Proverbs 16.6 says, by mercy
and truth, iniquity is purged. Such is the biblical principle
that God Almighty has decreed to be His divine manner in providing
saving atonement for the multitude of perversities of His elect.
In these two words, mercy and truth, is found the very fountainhead
of all that has been promised and provided by God concerning
His great plan of redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And
eternality is stamped all over these two terms. For over and
over the Scripture says that God's mercy endures forever. And as far as His truth is concerned,
The truth about God and Christ and the Holy Spirit, well, it
couldn't be truth without it being as eternal as He is. For Christ is truly the only
one through whom we may receive from Triune God eternal purging,
eternal forgiving and cleansing from all of our unrighteousness. This indeed makes the contrast
between Moses and our Lord the same as being between time and
eternity. For the law came by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. John 1.17. There is,
however, among the Christian community much stress that is
continually put upon the mercy of God in the atoning salvation
of a soul. But I would like to draw your
attention to the equal place of importance that God's Word
puts upon His truth and its significance in real regeneration. For none
can deny that without God's everlasting mercy, there certainly is no
hope of being saved. But I fear that all too often
there's a foreboding tendency among ourselves to place the
footing of our eternal salvation of souls upon God's mercy alone,
and therefore at the expense of knowing, believing, and understanding
His saving truth. In John 14.6, our Lord Jesus
declares Himself to be the only way to the merciful Father. But is He the way to eternal
life without also being the truth? Of course not. He is the way,
the truth, and the life. And no man comes unto the Father
but by Him being all three of these descriptions of sovereign
grace. Now the debate of this matter
invariably gravitates into the argument of just how much truth
then must be known and believed and understood by a man before
he is to be considered saved. The answer to this question,
the settling of this sort of dispute, however, where man is
concerned, is one of total and complete vanity at the very outset. For the truth that accompanies
genuine scripturally defined and described regeneration is
not truth that can naturally be attained by any man any more
or any different than the mercy of God that is necessary in order
for one to be eternally saved can be humanly earned. God is
merciful as He wills. upon those He has intended to
save. And He will consequently, most
certainly, bring them all unto a saving knowledge of His truth. 1 Timothy 2, 2 and 3 says, For
this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
who will have all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of
the truth. But it is from here that it seems
to me, within the spectrum of men arguing over how much truth
does a sinner need to be educated with in order for him to be regenerated,
that the truth of the gospel of the glory of Christ is reduced
to a bare minimum of what is said to be, quote, the basic
facts concerning Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of
the world. And these basic facts are generally
a man-made statement about Christ as Savior that is grossly devoid
of sound biblical doctrine. This is done in the name of not
limiting what God can do as far as His saving a soul is concerned. Plus, this makes it simple and
logical for man to conclude that many around him already are at
present truly alive in Christ, but they are just not at present
in agreement with certain scriptural tenets of the faith. God will
overlook these in His mercy, making these differences of no
consequence. This sort of practice tends to
minimize the eternal danger that the Scriptures themselves place
on disagreement with and misunderstanding of sound biblical salvation doctrine. 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 10-12
says of them that perish, because they receive not the love of
the truth that they might be saved, that for this cause God
shall send them strong delusion that they might believe a lie,
that they all might be damned, who believed not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness. 1 Timothy 6, verses 3-5 issues
us a solemn warning. It says, If any man teach otherwise,
and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to
godliness. He is proud, knowing nothing,
destitute of the truth. From such, withdraw thyself." Right from the start of Christ's
own ministry, it was the truth of God's saving way that absolutely
infuriated the world around Him. Luke 4, verses 16 through 30, tells of the very first recorded
sermon that he preached in his own hometown. He, it says, being filled and
led of the Holy Spirit, came to Nazareth where he had been
brought up. And as his custom was, he went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight. to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And he closed the book. And he gave it again to the minister
and sat down. And the eyes of all them that
were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto
them, This day is this Scripture fulfilled. in your ears. And all bear him witness, and
wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth,
and they said, Is not this Joseph's son? This then is the first indication
that this whole congregation had missed the point. Christ inasmuch as indicated
to them that He Himself was the eternal Son of God, the fulfillment
of Isaiah 61. And they were about to demonstrate
their hatred of that truth. But let's read on. And He said unto them, You will
surely say unto Me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we have heard done
in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily
I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country,
but I tell of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elijah. when the heaven was shut up three
years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the
land, but unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Zarephath,
