When Mercy and Truth Met
Ps 85:10-11 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
John 18:37-40 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. 38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. 39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? 40 Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.
________________________________________________________________________
We live in a world today that does not love truth, does not preach truth, and does not cherish truth. We live in a world that uses facts. They use facts to justify their actions. They use facts to weave deceits. They use facts to bring attention from other facts that would cause them embarrassment. The church needs to learn the difference between facts and TRUTH. Facts can be misrepresented and misread, but TRUTH cannot. Even though most people do not realize it their is a VAST difference between facts and truth. Hopefully before you leave this service today, you will understand the difference!
Our world doesn't appreciate truth. They choose to deal in facts. Let's use sexual sin to illustrate our point. The facts are that most people are not virgins when they marry today. I saw a poll the other day that asked a question this way: "Is it better to wait until you are married before losing your virginity?" The overwhelming response to the poll, was "no, you should test the waters to see that you get what you want!" The vast majority of those folks have focused on the FACT that most people today are sexually active outside of marriage. But the TRUTH is that sexual activity not within the vows of marriage is SIN! It damages the person by effecting both their own self-esteem, and their future relationships. If you sleep with someone, it is fornication, and ALL fornicators will spend eternity in HELL! That is the unadulterated truth of the Word of God! It is also adultery! Because if you are not married to them, then you are sleeping with someone else's spouse. If they aren't married, they were intended to be so in the future! It sounds so harsh to our ears to hear someone make such bold statements which are all found in the Word of God because we have been alienated from TRUTH! Let me further tear off the mask of sexual sin. Paul wrote:
1 Cor 6:18-19 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
I don't care what the facts are! Fornication is sin and it is damaging to you outside of marriage! Yet we glorify and worship the "stars" of Hollywood. Our society spends countless dollars and countless hours watching them, reading about them, keeping track of them, learning how to dress and look like them! That's the facts: everybody's doing it! But the Truth is that they are not stars, they are harlots and whores and whoremongers! They are homosexuals and without natural affection. They are spiritually degenerate people who have vanity and pride problems. They are power hungry and greedy idolaters! Why would we want to watch such people? Why would we want our children to pattern their lives after such people? Why would we spend countless hours glued to the television watching what these people call "normal." We spend much more hours watching harlots and fornicators than we do praying or reading the Bible, and we wonder why America is spiritually insensitive!?! It's time we got back to the truth! It may sound like I'm preaching hard, but I am doing so for once reason: It may not sound pretty. It may not be pleasing to our ears, but preaching was never meant to be pleasing to our ears! For it to be of God, it must preach truth, and we need TRUTH to be preached!
If you act like a harlot, it makes you a harlot. If you dress like a harlot, it makes you look like a harlot. If you continually study harlots, you will begin to act like harlots! If you hang around harlots, you will become a harlot! And any sin can be filled in and those statements are true! Let's take another popular "sin" the sin of drunkenness and illustrate our point. What is the truth about alcohol?
The world spends billions of dollars advertising "miller time," and the "high life." That's facts. But the truth is that they are drunkards! If you frequent bars, you are a drunkard. If you drink alcoholic beverages, then you are a drunkard! If you hang out with drunkards, what's the difference? Romans chapter 1 lists a bunch of sins, and says that those who commit such sins are guilty of death, as well as those who take pleasure in them who sin!
Rom 1:29-32 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Do you realize what that means? The truth is that God considers people who find pleasure in others that sin just as guilty as those who are committing the sin. "Oh preacher, I don't commit adultery." But did you just watch two people commit the act in a movie? You just took pleasure in them that do, and God said that by doing so you are just as guilty. "Oh, preacher, we're engaged, and we love each other, I'm not sleeping around." But you are engaged in extramarital sex, which is called fornication! If you are living the life of a harlot, then you are a harlot! "Oh preacher, I don't drink, I just like to hang out at the clubs." But are you finding pleasure in those that do drink?
