Psalm 85 is our study this evening. And I'm entitling the message
from the words found in verse 10. Mercy and truth are met together. Mercy. God is merciful. God is truth. Absolute truth. Mercy and truth, righteousness
and peace are in complete harmony in the salvation of sinners.
Complete harmony. All the attributes of God, or
as some like to say the characteristics of God, are magnified and exalted
in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only mercy, and true,
but also righteousness, justice, and peace are in harmony. The
death of the Lord Jesus Christ as a sinner's substitute does
not change the character of God, for He does not change. God does
not change. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
does not change the character of God from a God of wrath and
judgment to a God of love. Oh no, God doesn't change. But
rather, all the attributes of God are honored and magnified
in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to enable our God to justly
forgive sinners, not at the expense of His holy law, not at the expense
of His holy justice, to enable Him to be a just God and Savior. God cannot justly save us. There are some things he cannot
do. He cannot act contrary to his nature. In other words, Scripture
said it's impossible for God to lie. God cannot save sinners
at the expense of His justice, at the expense of His holiness.
And that's the mystery and the marvel and the beauty of the
Gospel. That He is not only a just God, and holy and righteous,
but He saves sinners in such a way that magnifies His own
glorious character. That's the beauty of the Gospel. Christ and Him crucified. God
does not compromise His character in the salvation of sinners.
He honors all His attributes. His mercy, His truth, His love
is magnified. His grace is magnified in the
salvation of sinners. Now again, this Psalm 85 is another
gospel psalm, for again it tells us, it tells us the good news
of Christ saving mercy to undeserving sinners, such as we are. Do you consider yourself that?
Vile, wretched sinner. You say with Paul, oh wretched
man that I am. See the Lord Jesus Christ died
for the ungodly. He died for sinners. The good
shepherd laid down his life for his sheep. And in time he will
cross their path with the gospel and reveal himself unto his covenant
sheep. He said, I've hid these things
from the wise and prudent. Father, I thank thee. that you
hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them
unto babe, even so, father, for so it seemed good in your sight."
Now, verses 1 through verse 3 of Psalm 85 declares unto us what
the Lord has done in saving grace in sovereign mercy and in redeeming
love. Notice this phrase, these two
words as repeated here several times, thou hast, thou hast,
thou hast, thou hast. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is not what we do for God. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is what God has done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ,
our substitute. There's what he has done for
us. Now, verse one, the Lord, the Lord, Jehovah, capital L,
capital O, capital R, D, Jehovah, Jehovah God, has been favorable,
thou has been favorable, gracious, or well-pleased unto thy land. Thou has brought back the captivity
of those covenant people. Jacob have I loved. The Lord
has been gracious unto his covenant people and he will set them free
from the bondage of sin. He will continue to be merciful
unto us and gracious unto us for Christ's sake. We're instructed
in scripture to love one another and to forgive one another, even
as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us. Thou hast been favorable,
gracious unto these covenant people who were in captivity. Now, Israel of old is an example
and picture of the Lord's free, sovereign grace and mercy unto
the undeserving. Oftentimes, in scripture, their
deliverance from Egyptian bondage is held forth as a shining jewel,
a shining example of God's sovereign saving mercy unto sinners. They were in bondage, Israel
of old, in Egyptian bondage for 400 years, unable to deliver
themselves, unable to get out of the depths of that servitude. What happened? God delivered
them. God delivered them and destroyed
Pharaoh and his army. After 400 years of bondage, God
delivered them. Again, God sent that nation into captivity
again in Babylon several, I guess, hundreds or thousands of years
later when the Assyrian army came in and overran Jerusalem
and carried many of them away. And they spent 70 years in Babylonian
captivity till God raised up a king among the enemy. His name was Cyrus. And God says,
he's my shepherd, he'll perform all my pleasure. God changed
his heart and he caused Cyrus to decree a decree to set all
Israel free. God delivered them from 70 years
of captivity. They couldn't deliver themselves,
not at all. All that is a picture of how
God delivers sinners by his power, his grace. In Isaiah 59, verse
one, it says, our Lord says this, my hand is not shortened that
it cannot save. His hand is not weak or anemic. His hand, the hand of the Lord
is far reaching. And His hand is, what we read
in Daniel chapter four, where Nebuchadnezzar was taught of
God, no one can stay His hand Or saying to him, Lord God Almighty,
what are you doing? The hand of the Lord is not shortened
that he cannot say. Even so, likewise, the Lord has
set us free in Christ Jesus. He set us free from the curse
of the law. The curse of the law says, curses
everyone that continues not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. The Lord Jesus Christ,
by His redeeming blood, by His sacrificial substitutionary death,
