Psalm 85. I want to bring to you tonight what some might call a sermonette. Or a, I call, I don't think it will be like a devotional. Sometimes I'll have two men do the Lord's Table and they'll each bring about a 10 or 12 minute, I call it a devotional. I don't believe it'll be quite that brief. I want to bring a very brief message to you for this reason. The Lord really blessed this verse of scripture to my heart. Every now and then in the preaching of the gospel, a message will really bless you and it'll stand out. It will exceptionally reach you. Well, that happens in my study to me. And there are some times that I feel like this whole study's gonna explode, you know. And the Lord, you know, opened up our text tonight, gave me, I guess you could call it an illustration. It's not really an illustration, but it's kind of what I have, is an illustration. And after I wrote it out, I realized that's all I wanna say. I don't want to add words. I don't want to expand time for the sake of doing that because I might ruin what I want to say. So I just want to say it and then I'll be done.

And what we're going to look at is I want to give you the details of what happened in this great saving transaction of the cross. And I just want to ask you, I really want to ask you to call on the Lord in your heart and see if he will send the spirit. You know, oh, send thy spirit now, Lord, unto me. Ask the Lord to see if he'll let you really enter into this. This will be brief, so maybe he'll really let us hold our attention and maybe he'll bless this to us.

We've been going here through Psalm 85, and we've come to a very quoted verse of Scripture. This is a very well-known verse of Scripture. I love this verse of Scripture. I know you love it too. It's verse 10. That's our text tonight. Psalm 85, verse 10. It says, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. That is such a sweet declaration. That's a very sweet declaration. That is the declaration of the cross. That is what happened on the cross of Calvary. And all of that happened in Christ. All right, verse 10 says, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. All of that happened in Christ. We see Christ in each one of those four words, the four main words.

Verse 10 says, mercy. Mercy is Christ. I mean, mercy is Christ. Mercy can only come from God by way of Christ. If you want to get to the heart of mercy, it's Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2 verse 4 says, But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. That's how mercy came to us by way of Christ. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. That's how it's been described before. Not getting what we deserve. Why? Because Christ got what we deserved. What we deserved was laid on him.

Just hold your place and turn over to Psalm 103. Psalm 103 verse 8, oh, these are good words. Verse 8 says, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. How much mercy does the Lord have for us? Verse 9, he will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, because he dealt with Christ after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. That's how far he has removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Isn't that good news? For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust.

As for man, his days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, in his righteousness unto children's children.

Mercy. Mercy, that's Christ. That is in Christ. Mercy is in Christ.

And then the word truth, the second main word, go back with me to Psalm 85. The word truth, that word most definitely is Christ. Mercy is Christ. And truth is Christ. He plainly said in John 14, I am the truth. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the truth. He said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. The truth is not a what, it's a person. You'll know the truth and the truth shall make you free. A man or a woman who knows Christ. Free. It's free. Free from the law, free from sin, free from death, free from condemnation, free to approach the throne of God, free to enter into glory. Free. Mercy is Christ. Let's really hammer that, okay? Mercy is Christ. Truth is Christ. And right here in verse 10, the next word is righteousness. That is most definitely Christ. Romans 10 says, he is the end of the law for righteousness. First Corinthians one says, Christ is made unto us righteousness. He is our righteousness. Anybody need some, some good works? Well, He is our good works. He is our righteousness. And the last main word here is peace. Ephesians 2 says, He is our peace. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. We can see Christ in all four of those words. Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ. And here's the thing about it, I wrote in my notes, but, I think the better word is and, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, and, I'm so thankful that the Lord laid it on my heart to look up the definitions of these words.

We know these words, you know what truth is. You know, well, it's the opposite of a lie, right? And mercy is not getting what we deserve, But anyway, I thought, well, let me look them up in the concordance. And the direct translation of each one of those words, what was originally meant in the Hebrew, okay, translated into those four words, I was so blessed by what I saw. I was just so blessed by what I saw. Listen to what was meant in each one of those words when they were originally written in Hebrew.

Okay, mercy actually translates goodness, kindness, favor, graciousness, grace. All right, mercy actually translates Grace, that's such a sweet word. So is mercy. But grace is the translation, free gift, unmerited favor, undeserved kindness, grace. Truth actually translates faithfulness. That's what the word translates, faithfulness. God is faithful. God is faithful. Hold your place right here and go over to Deuteronomy 7. Deuteronomy 7, verse 9. Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God. He is the faithful God. He keeps his covenant. He keeps mercy.

All right, now listen to this. All right, think about this. God's chosen and beloved people, they had fallen into great sin and rebellion. They had ruined themselves. They made themselves to be so vile before God. to the point that their only possible end was eternal condemnation and punishment. The only possible end. But the inner desire in the heart of God was to deliver those people from their putrefying condition. That was the inner desire of God for his people. to deliver them from that putrefying condition and to redeem those people back to glory with himself. So this is what happened. Grace and faithfulness held a meeting. This is what happened. Grace and faithfulness held a meeting together. Grace said, I'll make the payment. Faithfulness said, I'll go get them. Grace, if you will make the payment on the cross of Calvary that will open their prison door cell, I'll go get them and I'll bring them all the way home. Grace said, I'll do it. Faithfulness said, so will I. And the gospel cried, faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it.

All right, grace and faithfulness. They made this covenant. Thank God, mercy and truth met together. Grace and faithfulness had a meeting together. All right, now back in Psalm 85. Verse 10 says, Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness, the original meaning, the direct translation of righteousness is justice. That's what the word means. Justice. And the direct translation of peace is satisfaction. Contentment. Have you ever seen a grown man cry?

Grace and faithfulness held a meeting. Grace said, this is what I'll do. Faithfulness said, this is what I'll do. And they made a covenant together in that meeting. But it was a covenant that justice and satisfaction had to sign off on. Grace and faithfulness shook hands. I'll do it. I'll do it. This is what we'll do. But justice and satisfaction had to sign off on that covenant. And when justice and satisfaction looked at the covenant that grace and faithfulness made. When justice and satisfaction looked at the payment that was promised and secured, the deliverance that was promised and secured, the redemption that was promised and secured, as soon as they laid their eyes on the covenant of faithful grace, justice and satisfaction embraced each other and kissed each other and cried amen. Amen. And all of that happened in Christ. Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ. Every bit of that took place on the cross of Calvary in Christ. Every bit of that.

Verse 10 says, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Grace and faithfulness met together. Judgment and satisfaction kissed each other. And all of that happened on the cross of Calvary. God's people were redeemed, delivered, justified, glorified, and given peace. And all of that happened on, in, by, through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we're remembering in this table. That's what we're remembering in this table. And in this remembrance, what we're saying is, all the glory be unto him. All the glory be unto him for what he did. All the praise be unto him. Amen.

All right, Brother Chris, you come and read for us.