What's the difference? There
it is, right there. Know ye that the Lord, He is
God. God's running everything. God Almighty decides who He's
going to show mercy to. That's the difference. Man by
nature preaches a little G-God that would like to do something. He'd like to save people if they'd
let him. If they'd exercise their free
will. If they would pull his chestnuts out of the
fire, give their heart to Him. No, this is what we preach. Almighty
God before the foundation of the world. We've got God's Word
on this. God chose. I will have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. So then, it is not of Him that
runneth, willeth. But God chose mercy. That's the
difference. Man is not the author of his
salvation. God Almighty purposes those that
He's going to show mercy to. And He shows mercy to them, and
He calls them out of darkness by getting them under the sound
of the gospel, the message that honors Him. And then He tells
them about it after He regenerates them. Then He tells them what
He did. And they believe Him. And He
gives them a new heart, and they come to Him. willing in the day
of His power. Thank you, Brother Carl. Know
ye that the Lord, He is God. Alright. Proverbs 14. I'd like to look at one verse
of Scripture. Verse 22. Do they not err that
devise evil? But mercy and truth shall be
to them that devise good. I've entitled this message, Who
Finds Mercy and Truth? Who Finds It? Now Solomon, who penned these
words under the direction of God's Holy Spirit, asked this
very revealing question. Here's what he asks. Do they
not err that devise evil? Then he makes known this blessed
revelation. But mercy and truth shall be
to them that devise good. Now here's what we've got. We've
got one that said to devise evil, and the other to devise good. Now the first question we ought
to ask is this. What does the word devise mean?
You know, we think we know what it means. But the word devise
has to do, first of all, with thinking. Thinking, that's the
first. But thinking that produces action. And specifically, when you look
that word up right there, devise, the word to plow is going to
come up. To plow. Do they not err that plow evil? But mercy and truth shall be
to them that plow good." That think and have an action that
does. Now, is there not great error?
Solomon asked, when men devise or plow or think to have a crop,
now this is the line of thinking, this is what it's saying. Do
they not err? When men devise or think to have
a crop in evil, Now listen to what Hosea 10.13 says, Ye have
plowed wickedness. You've reaped iniquity. You've
eaten the fruit of lies, because thou didst trust in thy way in
the multitude of thy mighty men. You plowed wickedness. You reaped
iniquity. The evil that men devise or plow,
let me tell you what it is. It's trusting in their own way.
Trusting in themselves. That's it. That's the bottom
line. Trusting in themselves that they're righteous. Remember
the two that went up into the temple to pray? One of them went
in. and was trusting in himself that he was righteous. I know
that I'm right before God because I..." Whatever. Whatever you're
getting ready to come out with. Let me tell you what you're doing.
You're plowing iniquity. Plowing evil. That's what you're
doing. Thinking and plowing. You think
that you're going to have a crop that's going to stand before
God, and I'm going to stand before the Lord. And I'm going to start
making all of these great revelations to God. He said, many will say
to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not done many wonderful works in
Your name? Cast out devils in Your name? Whenever you start
speaking of what you have done in order that Almighty God will
accept you, you're plowing nothing but evil. And you will, according
to Hosea, you will reap iniquity. I did this, I joined this, I
went here, I witnessed here, I've done... You have plowed
wickedness. You plowed in the natural soil
of your wicked heart and thought that the workings of your wicked
heart in ways and works could produce righteousness before
God. A crop that God is going to accept. that you could produce righteousness,
but you've reaped evil, iniquity. Oh, if a man or a woman are brought
by the grace of God just to absolutely claim nothing of themselves,
Lord, have mercy on me. What am I going to do for You?
What am I going to do for the Lord? You've reaped iniquity. That's
what you're going to have. You have a bountiful harvest
that you foolishly laid up in your mind, and you feast on it. Boy, I'm telling you, I'm so
thankful that I've been so faithful all of these years. I'm telling
you, when I was a child, I just... And in your mind, You think that
you're going to reap what you desired. In your mind, you thought,
I want to be in heaven. Last year, Glenn and I were going to plant,
we wanted to plant some squash in our garden. And in both our
minds, what we wanted was the little yellow, real smooth, a
little small, Smooth, smooth squash. And I don't know how
we got mixed up or whatever, but what we got was those bigger
ones, real bumpy things, you know. And do you know what? As far as I was concerned, I
had it in my mind. what that's going to come up.
