If you would, let's open our
Bibles to begin our service to Psalm 117. Psalm 117, this will
be our text this evening. We'll read it to open the service.
As you're turning, I just heard Carter Brown fell just a little
bit ago in his complaining of back pain, and Joyce has got
him at the emergency room right now. So we want to obviously
remember them in prayer. Alright, Psalm 117. O praise
the Lord, all ye nations. Praise him, all ye people. For
his merciful kindness is great toward us. And the truth of the
Lord endureth forever. Praise ye the Lord. Let's turn to page 30, page 3-0. Bless the Lord and sing His praises. Bless the Lord now, O my soul. Join the song all heaven raises. Let the anthem loudly roll. Bless the Lord. O my soul, bless the Lord. O my soul, bless the Lord. O my soul, and all that is within
me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord for love victorious,
love that conquered on the tree. For His grace so great and glorious,
Flowing out from Calvary. Bless the Lord, O my soul, Bless
the Lord, O my soul, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that
is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, He walks
beside me, And He lights the path before. Every need is now supplied me,
From His bounteous heavenly store. Bless the Lord, O my soul, Bless
the Lord, O my soul, Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that
is within me bless His holy name. Bless the Lord for truth he's
given, for the word of prophecy that has drawn the veil from
heaven and revealed my destiny. Bless the Lord, O my soul, bless
the Lord, O my Let's turn back a few pages to
page 8. Page 8. you O people that on earth do dwell,
sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. Him serve with fear, his
praise foretell. Come ye before him and rejoice. O that the Lord is God indeed,
without our aid He did us make. We are His folk, He doth us feed,
and for His sheep He doth O enter then His gates with praise,
Approach with joy His courts unto, Praise, laud, and bless
His name always. so to do. For while the Lord our God is
good, His mercy is forever sure, His truth at all times firmly
stood. Let's open now for our scripture
reading to another psalm, Psalm 86. Psalm 86. Bow down thine ear, O Lord. Hear
me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul, for I am holy,
for I am one whom thou favorest. O thou, my God, save thy servant
that trusteth in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord,
for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant.
For unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For Thou, Lord, art
good and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all them
that call upon Thee. Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer,
and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of
my trouble I will call upon Thee, for Thou wilt answer me. Among
the gods there is none like unto Thee, O Lord, neither are there
any works like unto Thy works. All nations whom thou hast made
shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify
thy name. For thou art great and doest
wondrous things. Thou art God alone. Teach me
thy way, O Lord. I will walk in thy truth. Unite my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my
God, with all my heart, and I will glorify thy name forevermore.
For great is thy mercy toward me, and thou hast delivered my
soul from the lowest hell. O God, the proud are risen against
me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul
and have not set thee before them. But thou, O Lord, art a
God full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous
in mercy and truth. O turn unto me and have mercy
upon me. Give thy strength unto thy servant.
and save the son of thine handmaid. Show me a token for good, that
they which hate me may see it and be ashamed, because thou,
Lord, hast opened me and comforted me." Let's bow together. Our God and Father, Lord, how
thankful we are that you've given us yet one more opportunity to
meet together and to hear your gospel preached. to hear a word
from thee. And we pray that you would enable
us by your spirit to worship. Father, give us an hour of true
worship, I pray. Speak to the hearts of your people
through your word. Father, get glory to your name.
