This is the first six verses,
and it came to pass after this that David inquired of the Lord,
saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the
Lord said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall
I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron. So
David went up thither, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess,
and Abigail, Nabal's wife, the Carmelite, And his men that were
with him did David bring up, every man with his household.
And they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. And the men of Judah
came, and there they anointed David king over the house of
Judah. And they told David, saying that
the men of Jabesh Gilead were they that buried Saul. And David
sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh Gilead and said unto
them, blessed be ye of the Lord. that you have showed this kindness
unto your Lord, even unto Saul, and have buried him. And now
the Lord show kindness and truth unto you, and I also will requite
you this kindness because you have done this thing. Let's pray. My gracious Father, thank you
for your word, and I pray that tonight, Lord, as we gather here,
that we're gathered in your name for your honor and glory, to
praise you, to worship you, to learn of you. Bless us in that,
Lord. You've brought us here. So I
pray for your blessing upon us. Thank you for this church and
all your blessings that you've bestowed upon us so richly already. Be with us tonight and teach
us by your blessed Holy Spirit. In the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, we pray. Amen. It came to pass after this. You could say that that means
after the funeral of Saul, but it could just as easily mean
after all of everything. that has happened
in David's life because really years and years and decades roll
by and everything comes to pass sooner or later in God's time
it comes to pass after this I lived for a lot of years before
I met Vicki and I don't even remember any of it I don't know
what it is to be without Vicki don't want to remember. After
all of that then something happened. You know what I mean by that?
But a lot happened to David throughout the years but things come to
pass after other things in this life and that's the blessing
of God. He brings everything to pass.
We'll talk a little bit about that more in a moment. But David inquired of the Lord.
It's good to see that. It's good to see that, because
David, and we'll be referring back to 1 Samuel, because those
words after this, I believe, refers to all. It's just as much
does as it does to what happened right before that. It's after
all of it, isn't it? That David, just as God said,
his anointed king. But it was after some things. So we'll be referring back to
1st Samuel quite a bit because it pertains to what's happening
to David now. It has to do with who David is
and where the Lord has brought him, how the Lord has dealt with
him. When we see him inquiring of
the Lord, it's a blessing because it hadn't always been that way.
We saw in chapter 27. Let me read it to you again because
I know your memory is probably not quite as bad as mine is.
But think about a time when David didn't inquire of the Lord. And
David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand
of Saul. That's bad reasoning. That's
contrary to God's promise. There is nothing better for me
than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines.
The stupidest things look like the best things to us sometimes,
don't they? There's nothing better for me.
How do you know David? How do you know that? God has
said there's something better for you than that. So he's escaping into the lands
and Saul shall despair of me. So David came up with a plan,
and we remember what a horrible situation David, trusting in
his own heart, got him into. And the turning point, David's
recovery from complete disaster, came in 1 Samuel 30 verse 6. And David was greatly distressed,
for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all
the people was grieved, every man for his sons. and for his
daughters. But David encouraged himself
in the Lord his God. He didn't talk to his heart that
day. His heart had gotten him there. He encouraged himself
in the Lord his God. And David said to Abiathar the
priest, to Himalek's son, I pray thee bring me hither the ephod.
