Let's open our Bibles again to
Psalm 85. I titled the message this evening,
Salvation in Mercy and Truth. I gave it that title with that
stress on the word mercy and truth. Because the salvation
of a sinner, salvation of that sinner's soul where God will
accept them, God will have fellowship with them, requires both mercy
and truth. God can't just forgive my sin
because I ask Him to. God can't forgive my sin by choosing
to ignore my sin that's already there and somehow whitewashing
over it. Sin must be paid for. That's the truth. Sin must be
paid for. Sin must be fully punished because
God is holy and He's just. Everything God does must be holy. Or then God just can't ignore
my sin, can he? Because that wouldn't be holy.
Everything God does must be just. Well, then God just can't forgive
my sin and ignore it without it being paid. That wouldn't
be just. A man by his own natural thinking,
he has some concept of this need of salvation. But man in his
own natural thinking cannot devise a way be saved in both mercy
and truth. One or the other, but never both.
Man has never come up with a way to accomplish that. This is why
Job asked the age old question, how should a man be just with
God? How is that possible? Job said, who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? This is not possible. How should
he which is born of a woman be righteous? How can God accept
a man like that? Job said the heavens aren't clean
in God's sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is the man which drinketh iniquity like water? How can
God be just and show mercy to that man? That's what Job's asking.
And men try to come up with all kinds of answers to that question.
They devise a salvation that's pure mercy. Their plan is for
God to ignore our sin and to accept the very best that we
can do. Now that salvation, that method of salvation will satisfy
the need of men to have their sin overlooked, but it doesn't
satisfy God's holiness, does it? Nothing's been done about
sin. Men will devise a plan of salvation that they think it's
not, but they think is purely just. where they keep the law
well enough to save themselves, and you know, that's just, it's
fair. But that plan's a lie. That's not justice at all. Because
our best is not good enough. We cannot keep the law. God requires
perfection. That plan of salvation won't
satisfy the need of men or the character of God. But God in
His wisdom has provided the answer. How can a man be just with God?
The answer is so simple. in the Lord Jesus Christ. You
look to Christ and you'll see the answer to that question.
How can a man be just with God? Verse 10, here in our text, Psalm
85, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Now, mercy and truth, righteousness
and peace are all attributes of God, aren't they? All those
attributes, as far as man is concerned, parted ways when Adam
sinned. God cannot be true to himself
and deal in mercy with a man in his sin. God cannot remain
righteous and have peace with a man that's fallen in his sin.
So these attributes of God, these four attributes of God, mercy
and truth, righteousness and peace, are at odds with one another
because of our sin. Mercy says, let some of those
rebels go. But truth says God must be true
to his character. God must be true to his word. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. But peace speaks of and peace
says, but there's got to be some reconciliation between God and
men. There's got to be some peace
and righteousness steps in and says, but I only accept perfection
and no man has it. so there can be no peace, no
reconciliation. The only place mercy and truth
and righteousness and peace can possibly meet together is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. God is merciful to his people
because Christ made his people righteous in truth. The Lord
Jesus Christ, he kept the law perfectly as the representative
of his people. He provided the perfection righteousness
requires. And the obedience of Christ is
the obedience of his people. They're truly righteous in Christ. That righteousness is in truth
because the law has been kept in Christ. Well, what about the
sin of God's people? Well, the Lord Jesus Christ took
it away from him by his sacrifice. He took that sin away from his
people and he made it his own. and he died to pay the debt.
See, that's what sin demands. The debt of sin is death. Well,
Christ died to pay that debt so that justice was satisfied. See, there's mercy and truth.
They kissed in Christ. They joined together in harmony
in Christ. Brother Henry said this about
this mercy and truth. He said, God will be merciful.
That's his character. God will be merciful. but he
must be true. God will make peace, but he must
be righteous in doing it. He's got to be. God will be merciful. You can count on it. God will
be merciful, but he must punish sin when he does it. He's got
to. God will justify his people, but he's got to be just in doing
it. God cannot give peace to sinners
at the expense of his righteousness. That's what Brother Henry was
saying. He can't give peace to sinners at the expense of his
righteousness. God can't display one attribute
at the expense of one of his other attributes. God can only
have peace with people who are righteous. You are righteous. So God made him righteous so
he can have peace with them. Righteousness and peace can only
kiss in Christ. who made his people righteous
by his obedience for them and by his sacrifice for their sin.