Get glory to your name through the preaching of your word. Get
glory to the name by revealing more of the glory of Christ our
Savior through the preaching of your word. Father, bless us
tonight. I pray that you would be with
me in this hour, that you'd not leave me alone, but, Father,
enable me to preach this message that you've given in the power
of your Spirit. Not in the weakness of human oratory and strength,
but, Father, in the power of your Spirit. And be with your
people who hear. Enable us to hear. Give a hearing
ear and a heart that believes the things of Christ that we
hear preached this evening. Father, we're so thankful for
this place that you've given us, a place of worship where
your gospel is preached. And Father, I pray that you would
continue to bless this congregation. Bless your word. Bless your word
to the salvation of your people, the calling out of your sheep
to feed and comfort and edify your sheep. Father, bless, we
pray, for your great namesake. Make this be a place that's known,
the glory of God and the salvation of sinners is revealed. Father,
I thank you for each one that you've gathered together into
this family of believers and pray your blessing upon each
family. Father, we particularly pray
for those who are in trouble, sick and heartbroken. We pray
a special blessing for our brother Carter this evening that you'd
ease his body of pain, that you would Give the doctors and nurses
that treat him wisdom and caring and understanding as they treat
him. Father, be with Joyce. Comfort their hearts and be with
them in this difficult evening. Father, again, we beg of thee
that tonight you'd meet with us. Enable us to hear a word
from thee, to leave here rejoicing in Christ our Savior. For it's
in his precious name we pray and give thanks. Our God in covenant mercy gives
The precious things of heaven to all his loved and chosen ones,
the heirs of grace and heaven. foundation stone is laid in heaven
for us. Unto you, therefore, which believe
Christ Jesus is precious. The precious blood of Christ
was shed, redeeming us from sin. Applied by grace His precious
blood, we felt its power within. Thy precious faith with God select
We have by grace received The Spirit's power revealing Christ
Call us and we The precious promises of God
are given unto us. In Christ the promises are sure,
sure as God's truthfulness. Even the trial of our faith is
a most precious thing. The calls for praise to honor
Christ our King. All right, let's open our Bibles
again now to Psalm 117. I titled the message this evening,
Mercy and Truth. Let's read our text again, Psalm
117. Oh, praise the Lord, all ye nations.
Praise Him, all ye people. For His merciful kindness is
great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth forever.
Praise ye the Lord. I'm sure you already know this
is the shortest psalm and the shortest chapter in the Bible.
And I don't know that there's any significance to this, but
it is immediately followed by the longest psalm and the longest
chapter in the Bible. This is what I know about these
two psalms. The Holy Spirit inspired both
of them and both of them are infinitely full. Both of them
are full of Christ. Many of the psalms were written
to be sung. And from what I read, they used
this Psalm 117 as a psalm to sing like the choruses that we
sing, to open and close a service or something. And this psalm,
this chorus, is written to tell us of God's mercy and God's truth. God's merciful kindness toward
us and God's truth, which both are eternal. You'll notice the
word endureth there. The truth of the Lord endureth
forever is in italics. That means it's been added by
the translators. And what the psalmist actually wrote, and
I think this gives us a better understanding of what he's writing,
that the psalmist actually wrote God's truth forever, forever. It doesn't have a beginning and
it doesn't have an ending. Now that's important for us to
understand because the salvation of a sinner, if it's going to
be a sinner, truly saved. It's got to be accomplished in
both mercy and truth. There must be mercy to save a
sinner. There's got to be mercy to give
a sinner what a sinner needs. And there's got to be mercy to
satisfy the character of God. God's merciful. There's got to
be mercy to satisfy his character. God must show mercy. There's
got to be mercy to give a sinner what a sinner needs. But now
listen, there's got to be truth. to satisfy the character of God.
If a holy God is going to save a sinner, he's got to make it
right for him to do it. If God's going to show mercy
to a sinner, he's got to be just when he does it. If God saves
a sinner, their sin must be put away in truth. See, God can't
pretend in these things. He can't ignore sin. He can't
call things something that they're not. Everything God does must
be done in truth. So there must be mercy and truth.