And Abiathar brought hither the ephod to David. And David inquired
at the Lord. Saying, shall I pursue after
this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he
answered him, pursue. It's difficult not to wonder
what might have been. You know, the Lord talks in the
scriptures some about what might have been. If the mighty works had been
done in Sodom that were done in these cities, they would have
repented. and things like that. There are several examples of
that. But what would have happened if David had inquired of the
Lord sooner? Things might have been different,
huh? It's hard not to think about that. We sing that song, oh what
peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because
we do what David did. We don't go to the Lord, we go
to our own heart. I believe that's true. I think
we I think we do. And the Lord overrules it. We
know that. He's going to use even our mistakes for our good. But we think about things like
that. What if David hadn't inquired of the Lord here at Ziklag like
he did? I don't want to think about that
much. But everything that happens,
everything that does happen, is a lesson. It's a lesson, isn't
it? Paul said in Romans 5.3, and
not only so, but we glory in tribulations also. We're not
glad that they come, we don't enjoy them, but we can glory
in them knowing that tribulation worketh patience. And patience
experience. And experience. What has come
about from the experiences that God has put you through? Religion
always talks about exercise your faith. God exercises your faith. He tries your faith and if He
gives you some, He'll try it. And all the experiences that
He's put you through, what's the result of that? My hope in
Him is even stronger. Experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed,
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost which is given unto us. I wanted you to look at this
one with me, James chapter 1. Look at James chapter 1 with
me. Verse 2, James 1-2, because I want you to see how
this is, it's almost like James could have been talking to David
here. I don't think he's thinking necessarily about our specific
text when he wrote this, but listen to it. James 1-2, My brethren,
count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, that
word's trials, troubles, tribulations. Knowing this, that the trying
of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect
work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Now, same thing we read in Romans
there, pretty much, same lesson. But look at this next verse and
think about our text in 2 Samuel when you look at this next verse,
verse 5. If any of you lack wisdom, Have we learned this through
our tribulations? I believe David did. I think
he learned that right there through his tribulations. When you lack
wisdom, if you follow your heart, you're going to suffer for it. If any man lack wisdom, ask God. What did David do? He inquired
of the Lord. Oh man. I want to learn that,
that giveth to all liberally. Sometimes we don't ask God because
we just think, well it ain't going to happen anyway. Do you
have any idea, do I have any idea what He's able to do for
me, for you? He's able to do abundantly above
all that we might ask or even think. Let him ask of God. Giveth. He gave you everything
you have now. You reckon he can give you what
you need? We're just so foolish, aren't
we? You'd think I would have learned
that by now. I've been through enough trials. You'd think I
would have learned that by now. Let's go to God with it. And he upbraideth not. You go
to man, and God may use somebody else. He uses his people often
to bless his people. That's wonderful. But you may
go to this world and ask them, you know what they're going to
do? More often than not, if they're able to help you, you're going
to hear about it the rest of your life. They're going to upbraid
you. It won't come without strings,
will it? Oh my. And it'll be given. Ask and you shall receive. We have not, why? We're His children now. What
would you not give your children? We'll be given. So look back on your trials and
thank God. Maybe you're going through one
now. Thank God for the trial. Because if it wasn't necessary,
He wouldn't have put you through it. Remember, it says if need
be, you're suffering through trials now. And thank Him for
bringing you through it. Even though, think about this.
Thank Him for the trial, but thank Him for bringing you through
it. Even though David was in horrible circumstances, he almost
fought against his own people that God had given him as a king. And then losing all of the families
and property of all of his men and himself. But when he came
out on the other side of that, what had he actually lost? It
looked like everything was lost, didn't it, for a while. What
did he actually lose? He came out with more than he
went in with. Didn't it? Because they took
all the spoils from the Amalekites. That's how God works now. And
He does it even though it's your fault. It's your sin. You don't
deserve it. You deserve a whooping and to be shamed and to not ever get anything
else from God. Because you just, we never learn
do we? But he just doesn't work like that. He's going to bless
you in spite of you. And then may we learn from the
trials this thing too, this third thing. To act without God is
foolish. Boy, that seems pretty simple,
doesn't it? Oh, I already know that, Chris. Are you sure? I'm
not sure I do. And when David inquired of the
Lord, God told him exactly what to do. There's specifics involved,
aren't there? Now God doesn't speak to us the
way he did David then. I don't know if it was an audible
voice. He spoke somehow through the priest. I'm not sure exactly
how it happened right there, I know that he did at that time
sometimes speak audibly. And he spoke through his prophets,
we know that don't we God, who at sundry times and in diverse
manner of spaking time pass unto the fathers by the prophets. But they didn't have the complete
word of God then. We do now, this more sure word
of prophecy. Let me ask you this, is God any
less able now to get a message to you than He was then? If He
wants you to know something, you're fixing to know it, aren't
you? That's all through this book. And it's in our experience,
isn't it? If He has something He wants
you to know, you're going to know it. This is one of the reasons
that you need to hear from God. Always hear from God. He speaks through His Word. He
speaks through the Gospel. You need to read and study on
your own and know His word and you need to hear Him speak by
His gospel and I do too. All of your priorities in life
will be aligned based on whether you know the will of God or not
and whether you care. Oh, how we see this in our loved
ones. We see them suffer and struggle and take one step forward
and two steps back And they wonder why they just can't get ahead,
you know, why things can't happen, good things can't happen for
me. Maybe it's because you hate God, who owns everything, who
rules everything, and who dispenses everything, who controls everything. That might be worth considering.
