You know. So you owe me something. I would rather preach than sing
a special. I don't know why that is. I ought
to be more willing. Those of you who do this know
something about it, though, if you're so, I don't know, so self-conscious
or something. Go back some twenty five now
with some. Twenty five. God's word. Is like Solomon's
table. It's so full isn't it so full. One of the men read this brother
Stephen did you read this in the study a couple weeks ago
or you somebody and ever since They read it, reread it, and
was blessed by it again and again, and determined to deal with it, and thought about it for three
days. But we can't take it all in. It's so full, and I'm trying
to slow down a little bit these days. One verse, I had my Bible open
on the desk and intended to work on this whole chapter and one
verse just jumped out at me and I looked at it, just glanced
at it. Verse 10, and this is our text
tonight. Verse 10, all the paths of the
Lord Our mercy and truth. And to such. As keep his covenant. And his testimony. All the paths
of the Lord that just really struck me. This is a blessed
promise. Old Brother Scott Richardson
used to say. If you're going to claim the
promise, you've got to fit the character described. In the promise. Like this is a faithful saying
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to say. Center. So if you're a center
game, save you. He that believeth have everlasting
life. We read for the John read. If you believe you have life. So this says that the one who
loves or keeps his covenant and his testimony. All the paths
of the Lord for that person are mercy and truth. So this is to
those who keep his covenant. What does that mean, keep his
covenant? Well, the word keep does not
make does not mean do or obey his covenant. That's not what
that means. The covenant is another word for the gospel. And that
was given to Christ to work out, to fulfill. Right? God's the
author of it. In the beginning, he purposed
this great salvation and wrote it all down in a book, covenant. And made this contract, this
agreement, this pact with Father, Son, Holy Spirit. It's ordered
in all, David said, it's ordered in all things and sure, this
covenant. And he said, this is all my salvation.
And this was given to the Lord Jesus Christ to fulfill. Every jot and tittle, every name
written in the book must be redeemed, must be presented in that last
day. That was his to do and he did
it. Before he came, scripture says,
he shall not fail. He shall not fail. When he came
and hanging on the cross, he said, it's finished. I've fulfilled
the covenant. And he went back and sat down
at the right hand of the majesty on high where he ever lives. To be the test takeover. Of that. To ensure. The surety of that
everlasting. So this is not saying that we
have a part to fulfill in this government does not look the
same. The word keep here it's the same word. I don't always look these words
up, but I'm glad I did this time. It's the same word that is used
over and over again in the New Testament. He that hath my words
and keep them. He that hath my commandments
and keepeth them. The word keep means to have something
that you don't want to lose. keep you you need you want to
keep it means to guard against loss. You can't have this. It means to guard against injury
you don't want anything to happen. All right you with those who
keep his covenant. This is for those who have heard
the gospel. Word of truth. to those whom
God has given this precious gift of hearing, believing, and receiving
the gospel, to lay hold of Christ by faith. And you don't want
to let go. And you don't want to part with
Him, the gospel. Like Sunday, like Ruth, entreat
me not to leave today. She entreated Naomi not to leave
her or let her leave. And that's our prayer. Now, people,
the gospel that we have here is, well, it's a revelation. Flesh and blood doesn't reveal
this stuff, but the Father. It's a revelation that God, the
truth, is revealed. Paul wrote, he said, What man
know what the things of a man say the spirit of that man and
he reveals. Even so no man know what the
things of God. Unless the spirit of God revealed
them to. And if you know the truth. If
you know this gospel the gospel of God's sovereign grace God
revealed that to. And if more than that, if you
if you receive the love of the trip, all don't. Most don't,
but if you. This is a gift to love the trip.
