and pride,
                                Caring not my Lord was crucified,
                                 Knowing not it was for He died,
                                                 At Calvary.
                                 Mercy there was great and grace was free,
                                 Pardon there was multiplied to me,
                                 There my burdened soul found liberty,
                                                At Calvary.
                                             [Words by Wm.R.Newell]
                               

They that mourn [Matthew 5 v 4 ]

Blessed are the that mourn for they shall be comforted[Matthew 5 v4]It is
Dr. M.L.Jones who comments,/That this is a spiritual mourning,and nothing to do with a natural life in this world/. So what does he mean by this?,well
 recently I attended two funerals,of two very godly women.As people spoke of their lives I must confess I felt overwhelmed,I rejoiced at what I heard but it caused me a great deal of sadness,as I considered my own life,and my limited accomplishments.May be you feel like that at times,your own heart accuses you,and of course the accuser who is the devil lends his voice, and you go into a season of mourning.But it is then the Spirit of God speaks to us,reminding us,that there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ[Romans 8 v1] And that no one can bring a charge against Gods elect,it is God who justifies,who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus who died,more than that,who was raised to life,is at the right of God and is also interceding for us [8 v33-34]. The result is I am comforted,but let me also reassure you ,that in all our sorrows ,the God of all comfort will truly comfort his sorrowing children,for with every pang that rends the heart the man of sorrows has a part.
                                         A  prayer.
Dear God and Father we praise you that you do comfort your children,as to their spiritual standing,and in all their sorrows,in Jesus name Amen.

We shall inherit the earth [Revelation 21]

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth[Matthew 5 v5].It is J.Stott who writes that we appreciate the words of Saviour in Matthew 11v28 /Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest/,but ignore the verse that follows,/Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me,for I am meek and lowly of heart,and ye shall find rest unto your soul/.what Jesus is saying is,come be like Me,in 1Peter2v23,we read/,When they hurled insults at him,he did not retaliate,when he suffered, he made no threats,instead ,he entrusted himself to him who judges justly/.As to being lowly of heart,Jesus said,I am among you as one who serves[Luke22v27].[ CP . Philippians 2 v 5 -11].When it came to choose a new Roman Emperor the person chosen would pretend to not want it,yes it was just a pretence.But not so with our Saviour ,his meekness and humility
was genuine,and so he calls us to be like him,not self asserting,or self seeking,or given to retaliate when offended,as W. Hendriksen writes,/The
meek person leaves everything in the hands of Him who loves and cares/.As
to inheriting the earth,well I have my little garden,but there is coming a day
when we shall see the fulfilment of these words when we will inherit the new heaven and the new earth[Revelation21v1ff]
                                          A pray
                     Dear Lord Jesus help us to be like You, Amen.

Poor in spirit. [ Luke 18 v10ff]

Now let us consider the first blessed,Blessed are the poor in spirit , for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.[Matthew 5 v3]Now our Saviour is not saying blessed are the poor,but the poor in spirit,in Luke 6 v20,our Saviour said ,blessed are you  poor,He does not mention in spirit,so what does He
mean?. D.M.Jones writes,/The Bible nowhere teaches that poverty is a good
thing.The poor man is no nearer heaven than the rich man,speaking of them
as natural men.Our Lord was even there speaking of poor as meaning not
possessed by the worldly spirit,poor in the sense if you like,that you not rely on riches/ A person once said to me that I was poor,but I did not feel poor,for I was relying on my Heavenly Father,who would supply my needs.
Blessed are the poor in spirit ,for theirs is the kingdom of God,these words are best understood in the story Jesus told in Luke 18v 10 ff,about two men who went up to the temple to pray,one was very religious,the other considered a sinful person.The religious person prayed  about himself,how better he was than others,the other man stood at a distance,he would not even look up to heaven,he beat his breast ,and said God,have mercy upon me a sinner.Our Saviour that man was accepted by God,you see he was poor in spirit,and so was blessed.
                                 Just as I am without one plea,,
                                 but that Thy blood was shed for me,
                                 and that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee,
                                 O Lamb of God I come.

                                Just as I am,poor,wretched blind,
                                sight,riches ,healing of the mind,
                                yea,all I need,in Thee to find,
                               O Lamb of God I come.