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us. He set us free. Christ has set
us free from the bondage of sin, has He not? From the curse of
the law. Turn over here to Galatians chapter
5. Thou has been favorable, thou has set us free. Galatians chapter
five. The issue of law and grace has
been dealt with here in this epistle from Galatians. And he
says, stand fast therefore, Galatians five verse one, stand fast therefore
in the liberty wherewith Christ had made us free. And don't be
entangled again with the yoke of bondage, with the yoke of
the law. The Lord Jesus Christ has set us free, free, free. Started to sing a song a while
ago. Free from the law. Oh, happy
condition. Christ has died and there is
redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ. He set us free. Now,
it's prophesied over in Isaiah. Turn over to Isaiah 61. It's
prophesied in Isaiah 61 that the Messiah would come and that
he would set his people free. from the bondage of the law,
from the curse of the law, and from the bondage of sin. Notice
in Isaiah 61 verse one, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because
the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek. He
has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Now did
he do it? Turn to Luke chapter four. Luke
chapter four. Let's see, did he come? Oh yes,
the fullness of time, God sent forth his son made of a woman,
made under the law. Did he actually set his people
free by his blood and righteousness? Absolutely, look at Luke chapter
four. When he came to Nazareth, verse
16, where he'd been brought up, that's why he was called a Nazarene,
as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on a Sabbath day
and stood up to read. Verse 17, there was delivered
unto him a book, the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when
he had opened the book, he found the place where he had written,
where it was written or where he had written is his book, his
word. Isaiah 61, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. because
he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. Now,
he didn't need the book, but to demonstrate to the people
that this is what's written in the word of God. He has sent
me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord,
the year of jubilee, when the captives are set free. He closed
the book, gave it again to the minister, and sat down, The eyes
of all them were fastened, and the synagogue were fastened on
him, and he began to say to them, this day, this day is this scripture
fulfilled in your ear. He actually fulfilled what was
prophesied of him to do. Thou has been favorable, thou
has brought us back from captivity. From the bondage of sin, the
curse of the law from the guilt of sin from the guilt of sin
the believer resting in the Lord Jesus Christ has no guilt of
sin no guilt of sin why the reason of guilt has been dealt with
the Lord Jesus Christ put away our sin by the sacrifice of himself
now we're going to see this in the next verse Psalm 85 verse
2 thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people thou hast
covered all their sin all their sin now the Lord Jehovah in and
through Christ crucified has forgiven all the iniquity all
the iniquity of These covenant people all the iniquity thou
has forgiven the iniquity of thy people now first of all,
let's figure out Who are these people? Whoever they are. They're
forgiven Mark that now God said they're forgiven whoever these
people are they're forgiven Who are these people? Well, they're
His by His choice. He chose them in that eternal
covenant of grace. Our Lord referred to that in
John chapter 6. All that the Father hath given
to me, they will come to me, and those that come to me I will
in no wise cast out. Those are the people given to
the Lord Jesus Christ in that eternal covenant of grace. Their
sin is forgiven. They're his by his choice. Secondly,
they are his by divine purchase. He bought them. He bought them. You reckon he's
going to have what he bought? Is he going to take home what
he bought? You don't go to the grocery store and buy groceries
and leave them there, do you? No. Why? You paid for them. You
chose them, didn't you? Someone else didn't make out
your grocery list, you made it out. My wife makes out, she gets
mad if I mess up her grocery list, she gets mad at me. Don't
mess with my grocery list. She makes out the list, she buys,
she goes in that store on purpose, she chooses what she wants, she
buys it, and then she takes it home. She bought it, she chose
it. Now, that's exactly what the
Lord does in salvation. He chose us, He bought us, and
He's going to have us, His people, where He is by divine choice.
Now Paul, when he writes to the Corinthians, he says, you are
no more your own, you're bought with a price. Therefore glorify
God in your body and in your spirit. These people here are
forgiven people because they're His people. He said, I laid down
my life for the sheep. They're His people by His divine
choice, sovereign choice. They're His people by divine
purchase. They're His people by divine, irresistible call. He calls them to Himself. Why does He call them out? My
sheep hear my voice I know them and they follow me. Why does
he call them? Well, he chose them. He bought them. And then
because of their deadness in sin, he must call them out of
darkness in his marvelous light. And then what do they do? They
show forth the praises of him who did that. Thou hast forgiven
the iniquity of thy covenant people. And then he says, you've
covered, thou has covered all their sin. Now, how does the
Lord cover the sin of these chosen people? How's he covered over?