Gives you a heart to receive a heart of flesh to receive if
you receive this love for the truth. God, Paul said, in Ephesians
1, he said, Oh, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, He's abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will. This gospel is a mystery to most. And the rest of the people he
blinded, he heartened. Look at verse fourteen, it says,
The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. He will show
them his covenant. This is much greater for God
Almighty to reveal his gospel, his son in you, is much greater
than if our president would call you in to reveal some national
secrets of security. God Almighty. Look at John fourteen
with John chapter fourteen. Those that keep his covenant
and his testimonies. Testimonies. Testimonies of God
are his word. Aren't they? What God testifies
of. And the covenant, the gospel,
is the gospel concerning God's Son. That's what the gospel is
concerned. You know that, don't you? Everybody knows that. And his testimony, whatever God
has said throughout his word. It's concerning his son. We were
talking Sunday about the Old Testament types and men to start
bringing up the types and all the Old Testament books. Jennifer,
you all learned them when you were small children. Can you
name them all still my mom? I believe she can. She thought
of her. What a blessing that is. Very few adults know what
the book of Genesis or the woman's seed is. Exodus, the Passover
lamb, or the smitten rock. Very few adults know that. But you do. And our children
learn these things from a child that might make them wise unto
salvation. Wise? Christ is wisdom. Christ is all and in all. John
fourteen look at the gospel. The word of truth is a revelation.
Look at verse and faith is a gift. Verse twenty one through twenty
three. Our Lord said this. He said he
that hath my commandments and keepeth them as not wanting to let go or lose
or anything to happen to. He it is that loveth me. He that
loveth me shall be loved of my father, and I will love him,
will manifest myself to him. I will reveal myself a special
way to him." Well, Judas, not Iscariot, but the other Judas,
Jude, said, Lord, how is it that I will manifest myself unto us
and not unto the world? Well, Jesus answered and said
unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words. And my father will love him,
and we will come unto him, make our abode with him. He that loveth
me not keepeth not my salience." So back in our text, it says,
he that keepeth the covenant and the testimonies of God. And
our Lord said over in John 17, you can go back to the text,
our Lord prayed to the father. He said, Father, I have given
unto them the words which thou gavest me. And they have received
them. And he said, Father, verse fourteen,
I've given them thy word, and the world hath hated them. I've
given them thy word. They've received it. The world
hates them. But he went on to say, keep through
thy truth, O Lord, keep them. Keep them keeping, laying hold
of the gospel and God's word. And listen to the over the revelation. Our Lord said this. He said,
blessed. They find it. Revelation one. Blessed is he that read it. You're reading God's Word right
now. And they that hear the word, most people read, but they don't
hear what it's saying. And those that keep those things
which are written, that is, lay hold of as something you must
have and don't want to lose. And don't want anything to happen
to them. No damage. And that time, which is the time
is now, and that time is now when most people turn away their
ears from the truth, don't they? God's people love the truth and
they won't sell it. The Lord said, buy the truth,
sell it not. Well, God's people wouldn't sell
it for anything. Anyone would trade in anything or anyone and
they. And they guard it, they don't
want one word of God's word to be taken away. Tell me, I've asked you this
before. If you could leave out anything in God's word. Is there
anything in God's word that you would leave out? The world or their whole books,
certainly whole chapters, Romans 9, Ephesians 1, 2, that the world
would love to take out. In fact, they do. Like that king
of the pen, not gossiping. They love it. They want to keep
all of it. For if the foundations be destroyed,
listen to this carefully, OK? This is Psalm eleven verse three.
You may want to jot that down because you just might hear somebody
preaching. Sunday. If the foundations be destroyed.
And this right here is the foundation in. Every word. On which he's caused us to hope.
If they be destroyed. What shall the righteous do?
Well, we're going to do if one word fails, Nancy. But our Lord
said, I think it's Isaiah 49, not one word shall fail. Till all be fulfilled. You know,
this covenant, these testimonies of the Lord are written by God.
And they're largely in the form of letters, aren't they? The epistles are just that, letters. One old preacher one time called
the gospel And the epistles love letters of the Lord. To his beloved. Love letters. From the Lord to
his beloved. That's who they're to. That's
who they're written to. That's who receives them. That's
who he speaks to. His beloved. And they don't want
to part with. These letters, do you? You have
any old love letters that you've kept? Nancy shared a few, and I know
all of you do. I've read some of my father's
to my mother when he was off in the Navy. All of us do, don't
we? I have a letter here that I've
had for a long, long time. I showed it to my mother, and
she immediately knew the handwriting. And that's a good illustration.