And verse 11 makes it clear here that David, speaking of Christ,
he says, truth to spring out of the earth and righteousness
shall look down from heaven. David is prophesying of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the God made this truth, this righteousness shall
spring out of the earth. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the rod of Jesse. That makes him a man, but he's
God too. He's the righteous one who looked
down from heaven, who came down from heaven to be a man, to be
the representative of his people. And when the father looked from
heaven and beheld his son, he was pleased. He was pleased with
Christ's obedience. He was pleased with Christ's
sacrifice. And that same righteous God looks
down from heaven And He delights in everybody who's in His Son. He delights in them. He sees
them. He sees them as righteous because
they obeyed the law in His Son. He sees them as without sin because
the blood of His Son put it away. The blood of His Son washed them
from all their sin. They're clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. And the Father smiles in pleasure. I'm well pleased with these in
my son. That's how mercy and truth are
met together. Now, in the rest of this psalm,
I want us to see salvation in Christ that's both in mercy and
in truth. Really, I just have two points.
First, I want us to see this. I want us to see salvation in
mercy and truth done for us. Verse 1, Lord, thou has been
favorable unto thy land. Thou has brought back the captivity
of Jacob. David begins crying out to Jehovah. L-O-R-D, all capitals, means
Jehovah. God, my Savior. And if you would
find mercy and truth, I would counsel us to copy David's example
here and cry unto Jehovah. Because he's our only hope. We're
lost. He's the only one who can find
us. We're dead. We're dead in sins. He's the
only one who can give us life. We're justly condemned under
the law. He's the only one who can save
us from justice. We're born in captivity, captivity
to sin, captivity to the law. Christ, the Lord Jehovah, is
the only one who can set us free. See, this is not something we
can do for ourselves. Only God can deliver us. We must
call unto Him, Lord, bring back the captivity of your people.
Deliver me. This is something only God can
do. Remember after the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt and they
were out there in the desert and they finally came to the
promised land. You know what God reminded them? I brought
you out of Egypt. I fed you all this way. I'm the
one that led you through all this way. I'm the one that defeated
every enemy. I'm the one. that brought you
into the land I promised to give your fathers. I did that. You
didn't do any of it for yourself. I did it for you. That's what
we need God to do for us spiritually. And right off the bat, I see
hope for sinners here. David says the Lord has been
favorable. He'd been favorable into his
land. He'd been favorable to somebody. And that land David's
talking about there represents God's God's been favorable to
his people. And that word favorable means
what I was talking about a minute ago, well-pleased. He's well-pleased with his people. God has delivered his people
from captivity and he set them free and he did it in truth. He did it in justice because
he's well-pleased with the sacrifice of Christ. He could set them
free from captivity because he's well pleased with the payment
that Christ made with his own blood. God is well pleased with
his people because Christ took their sin away from them and
made them righteous. Christ took away the sin that
made God angry. So God's well pleased for Christ's
sake. Now there's mercy and truth in
it. God is merciful to his people.
because Christ took their sin away. He paid the death. There's
no reason for God to be angry. There's no reason for God to
withhold His mercy. Christ took the sin of His people
away. And this is what Christ came to do. To set the captive
free. He came to declare the opening
of the prison to them that are bound. For God's people are set
free from captivity to the law. Because Christ kept it for them.
And set them free from it. He set them free from all the
demands of it. He kept it for them. God's people are set free
from captivity to sin and captivity to death because Christ died
for them. God has set his people free from
the crushing debt of their sin by paying it for them with his
own precious blood. You know, you think if you had
racked up some enormous debt, just Not a hope you can pay in
a hundred lifetimes. And imagine going to the mailbox
one day and open it up. There's a check, a cashier's
check that pays all your debt. Think how you feel. That's not
beginning to scratch the surface of Christ setting his people
free from the crushing debt of their sin. Their sin that would
damn them forever. coming and paying it for them
with the blood of his sacrifice. See, there's mercy and truth
in it. God's merciful because the debt is paid. Since justice
is satisfied, God's elect must go for it. Read on, verse two. Thou has forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou has covered all their sin. The only reason God would forgive
the iniquity of his people is because the blood of Christ covered
their sin. Sin of God's elect has been blotted
out by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when we talk
about Christ's blood covering the sin of his people, blotting
it out, that doesn't mean the sin's still there. The stain's
still there. It's just been painted over.
