I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs chapter
16. While you're turning there, I
was just looking at that passage that Brother Mitch read in Psalm
91 verse 7. The Scripture says a thousand
shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand. but
it shall not come nigh thee." I think I told some of you this.
I might have said this from the pulpit. I don't remember. But the last time I saw Brother
Henry Mayhan, we were talking about this Scripture right here. A thousand shall fall at thy
side, ten thousand at thy right hand. And he told me that when
he was in the Navy, during World War II in one of the battles,
one of the invasions of one of the islands. It was not Iwo Jima. He was there, but he was telling
me that when they were sailing, bringing all the Marines to the
island, He said that they were in lines, those ships. And he
said that the ship right in front of him, the ship right behind
him, and multiple ships, there were hundreds lost by Kamikaze
planes, pilots. But Henry said the ship in front
of him and the ship behind him was hit by those suicide planes
and sunk. Thousands of sailors lost and
marines. And he said, but the Lord was
merciful. And I got thinking about that.
I thought in the indescribable mercy of Almighty God, it was
Henry that knew nothing. He absolutely knew nothing of
God's sovereign grace. But here was an object of God's
mercy that Almighty God had eternally purposed to show mercy to. And God Himself, who works all
things after the counsel of His own will, directed those airplanes
that they would be able to do just exactly what He purposed
that they would do, and they would not do what he purposed
they were not going to do. And God spared that ship, spared
that man, and spared all the sailors and marines on that ship for the sake of one. What a picture. What a picture of the glorious
gospel. Brother Henry, he'd never say
that. man that he is. But I'm telling
you, there's a picture of Christ. That's a picture of Christ. A
picture of God's mercy to all of His elect for the sake of
His Son. Well, let's take our Bibles and
turn to Proverbs 16. I'd like to look as we continue
going through this precious book, the book of Proverbs, I'd like
to look at verses 5 and 6. Proverbs 16, verse 5 and 6, Everyone
that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Though hand joined in hand, he
shall not be unpunished. By mercy and truth, iniquity
is purged, and by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil."
Now, we know that when a man or woman is born into this world,
they're born, as the Scripture says, born in Adam. We're descendants. from Adam. Everybody can trace
their lineage back to Adam. And the Scripture sets forth
this truth concerning every person born in this world. Verily, this
is Psalm 39.5, Verily, every man at his best state, at his best state, is altogether
vanity. He's vain. Vain. That's the best that you're going
to find. The best man is at best, he's
just a man. Unsubstantial as the wind. This is a settled issue right
here. That man is not settled. I'm telling you, this is the
constant of man. He's unstable. I'm telling you,
you can just get me off top, dead center. Just let something
happen. Just anything. It may not be
anything that somebody else would even think anything about, but
because it works on my mind, it just flusters me. I just get so unstable. I'm just a word, a thought, an
event, something, something. I just, you know, watch the news. Man, I'm just so... That never
happens to you, I'm sure. But it does to me. For sure,
man that is born into this world is born with a proud heart. He's
man by nature. is a proud creature. He's proud. You know what that
is? It's all about me. It's all about
me. Now, if you think that that's
not born in the heart of a man, just watch two kids. If there's two kids and one toy,
it's all about me. That's mine. You can let a kid
have all his toys there, so many that he couldn't even play with
them, and let another kid come in and pick one of them up. That's
the one he wanted. That's mine. That's mine. Mom and Dad comes in, takes it
away, and what does he do? Oh, end of the world. Pride. born in the heart of man. And that heart of pride is the
spirit wherein a man sets himself against God. Man is against God's
law, God's rule of sovereignty, and especially it manifests itself
in God's right to show mercy. to whomsoever he will. That's
what Moses asked the Lord. Show me your glory. And this
is the Lord's answer. This is my glory. I will have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. So pride is that desire to not
only exalt man. That's pride. That's about me.
But let me tell you what it does. Pride goes so far as to not only
be equal with God, man wants to be above God. I want to be
above God. I want you to take your Bibles,
hold it right there in Proverbs. Turn to Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14
verse 13. Let me show you something. Let me tell you just how proud
is a man. Now, you remember when the Lord
told some Jews, He said, you are of your father, the devil.