You know who wrote it by their signature, by their handwriting.
This letter is 42 years old. And I've had it's only one I've
got. This was written to me by my from by my eldest brother. And he was in college. And it's
the only letter I had. And it's dear to me. I get it out every now and then
and read it. And it's to me, it's a precious letter. And it's
all encouraging to me. A couple of years later, after
he wrote this, he went off to fight for my freedom, that I
might be safe. And he died to maintain that
freedom. He never came back. So this letter
is, it means something to me. Well, I have here a very precious
letter. We have here a very precious
letter, Norman. From God, which means nothing
to the world, but it means everything to God's people. And this is
from our elder brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, who did indeed
fight our battles for us, didn't he? To win our freedom. Who left, and we haven't seen
him, but we love him. But Brother Stephen, he's coming
back. He said he would. He said if
it were not so, I would have told you. And like my other brother,
whom I looked up to and esteemed, wanted to be just like him. I
want to be just like the Lord Jesus Christ, don't you? And
this tells me all about him, what he did, who he is, what
he did, where he is now. And I want to be like him. I think it's pretty good illustration
that the Bible here is a letter a letter. Well in our text here
it says those who keep his covenant and his testimony it says the
precious promises are there it says in verse ten all the paths
of the Lord. For those who have received the
love of the truth for those who have received the gospel of Christ
and laid hold. by faith, those who love him,
all the paths of the Lord for them are mercy and truth. All of them. All the paths, every
single pathway in which the Lord leads his people is mercy and
truth. Truth. Let me see if I can make
good on this. There are a couple of things I want to consider
here, and then it won't take long. All right. These paths
of the Lord, first of all, the paths of the Lord are His ways,
His commands, and His leadings. All that He tells us, all that
He did. And then secondly, these paths
of the Lord are His providential dealings with us. Everything
that happens in our life. Everything the Lord says, everything
the Lord did is mercy and truth. And everything in our lives points
to and leads to mercy and truth. All right. So let's look at that.
All right. His ways, his commands, his words are all mercy and truth. The paths of the Lord. Look at
verse 4, then at verse 4, he said, show me thy ways, O Lord,
teach me thy paths. Teach me thy path. Well, the
Lord did. He came here. The Lord Jesus
Christ came here, the one who wrote them, came to this earth. It says one day he went up into
a mountain and he sat down and the people came to him and it
says he taught them his path. And he said, He opened up his
precious mouth and said, Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed
are the poor in spirit. And on and on he went. These
are the paths of the Lord. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed poverty. What mercy is
there in being poor? Huh? Every mercy of theirs is
the kingdom of God. The kingdom is only for the poor,
not the rich. Christ didn't come to call the
rich. That is the spiritually rich and not too many materially
rich, but the poor poverty, the way of poverty, the pathway of
poverty in spirit is to be rich. You'll be blessed are they that
mourn. What what mercy is there? To mourn over your sins, to mourn. What mercy is there than that? Brother Sam, that touched him, verse 11, didn't
it? For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it
is great. Those that mourn their great
sins and their poverty of spirit. Oh, they will be comforted. They're
the only one. This is the path. This is the
path of mourning. And the blessed of the meek,
the meek, the meek and lowly, they shall inherit the earth
to walk the path of hunger and thirst. What mercy is there in
being hungry? Food will taste good to you.
And that's the truth. You know, all of this goes into
making up the truth. You don't have the truth. Unless
you have all of the council. And we give you the example that
talks about the truth. God is love that's true. We not
just love. God is holy. God is just. God is merciful. God is angry. God is. God is. God is. The truth
of who God is. The true and living God. Truth.
Scripture talks about the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. All the paths, all these paths
that our Lord spoke of, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed
are they that mourn, blessed are the meek. He's talking about
himself. The Lord is that blessed man.