Maybe that's it. Pretty sure that's it. Inquire
of the Lord. And wait on Him. Let patience
have her perfect work. Wait on Him. I wouldn't consult
with the flesh or act upon the impulses of the flesh in anything. Inquire of the Lord. And whether you like His way or not,
He may shut you up where there's only one thing you can do. There's
a whole lot of ways. that the Lord can get the message
across to you, and he does. But whether we like it or not,
whether it was our way or not, he knows better than us. He loves
us more than we do, doesn't he? I like what Mary said to the
servants there at the wedding feast. Whatsoever he says, do
it. She knew enough to know that
at that time. Verse two, you can see why we
didn't get past six verses. So David went up thither. He
did what God said. Whatever he says, do it. And his two wives also, Ahinoam
the Jezreelitess and Abigail, Nabal's wife, the Carmelite,
and all his men that were with him, did David bring up. and
every man with his household and they dwelt in the cities
of Hebron." Now, David having two wives, we could talk about
that for a long time. Is that the right thing? No,
it's not. But listen, what do these people represent? Why does
it even mention that he took his wives with him and all these
men brought up their households? I mean, that could just be useless
information or it could just be a little reminder. Everywhere David went with his
wives and all these people from then on is going to be a reminder
to him of the salvation of the Lord. Of what David's heart did for him
and what God did for him. It's a living lesson. And everything
that we have is too. David's wives and these men's
families are mentioned because they are now a walking living
testimony to the grace and power of God We shouldn't ever do anything
from here on out like we did before Because we know more now
Maybe we trust him a little bit more now He's gotten me this
far hitherto hath the Lord brought us and we said that ten years
ago and now hitherto hath the Lord brought us and Have we learned
anything along the way? Has after this done anything
for us? You know it. The Lord's not going
to let us completely fail to learn anything. Some of us are
thicker than others. I can testify to that. But the
Lord's going to teach us and He teaches us. He tries our faith.
He exercises our faith. He wants us to learn. And you
know what he wants he gets. Religion likes to say, well God
wants this, you know, so it's on you to make sure that, no. What he wants he does. But these were their families. Everything they had, they were
richer because God overruled their stupidity. against all human hope, against
all human reasoning. God restored everything to them
in spite of the sin that had endangered them to begin with,
in spite of the overwhelming circumstances that were against
them. All of these and this were an ever-present reminder of the
difference between following your heart and doing what God
says. And that's key now, because we're
going to see that in the rest of this passage. Doing what God
says, by the grace of God. And the men of Judah came, verse
4, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying that
the men of Jabesh Gilead were they that buried Saul. Now here's
a couple of things that happen here that are both very important.
So a lot had happened between the time that God told Samuel
to anoint David as king. And everything has been against
him. From the very day that Samuel
came to anoint him, he was the last one that was looked at to
be God's king. And everything has been against
him since then. But God has brought him through
smelling like a rose. All of it. His own sin and stupidity. Just insurmountable challenges. Goliath. Saul. The armies of
Israel. God's brought him through all
of it. God's purpose did come to pass. It always does. It came to pass. You see those words in the beginning
of the verse 1 there, where we began. It came to pass. After those things, whatever
those things are. Some things may have to happen
before what God promises happen. They'll happen and it'll happen.
Because He's the God that rules all things and brings everything
to pass. It always does. We don't know what it is often
until it comes to pass. But we knew what it was here.
God said you're going to be king. And now he's king. King of Judah. All that remained was when. And we don't know specifically
when on just about anything. But we can give a good answer
to when. this way, when God says, when
God's ready, in God's time. Look with me, this was a blessing
to me, Ecclesiastes chapter 3. I can't even find anything. My
pages are all stuck together from this humidity. Okay, chapter 3. Verses 1-8 you're
familiar with and I wanted to show you this and a couple of
things in the context of it. To everything there is a season.
There was a time for David to be tried. And there was a time
for him to reign. There was a time for him to suffer.
There was a time for him to rule in relative peace at times and
during war. There's a time for war. A time
to every season. A time to every purpose under
the heaven. Every purpose. It's on purpose,
isn't it? Not your purpose, God's purpose.
A time to be born. I didn't purpose that. So whose
purpose are we talking about? and a time to die. There's a
time to be born again for some. A time to plant and a time to
pluck up that which is planted. I hate that time, don't you?
