THE GOSPELS: THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT: BEATITUDE 5, BLESSED are those who SHOW MERCY for they will be SHOWN MERCY, Part 3

26 June 2026

We are proceeding to study the SERMON of YESHUA on the MOUNT.

We are mainly reading from the Complete Jewish Study Bible – insight for Jews and Christians. We use the Hebrew letters for the name of God, YHVH (Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh) where the word LORD in English is indicated in capital letters in the Scriptures. The reason being that the Jewish writers removed the vowels in God’s name out of fear of transgressing the third Commandment of taking His Name in vain. And today there is a lot of controversy about the pronunciation of His Name.  We also refer to Him as Abba Father and use the Hebrew Name Yeshua the Messiah instead of the English Name Jesus Christ translated from the Greek.

We are studying the fifth BEATITUDE in Matthew 5:7 where Yeshua our Messiah taught: “How BLESSED (meaning happy and fortunate) are those who show MERCY! For they will be shown MERCY.”

We are focussing on what the WORD teaches us on MERCY.

So far we have learned that:

• We must GIVE MERCY to other people, if we want to RECEIVE MERCY from God.

• MERCY is defined as God’s undeserved kindness and compassion towards humanity. GRACE is defined as God’s undeserved FAVOR. Mercy and Grace are therefore closely related but distinct in that MERCY withholds the punishment that we deserves as sinful human beings and God’s GRACE gives us the GOOD that we do not deserve. And we need both God’s MERCY and GRACE to BE SAVED.

• MERCY is part of GOD’s CHARACTER. He is described in the Word as MERCIFUL (compassionate, kind-hearted, forgiving), slow to anger and rich in GRACE.

• MERCY cannot exist without JUDGEMENT. The weightier matters of God’s Word, the Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy) includes JUSTICE (fairness, reasonableness), MERCY (compassion and kindness) and TRUST (faith). The ARK of the COVENANT (considered as God’s throne on earth in the Old Testament, represents all these elements and was a shadow of the importance of both GOD’s LAW as summarized in His TEN COMMANDMENTS and GOD’s MERCY and GRACE in Yeshua our Messiah’s precious blood paying the price for our sins.

And today we are focusing on:

THE connection between MERCY, REPENTANCE and FORGIVENESS

REPENTENCE is defined in the Nelson’s Foundational Dictionary as: changing the mind or to regret and it is closely related to FAITH meaning, one cannot truly believe in the Messiah without changing one’s mind about one’s relationship with Him and the FRUIT of repentance has to be visible, meaning a changed life in line with the Word of God.

FORGIVENESS is defined as; the state of being absolved (released, cleared) or pardoned (acquitted, declared not guilty) for sin.

MERCY has a STRONG connection to REPENTANCE, turning from our sins, back to GOD. REPENTANCE opens the DOOR to MERCY. When we are HONEST, HUMBLE and ask God to FORGIVE us, HIS MERCY MEETS us. The Bible shows many examples where people RETURNED to God and RECEIVED MERCY. MERCY is therefore not cheap; it CALLS US TO CHANGE. But it is also PATIENT and ENCOURAGING. We therefore have to COME CLEAN with GOD and ACCEPT HIS MERCY. This helps us GROW and LIVE in FREEDOM.

We see an example of REPENTANCE in Psalm 51 when Nathan the prophet confronted David on his affair with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah and David said in verses 1-13 & 17 “God, in Your GRACE, have MERCY on me; in Your GREAT COMPASSION, blot out my crimes. WASH me completely from my GUILT and CLEANSE me from my sin. For I know my crimes, my sin confronts me all the time (David is made aware of the consequences of his actions and his conscience is troubling him). Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil from Your perspective; so that You are right in accusing me and justified in passing sentence. True, I was born GUILTY, was a sinner from the moment my mother conceived me (as we know we are all born as sinners as confirmed in Romans 3:23). Still, You want TRUTH in the inner person (in the soul consisting of the heart and mind); so, make me know WISDOM in my inmost heart (my soul). Sprinkle me with hyssop (please remember that the blood of the sacrifice was applied to the door frames during the first Passover with hyssop, read Exodus 12:22 and later sprinkled on the MERCY SEAT I the Holiest Place of the Tabernacle and later the Temple as a shadow of the PERFECT LAMB of GOD, Yeshua the Messiah whose blood would be sprinkled for us by Him, our High Priest on the MERCY SEAT in heaven for the FORGIVENESS of our sins, read Hebrews 9:11-28) , and I will be clean; WASH me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear the sound of JOY and GLADNESS, so that the bones you crushed can REJOICE. TURN away your face from my sins and blot out all my crimes. Create in me a CLEAN HEART, God; RENEW in me a resolute (unwavering, steady) spirit. Don’t thrust m away from Your presence, don’t take Your Holy Spirit away from me. RESTORE my JOY in YOUR SALVATION and let a willing spirit uphold me. Then I will teach the wicked your ways, and sinners will RETURN to You…My SACRIFICE to God is a broken spirit; God, You won’t spurn a broken, chastened (humble) heart.”

And in Psalm 130:1-4 David says: “YHVH, I call to You from the depths; hear my cry YHVH! Let You ears pay attention to the sound of my pleading. Yah, if You kept a record of sins, who, YHVH, could stand? But with You there is FORGIVENESS, so that You will be feared. I wait longingly for YHVH; I put my HOPE in HIS WORD. Everything in me waits for YHVH more than guards on watch wait for morning. ISRAEL, put your HOPE in YHVH! For GRACE is found with YHVH, and with HIM is UNLIMITED REDEMPTION. HE WILL REDEEM ISRAEL from ALL their WRONGDOINGS (transgressions, disobedience).