Now, when we talk about Christ's blood covering the sin of his
people, it means covering more in this sense. He covered the
dead. paid it in full. I can't pay
it. He said, I'll pay your debt. The sin of
God's elect, the debt, the sin debt of his elect was paid in
full by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So now their debt
is forgiven in truth, in justice, because the debt's paid. You
see that? Now God can be merciful because the sin that demanded
condemnation is gone. You see that that's salvation
in both mercy and truth. If salvation wasn't done in truth,
you better hang your soul on it. This salvation, the blood
of Christ blotting out, paying for the sin of all of God's elect,
that's a salvation that's done in truth and you can hang your
soul on it. Verse three, thou has taken away
all thy wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger. And you know why God took away
all his wrath against his people? You know why he turned himself
from the fierceness of his anger? He turned it away from his people.
You know why? He had to turn it somewhere,
didn't he? He turned it upon Christ our substitute. And God's
wrath ended where it meant the sacrifice of Christ. Sacrifice
of Christ put away the sin of God's people. And God's wrath
ended because there's no more sin left to fuel it. The sacrifice
put out the fire. Christ took it away. Like the
scapegoat of old gave us a picture of, Christ actually did it. Took the sin of His people away.
Now the fuel's gone. The fuel of God's wrath is gone
because Christ made an end of the sin of His people. And God's
justice satisfied enables God to be merciful and still be just,
still be holy. Now God is free to match his
character, to show mercy to sinners in justice. No reason for him
to condemn them. Christ took their sin away. Christ
taking our sin away. That's mercy. God forgiving our
debt. God turning His wrath away from
His people because it's been satisfied in the death of Christ. That's true. Salvation and mercy
and truth for God's people. But here's the second thing.
There's salvation and mercy and truth in us. In us. Salvation requires there be a
work done for us. The debt's got to be paid. Somebody's
got to obey the law for us. Salvation requires a work done
for us. But now listen, there is no salvation
until there's a work of mercy and truth in the hearts of God's
people too. God can't be friends with us
in our sin, in our rebellion. The holy God cannot accept anything
that's not holy. God's not going to accept us
in our enmity against him. Look here at verse four. Turn
us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to
cease. Wilt thou be angry with us forever? Wilt thou draw out
thine anger to all generations? Now, verse 3 told us God's been
reconciled. He's turned his fierce anger
away from his people because he's been reconciled. He's been
reconciled in the death of Christ. But now we must be reconciled
to God. God has been turned to his people
by the death of Christ. But now we must be turned to
God. What's going to accomplish that?
The same thing that turned God to his people, turns his people
to God. Let me show you that, 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. It's the sacrifice of Christ.
The sacrifice of Christ turned God to us, to his people, didn't
it? And it's that same sacrifice that will turn us to God. 2 Corinthians
5 verse 18. And all things are of God who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and given to
us the ministry of reconciliation. Namely, this is our ministry
of reconciliation that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself. Not imputing their trespasses
unto them. He didn't impute their trespasses unto them because
he imputed them to Christ. And he hath committed unto us
this word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. This is what God's servants,
this is their message. You bow. Right now, you bow to
Christ. Right now, you surrender. Right
where you sit, you surrender to Christ. Right where you sit,
without moving a muscle, you come to Christ. You come to Him
as a needy beggar, begging for mercy, begging for salvation. You stack your arms, you quit
your warfare, and you surrender. Now, what would make a rebel
like me be reconciled? What would make a sinner like
me turn to Christ? Verse 21. Four. Here's why you'd
be reconciled to God. Four. He, God the Father, had
made Him, God the Son, sin for us, who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. It's hearing of Christ's sacrifice.
that makes his people turn to God, that makes them be reconciled
to God. Every person in this room has
heard about the sacrifice of Christ. Everybody here knows. I bet that when you walked in
here, when you walked in these doors tonight, you thought, I'm
going to hear something about the sacrifice of Christ. If the Holy Spirit ever speaks
it to your heart, your heart's going to be broken.