There's got to be mercy to save a sinner, and there's got to
be truth to make that sinner righteous. And the gospel of
God's free and sovereign grace is the only message that declares
both mercy and truth. There is a message that men preach
that is just pure mercy, mercy without any truth. And all that
message is is a feel-good religion that does not satisfy God's character
because it does not pay for sin. It just makes the flesh feel
better about itself. But now it's a lie. It's a lie. I hate to say even salvation,
but a message that declares a salvation that's based upon your decision. That can make you feel right
good about yourself, can't it? But it's a lie. Salvation that is
based upon the fact that you act better than the rest of the
general population and somehow makes it so that God will accept
that as holiness is a lie. I know it makes the flesh feel
better, but it's a lie. It can't save anyone because
there has not been an awful bloody atonement for sin that satisfies
God. God must be satisfied before
he can save a sinner. Then on the opposite end of the
spectrum, there is a message that men preach that declares
a salvation based purely on truth without any mercy. And that message
can't save a sinner either. Salvation is based on, and I
hate to even use the word truth, but what they call it, called
truth, that can't save a sinner. It can't give a sinner what a
sinner needs, and it does not give God what God must have.
Salvation is based on truth, or what men call truth. It says
if you keep the law well enough, you'll be saved. You follow the
law, you obey the law, and you will be saved. And you know,
that's impossible. We cannot keep the law. We have
a carnal mind, we have a fleshly nature that doesn't even want
to keep the law, whose desire is to break the law. That message
can't save a sinner. It doesn't satisfy God. It doesn't
satisfy God's mercy. God's not showing mercy, is he?
If you earn salvation by what you do, God's not showing mercy. So that message doesn't satisfy
God's mercy. And it certainly doesn't satisfy
God's truth because righteousness is not being accomplished. Sin
is not being atoned for. And it does not satisfy mercy
for God or the sinner because mercy is not being shown. The
only message that declares mercy and truth. The only message that
declares how God can be just and still justify a sinner is
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you look in John chapter
1, I'd make good on that. John chapter 1. The only way
you can preach the message of mercy and truth is by preaching
Christ and Him crucified. John chapter 1, verse 16. and of his fullness have all
we received in grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The only way you can
have a message of grace and truth, mercy and truth, is by and in
the Lord Jesus Christ. The message of Christ says that
God can freely give grace and freely give mercy to a sinner
Because the Lord Jesus Christ made it right for God to show
them mercy. The obedience of Christ. He earned
as a man under the law. That obedience that He gives
His people makes His people righteous. They're the righteousness of
God in Him, aren't they? Well, then it's right for God to be
gracious to them and not destroy them. It's right for God to be
gracious and accept them. The sacrifice of Christ took
away the sin of His people. His blood washed all that sin
away. So it's right for God to be merciful
to them and not damn them for their sin because Christ has
already been punished for their sin. That message of Christ is
the only message you'll ever hear that declares both mercy
and truth. Now, the psalmist here tells
us that all nations are to praise the Lord. Well, the only way
that's possible is in Christ. And he has done that for his
people. Salvation in Christ. is so great,
this mercy and truth is so great, it's so powerful, that Christ
saves the worst of sinners from every nation, from every skin
color, from every language under heaven, God has saved a people
in mercy and truth. And he tells us, praise the Lord.
That word praise means to boast. Now boast. Now what are you going
to boast in, huh? The only thing we have to boast
in is Christ. The only thing we have to boast
in is the cross of Christ. And we say we're boasting in
the cross of Christ. It's not a hunk of wood or whatever
shape it was in, a T or a post or whatever, we don't know. It's
not the wood. We say we boast in the cross
of Christ, we're boasting in what Christ accomplished on the
cross. He accomplished the salvation
of His people. He accomplished atonement to
put away the sin of His people. There hasn't ever been one thing
any of us have done we can boast in. Not one. The only thing we
have to boast in is what Christ has done for us. And the writer
here talks about merciful kindness. Merciful kindness. Mercy and
kindness together. Isn't God kind to his creatures?
God is kind to his creatures. And he's merciful to sinners.
God is kind to His creatures, giving them physical life, giving
them food and water, a beautiful creation to live in. And God
is merciful to sinners by saving them and His Son. And God's merciful
kindness is great. Great. The word means strong
and powerful. God's merciful kindness is able
to save the chief of sinners. God's merciful kindness is powerful
enough to set His people free from the power of Satan, the
power of sin. That's good news to sinners.