They were coming up and they were growing and they were little
blossoms and then you started seeing little squash and all
of a sudden it didn't look like what I thought I had. But do
you know what? That's still what came up. In
my mind I thought I knew what I was doing. I thought I knew
what I was planning. You've eaten the fruit of lies.
Your hearts lied to you. Jeremiah 17, 9. The heart is
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know
it? And do you know why? You plowed
wickedness and reaped iniquity and have eaten the fruit of lies.
It's because thou didst trust in thy ways. You did not trust in Him who
is the way. You say, how can I know? Let
me ask you this. Wherein lies your hope? Is your
hope found in you or in Him? Be careful how you answer that
question. My hope lies in Him, some may
say, because I... Be careful. Be careful. Nothing
in my hand I bring simply, totally, completely to Christ, to Thy
cross, to Your accomplishment, I claim. Lord, have mercy on
me. You thought that in your self-righteous
works you'd be accepted. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. Do they not
err that think, that devise, that plow evil? That's the question. Do they
not err? That plow, to have a crop that
they produced. That's the easiest thing in the
world because it's natural to a man. It's natural. We're born
that way. We're born thinking that we can
reconcile ourselves back to God. I'll tell you the marvelous thing
that happens in regeneration. Almighty God, by His grace and
mercy, gives a man a heart, a woman a heart, an understanding, and
by the grace of God and a new heart that sees him and trusts
him, everything they formerly trusted in, They cast it away. They used to trust in themselves
that they were righteous. And by the grace of God, they
say as Paul the Apostle, that which was gained to me, I count
but dung. I said, Paul, you mean you don't
have anything to say? You don't find any comfort that
you were born? A Hebrew of the Hebrews that
your mama and your daddy were both Hebrews? No! Salvation is not by blood. You
don't have any comfort whatsoever that you were circumcised the
eighth day? No! Not by works of righteousness
that I've done. No! It's done to me. It's loss. Christ is my hope. Christ's mercy. Christ's goodness. Christ's compassion to me. I
am what I am by the grace of God, and I have nothing else
to answer for. They do err that devise evil
and plow evil, but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise,
that plow good. Hosea 10-12 says, So do yourself
in righteousness and reap in mercy. Break up your fallow ground. I looked that up. Break up your
fallow ground. Here's what it is. Don't look
to your weakness. Don't look to your weakness.
I thought that's good. Don't look to your weakness.
It's time to seek the Lord till He come and rain righteousness
upon you. Oh, the difference that grace
has made. Sow to yourself in righteousness. Christ and Christ alone is the
righteousness to which God's people sow. Plow. Think. Galatians 6 says, For he that
soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but
he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life
eternal. How do you plow? How do you plow
devised good? How do you do that? Listen. By
faith. By faith. By faith. You believe God. If you look
away from self, there's nothing in there. There's nothing inside. You doubt everything you ever
thought. You doubt everything that you ever came up with. This
is the evidence of God's regeneration, grace and mercy. You believe
God. You sow, you devise mercy and
truth. But for the grace of God, I'll
tell you this, no one would devise good and sow to the Spirit and
seek the Lord. He wouldn't. Because in ourselves,
we wouldn't come. We wouldn't believe. We wouldn't
bow. We wouldn't seek. A believer, when they hear the
glorious gospel of Christ preached, you know what they do in their
heart? They say, Lord, you're right. You're right. You're right. That's exactly the way I am.
In myself, what could I do? But to those who by God's power
exhibit the grace of Christ, mercy and truth is going to be
to them. Psalm 57.3, He shall send from
heaven And save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me
up, Selah. God shall send forth his mercy
and truth. Psalm 85, 10. Mercy and truth
met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Mercy, truth and righteousness.
All the wonderful divine attributes of the Godhead. meet together
in the glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
mercy of God. Whenever you see talk about the
mercy of God, that's Christ. That's Christ. He is. Luke 1.72, to perform the mercy
promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant. He
is the truth. He is the Lord our righteousness.
He is the peace of His people. As a man thinketh in his heart,
as a man plows, as a man devises, that's the way He is. Do they
not err, devise, plow evil, and look to themselves for a right
standing before God? But mercy and truth are to them
that devise good by faith. Call upon Him. May the Lord bless
these words to our heart for Christ's sake. Amen.