It will be broken. But Christ, the perfect Son of
God, came to this earth for the express reason of taking my sin
and suffering and dying for me, God ever speaks that to your
heart, your heart will be broken. And at the very same time, your
heart's going to be overjoyed to hear that God would sacrifice
his son for my sin. Now, if God Almighty went to
the extreme to sacrifice his son for my sin, you reckon it's
gone? I'd say it is, don't you? God didn't fail anything. God
speaks that to our heart, we're going to turn to God. How can
we not? How can we not be reconciled
to God? Of course we will be. But we won't turn to God until
God does a work of grace in us. And this work of grace in us
is God the Holy Spirit giving us life in the new birth. Verse
6 back in our text, Psalm 85. Will thou not revive us again?
that thy people may rejoice in thee." Now this new man, born
of God, has been revived. He's been born of God. And that
man, that new man, the spiritual man, he's holy. He's got to be
holy. He's born from holy seed, the
Word of God. The reason that we're sinners
in his flesh is we're born from sinful seed. For the new man
born of God is holy. He's born from holy seed, the
Word of God. And almighty God can accept that
man and be friends with that man because he's holy. You see,
God loves his people. And Christ died for those people
so God can have fellowship with them. He made them what God will
love and have fellowship with. And the only example I could
think of of that is this. How many preachers use Charles
Manson? an example for years. He's dead now. But suppose he
was still in prison. I wondered, every year, you come
up and you see, well, they're having a parole hearing for this
guy. I think, why are we wasting taxpayer
dollars? Nobody can let this guy go. What
a miscarriage of justice if we would let a guilty, vile, unrepentant
criminal like that out of prison. What a miscarriage of justice.
There'd be no justice in letting him go, would there? I reckon
somebody could say, in a sense, it would be merciful. But if
you did that, you'd release evil back out into this world. Just
think the price that would be paid for that. But suppose somebody
could pay his debt to society. And suppose somebody could give
him a new nature, that they set him out in the world, he wouldn't
be a curse on him, he'd be a blessing on him. That would be mercy and
truth, wouldn't it? Well, you and I can't do that.
But that's what God has done for His people and His grace.
He has saved His people in mercy and truth in them. Verse 7, Show
us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. God grants
salvation. We don't get saved. God grants
salvation. He gives it to His people as
a free gift, and He grants it by putting mercy and truth in
the hearts of His people. When God shows His people His
mercy, what He does is He puts it in them. He makes us see it. He makes us love it. He makes
us believe it. He makes a new man who is born
in the image of His Son. That's salvation in us, and this
flesh is unchanged in this great transaction, the flesh is unchanged. It's got to die. It's got to. But that new man can never die. We weep. Can't help but weep
when one of our dear brethren, one of our dear sisters is called
home. We miss them. We can't help it.
We love him. Oh, we love him. We miss the
presence. We miss talking to him. We miss
the influence in our lives. And oh, what rejoicing. That new man has finally been
set free from this clay prison to go be with the living. That's
salvation and mercy and truth. You ever want to feel inadequate,
try to describe to a room full of people God's grace. I wish
I could paint it as glorious as it really is. But maybe somebody
here is interested in this salvation, mercy and truth. I hope so. If there is, I have some advice
for you. Hear God's word preached as Often
as you possibly can, pray for the faith to believe it. Verse
8, I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak
peace unto his people and to his saints, but let them not
turn again to follow. You remember we read there in
second Corinthians five, the apostle said, the Lord has given
us his ministry of reconciliation. God has given us this gospel
of his grace to preach. He's given us the gospel of His
Son, His darling Son. God's given that to us to preach. Buddy, tell you what I do. I hear it every chance I get,
if I could. You know why? It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them to believe. I told you, I'd hear
God's Word as often as I could. I'd pray for faith to believe
it. I tell you what, I'd keep coming. I'd keep hearing. I'd
keep hearing the gospel as often as I could because you know how
God gives saving faith? Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing. I'd hear as much gospel as I
could. Gospel preaching is the way that God gives faith to his
people. God uses the preaching of his
word as the seed that gives life and new birth to his people.
And it's that gospel we preach over and over and over again. The Lord uses the same gospel,
the same message to meet the need of the hearts of His people
in many different situations. We might find ourselves, believers
do from time to time, in a spiritual stupor, in a spiritual winter,
and we need to be revived. You know what will do it? The
gospel of Christ. We find ourselves lost. We're
lost, we're under condemnation, we see no hope for us. You know
what will give life? You know what will save? You
know what will bring joy? The gospel of Christ. We find ourselves coming in,
especially on a Wednesday night, so tired, so just Dog tired. The world has just sucked it
out of you. You left here Sunday morning
on a cloud. I mean, on cloud nine, didn't
you? You're here Sunday morning, I promise you, you left on cloud
nine. Where's that cloud by midday
Monday morning? The world just sucks it out of
you. And you come in so tired, you just, what is wrong with
me? You want to fix that? The gospel of God's grace. He
uses to feed his sheep. You think my heart's broken?