Now this heart right here, this is born in the heart of every
person that's born in this world. Mindset of Satan himself. Isaiah 14, 13, For thou hast
said in thine heart. You know, man is smart enough
to where he won't say it out loud, but he'll think it. Thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north." Now, when I read
that, I thought about this. Just take Psalm 48, 2. Psalm 48, 2. That sides of the
north, that made me think of this. I went back and read this.
Psalm 48, 2. Well, let's read 48, 1 and 2. Great is the Lord. and greatly to be praised in
the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for
situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides
of the north, the city of the great King." Now, that sides
of the north, I went back and looked it up again. I preached
on that a few years ago, but I wanted to go back and read
that again. Sides of the north. What is it? The city of Jerusalem,
which is a picture, it's a type of the spiritual city, the city
of peace. Jerusalem is just a picture of
God's church. It's a type. But on the sides
of the north of Jerusalem, it was an elevated place. It was a place of security. It
was a place of beauty. If you lived on the north side
of Jerusalem, you know, that was the best place to be. Most
secure. High ground. High ground. Sides
of the north. And it was symbolic of the security
of God's people, the beauty of God's people. And when Satan
was talking back there in Isaiah 14, verse 13, Thou hast said
in Thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. Here's Satan setting
forth. I'm going to sit in the place
that's only reserved for God and His people. I'm going to
sit there. I'm going to do it by my ability. Pride. Pride. Back in Proverbs
16, verse 5, the Scripture says, everyone that is proud in heart
is an abomination to the Lord. That word abomination there,
it means disgusting. Everyone that is proud in heart
is disgusting. It's idolatry. Because I'm the
idol. I'm worshiping me. I will. I can. I shall. I have the right. That's born in man. And do you know until Almighty
God gives a man a new heart, he doesn't realize that. I mean,
he truly believes it. But you let the Lord give a man
or woman a new heart, and they're going to see themselves for what
they are. That's why Paul the Apostle said, O wretched man
that I am. That I am. That's me. That humbled
man says this, Psalm 115.1, Not unto us, but to thy name give
glory. But that proud heart, It says
this, not unto him, not unto him, but unto me give glory. I am, I shall, I can. You remember,
if you think that any part of your salvation is attributed
to you, that's pride. Pride. No man can come. Unto me, the Lord says, the word
of inability, no man can come unless it were given unto him
of my Father. Man that was created by God? Man that was created by God,
able to exalt himself above God? Man that is sustained by God? Man that is nothing but a maggot. A maggot. What does he have to be proud
of? I know this. Every man is guilty. We're all guilty. There's none
good. No, not one. That old man is
still there. When the Lord calls one out of
darkness, that old heart, that proud, arrogant, uncaring, Prideful,
uncaring about anything but self. Nature. Until God saves a man,
that old nature is dominant. That's the only nature there.
But in the regenerate, there's that new heart. The Scripture
says that sins not. That which is born of God. That
new man. The nature of Christ. It does
not sin, but that old man is still there. It still wars. It
still remains. And it fights and strives and
struggles. The Lord said, I'll remove that
heart, not take it out completely. It's like a bully where a stronger
one moves onto the block. And the bully doesn't have the
dominance anymore. Oh, he can aggravate and threaten.
But it doesn't reign. Sin does not have dominion over
the people of God. Raises its ugly head. It has
a thousand lives. A thousand shapes. It's impossible
to control. Pride, I'm talking about. But it has one thing that can
be done to it. Killed. And that's not going
to be until we're out of this world. Oh, wretched man, Paul
says that I am who shall deliver me, that new man, from the body
of this death, that old man. Back in Proverbs 16, 5, everyone
that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. That pride right there. God Almighty is going to deal
with it. Either deal with it in Christ, in the substitute,
or He's going to deal with it in me and put me in hell. But He's going to deal with it.
Though hands join in hand, He shall not be unpunished. He's not going to be held innocent. He's not going to be held innocent.
Though hand join in hand. The word hand there, it means
power. Though power join with power.
Keep your finger right there. Isaiah 28, verse 15. Isaiah 28,
verse 15. sets forth, because ye have said,
We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at
agreement. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come unto us. For we have
made lies our refuge." and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. What man says by nature, though
power join in power, though man thinks that he has power to make
peace and to establish peace and to reconcile himself back
to God by his own ability or will, though hands join with
hands, though this power Though man says, I've got power, though
this hand join with this hand the power of death and hell.