I don't care how great your sin is, God's merciful kindness is
greater. He can save. And that should
make us praise the Lord, shouldn't it? That's the only way we could
be saved. And God always does what is right. Even when He is
talking about His merciful kindness, it shows us God's right. He's true in everything that
He does. Part of the definition of this word, the Hebrew word,
merciful kindness, has to do with faithfulness. When God shows
His merciful kindness, He's right to do it. God's mercy is done
in truth. Always done in truth. Because
it's covenant mercy. Promised mercy. That's always
based upon the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's never based upon the sinner doing something to deserve it.
it's always dependent upon Christ. His life, his death, his burial,
his resurrection. That's how God gives both mercy
and truth at the same time. And I want to take a few minutes
this evening to look at this mercy and truth. I look those,
that phrase up, mercy and truth. And I want us to look at six
things that God has done for his people in mercy and truth.
At first look at Genesis chapter 32. We'll take them in the order
in which they appear, Genesis chapter 32. This is when Jacob
has been away from home for quite some time. He's married. He's
got these children. Now he's coming back home and
he's afraid to meet Esau after all this time. Afraid Esau will
give him what he's got coming to him, what he deserves. In
Genesis 32 verse 9, Jacob said, O God of my father, Abraham,
and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which settest unto me return
unto thy country, to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee.
I'm not worthy of the least of all of the mercies and of all
the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant. For with my
staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from
the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear
lest he will come and smite me and the mother with the children.
And thou saidest, I will surely do thee good and make thy seed
as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
Here's my first point. God always leads his people in
mercy and truth. Now, Jacob, he has always lived
up to his name at me, chief, supplanter. Jacob has cheated
and schemed and connived with everybody he has ever met. He about met his match with Laban,
didn't he? But he eventually got the best
of him. Jacob's a cheat. I mean, this guy is a scoundrel. Yet God chose Jacob. God said, I love Jacob. He loved him in covenant Covenant
mercy. It had to be covenant mercy,
didn't it? Jacob never did anything to deserve it. It had to be covenant
mercy. That's the only way Jacob or
any of the rest of us Jacobs could ever be saved or ever loved
by God is through covenant mercy. Promised mercy. Mercy that God
will not take back. He will not go back on his promise
because God is true. He'll always be true to his word. See this is, even Jacob knows
here, he's talking about covenant mercy. He's talking about the
God of his father Abraham, the God of his father Isaac. Anytime
scripture talks about the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
it's talking about God's covenant mercy. It's the mercy God promised
Abraham. Abraham didn't do anything to
deserve, God just promised, God just unpromised it to him. One
day Abraham's just doing whatever it is an idolater did there in
the Ur of the Chaldeans, and God appeared to him and said,
Go to land, I'll show you." And he just called him out. And he
just made this promise of grace to him. And he confirmed that
promise to his son Isaac. And he confirmed it again to
his grandson Jacob. This is the covenant God, His
covenant mercy. It's the mercy that God promised
to His people. Not dependent on anything that
they did, but dependent upon His promise, upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. And even though Jacob never did
anything to deserve it, even though Jacob Probably did many
things that we would think God would be just in turning away
from Jacob. He never did it, did he? He never turned away
from Jacob. God led Jacob all the days of
his life. And finally, at the end of his
life, Jacob lay dying on his deathbed. You know what he told
his son? He said, God has shepherded me all the days of my life. He
led me. He's fed me. He's protected me.
Just like a shepherd does the sheep all the days of my life.
And God blessed Jacob. He blessed him in mercy and truth,
in God's covenant promised mercy. Jacob ran away from home, running
from his brother Esau. He didn't even bring a change
of clothes. He was afraid for his life. All he did was pick
up his staff and hit the road. And he crossed out of that country
with nothing but a staff in his hand. And now God's told him,
you go back. And he's coming back full, isn't
he? He's got wives. He's got children. He's got flocks.