Now, it's not like trying to use some kind of example. It's
not like we might do when we sweep the house and gather up
all the dust and lift up the rug and just kind of shove it
underneath there so the company can't see, put it down. No, the
dirt's still there. Oh, it's covered. But it's not
removed, is it? No. The Lord Jesus Christ doesn't
take our sin and sweep it under the rug so as to hide it. He
removes it. So much so that it says in Psalm
103 that He has removed our iniquity as far as the east is from the
west. Now that's a far piece. He renewed
it so completely and so thoroughly that in the book of Hebrews chapter
10 verse 17, God said, their sin and their iniquity will I
remember no more. Now again, referring back to
Isaiah 59 verse two, he said, your sins have separated you
from God. Sin caused a great separation. Now our sin, my sin is my fault. Can't blame anyone but me, my
fault. Sin separated this sinner from
God. But in the Lord Jesus Christ,
when He removed my sin, and removed and took away my sin, now my
sin has been forever separated from me. And now I have reconciliation. with God in Christ Jesus. He's removed our sin, and we
have reconciliation in Christ Jesus. That's good news. That's
good news. How does the Lord forgive iniquity
and cover all our sin, the sin of those chosen people? By charging
and imputing our sin unto the Lord Jesus Christ. It says the
Lord Jesus Christ suffered once for our sin the just for the
unjust that he might bring us unto God. We can't come any other
way than our sin being completely atoned for, completely paid for,
and completely removed from us forever. What if sometime down
the road our sin could be charged back to us? That wouldn't be
a blessing, would it? Blessed is a man whom the Lord
will not charge sin. Now that's a blessed man. That's
a blessed man. You see, thou hast done this. Salvation is of the Lord, is
it not? Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people. Thou
hast covered all their sin. to substitute God set forth as
a propitiation. God foreordained him as the atoning
victim to put away our sin. Here is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us. He put away our sin by the sacrifice
of himself. No, it's not that we love God,
he loved us. And he sent his son to be the
sacrifice, the propitiation, the covering, the complete covering
the complete removal of our sin. We have an atonement. We have
an atonement. Now, if anybody ever asks you,
what's your theory on the atonement? You know, they think, well, it's
universal, partial, or what's your theory on the atonement?
I don't have a theory. What do you mean? I have an atonement.
I have an atonement. It's not an attemptment. It's
an atonement. It's complete covering, a complete
expiation, a complete putting away of sin, finally and forever,
never to be mentioned again. Cast behind the back of God,
cast into the, where's that? I don't know. Cast into the depths
of the sea, completely gone. That's good news. That's good
news. That's my hope. Christ put away
my sin. Look at verse three. Thou hast
taken away all thy wrath. Wrath. Thou hast turned thyself
from the fierceness of thine anger. All of God's wrath toward
his covenant people has been forever removed. How has it been removed? Because
the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree took all my sin, the sin
of God the elect laid on Him. Taking my sin, He also took all
the wrath of God due those sins and completely drank the cup
of damnation dry. Completely took away the wrath
of God. because of his complete and eternal
atonement for all sin. Now, I want you to look at some
scripture here. Let's find 1 Thessalonians. He's removed all wrath because
all sin has been put away. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. For they themselves, verse nine,
show of us what manner of entering in we have into you, how you
turn to God from idols, turn to God from idolatry to serve
the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivered us
from the wrath to come. Now stay right here, turn to
chapter five. Same book, 1 Thessalonians chapter
five. He delivered us from the wrath to come. has removed all
wrath, judgment, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
You got chapter 5 verse 9, look what it says there carefully.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath. We're not appointed to wrath,
but appointed but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Not
appointed to wrath. but appointed to salvation in
Christ Jesus. All wrath has been removed. Turn
to one more scripture, Romans 5. Romans 5, verse 6, in due time
Christ died for the ungodly. Verse 8, that God commended his
love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Verse 9, Romans 5, look at it carefully, much more than
being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through him. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled with God by the death of His Son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Not only so,
but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we now have received the atonement, and the word there is reconciliation. Now, sin causes separation, right? Sin separated us from God, and
Adam all died. But sin being removed, sin being
dealt with, and wrath being extinguished, the reason for separation has
been removed, therefore we have reconciliation in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what we have. Wrath has
been removed. Thou hast taken away all thy
wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger. God's anger toward our sin has
been fully and eternally quenched, quenched by the death of Christ
in our stead. You remember Lamentation chapter
1? That's where we started, across
the street five years ago. The first message I brought to
you. Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? Behold and
see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done
to me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his
fierce anger. How could God be angry with his
Holy Son? only as he stands as our substitute
with our sin charged to his account. God cannot look upon sin with
favor even when he finds it in his blessed son who's made sin
for us. We call that substitution and
satisfaction. He really made satisfaction in
God's law and justice. That's why all wrath has been
removed. Now, our prayer is found in verse
four and five. Turn us, O God. Turn us, O God. O God of our salvation, and cause
thine anger toward us to cease. Wilt thou be angry with us forever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger
to all generations? Now, here's our prayer, Lord,
turn us. Turn back to Psalm 80, verse 3. Remember this scripture?