a city of Zidon, and unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers
were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none
of them was cleansed, save Naaman the Syrian, Now, this was Bible truth that
He had expounded to them. It was there in the written Word
of God, plainly declared. But do you think that it mattered
to them? That this truth was clearly stated in the Word? No,
it did not. And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath. and rose up and thrust Him out
of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill whereon their
city was built, that they might cast Him down headlong. But He,
passing through the midst of them, went His way." So we see
demonstrated from the very beginning of the ministry of Jesus Himself,
that in order for the truth to be received, it must be mercifully
revealed to you as truth, eternal truth that cannot be denied. This is brought out in the very
next two verses. Guess where He went? Guess what
happened next? But He, passing through the midst
of them, went His way and He came down to Capernaum, a city
of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days. And they were
astonished at his doctrine. For his word was with power. There's power in the word of
truth. Power to transform and to save. But the word of truth
concerning Christ has no power without the mercy of God being
present. It must precede the presentation
of the truth or the truth will not be received. Let's view a demonstration of
this from the next congregation that Jesus confronts in Capernaum.
This is found in verses 33 through 37 of Luke 4. And in the synagogue
there was a man that had a spirit of an unclean devil and cried
out with a loud voice saying, let us alone. What have we to
do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art Thou come to destroy us?
I know Thee, who Thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying,
Hold Thy peace and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown
him in the midst, he came out of him and heard him not. And
they were all amazed and spake among themselves, saying, What
a word is this! For with authority and power
he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out." Here in this synagogue, this
congregation, there was a man, perhaps a member, that was demon-possessed. I don't know if any of his friends
even knew this. But the very presence and teaching
of Jesus, mercy and truth, caused this purging, this cleansing
to take place. And Jesus is made known to be
the Christ, the Son of God incarnate. And verse 37 says of Him, And
the fame of Him went out into every place of the country round
about. And He demonstrated that He indeed
is a fulfillment of Isaiah 61. For it goes on to say that from
verses 40 and 41, Now when the sun was setting, all they that
had any sick with diverse diseases brought them again unto Him,
and He laid hands on every one of them and healed them. And
devils also came out of many, crying out and saying, Thou art
the Christ, the Son of God. And He rebuking them, suffered
them not to speak, for they knew that He was Christ. So we see
that some will truly receive the word of truth concerning
who Jesus is. But some will not. And Jesus
seems to be very particular how it is that the truth is to be
received. Let's face it, the devils gave
forth a perfectly accurate description of Him as being the Holy One
of God and as being the Christ, the Son of God. But He was in
no wise impressed with their accuracy. He continually rebuked
them and silenced them. It is by the mercy of God and
His Word of truth that the revelation of who He is will be made and
iniquity will be purged. And in this light, the Holy Spirit-inspired
Apostle Paul says from Philippians 3, 15 and 16, He says, let us therefore, as
many as be perfect, or literally complete, something that only
the Holy Spirit can do for you, as many as be perfect, be thus
minded. And if anything ye be otherwise
minded, or literally differently minded, God shall reveal even
this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have
already attained or literally already arrived at, let us walk
by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing or
literally let us think the same way. All too often, however,
when man reduces the gospel of God down to a few terse facts
about Christ as being the Savior of the world, He declares His
scriptural doctrines, that which is nothing more than the precepts
and commandments of men. From Matthew 15, verses 7-9,
Jesus says this about the religious Pharisees. Ye hypocrites! Well, did Isaiah prophesy of
you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth,
and honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain they do worship me, teaching
for doctrines the commandments of men. The context of this message
becomes a reality when men begin to mess with the doctrinal content
and definition of the gospel. and thereby turn it into something
less than what it really is. When man dogmatically declares
with his lips that God can do anything He wants to, He can
use anyone He wants to in order to affect the salvation of sinners,
it sounds as if He honors him and defends him. But when he
ignorantly says this in a frontery to what God Himself declares
and reveals from His own Word as the way that He has decreed,
that which He does do, His saving work among men, then there is
no honor to God in this statement at all. When we briefly examine Ezekiel
36, do we not see the sovereignty of God's power performed in a
particular way? in His affecting the eternal
salvation of His people? How He reaches down into the
very inner recesses of sinful man and takes out of him that
stubborn and rebellious heart and spirit and then replaces
them with a new heart that hears and sees the truth and a new
spirit that is in fact His own Holy Spirit that obeys His Word
and desires to live and glorify Him? He truly can do anything
if He can do this. But we also see that in keeping
with this great sovereign act of His mercy, this truth, which
He also declares from Ezekiel 36 and verse 37, I will yet for
this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.