He's got wealth. Jacob's even going to meet Esau
in peace. God put peace in Esau's heart
for his brother Jacob because of God's promised mercies to
Jacob. God told Jacob, I will surely
do thee good. You'll not be destroyed. I'll
do thee good. And he did, didn't he? Because of God's promised
covenant mercies. And that's what God does for
all of his people. God loves his people and he never
quits loving them. He leads his people and he never
quits leading them in mercy and truth because God promised to
love, because God promised to save, because God promised to
lead us despite us never doing one thing to deserve it. God
always leads his people in mercy and in truth because that's what
he said he'd do. All right, now look at Psalm 25. About all the
rest of these references you'll find in the book of Psalms, the
book of Psalms is full of references to mercy and truth. My second
point is this. God pardons the sins of his people
in mercy and truth. Psalm 25 verse 10. And all the
paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, and as such as keep his
covenant and his testimonies. Now all of God's paths, everything
that he does is mercy and truth. everything God, all his paths,
to those who are in his covenant. Scripture's full of this. God
is everything he does, mercy and truth, his people. Then what
should our response to that be? Our response should be, Lord,
pardon my sin for the glory of your name. Lord, forgive me because
of your covenant mercy. That's what David says in verse
11. For thy name's sake, O Lord, not because of anything that
I've done, but for thy name's sake, for your glory, based upon
your word, for thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity,
for it is great. Lord, pardon my iniquity, for
it's great. You're great in mercy. I need
great mercy. You're great in truth. You're
truth forever. I need great truth. Lord, give
me great mercy and great truth. That's the only way I can be
saved. And only the Lord can give it. Let's pray and ask Him
for it. And based upon His mercy and
His truth, God will pardon the sin of His people. Now, when
God pardons sin, it's not like a president or governor pardoning
someone. You know, the president just
says, or governor, whoever is writing up the pardon, just says,
we're going to let them out of prison. We're going to let them
go free, even though they're guilty. We're not looking at
a matter of guilt and innocence here. We're just letting them
go free. We feel like the punishment didn't fit the crime. Maybe we
feel like they've served enough or whatever. Maybe they're a
big donor. Maybe they're a friend. I don't
know. But we're just going to ignore the fact they're guilty,
and we're setting them free. Now, that's mercy. Certainly,
that's mercy. But that's not truth. That's
not true. When God pardons sin, everything
God does, including pardoning sin, is done in mercy and truth. When God pardons sin, you know
why God pardons sin? Because he already punished that
sin. That sin was already paid for by the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The substitute already suffered
the full penalty, and God lets the prisoner go free. He pardons
sin. The sacrifice of Christ paid for the sin of God's elect.
So it's right for God to pardon them. It's right for God to be
merciful to them. Now that should make us praise
the Lord. God pardons the sin of his people by wiping it away. That's mercy and truth. I make
you want to praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. All right, now look
at Psalm 40. Here's the third thing. God preserves
his people. He pardons them and then he preserves
his people. both mercy and truth. Psalm 40
verse 11. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. Now the Lord, David's prayer
here is, Lord, preserve me in your loving kindness, in your
mercy and in your truth and in your truth. Now we already saw
that's what the Lord did for Jacob, isn't it? That's what
He does for all of His Jacobs. He saves them, He pardons them,
and He preserves them all the days of their life. Now the word
preserve, it means to watch over, and it means to keep. It's both,
to watch and to keep. And this is David's prayer, this
is my prayer, but it's your prayer. Lord, don't just watch over me,
but keep me. Lord, don't just watch over me
and then when I sin and I go astray, you know, you might,
you might shout a little warning, but then you say, oh, hands off,
you know, nothing I can do about it because I don't want to violate
his free will. Lord, don't watch over me like that. Lord, watch
over me and keep me. Keep me. Actively prevent me. I mean actively reach out your
mighty hand and stop me from going astray from you. Watch
over me and keep me. is being preserved in both mercy
and truth. Lord, keep me from my sin. Keep
me from my sin nature. Don't let that sin nature rule.
And don't allow me to leave you. That's mercy. I mean, it's undeserved
mercy. I know, I mean, I know if God
just barely lifted his finger off of me, I'd be gone in a heartbeat.