Though hand join in hand in this false, man-centered, self-righteous
religion, thinking, as it said back in Isaiah 28, I've made
a covenant with hell. I've settled this thing with
death and hell. This is all settled. I settled
this years ago. This is what pride says. I've decided that I'm going to
make amends. And I'm going to give my heart
to the Lord. And because I've exercised my
free will, with death and hell now, I've
settled that. I've settled that thing. I know
death and hell is bad, and I know that the Lord is good, and that
I have the ability and my power, though hand joined with hand,
power with power. I've got power, and death and
hell have got power, and I've made an agreement with it. I've
settled this issue with the Lord, and this doesn't have any power
over me now. Because I've done what I can
do. Though hand joined in hand, they're
not going to be unpunished. My friend, it's going to take
more power than I've got. It's going to take a will that
I don't have. Now, I'm not born with that will.
Let me ask you something. Are you a believer? My question
would be, what do you base it on? If the answer that you give in
your heart says, because I, I'm going to tell you right now,
whatever is going to follow is the wrong answer. The truth starts with because
He. Because He. Because He has shown
mercy to me. has been compassionate to me. Because the Lord has shown mercy
on this undeserving sinner, I have hope. God Almighty has shown
mercy upon this wretched rebel against God. Verse 6 of Proverbs
16, By mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. Now you listen to
what we just read. What part of the purging of iniquity
was mentioned in that scripture right there concerning man? By mercy and truth. What does that mean? I want you to turn to Psalm.
I know we're turning to a lot of Scripture. That's the safest
thing we'll ever do. Psalm 85. Psalm 85. Psalm 85. I want to read the 13 verses
of Psalm 85. Psalm 85, verse 1. Lord, thou
hast been favorable. unto thy land. Thou hast brought
back the captivity of Jacob, and all like him." The supplanters,
the tricksters, the hucksters. Verse 2, Thou has forgiven the
iniquity of thy people. Thou has covered all their sin.
See law. Meditate there. Think upon that.
Thou hast taken away all thy wrath. Thou hast turned thyself
from the fierceness of thine anger. Turn us, O God, of our
salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Would thou
be angry with us forever? Would thou draw out thine anger
to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again,
that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O Lord,
and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God the Lord
will speak, for He will speak peace unto His people and to
His saints, and let them not turn again to folly. Surely,
His salvation is nigh them that fear Him. that glory may dwell
in our land. 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." Righteousness. is given. It's the grace of God. Verse
6, back in Proverbs 16 says, by mercy and truth, iniquity
is purged, is canceled. Whenever the Lord gave His law
to Moses, truth was set forth. Truth. Ten commandments. Commandments
of God. Thou shalt not. Thou shalt. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all of thine heart, all of your mind, all of your
soul. Now let me ask you this. Don't raise your hand. Because
if you do, it's the wrong thing to do. Who in this congregation
has ever loved the Lord our God with all of his heart, all of
his mind, all of his spirit? Never deviated. Never deviated. Not one time. I've never deviated
one time from loving Almighty God. Who could truthfully say that
you ever Obeyed God in one point. I'm talking about now, obeyed
Him perfectly. Wholly. Never deviated in one thought. Never deviated in one word. Never deviated in one act. Never! Never deviated. Not one time. That's truth. That's God's law. That's truth. The law says, in all of its truthfulness,
the soul that sinneth is going to die. Now, do you know what every man
and every woman deserves? Death. Death. Punishment. But truth without mercy would
leave a man without hope. If I have the truth of God only,
the Scripture says, by mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. But if mercy is shown or given
at the expense of God's truth being honored and fulfilled,
then God's law is just shamed. It just doesn't mean anything.
God can just bypass it. Just sweep it under the rug.