                                Just as I am,Thou wilt receive,
                               wilt welcome pardon,cleanse,relieve,
                               because Thy promise I believe,
                               O Lamb of God I come
                                     [Words by Charlotte Elliiott]
                                   
                              

Blessed [Matthew 5 v1 - 12 ]

One of the greatest passages in the NT, is the Sermon on the Mount,spoken by Jesus,and what He taught has influenced many people.John Stott describes them as being the principals of Gods Kingdom,we can read about them in Matthew 5-7, we are going to look at parts of it, starting with the blessed'. Spurgeon wrote,/The word blessed is by some translated happy,but we like blessed best/.My study Bible says,/The term blessed means more than happiness.The Beatitudes don't promise laughter,pleasure,or earthly prosperity.Being blessed by God means to experience hope and joy
independent ,of outward circumstances/While that is true,it can involve happiness,recently while watching a DVD,about people and how they came to Christ,on man who had been looking at what it meant to be become a
Christian,was convinced of the truth of Christianity,went to his friends,and
told them that he believed Christianity to be true,and was going to trust Christ,but from that point on he would stop enjoying himself./Becoming a
Christian is a serious business,but to say we never enjoy ourselves,is wrong.
We do not loose the capacity to laugh and enjoy ourselves,the joy of the Lord is real,and we experience great happiness,even though we are not happy all day,after all the gospel is good news.
                                     A  prayer.
Dear God we thank and for the gospel ,that is good news,and when we
believe it,we are truly blessed,in Jesus name, Amen.

The God of Abraham. [ Genesis 22 v18]

If we look at things at face value,we could easy make a case of saying Muslims.Jews,and Christians worship the same God,in that we worship the God of Abraham.But if we consider the whole picture as is revealed in Gods word we see a different picture, Islam exalts   Ishmael above  Isaac which
is not what  the Bible teaches,because it would be through Isaac Gods redemptive purposes would be fulfilled.Likewise when it comes to the
Jews, they reject the promise Saviour,for Jesus is that promised seed though
whom all the earth would be blessed[Genesis 22v18].If we say that Muslin's,Jews and Christians worship the same God,saying that is not taking into consideration the full story,as revealed in scripture.Jesus is that promised Seed of Abraham,if Muslims, and Jews reject that seed,then the god they worship,is not the same as the God the Christians worship and the Jew have chosen another way, than that, which is revealed in Gods word.
 Islam ,Judaism  both have a limited an imperfect concept of Abraham,who rejoiced to see Christs day,and saw it and was glad[John 8 v56].As D.A.Carson writes,/Jesus identified the ultimate fulfilment of all Abraham's hopes and joys with His own person and work/.
                                            A  prayer.
Dear God we thank you for Jesus the promised seed of Abraham,through whom all the earth is blessed, He is the only one,who can forgave our sins,and make us true children of Abraham,and true Children of God.Amen.

Through faith alone. [ Exodus 20 v 1- 6 ]

The question I asked, was this, do we all worship the same God?and the answer is very simply,no, or does it matter as to who we worship?,yes it does.In Exodus 20v3,reads,/You shall have no other Gods before Me/,Israels great sin was, becoming involved in the worship of other gods.The result was God punished them for doing this,[Jeremiah 2 v17],we are told that God is a jealous God[Exodus 20v5],in other words he will not accept any other so called rivals.Well what about Jesus?or the Holy Spirit?,are they not Gods?,no they are not,as a Christian I only worship one God,not three gods.What I will say to you now,will not make sense,the Christian God is what we call a triune God,Hilary a theologian writes,/We are compelled by the error of heretics and blasphemers to do what is unlawful,to scale heights,to express things unutterable,to encroach on forbidden matters.And when we ought to fulfil the commandments through faith alone,adoring the Father,worshipping the Son together with him rejoicing in the Holy Spirit,we are forced to stretch the feeble capacity of our language to give expression to indescribable realities/I think the key thing in what he saying is, /through faith alone/.We cannot fully understand God,but we are called to accept God,the triune God by faith,as He is revealed in scripture.That means that all other so called gods must be rejected,and that they are no more than figments of peoples imagination.
                                           A  prayer.
Dear God we thank You for revealing yourself to us by your Holy Spirit,as is shown to us in your sacred word,in Jesus name Amen.