I mean, I know that. admitting fact. So if God keeps
me from my sin, keeps me from leaving him, keeps me from becoming
apostate, leaving the gospel, that's God's mercy. I didn't
do anything to deserve it. I didn't keep myself. God had
to do that in pure mercy. But here's the truth. Lord, keep
me because that's what Christ deserves. Keep me because that's
what Christ earned for me. Keep me because I'm in Christ. That's truth. Lord, keep me in
mercy and truth. Not because of what I deserve,
but because of what Christ deserves. That's how God preserves his
people, keeps them in mercy and truth. Right now, look at Psalm
69. Here's the fourth point. God
will hear the prayers of his people in mercy and in truth. Psalm 69, verse 13. But as for me, my prayer is unto
thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time. O God, in the multitude
of thy mercy hear me, and in the truth of thy salvation. Lord, hear me both in mercy and
in truth. Now prayer, there are times prayer
is very easy, and there are times that prayer seems very, very
difficult, doesn't it? And when prayer is difficult,
you know one thing that would make it a little less difficult?
If I had any indication that the Lord would hear me, if he's
hearing me in my childlike words and phrases and just through the sinful veil
of this flesh, if I had some thought that the Lord was hearing
me, he'd understand. That'd make it easier. We want
the Lord to hear our prayers. Well, I know this, that the only
way He can hear us, the only way He can hear our prayers is
in Christ. The only way God can hear our
prayers is for Christ's sake. And that's just what David is
praying here. He said, Lord, hear me for Christ's
sake. Christ's sake is both mercy and
truth. Lord, hear me for Christ's sake.
Now, if I come to God in Christ, there's no reason that God will
not hear my prayer. selfishly and I pray for, you
know, selfish desires and things and wrong motives and, you know,
that's one thing. But when I come to God in Christ,
God's going to hear that prayer. He's going to hear it because
God's already saved me in Christ. He's already cleansed me in Christ. He's cleansed me from all of
my sin in Christ's sacrifice. He's made me one with Christ.
If I come to God in Christ, He'll hear me. Now that's mercy and
truth. That's mercy to hear me. That's mercy to hear the cry
this hard. And it's truth to hear me in Christ. Mercy and
truth. That's why God hears the prayers
of his people. Now that'll make you pray. That'll
give you the boldness and the confidence to come to God in
prayer. He'll hear me for Christ's sake.
In Christ. It's not because of how well
I think I'm praying. It's for Christ's sake. That
mercy to hear me. truth to hear me in Christ. That's
how God hears the prayers of his people. All right, now Psalm
85. Psalm 85, here's the fifth thing.
God saves his people in both mercy and truth. Psalm 85, verse
9. 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. Now, salvation in Christ, that
makes God's glory dwell in our land. The way you see the glory
of God is salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. I wish we could really see. I wish we really wanted to see
more of God's glory and how he saved sinners. I thought about that tornado
that went through Nashville the other day. I haven't seen pictures. I really don't know any details
about it, but I've seen tornadoes before. And I just bet you somewhere
there that tornado killed somebody right here. And right here somebody
was untouched. And they say, that's God's glory.
and saving my life, preserving my life. And there's a real interest
in seeing that in there. Oh, I'd like to see God's glory
in healing. I'd like to see God's glory in
healing Carter. One way or another, I sure would
like my brother to be healed. I'd like to see God's glory in
that. I'd like to see God's glory in the way he moves and save
his people and keep his people, provide for his people. Are we really that excited? Are
we really seeking that hard to seek God's chief glory when He
saves sinners? I'm telling you, that's when
God's glory dwells in our land. See, there's glory for God in
who God saves. He saves the chief of sinners. The worst of the worst that you
and I would never even dream wasting our time on. That's who
God saves. There's glory in who God saves. And there's glory
in how God saves them. The glory for God and how God
saves sinners through both mercy and truth. Every single time,
every person God's ever saved, it's always been in mercy and
truth. It's been through the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ
and through His sacrifice for their sin. Now, it would seem
to you and me, if we were left to our carnal reasoning, it would
seem to us that mercy and truth are two opposing forces that
could never meet. God's mercy says, in the council
halls of eternity, all God's attributes are there. And they
spoke up. And God's mercy says, I must
save sinners. I must save sinners. I must save
some. I cannot damn everyone. I cannot see everyone be damned.