Don't you see that there would be no reason for us to hope and
joy in our Lord Jesus if God did not include our prayers as
a part of his means in performing his truth, his mercy and truth
upon us. By seeing this in his word, we
have as a result a steadfast anchor of assurance divinely
imparted to us. whereby we may be confident that
He has saved and regenerated us. Of course, it's true that there
would not be put forth the prayer for mercy if there were no life
present to cause it to surface. Corpses do not truly pray. They just exude death. In like
fashion, however, the saving faith-generated prayer for mercy
does not truly come forth apart from the Holy Spirit imparted
revelation and understanding of the saving truth concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Truth that is brought to light
from scripturally sound doctrine. to minimize the gospel into a
general and for the most part ambiguous statement about the
saving work of Christ is to put forth a gospel that breeds false
conceptions and self-delusions. This happens because so-called
gospel preaching occurs once again at the expense of genuine
spiritual understanding. spiritual understanding like
that of the Apostle Paul's prayer for the Ephesians. He prayed
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened,
that you may know what is the hope of His calling and what
are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Ephesians 1, 17 and 18. This sort of spiritual understanding
can only come by the Holy Spirit with whom there is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning. James 1, 17. And well does the
next verse aptly state, verse 18, of His own will begat He
us. with the word of truth. Oh, praise
God for his mercy and truth. Now, before we end, I want to
remind you of a solemn warning in regards to these important
things. Our Lord Jesus himself taught in Matthew 7, 15 through
20. He said, beware of false prophets
which come to you in sheep's clothing. but inwardly they are
ravening wolves. You shall know them by their
fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns
or figs of thistles? Even so, every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth
evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down
and cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits ye
shall know them." In this section of Scripture,
we are warned of false prophets. A prophet, for the most part,
is one who declares, quote, thus saith the Lord, unquote. Now, for our day and time, with
the completed and authenticated sacred Scriptures of God's Word,
the only way anyone can dogmatically declare, thus saith the Lord,
is in conjunction with Bible preaching and teaching. So, therefore,
a false prophet would be anyone who declares that the Bible teaches
something as true, that is not the truth. Or quite simply, anyone
who teaches false doctrine is a false prophet or a false teacher. Oh, how dangerous a false teacher
is. Isaiah 9, verses 15 and 16 says,
The ancient and the honorable, he is the head. And the prophet
that teaches lies, he is the tale. For the leaders of this
people cause them to err, and they that are led of them are
destroyed." Or literally, swallowed up. Swallowed up with error. Now, Jesus says that we can know
who these false prophets are by their fruits. Therefore, it
would be wise for us to learn just exactly what is meant by
fruits. Does fruits pertain to what is
spoken? Well, from the succeeding context
of this passage in Matthew, it would certainly appear that what
is said is definitely a part of the fruits of a man. Matthew 7.21 takes us right into
the final judgment where we hear the cry of false ministers. Jesus says, not everyone that
saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Then in Luke's parallel rendering
of this passage, it becomes even more obvious that what is said
is a part of the fruits of a man. Luke 6, verses 43 through 45. For a good tree bringeth not
forth corrupt fruit, neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth
good fruit. For every tree is known by his
own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather
figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes, A good man out of
the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is
good. And an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart
bringeth forth that which is evil. For of the abundance of
the heart, the mouth speaketh." Matthew 12, 37, Jesus says quite
pointedly, for by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy
words thou shalt be condemned. Then there is that which is written
in John 8, verse 47, what Jesus also said. He that is of God,
heareth God's words. You, therefore, hear them not,
because ye are not of God. Gospel truth is as particular
a message as the atonement of Christ which it proclaims. Isaiah's commission to bear forth