I'll let my tomato plants go until they're just a stick. I'm
thinking one more, there's going to be one more on there. Nah,
there ain't. Pull it up. A time to kill and a time to
heal. A time to break down and a time
to build up. A time to weep. We've all had
those times. But bless God, there's a time
to laugh. And sometimes it's good to weep. Sometimes it's
good to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to
dance. A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together.
A time to embrace. And a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get and a time to lose.
The Lord gives and He takes away. He does it in His time. A time
to keep, a time to cast away. A time to rend and a time to
sow. A time to keep silence and a
time to speak. We tend to speak more than we
keep silence, don't we? There's a time for both. A time
to love and a time to hate. There's a time to hate. But I'm
so thankful there's a time to love. A time of war and a time
of peace. Now look at verse 11. He hath
made everything beautiful in his time. If it's his time, if
you're on his time. Any of that can be beautiful. It can be right. It can be the
right thing to do now. When you think about all the
things it says there's a time for, all of it's beautiful in
His time. Also, He hath set the world in
their hearts so that no man can find out the work that God maketh
from the beginning to the end. That's the world. But listen
to this. Here's what he said in verse
14. Here's what we know. The world
is one thing. The way they think about things and how they happen
and why they happen, that's a whole other story. But here's what
we know. Whatsoever God does, it's done. You see that? It's done forever. Well, this is simple, isn't it?
Our whole life is governed by knowing these things. Knowing
the simple truth of who God is. The sovereign purpose and power
of God. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. And God, here's why, He does
it. He does it for His glory. That men should reverence Him.
Do we? Boy, if you know it's Him doing
all that and working all of that in our lives and using us in
some of it. We experience these things as
He purposes them. I guarantee you, if you know
Him and know that, you'll fear Him. Every day. Because some of that happens
every day. And we know who's doing it. And we know why. It's just, the why is simple,
isn't it? so that we'll honor Him. You
gonna do that? We gonna do that? Boy, I hope
so. I sure hope so. Now look at, this is important,
and I'm gonna have to abbreviate some of this here, but listen,
in verse four of our text, I didn't think there was going
to be that much in these six verses but this is almost unbelievable. The men of Judah came and there
they anointed David king over the house of Judah and they told
David saying that the men of Jabesh Gilead were they that
buried Saul. Now think about this. The last
part of verse 4 there, the men of Jabesh Gilead are the ones
that buried Saul. That happened because of 1 Samuel
31. Flip back there with me. We've
got to see this. I may just close with this and
we'll look at the rest of my lesson as part of next week. They were the ones that buried,
that just sounds like kind of an unimportant fact, doesn't
it? That happened because of 1 Samuel 31, 11 through 13, and
when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard that which the Philistines
had done to Saul, they cut his head off and they dismembered
him, they nailed him to a wall in a place where they could gloat
over their victory against the Israelites. All the valiant men
arose, verse 12, and went all night and took the body of Saul
and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan and came
to Jabesh and burnt them there. And they took their bones and
buried them under a tree at Jabesh and fasted seven days. Now, it doesn't say a whole lot
about how they took his body. But the Philistines had taken
his body, and it was nailed in a place of prominence where they
could look at it and say, yeah, we're bad boys. So I don't know
if they had to fight some Philistines to get it or not, but they certainly
could have. They put their lives on the line to get Saul's body
back. And you know why that happened?
That happened because of what happened in 1 Samuel chapter
11. Look at that with me. Verse six. First Samuel 11 and verse 6. And the Spirit of
God came upon Saul. And when he heard those tidings
and his anger, when he heard those tidings the Spirit of God
came upon him and his anger was kindled greatly. And the rest
of that chapter, you'll remember what happened. The tidings that
he had heard there in chapter 11 was that Jabesh Gilead was
about to be attacked, was it the Amalekites? Let's look back
at the beginning of the, yeah, the Ammonites were about to attack
Jabesh, the men of Jabesh Gilead. And the men of Jabesh Gilead
wanted to make a deal. We said, look, we'll, you know,
let's, let's make, come to some kind of agreement. We don't want
to go to war with you. And the Ammonites said, yeah, here's
our agreement. We'll, we won't kill you all if you'll let us
put out all of your right eyes. It was an insult. Nobody's going
to submit to that. And when Saul heard about that,
it made him mad. You know why? Because the Spirit
of the Lord came upon him. Saul, who had proven to be a
coward in so many ways, he wouldn't even come out when they were
going to anoint him king. They had to go find him. Because he
was cowering somewhere. Who had shown cowardice and selfishness. He didn't care about anything.