He's that blessed man that walked in paths of righteousness for
us as our substitute. All the paths which the Lord
Jesus Christ walked were mercy for us, weren't they? And truth,
the truth as it is in him. Through his poverty, we're made
rich, aren't we? Through his sorrows, he bore
our sorrow. The man of sorrow is acquainted
with grief, but surely he hath borne our grief and carried our
sorrow. And answered by his sorrows,
we're comforted, aren't we? By his lowliness, the fact that
he stooped so low, we're exalted. We're exalted. It's the only
way, the path which the Lord trod forth. Because he thirsts
on the crop. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst. Because he cried on Calvary's tree, I thirst. We never will. We never have
to. all the paths that he tried for
us are mercy and truth only way for us to get to. Christ and
I am the way the paths now listen to the. Says the pads that and
say a broad road. Would our Lord say he said. Straight is the gate, and narrow
is the way, the pathway that leadeth unto life, and few there
be that find it. But broad is the gate. Broad
is the way. Wide is the gate. Broad is the
way which leads to destruction, and many there be that go therein.
But this path is narrow, this path. But it is a path. The paths
of the Lord. And these paths of the Lord all
end up one way. This path of faith and many have
tried that path. Have to. Have to walk by faith. Not by sight. This path of poverty
of spirit. Many have walked that. Our brothers
and sisters down through the years. They all have walked these
paths. And they all lead and point to
Christ. the mercy of God and the truth
of God. And all God's people walk these
paths. Paths of the Lord are mercy and
truth, looking unto the Lord Jesus. Paul said, let us run
the race that's set before us and walk these paths, looking
unto him who walked them forth. And we look unto him as our example. He said, Follow
me. Follow me. Walk this way. Here's
the way. Walk in it. Here's the path.
He sets our feet in paths of righteousness for his name's
sake. And it all leads to him. And secondly, these paths of
the Lord that are mercy and truth are all the providential dealings
in the lives of God's people. And it's all mercy. It's all
truth. You'll see. It's all true. In
the end, we will all see every one of those who keep the covenant,
those who keep his testimony, those who love the gospel, who
love Christ. We'll see in the end that everything
truly has worked together for our good. According to God's
purpose, we will see that all things have truly been mercy
and truth. over the Scott Richardson. He once said this and I've never
forgotten. He said if you know what God. You would order your life. Exactly. As he has ordered it. All these
years you wouldn't change that. if you know that someday we will
know that you're upset at first right in certain we shall know
even as we've been we're going to look back and see all the
providential dealing of our Lord with his people have it every
single path we tried. Led us to him. It was mercy that
every single path he put us on the path of trial and tribute
all those people go this way. the path of tribulation. Who
are these, they said, John said, who are they? These are they
who went through great tribulation. All of them. Every one of God's
people will walk that path. That's the only way. It's to
wean us from this world. If we had no trials, if we had
no troubles, if we had no tribulations, we'd want to stay here, wouldn't
we? But God gives us these to show us the vanity of these things
and how we have here no continuing city and makes us long for and
look forward to the end of the path, the end of the road. We're looking like the pilgrim
for that celestial city, yon city wherein dwells Emmanuel
and wherein dwells righteousness and nothing shall disturb us.
And so in the meantime, though, we walk this these these these
paths, trouble, trial, tribulation. It's mercy. It's the mercy of
the Lord. Is this the only way? Yes, that's
that's the truth. I'm telling you the truth. The
Lord said it. You must. This is the truth.
You must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of heaven.
But it's mercy keeps you from wanting to stay here, keeps you
from hanging on to these things too tightly. It all works together,
all mercy and truth. And I could have picked out,
I could have gone through the Old Testament and picked any
one of hundreds of persons and their lives as an example to
show you that all these things, all these leadings are mercy
and truth. I just picked this one, Joseph. Joseph. Now his life, from a young man
1718 19 year-old young man remember Sammy is hated by his brother
without a car. He was maligned and ridiculed
he was cast into a pit. He was sold. He. Went off into Egypt, the foreign
land. He lost everything. He lost his family. He lost all
his possessions. He lost his freedom. He lost
his peace, his comfort, all of these things. He was sold into
slavery. He ended up in a prison. He was
lied on, cheated on by those fellows, you know, or by Potiphar's
wife. And he ended up in prison. Just
one tribulation after another one. One trial after another. And. Well, how do you. What how could a man be in a
kid being put in prison and all these things going against him,
how could that be mercy? How could that be the mercy of
the law? Oh, well, you just got to go on. You've got to read
the rest of the story. Now, if you read the end of the
book, you can see you can see for the time. Nyber and I were
on the phone today talking and we were talking about how that
if you know the end. He was talking about the Lord
being happy. The God is happy. Scripture says
well pleased and rejoices that means happy the blessed God happy. He's happy. Because he knows
how everything is going to end. It's all going to be well. We have the last chapter, by
the way. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning, but he hasn't kept it secret from us. The secret
of the Lord is within the fear him. He'll show that he has.