the message that God had for the people of his generation
was a particular message that was to be delivered in a particular
way. And of the ministers of his day,
he wrote in Isaiah 8.20, if they speak not according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them. The second epistle of John alludes
to what he repeatedly referred to as the doctrine of Christ. Of this doctrine, he wrote, 2
John 9-11, Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and
bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither
bid him Godspeed. For he that biddeth him Godspeed
is partaker of his evil deeds." This may seem a bit harsh and
inhospitable, but we're not talking about some triviality that should
be lightly esteemed. We're talking about God's truth
that our Lord Jesus Himself identifies with. He says that He is the
truth. Under the Old Testament, false
teaching was a capital offense. Deuteronomy 13, 1-5 plainly says,
If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth
thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to
pass, whereof He spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other
gods, which thou hast not known. Let us serve them. Thou shalt
not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer
of dreams. For the Lord your God proveth
you to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord
your God and fear Him and keep His commandments and obey His
voice and you shall serve Him and cleave to Him. And that prophet
or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death. because He has
spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought
you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house
of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy
God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away
from the midst of thee." John Calvin said, of all that is meant
by the fruits of men, the manner of teaching holds the first place. One other point in this regard
before I close for now. The text says, beware, which
word means literally, hold your minds away from. To subject oneself
to the teaching of false doctrine can and will influence you to
misjudgment and compromise where the truth is concerned. Jesus
says, Beware of false prophets or hold your minds away from
false prophets. Our own fruitfulness for the
kingdom of Christ depends on it. Do you not see where it asks,
do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles, correlate
This question of Christ with what he taught in the parable
of the sower as related to us from Mark 4 7 and some fell among
thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded
no fruit. Where truth is not taught and
believed and understood, good fruit is not found. Gospel truth knows no sort of
compromise with God. It makes no difference if a person
has lived as a Christian for years and years where there is
corrupt fruit coming forth from their message. I fear there may
be yet lacking the right way of life in their standing before
God. I have experienced both reactions
in evangelism, where on the one hand, when to
a professing believer there is delivered the definitive scriptural
presentation of God's work of sovereign grace through the saving
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that they become totally rebellious
to the biblical fiber and fabric of the truth and walk away in
utter defiant disbelief. And then on the other hand, I
have seen in other professors the light of understanding and
joy just overwhelm them as they hear the gospel message, it seems,
for the first time with real clarity. These respond with an
eagerness and assurance that they know this is the truth and
they love it. At last, they truly see. Questions are answered and clouds
of obscurity are dissipated into nothingness as the light of the
truth comes mercifully shining through. Oh, dear ones, do you
not see that the Apostle Paul suffered so under the awesome
prospects that many of his friends and family of Israel might possibly
be doomed to be eternally dead, wrong in their misassessment
of the person and work of Christ? Why else would he himself become
eternally cursed if in so doing it would secure their salvation?
But no such thing could possibly be, for nothing can forge or
alter the plan of God. Even though Paul's brethren for
the most part rejected him and the message of the gospel he
was sent to proclaim, he yet boldly stood firm for the truth,
declaring, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. Even so, dear friends, let us
be of the same mind to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. I leave
with you Psalm 25, verses 10 and 11. All the paths of the
Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and
his testimonies. For thy name's sake, O Lord,
pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. Amen.