I believe this is repeated two or three times in Psalm 80. Turn us again. Look at Psalm
80, verse 3. Turn us again, O God, and cause
thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Now, turn us. Turn
us, O God. Turn us to behold your beauty. Turn us to behold your grace. Turn us to see the Lord Jesus
Christ as altogether lovely. In salvation, there is a removal
of God's wrath toward us, and there is removal of our enmity
toward Him. Both are accomplished by the
power of God in the gospel. Be ye reconciled unto God through
Christ Jesus. The wrath of God is quenched
by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, satisfying sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and our enmity toward Him, the carnal
mind, is what enmity toward Him. Our enmity toward Him is turned
away in that regenerating work of God the Holy Spirit, giving
us a new nature in Christ Jesus where He sheds abroad in our
heart the love of God. It's shed abroad in our heart
by the Holy Spirit. Now we love things we once hated. You see, the wrath has been removed
from us. now we love and believe and trust
him now look at verse six will thou not revive us again revive
us again there's a song in our songbook revive us again revive
us again will thou not revive us again that thy people may
rejoice in thee." Now, revive us again. Now, what does that
mean? Does that mean we need to have another revival meeting
and walk an aisle and come down front and rededicate and concentrate
and make another decision and go through all that? No. We are born again by the Spirit
of God one time. One time. Our Lord said, you
must be born again. You cannot believe the gospel
unless you're born again. You can't understand it or see
it or know it or believe it unless you have life given from above.
He said you cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless you're
born again. Happens one time. We are brought again from the
dead unto life one time. Translated out of the kingdom
of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son one time. But there are many times, because
of the plague of this old sin nature, that we need reviving. That's why he says that. Revive
us again. I didn't say save us again. Salvation's a one-time
a one-time act of God, eternal act and decree of God. Whatsoever
the Lord doeth, it shall be forever. No man can put anything to it
or take away. God doeth it that men should
fear before him. Ecclesiastes, somewhere in that
book. There are many times, because
of the plague of our old sin nature, that we need a reviving
and refreshing of the Holy Spirit, that we may continue, as it says
there in the text, that thy people may rejoice in thee. Revive us
again, O Lord, that we might rejoice in Thy redeeming mercy
in Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul, when he writes
that testimony in Romans chapter 7, when he talks about, in my
flesh dwelleth no good thing, O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? He needs a reviving.
Comes in the next phrase, in the next verse. Oh, I thank God
through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who has delivered me from this
body of death. I thank God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, through His reviving
and refreshing of God the Holy Spirit, we find sweet rest in
Him. Finding no confidence in the
flesh, but rejoicing in Christ Jesus. Worshipping God Almighty. Now look at verse seven. What causes our reviving and
rejoicing? Verse seven, show us thy mercy.
Show us thy mercy. Teach us again that our salvation
is totally by the mercy of God, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. Lord,
show it to me. Show me mercy. Reveal mercy unto
me, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. Now, that causes rejoicing. when God shows mercy. In Lamentations
chapter 3, you remember there the testimony of Jeremiah? He said, it is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed. They're new every morning. All of salvation is mercy from
first to last. From the first experience of
his love toward us and to the last breath we take upon this
earth. is mercy, the mercy of the Lord. The Lord will show mercy unto
his people. Remember Moses asked the Lord,
show me your glory, show me your glory. What did the Lord say? He said, I'll make all my goodness
pass before you. Where's all the goodness of God
revealed? in Christ, isn't it? And I will
be merciful, I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. God's
greatest glory is to show mercy to sinners through Christ Jesus. As mercy beckons, God commands
us to come unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy,
find grace to help in time of need. I've often said this, and
I believe it's so, and I've written it down again in this message.