Remember how he complained to his people, you all don't care
about me, you're not worried about David out there trying
to kill me, you're not going to help. He showed a disregard for God
at every step. He didn't hearken unto the voice
of the Lord. Disregard for anything honorable.
at other times, and yet right here he did something extraordinary
at that time. And it all started with the Spirit
of God making a move. And we just traced that back
through four different events. All that happened, that little
phrase in our text tonight. J.Bish Gilead, he told David
that that's what happened and we saw why that happened and
why that happened and why that happened was God did something.
How many things in your life, what does your life look like? If anything that's happened worthwhile,
it's because God did it. You can trace it back to the
grace and power of God. And one thing led to another,
and the people of Jabesh Gilead were the recipients, verse 5
and 6 of our text, of the kindness and truth of God. Because of
all of these secondary causes, but God initiated it and brought
it all to pass. It came to pass. And it started
with God. All of this started with the
Spirit of God moving, didn't it? The Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the deep. We wouldn't even have an earth
without that. Boy, it'll do us well to trace
back everything good to the grace and power of our God. And here these people are blessed
through a series of events that God started and perpetuated and brought to
pass he's the beginning and he's the end and everything in between
verse 5 and David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh Gilead
and said unto them blessed be ye of the Lord that you have
showed this kindness unto your Lord even unto Saul and have
buried him and now the Lord show kindness and truth unto you And
I also will requite you this kindness because you've done
this thing. Think about all that it must have taken for
them to get that body, these bodies of those men that they
burned and buried their bones. Notice what David said, blessed
be ye of the Lord. Now this whole passage now, has
been about, as I said a while ago, about doing what God says. Just hearkening to the voice
of the Lord and doing it. Inquiring of the Lord. And doing
what he says, what honors God. To the disregard of the flesh.
That's what these men did. They did that which honored God. God had anointed Saul to be king
for all of his faults. Now, you're not going to treat
God's king like that, they said. and they put their lives down
to back it up. I don't think there's very many
men like that these days, do you? When David did that, when he
hearkened unto the Lord, to the disregard of his own flesh and
will, he prospered. When the flesh entered in, it
was a disaster. And now hear these men of Jabesh
Gilead. They didn't have an audible word from God probably to go
and do what they did. Did they need one? Do you need God to speak from
heaven to tell you what's the right thing? I don't think so. We have his word. We have a heart
beating in us that he gave us. God had anointed Saul as their
king, and God had used Saul to save them. And they could not
stand to see God's king treated in such a way. Remember that
David also honored Saul as God's king, and rightly so. And that's
why the first thing we read of David doing as king was to honor
these ones who honored God. So this all is about doing what
honors God. Blessed be ye of the Lord. Who does God say the blessed
man is through all of this? There are hundreds of places
we could go to. I looked at a bunch of them where
we could talk about God pronouncing blessing upon sinners. He came
to Abraham. I was talking to Vicki about
this a while ago before service tonight, how that God came to
Abraham who was in the Ur of the Chaldeans. He was an idolater,
the son of an idolater who was the son of another idolater.
And God just showed up one day and said, in blessing, I'm gonna
bless you. I feel like blessing somebody today, and I don't say
that flippantly, but I say that because God, why then? Why Him? Why there? Because He
just wants to. He just felt like it. And Abraham
was blessed, and all of his generations were blessed in the seed, which
is Christ. He's the God of Abraham. The
God of sovereign grace. He's the God of Isaac. The God
of miraculous grace, because there wouldn't be an Isaac without
a miracle of God in Sarah's womb. The God of Jacob, the God of
worms like us. And so he pronounces his blessings
upon sinners. And listen to this one, Luke
11, 27. It came to pass as he spake these
things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and
said unto him, blessed is the wound that bare thee and the
paps which thou hast sucked. She was honoring Mary as men,
for whatever reason, love to do still. But he said, yea rather, blessed
are they that hear the word of God and keep it. Is that what our text is talking
about? And treasure, that word keep, we can't do what God says
unless he enables us to do it. We understand that. It's God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Is that clear? That's pretty
clear, isn't it? You're not even gonna want to
unless He makes it happen. And you're sure not gonna be
able to do it. But by His grace, we have a heart that beats within
us, a spiritual heart, a new man, a new nature. that hears the word of God and
treasures it. That's what that word keep means.