We read in 2^nd Chronicles 7:14 “…if My people, who bear My Name, will HUMBLE themselves, PRAY, SEEK MY FACE and TURN from their evil ways, I will hear from heaven, FORGIVE their sin and HEAL their land.”

2^nd Chronicles 30:9b ‘YHVH your God is COMPASSIONATE and MERCIFUL; HE will not turn His face away from you if you RETURN to Him.

Isaiah 55:7 “Seek YHVH while He is available, CALL on Him while He is still nearby. Let the wicked person abandon his way and the evil person his thoughts; let him RETURN to YHVH, and he will have MERCY on him; let him RETURN to our God, for He will FREELY FORGIVE.”

In Micah 7:18 we read: “Who is a God like You, pardoning the sin and overlooking the crimes of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever because He DELIGHTS in GRACE.

And in Matthew 6:14-15. Yeshua our Messiah reminds us again to do unto others as we would like them to do to us when He says: “For if you FORGIVE others their offences, Your heavenly FATHER will also FORGIVE you; but if you do not FORGIVE others their offences, your heavenly Father will not FORGIVE yours.” And Yeshua told a parable in Matthew 18:22-35 of a servant who owed a king many millions and begged the king to be patient with him and allow him time to pay the king back. But out of pity for him the king let him go. But as the servant was leaving, he came upon a fellow servant who owed him a tiny sum of money, and he grabbed him and choked him and demanded that he is paid what the man owed him. His fellow servant begged him to be patient with him, promising to pay him back but he refused and had him thrown in jail. The king’s servants saw this and told the king. Then the king summoned the wicked servant and said in verse 32b-34 saying: “I forgave you all the debt just because you begged me to do it. Shouldn’t you have pity on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you? And in his anger his master (the king) turned him over to the jailers for punishment until he paid back everything he owed’. And then Yeshua warned us in verse 35: “This is how My HEAVENLY FATHER will treat you, unless you FORGIVE your brother from your hearts.”

And we read in Luke 6:31 and 35-38 that He expects us to: “Treat other people as you would like them to treat you…LOVE your enemies, do GOOD, and lend expecting nothing back! Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for He is KIND to the ungrateful and the wicked. Show COMPASSION, just as your Father shows compassion. Don’t JUDGE, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. FORGIVE, and you will be forgiven. GIVE, and you will receive gifts.” Paul alludes to this when he tells the believers in Ephesians 4:32 “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, violent assertiveness and slander, along with all spitefulness. Instead, be kind to each other, tender hearted; and forgive each other, just as in the messiah God (the Father) has also FORGIVEN you.”

Luke 15 we read the parable of the lost son who came to his senses and decided he will go back to his father and say to Him in verses 18-24: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired workers. So he got up and started back to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran and threw his arms around him and kissed him warmly. His son said to him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son – but his father said to the slaves, ‘Quick, bring out a robe, the best one, and put it on him; and put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet; and bring the calf that has been fattened up, and kill it. Let’s eat and have a celebration! For this son of mine was dead, but now he’s alive again! He was lost, but now he has been found! And they began celebrating.”

And in Acts 3:19 Peter told the people: “…REPENT and TURN to God, so that your sins may be erased; so that times of refreshing may come from YHVH’s presence; and He may send the MESSIAH appointed in advance for you, that is Yeshua. He has to remain in heaven until the time comes for RESTORING EVERYTHING, as God said long ago, when He spoke through the holy prophets (referring to the Messianic Kingdom, the thousand-year reign of peace of Yeshua the Messiah as King).”

And Proverbs 28:13 tells us connection between CONFESSING our sins and receiving MERCY, saying: “He who conceals his sins will not succeed; he who confesses (admits, acknowledges) and abandons (forsakes, leaves, walks away from his sins) then will gain MERCY. And this is confirmed in 1 John 1:9 saying: “If we acknowledge our sins, then, since He is TRUSTWORTHY and JUST, He will FORGIVE them and purify us from all wrongdoing.”

And in Acts 15:11 Peter said: “…it is through the LOVE and KINDNESS of Master Yeshua that we trust (have faith) and are DELIVERED…”  Paul however also reminds us in Romans 6:15-20 that MERCY does not give us a license to sin and he concludes in verses 22-23 “…now, FREED from sin and enslaved to God, you do get the benefit – it consists in being made HOLY, SET APART for God, and its END RESULT is ETERNAL LIFE. For what one earns from sin is death; but ETERNAL LIFE is what one receives as a FREE GIFT from God (the Father), in UNION with the MESSIAH YESHUA, our Master.  And Paul says in Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God (the Father) is so rich in MERCY and LOVES us with such INTENSE LOVE that, even when we were dead because of our acts of disobedience, He brought us to LIFE along with MESSIAH – it is by GRACE that you have been DELIVERED.

And Paul says in Romans 12:1 “I exhort you, therefore, brothers, in view of God’s MERCIES, to offer yourselves as a sacrifice, LIVING and SET APART got GOD. This will please Him; it is the logical “Temple worship” for you. In other words, do not let yourselves be transformed by the standards of this world Instead, keep letting yourselves be transformed by the RENEWING of your minds (your thoughts); so, you will know what God wants and will agree what he wants is GOOD, SATISFYING and able to SUCCEED.”