His greatest glory, to show mercy, is my greatest need. I need mercy. I don't want what's coming to
me. Wrath, now that's what I deserve. I own that's what I deserve,
but I want mercy. I want mercy, not judgment. He
will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. But oftentimes, now
think with me a minute, and I'm not being critical here, but
oftentimes we talk so much about sovereign mercy that we forget
the fact that it says he will have mercy. He will have mercy. God must show mercy because he
is merciful. He must show mercy. Now, sovereign
mercy grants you. But my point being made, sometimes
we overemphasize one part of that and forget the fact that
he will show mercy to sinners, to the undeserving. And then
it says the second part of that, he will grant us thy salvation. Now, grant, a grant is not something
we earn. Grant is a gift, a gift. I guess this is a homely illustration,
a homely illustration. Back there in Pike County, the
county has been given a grant of some of your hard-earned tax
dollars for those flooded victims, and the grant is going to give
money to those who are flooded to buy them out. I didn't earn
that. It's a gift. It's a grant. It's a grant. It's a gift. Salvation is a gift. It's a gift
of God, not of worthless deadly mansions though. Salvation is
of the Lord. Again and again we see this through the scripture.
Salvation is of the Lord. He purposed it. He planned it. He purchased it. He applies it
to whom he will. Being confident of this very
thing, God who has begun a good work in you, He will perform
it, He will perfect it. We are to sit still and behold
the salvation that's of the Lord. None of us are deserving or worthy
of that salvation, but we rejoice that the Lord Jesus Christ is
called He's a friend of sinners. A friend of sinners. You know,
the Pharisees said that of the Lord Jesus Christ in a mocking
way? Well, He's a friend of sinners.
I'm glad He is. He's my friend. He's my friend. He's my Savior. He's my Lord. Look at verse 8. Revive us again,
show us your mercy, grant us your salvation. Boy, that'll
revive us, won't it? That'll cause us to rejoice.
And then verse 80 says, I will hear what God the Lord will speak. For he will speak peace unto
his people and to his saints. And when he speaks to his people,
they will not turn again to folly. Remember what Peter said when
the Lord said, no man can come to me except the Father which
sent me. Draw him. And many who were following him
because of the loaves and fishes walked away from him. And the
Lord turned to his 12 and said, well, what about you, Peter? Will you also go away? Remember
what he said? Lord, to whom shall we go? We
believe in our shore. Thou hast the word of eternal
life. There ain't nowhere else to go.
You have the word. I will hear what God the Lord
will speak. I will hear it. He has given
us ears to hear. Blessed are your ears, for they
hear your eyes, for they see. I will hear what God the Lord
will speak. He will speak peace unto his people. I tell you what the Lord uses
to revive and rejoice us. and how the Lord shows us mercy
and tells us the gift of his salvation. How does he do all
that? How does he tell us about all
that? In his word, in his truth. I will hear what God the Lord
will speak. James put it this way in his
epistle. He said, let us be swift to hear,
swift to hear and slow to speak. What a blessing we have. Now
think of it. What you have in your hand? Well,
it's a book. It is a book, but it's no mere
book. It's the Word of God. It's inspired,
God-breathed, God-given. Oh, make much of the Word of
God. That's why when we get together for our worship meeting, what
do we spend the majority of our time doing? We begin the service
by reading the Word of God. We sing a song and then we read
the Word of God again. We have prayer, asking the Lord's
blessing upon it, and then we take his word and preach the
word. Isn't that what Paul, when he
writes from his death chamber on death row in Rome, waiting
to be executed, the last chapter of his last epistle to young
Timothy, he said, I charge you all scriptures given of God,
chapter three, verse 16. Then he said in chapter four,
verse one, I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ,
preach the word, preach the word. And you can't separate the written
word from a living word and the preach word. It's all about Christ
who is the word of God, the word of God. We have his written inspired
record, all scriptures given of God. His word is a foundation
of faith. His word is a source of all comfort.