Truth speaks up. It says, that's fine, but I must
punish every sin with death. I must. There's no exception
to that. I must punish every sin with
death. Both are right. How can those
two opposing forces ever meet and kiss? And we say that they've
kissed. That means that they met together
in full agreement where both are honored. How can that ever
happen? Only in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The obedience of Christ saved God's people by making them truly
righteous. The righteousness of God in him.
Then of course God's going to accept. The sacrifice of Christ
justified God's people, made it to where they have no sin,
so God's right to show mercy to them. That's how mercy and
truth have met together and kissed in the salvation of God's people.
It's by the obedience and by the sacrifice of Christ. And
way back there, David, I mean, you wonder how much the Old Testament
saints knew. I know this, they knew enough
to believe Christ. David believed Christ. He knew, even then, David
knew mercy and truth can only meet together in peace in the
God-man, the Messiah that would come. That's who he writes about
in verse 11. Truth shall spring out of the
earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. That's
how mercy and truth are gonna meet together. That's how righteousness
and peace are gonna kiss, by truth springing out of the earth,
and righteousness looking down from heaven. David knew this,
God's son, is going to become a real man and he's going to
be descended from David. And he was, wasn't he? Mary was
descended from David and from her womb came forth the Lord
Jesus. God's Son is going to become
a real man descended from David. That's truth springing from the
earth. Our bodies are just dust, just
of the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ sprang
out of the dust of the earth from Mary's womb. He's the rod,
the stem of Jesse, the root of David, the root out of a dry
ground. Truth sprang out of the ground. The Lord Jesus Christ
is a real man descended from David and he brought truth. He
brought truth by obeying God's law perfectly, by honoring and
magnifying God's law. And here's something glorious.
He didn't do it for himself. He did it as the representative
of his people to make them righteous, to make them holy. David also
says though, now truth is going to spring from the earth, he's
going to be a real man. But David also says righteousness shall
look down from heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ is a real
man. He was a bone of our bone, flesh
of our flesh. But he's also truly God from
heaven. He's truly man and he's truly God in one body. And that
gives him the righteousness to impute to his people. Because
only God can be righteous. That makes Him the perfect Lamb,
whose sacrifice truly puts away the sin of His people. See, this
glorious salvation, both mercy and truth, it can only be found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let's praise the Lord. He
provided such a Savior of sinners, His own Son, come into flesh.
All right, now last, look in Proverbs chapter 16. Proverbs chapter 16. God purges
the iniquity of his people in both mercy and truth. Proverbs 16 verse 6. By mercy and truth, iniquity
is purged and by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil,
mercy and truth. By mercy and truth, iniquity
is purged. Now we look at ourselves. It's
hard to say my sin has been purged away from me, isn't it? Because
if we're honest, when we look at ourselves, all we see is sin
and iniquity. But here's the good news about
that. You know, only the new man can see the sin of the old
man. If all you are is one nature, you've not been born again, all
you've got is that old man, the old man of the flesh. He really
doesn't see anything wrong with himself. He really sees some
good things about himself. Well, I mean, I'm not perfect,
but I've done some good things. That's what the old man says.
Only the new man can see the sin of the old man. But like
I say, it's not so easy to see how sin's been purged in me because
that's all I see in myself. But it is easy to see how sin
is purged, isn't it? Sin is purged in mercy by Christ
dying the death that I deserve. That's mercy. That's how my sin
has been purged away in His precious blood that He shed for me to
put my sin away. That's mercy. But here's the
truth. It's just as true that Christ
completely, fully, truly put away the sin of His people under
His precious blood. I say that's hard. It's hard
to see. It's hard for me to say I don't have any sin. It's hard
for me to say my iniquity is purged so that it does not exist. But that's true. That's so. Now,
I know God sees our sin. God's not blind, but God doesn't
see the sin of his people in this way, in that he will not
charge them with sin. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. That man is blessed. God does
not charge them with sin. He does not impute their sin
to them, and he will not punish them for that sin. because that
sin's already been punished in the person of our substitute.