He's written it now for us to read. We've got the last chapter. How's it end? Good. Real good. And you know, every one of it.
Well, the story of Joseph, how did it end with him reigning
and ruling on the throne? And it was mercy for how many
people? All his brethren. It was mercy
for all of Israel. That's the truth. That's the truth. And we spend
our lives as a tale that's been told. Scripture says, you know,
our lives have been written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. Every
jot and tittle, every path we have trod have walked everywhere. It's been written down in God's
book. Predestined, that means a predetermined end. What is
it? It's good. It's mercy. It's all
mercy. Everything. Up to this point,
I started to say and beyond is mercy and truth. And it all leads to Christ. That's the end. That's the goal.
Isn't it, Mark? The prize of the high calling
of God is to be with Christ. He is the mercy and the truth
of God. It all leads to Him. In closing,
look at Psalm 85. Did these words remind anybody
else of this mercy and truth? Have you ever seen Those words together before mercy
and truth. Nancy, you like Proverbs 3, it
says, let not mercy and truth forsake thee, bind them about
thy neck. And on and on it goes. Trust
in the Lord with all thine heart, lean not, I don't understand.
Well, this mercy and truth, see, meet together. Righteousness
and peace. Look at verse 10. Well, verse
9, surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him. It's near. It's almost over. Truly, our
salvation is nearer than when we first believed, isn't it,
Jeanette? It's so close. It's so close. That glory may dwell in our land,
he says, verse 10, mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed. What do you have when those things
meet? What you have is Christ. That's what you have when mercy
and truth meet together, that's what's when they meet when righteousness
and peace kiss. You have Christ, that's what
you have. I've been hoping I could use
this someday. I have a favorite picture. I gave in and had an
Isabella well actually many has it her background but. Whenever I'm in there I look
at that picture it's a it's just my favorite picture and what
it is is is gay is on this side and Hannah is on this side and
in between them is my darling granddaughter, Isabella, OK?
And Gabe is kissing this chick. And Hannah is kissing this chick. And what you have as a union,
as a result of that blessed union of love, Isabella. You see? Mercy and truth are
met together in Christ. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other through Christ. Have kissed up. God is love.
God is holy. How can a holy God love me? Christ. God will pardon. God will justify. God will pardon
all sin. But God will by no means clear
the guilty. How can God pardon and yet not clear the guilty. God we are accepted. God accepts us. Accounts us holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in his sight. Yet we're found wanting. We're
weighed in the balances and found wanting. How can God be just
and yet justified? How can God accept us when we're
so unacceptable in Christ? Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Let me ask you, do you love this
gospel? The very things I was just saying
just now, that means nothing to the world. And yes, we're whether Kelly
read Joe twenty five greatest question ever and ask it's also
Joe fourteen and how can man be just with God the world doesn't
care. They don't know they don't care. They don't know anything about
the justice of God. Do you? Do you care? The justice of God. Keeps us from being damned. You know that God says he will
by no means clear the guilty when he back him by no means
punish the righteous. If he's made me righteous by
the same if he declared me righteous and cry he cannot punish me the
justice of God will allow. Is it important. Oh my. Oh if you love this covenant
covenant Is this all your salvation? Like David said, ordered in all
things and sure, and this is all my salvation, that God Almighty
gave my salvation to cry. And he he he he worked it out
completely in myself. I'm kept by the power of God.
Is that it? Have you laid hold by faith on
this gospel, on crying the beginning of your continent? Don't want
to lose it. His testimony concerning Christ. in all the pads that
you have trodden and we'll get. And lead to Christ. Is it true
that you have God's word. OK, stand with. Thank you.