His word is a means of growth. Desire the sincere milk of the
word that you might grow thereby. His word is a revelation of peace. It's a revelation of Christ.
The Lord has designed his word to keep us from turning to folly
and foolishness, unbelief and self-righteousness. The word
is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. Through thy precepts. That Psalm 119 that we'll study
maybe at some point. Read that over. Psalm 119. It's the longest psalm. Almost 200 verses. But with the
exception of one or two verses, every verse in that psalm deals
with his word. Precept, testimony, commandment,
and word. Read it. It's all about the word. Through thy precepts I get understanding,
therefore, therefore I'm tolerant of every false way. I didn't
quote that right. Through thy precepts I get understanding,
therefore I hate every false way. I hate it. Don't you despise
that which is contrary to the way of grace? I do. I'm opposed to it. I'm opposed
to these supposed gospels, these supposed people who charade as God's prophets. They're wolves. They're wolves,
devouring wolves. Look at verse 9. Surely His salvation
is nigh them that fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land. Those who have salvation through
the mercy of God have a high and holy respect and reverential
fear and awe for the Lord. Surely His salvation is nigh
them that fear Him. Do you really fear the Lord?
This is not a slavish fear. But I tell you, it's an awe and
reverential Respect and love for God Almighty is a reverential
fear. Holy and reverent is His name.
That glory may dwell. That glory may dwell in our hearts. You see, all we have, know, and
are is by his grace. We say with the apostle, I am
what I am by the grace of God, that glory may dwell in our land,
that Christ may dwell in our heart. The glory of God shined
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 10. I wish I had more time here.
Mercy and truth. Mercy and truth are met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Now, when
did this take place? At Calvary, at the cross. At the cross, at
the cross, where I first saw the light. Mercy and truth met
together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. What a divine meeting, a meeting. All the divine attributes of
God met together in the blessed Savior. For we read in scripture,
all the fullness of God dwells in him. The Lord himself is called
mercy. Christ is assured mercies of
David. The Lord himself is called truth. He said, I am truth. The Lord himself is called righteousness. He is the Lord our righteousness.
The Lord himself is called peace. He's the God of peace that brought
again from the dead, the Lord Jesus. In the accomplishment
of our salvation, all the character of God is honored and glorified. Mercy would set us free. and
would incline to pardon. But truth must stand because
righteous justice has a claim on the guilty. Peace by the cross
of Christ satisfies every demand, every claim of law and justice
for he made peace with God through his own sacrifice. Only here in Christ, only in
Christ crucified is the law of God honored. mercy exalted, only
here in Christ crucified is righteousness established, truth is magnified,
and peace is given in Christ. To enable God to be a just God
and Savior. He says, look unto me, there
is no else, no other Savior. He's the only just God, the only
just God and Savior. Now, in closing, verse 11, truth. shall spring out of the earth,
and righteousness shall look down from heaven. He sprang out
of the earth in this sense, in his incarnation, made of a woman,
made under the law. He sprang out of the earth. I
can't help but think of his glory, resurrection glory. He sprang
out of the earth, delivered for our offenses, raised again for
our justification. Truth sprang out of the earth
and righteousness shall look down from heaven. In both cases,
the Lord God Almighty said, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased. and righteousness, yea, the Lord,
verse 12, yea, the Lord shall give that which is good, every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above, cometh down from the Father of life with
whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, and our land
shall yield her increase. Remember what the apostle said,
he said, I preached, Paul has preached, God gave the increase. When the Lord gives that which
is good, there has to be a yield. There has to be an increase.
The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness,
meekness, temperance. There will be an abundant harvest
of grace all the elect of God, none will be lost for whom the
Lord Jesus Christ died, and righteousness shall go before him, God's throne. The Lord Jesus Christ not only
raised from the dead, but he ascended to glory. seated at
the right hand of God. Righteousness shall go before
him and shall set us in the ways of his steps. Our forerunner,
as he's called in Hebrews 6, Christ our righteousness has
entered into glory for us and shall set us in the way of his
steps. Believers are entitled and guaranteed
to an entrance into God's presence because the Lord Jesus Christ
occupies the throne of glory for us And we are one with him,
one with him. And his prayer in John 17 is
answered. Father, I will that all that
you've given to me be with me where I am. that they may behold
my glory. It's gonna happen. We're gonna
behold his glory forever and ever and ever. We've got a glimpse
of it now.