I just, I can't go on in this world anymore. And God is going
to leave me here for years. You know what will comfort that
heart? The gospel of God's grace. You think I've been here a long
time. I've been listening to the gospel a long time. What's
wrong with me that I haven't made more advances in this matter
of grace? You know what would give you
growth? Preaching the gospel of God's
grace. It's the same gospel. That's what we need all of our
life long. Then by God's grace, I want to say with David, I'm
going to hear what the Lord God will speak. God speaks to his
people in his word. And when he speaks, he speaks
peace to their hearts. He speaks peace. He tells them
the war's over. Christ already won it. There's
peace. Now you be at peace. Now you surrender. You surrender
to God's terms of peace. Don't make up your own. You surrender
to God's terms of peace and you'll have peace and mercy and truth. You'll have peace of heart because
your sins forgiven. You'll have peace and have an
eternal life. And there's a warning here, but
this really stuck out to me. He says, but don't let him turn
again to folly. Here's a good warning for us. Don't think that
you've grown so much in grace that now you've reached the point
you can stand on your own. If we think that, we're on dangerous
ground, aren't we? Salvation is dwelling in Christ. It's dwelling in his mercy and
truth. Verse 9, he says, Surely his
salvation is nigh them that fear him, that glory may dwell in
our land. God's salvation is nigh us. It's
near us. The gospel is right here. God
put it here in our town. Apostle Paul told us Christ the
Savior is always near. Call out to him. Search for him. Believe him. Trust him. Cling to him and rely on him
Always, always so that there's growth, there's growth in grace. I spent some time thinking about
this this week. I do want to see results from my preaching. I don't try to get results. I
just want to preach the gospel now, but I would, I do pray that
we see results from those things. And I'm not talking about having
a bunch of baptisms and people walking the aisle and those kinds
of things. Now, that's part of it. I mean, seeing God save his
people is part of it. But here's a very serious warning. If getting folks baptized is
our only goal, we'll do it. I promise you we will. And we'll
end up with no real salvation. Something that's no mercy in
truth to it. If our goal is getting baptisms and adding to our numbers,
you'll get it. If that's your goal, you'll get
it. But you can find out what you build with a wood hanging
stubble. I do want to see God save his
people. But I want to see growth in grace after that, don't you?
I don't want us to just end up with a mere profession. I want
growth in grace. I use the example of Isaac and
Brady. If you don't mind, I'm going to do it anyway. I'll say,
if you don't mind, to sound polite. I'm just so thankful to see these
two young men confess the Lord and believe His baptism. I don't
want it to end there. You don't either, do you? You
don't want it to end there. We want them to grow. I remember
when Isaac was born. I remember when his mom and dad
first brought him to the surface. And we're so thankful, this cute
little guy. But I didn't want to see his
life in there. That first Sunday, Abbie had her in his arms. You know what I thought? I want
to see him now. I want to see him grow. I want to see him grow
some more, and some more, and some more. That's what we want
spiritually too, don't we? If there's life, there's got
to be growth. I want us to grow in grace. and the same preaching
that gave life will sustain it. Verse 12. Yea, the Lord shall
give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase. You want increase? Here's how
God gives it through the preaching of the gospel. Just keep preaching
the gospel. Just keep sowing. Just keep watering. God will give the increase. You
want increase in yourself? Here's how God's going to give
it. We'll be preaching the gospel. Just keep coming, just to be
sowed and to be watered. God will give the increase. Verse
13. Righteousness should go before
him and shall set us in the way of his steps. That's the same
gospel that set us in Christ. How did you first come to believe
in Christ, be set in him? Just be preaching the gospel.
Well, that same gospel that set us in Christ the narrow way will
keep us in Christ the narrow way. The same gospel that first
called us to Christ will cause us to follow him, follow his
steps, follow his way. And when there's growth in grace
and there's following Christ, there's an increase, then there's
no doubt there's been salvation and mercy entered. That's what
I pray Lord will grant us. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for your mercy and your truth. How we thank you for righteousness
and peace that you made all of them come together in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Father, how we thank
you for your wisdom. How we thank you for your pity.
that you would apply such a salvation to the hearts of sinful men and
women such as we are. Father, we pray that you bless
your word. Bless your word to give life
to the hearts of your people. Bless your word to give us a
growth in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Use
your word, preach, to cause us to grow more and more and more
dependent upon Christ our Savior every day. Father, it's in His
blessed name we pray and give thanks. Amen.