It means to guard over it like a priceless treasure. Why do you do that? Well, I guess
I'm just more spiritual. No, you're blessed of God. That's
what he said. You're blessed, that's why you
do that. Who are they that hear the Word
of God? Who are they that hear the Word
of God? Our Lord, speaking of those who don't hear the word
of God, said, In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which
saith, By hearing you shall hear and shall not understand, and
seeing you shall see and shall not perceive. For this people's
heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and
their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should
see with their eyes and hear with their ears. They close their
eyes on purpose. They don't want to know God.
Not this God. They have their own. and should understand with their
heart and should be converted and I should heal them. But blessed
are your eyes, for they see. Blessed are your ears, for they
hear. David said, blessed be ye of
the Lord. We are. If you hear God's word
and it means anything to you, blessed of God are you. Hearing the Word of God and treasuring
it, only those who are blessed of God will do so. And God's
Word now, it concerns His Son. That's what ravishes our heart.
We hear of Christ. Romans chapter 1. It's all concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter 1. All of our
blessings. All spiritual blessing in heavenly
places. Why is that important? Because
anything down here, nothing gold can stay down here. But these
are heavenly blessings in spiritual places. We can't mess them up.
We can't lose them. Thieves can't break through nor
steal them. They're ours forever. And you know why they're ours?
Because of Christ. Blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It's important now that
we traced back this blessing to its source, God. We are blessed and we are blessed
in a whole bunch of different ways and all kinds of complicated
things that happen we're blessed in all of that. But it starts
with God doing something. They're not blessed, these people
weren't blessed because they did what they did. They did what
they did because they were blessed. We saw that. We traced it back,
didn't we? The Spirit of God moved and everything went from
there. And it always does. And David
said, may the kindness and truth of God be yours. Think about that for just a minute
and we're done. The kindness and truth. And what
that actually is saying is mercy and truth. That word there is
most often translated mercy. The mercy and truth of God. Not
unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory
for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Psalm 85, 9. Listen to this. Let's close with
this. Turn there with me. Psalm 85,
9. Psalm 85, 9. Psalm 85, 9. Surely his salvation is nigh
them that fear him. Why does he do it? That men may
fear him, Solomon said. His salvation is right there
with them. It's not under them. Remember
what Simeon said in Luke 2, 28? He took the Lord Jesus up in
his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now let us thy servant
depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. His salvation is not unto them
that fear him. And listen to what he said, he
said, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast
prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the
Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. Look at the next
words in Psalm 85 9, that glory may dwell in our land. So you think that salvation
there in Psalm 85 9 is the same salvation Simeon was talking
about? Same salvation, same glory. that glory may dwell in our land.
And then he wrote this, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Do you know where that happened?
That's only happened in one place. It's in Christ. Righteousness
and peace have met together. Mercy and truth have met together
in Christ. Only in Christ can God be true,
true to himself, true to his righteousness, true to his holiness,
and save you, have mercy on you. It's only in Christ. And what's
true about God is true. And what's true about you is
true. And the mercy of God in Christ is not inconsistent with
that in any way. God having mercy on you is perfectly
consistent with His truth in Christ Jesus. Without Christ,
truth can never kiss mercy. There's too much truth that forbids
it. But in Him, we delight in the
truth of God. Paul said, I delight in the law
of God after the inward man. We delight in God's truth and
we rejoice in His mercy. in Christ Jesus now. He says
I'm a dog and not showing any mercy to me would be the right
thing to do. It wouldn't be right to have
mercy on you. And we remember the response. We've
looked at this a lot lately, haven't we? It just seems to
come up. Truth. The truth is you don't deserve
anything from God. Can mercy kiss truth? truth Lord but even the dogs I can still cry to him for mercy
because even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from his table
and much more than that she just wanted a crumb we'll take a crumb
won't we and yet he sits us down at his table like David did Mephibosheth
and says you're going to eat right here from now on Pull your
lame legs up under the table where nobody can see them. And eat. When you're sitting at the king's
table, you don't need to be able to walk on your own, do you? Mercy and truth have kissed each other. Let's pray.