Just forget about it. God cannot be merciful at the
expense of His justice, and He cannot be just at the expense
of His mercy, because He said, I'm a just God, and I'm a Savior. God Almighty said, I'm going
to save. I'm going to show mercy. I'm going to have compassion
upon whom I have compassion. So the question is this. How
can God be true to His law and merciful to sinners? Well, you
know the answer to this. Only in Christ. Only in a substitute. Here is the Savior. as the sinners
substitute the Lamb, dying for His people, being made sin for
them in His own body. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, He hath
made Him sin. He who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Almighty God, Ephesians 1 verse
4 says, God chose a people from before the foundation of the
world and gave them to his Son. The surety. The surety. Christ himself. The one in whom
every one of God's elect were chosen. came into this world
for this purpose, to seek and to save that which was lost.
And he revealed in John 10, 15, I'm going to lay down my life
for the sheep. And he came into this world to lay down his life
for all that the Father had given him. And he bore their guilt
Truth was established. Here's the law. What does the
law demand? Absolute perfection. The Lord Jesus Christ came in
there, into this world, and fulfilled every jot and tittle of God's
law. He obeyed it. And the Father
said of Him, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. You hear Him. You hear Him. He
obeyed God's law. One man obeyed God. One man, Chuck. One. Not me. Not you. One. Christ. And God's truth was honored. God's law was satisfied. But that law demanded justice. And Christ, our substitute, the
substitute for all that the Father had given Him. Christ Jesus laid
down His life. He laid down His life. He said,
no man takes my life from me. I lay it down. And He laid Himself
down upon that cross. And God Almighty made Him to
be what His people are by nature. He was made sin. He was made
sin. Hanging upon that cross was sin. And I say that, as you've
heard me say before, with all the respect that I can. I still,
I still in my heart take a deep breath to even say it, but it
is the truth. Scripture says it. He hath made
Him, to be in italics, He hath made Him sin. An almighty God
whose law demanded absolute perfection, obedience. Because He was made
the sin of His people, the law demanded justice. It demanded
wrath because that law had been broken by His people and Christ
Himself as the substitute bore the wrath of God in His own body. And justice was satisfied in
Christ. The righteousness that He earned
as the substitute of His people. The righteousness of God. The
righteousness of God is charged to God's people. God Almighty robed sin. Those
believing saints regenerated by the grace of God are robed
in the righteousness of Christ. And robed in Him, God Almighty
sees Christ. And for Christ's sake, God shows
mercy. God shows mercy. And even now,
as I sin, and I do, and you do too, God shows mercy because
the guilt of the sin that I'm committing right now, and the
one I'll commit in a few seconds, and the one I'll commit if the
Lord allows me to stay here tomorrow, that Christ has put it away.
The debt of it. By mercy, and truth, iniquity
is purged. And by the fear of the Lord,
men depart from evil. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. It's the reverence of Almighty
God. It's the evidence of life. Respect. Respect for God. And with that fear, with that
respect, there is a hungering, a thirsting, and a striving after
obedience. I wish I could believe him perfectly,
but I don't. I wish I could love him, Jeff,
as I ought to, but I don't. By the grace of God, I shall.
One day, I shall. When the body of this death is
put off, I shout. But I can tell you this, I desire
to hunger and thirst and love Him, and I want to. For the believer,
there is a love for the Savior and a hatred for the sin that
crucified Him. But how thankful I am that He
paid my debt. The believer, because of the
respect, by the fear of the respect, the reverence of the Lord, men
depart from it in their heart. Meaning, I don't love it. It's
there. It's there. It's present. And
I know it's present. But I don't love it. I hate to
see myself disrespectful. I hate to see myself disrespectful,
especially before the Lord, and I hate to see myself disrespectful
towards you. I don't want to be that way.
I want to love you as I ought to love you. I want to be a faithful
pastor. I want to be a faithful friend.
I want to be a faithful brother, faithful son to my mother. I want to be faithful. I want
to be for the Lord's sake. For God's sake. And the believer
continually flees from it and desires to be completely free
from it. And those, as I said a moment
ago, by the grace of God, one day I shall. Pride, abomination
to the Lord. Thanks be unto Him, He's put
the debt of that pride, the guilt of that pride. I hate to say
it, but it's still there. It's still there. But he's put
it away. How? Mercy and truth. Christ being made sin, God dealing
with him as my substitute, and then God showing mercy to me,
roving me in the righteousness of his Son. Lord, bless these
words to our heart for Christ's sake.