God welcomes his people into his presence because their iniquity
is truly purged. Go back to praying. God's not
going to hear the prayer of somebody. All they are is iniquity. But
God hears the prayers of his people if their iniquity's been
purged by the blood of Christ. He welcomes them into his presence.
The blood of Christ washes God's people white as snow. So God
accepts them in truth. It's by mercy and truth that
iniquity is purged. And I don't have to be able to
explain that to the natural mind in order to be able to praise
God for it, for purging my iniquity in mercy and truth. Matter of
fact, when my human mind can't really fully comprehend it, but
by God's grace I believe it, that's when I'm going to praise
God for it. That's when I'm going to praise Him for it. Now, let
me give you this in conclusion, mercy and truth. God will never
forsake his mercy and he will never forsake his truth. Both
God's mercy and his truth are eternal. In the Psalms, over
and over again, we read God's truth forever and God's mercy
forever. Both will endure forever. God
never turned his back on either one of them. God will always
be merciful to his people because God's true to himself. God will
always be merciful to His people because He's always true to honor
the sacrifice of His Son. God will never forsake His mercy
and never forsake His truth. Then let us, you and me, Hurricane
Road Grace Church, let us be sure we don't forsake God's mercy
and truth either. Look back a few pages at Proverbs
chapter 3. Let's not turn away from God's
mercy and God's truth. But let's always trust in and
rest in God's mercy and God's truth. Proverbs 3, verse 3. Let not mercy and truth forsake
thee. Bind them about thy neck, write them upon the table of
thine heart. Don't let mercy and truth forsake
you. Think on God's mercy and God's truth so that it becomes
engraved on your heart. So you always trust in it. Keep
it always before your eyes. Just use it. Wear it like an
ornament, a necklace around your neck. God's mercy and God's truth. If we don't forsake God's mercy
and God's truth. I'm confident of this. There's
something else we won't forsake. We won't forsake God's mercy.
We won't forsake God's truth. We won't forsake praising God
and worshiping him either. In mercy and in truth. I hope
I'll be a blessing to you. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for
this, your word. We thank you for your mercy and
your truth, your mercy forever, your truth forever. And Father,
we've just heard, we beg that you'd hear our prayer in mercy
and in truth. Hear the cry of us poor sinners
and hear us for Christ's sake. Father, I pray you bless your
word. Bless your word to your glory. Bless your word to the
hearts of your people. And let us leave here and go
through the day tomorrow and all of our coming days. Let us
think on, feast on, rest in your mercy and your truth to sinners. Mercy and truth in our Lord Jesus
Christ. Father, thank you. Bless us,
we pray for Christ's sake. Let's stand and turn to page
number nine. Page number nine. And we'll sing these words to
the tune, Faith of Our Fathers. Stand and sing, please. Awake, my soul, to joyful aims,
And sing thy great Redeemer's praise. He justly claims a song
from me, His lovingkindness, O how free! Loving Kindness,
Loving Kindness, His Loving Kindness, He saw me ruined by the fall,
Yet loved me notwithstanding all. He saved me from my loss,
His lovingkindness, O how great! Lovingkindness, lovingkindness
His lovingkindness, O how great! Thou numerous host of mighty
foes, Though earth and hell my way oppose, He safely leads my
soul along. His lovingkindness, oh, how strong! Lovingkindness, lovingkindness,
His lovingkindness, oh, how strong! When trouble, like a gloomy cloud,
Has gathered thick and thundered loud, He near my soul has always
stood. His lovingkindness, oh, how good. Lovingkindness, lovingkindness.