Prov 23:31-35 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. 33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. 34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. 35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
Gal 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Has the Word of God changed? No, our culture is trying to get you to believe a lie! You cannot continue in sin and be saved! Everybody's a sinner but me! If everybody else does it, they are fornicators or idolaters, or haters, or drunkards. But not me. We are the king of excuses. We can pull facts from this source or this source to make ourselves look so clean, yet God is saying I came to bring TRUTH! Is the music that you listen to composed by drunkards and whoremongers? "Oh preacher it doesn't affect me?" Then why are you basing your spiritual decisions upon their principles? How come you are not getting closer to God with that lifestyle? The reason that God holds those who find pleasure in those who sin just as guilty is that it AFFECTS our relationship with HIM! You can deny it all you want, but taking pleasure in other's sins causes us to begin to think like them! And that's the first step to not thinking like HIM! And when I don't see the world through God's eyes, I will quickly be swallowed by sin!
________________________________________________________________________
You can avoid the truth about your lifestyle for a time, but somewhere in your life there is going to come a moment that you have to face the truth about who you are! For the alcoholic it may be when they've done something stupid while inebriated. For the fornicator it may when they find that they have a sexual disease or when a young teen girl finds out that she now has to choose between murder (oh, today it's more politically correct to call it abortion) or to raise a child even though she is spiritually and socially not prepared for the responsibility. For the liar or the deceiver, perhaps the moment comes when they are absolutely forced to silently have their deceit revealed for all to see. But somewhere God will make sure that you have a meeting with TRUTH!
Moses was speaking about people who choose not live life according to God's Word when he said:
Num 32:23 But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.
Mark 4:22 For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.
Your sins will find you out! God doesn't warn us of sin just because He doesn't like them, but He doesn't like them because of the destruction that they bring into our lives! God doesn't hate sin just to be a prude, but He hates it because it destroys His precious creation!!!!!!
Maybe your moment is today! Maybe your time is today! Maybe this is the time that Truth has shown up and demanded attention! It is important to not run from the truth! Don't ignore it!! There is a danger in ignoring the truth!
To understand what TRUTH is and the dangers of ignoring the meeting of it, we need to go back to the life of Jesus Christ. If I were to ask each of you why Jesus Christ came into the world! If I were to ask you why He was born of woman and walked upon this earth, I would get various answers. In our text, Jesus was on trial for His life, and Pilate asked Him "are you a king?" Jesus responded with a remarkable statement! Jesus said "there is one reason for which I was born, and one cause for me coming into the world, and that is to bear witness of the truth!" Why did you come Jesus? To bring truth! That truth might be revealed! Why? TRUTH!
Pilate was interested in facts, but Jesus was interested in truth. Pilate was more interested in facts than truth. When Jesus told Pilate that He had come to bring truth, Pilate threw his hands into the air and asked the mortal rhetorical question "What is truth?" He didn't wait for an answer but walked away from truth and returned to the facts. His ignoring of truth caused him to crucify an innocent man while allowing the guilty man to live!
The facts were that Jesus was on trial for supposedly being the King of the Jews. The facts were that Pilate had the authority and power to put anybody to death and proclaim anyone guilty that he desired. The facts were that Pilate could do what he wanted to that morning. But the truth was that an innocent, sinless man was standing before him falsely accused. The truth was that to release Jesus Christ would cost Pilate his job from the political pressure of the Jewish leaders. The truth was that Pilate, himself was a sinner and needed Jesus Christ, not the other way around. Luke chapter 13 tells us that Pilate had ordered the slaughter of thousands of Galileans who were sacrificing unto God in the temple. He also stole funds from the temple to build an aqueduct. When Pilate had built his grand hall of judgment, he had hung shields with the names of his many gods upon them. The truth was Pilate was a vile sinner, that needed truth. The truth was that God had warned Pilate that Jesus was innocent, by giving Pilate a dream. Pilate would not admit the truth and acknowledge his need for Jesus. He chose to focus on the facts that he wanted to focus upon!
That day, there was an epic meeting in Pilate's life. Pilate had come face to face with Truth! He didn't want to face it. It was easier to focus on other facts rather than to face the truth, and so he walked out from truth and despite saying with words "Jesus is innocent," crucified the innocent man and allowed the guilty man, Barrabas to go free!
You see it was easier for Pilate to ignore truth and deal with other facts than to face the truth. But when he rejected truth and walked away, he ended up allowing the innocent man to be crucified while the guilty man went free. It is the same today in our lives! God brings men and women to a meeting with truth and there are two people's fates hanging on the outcome. One person is the person that God desires and plans for you to be. That person is innocent after He is washed in the blood of Jesus. That person is powerful and has joy beyond your wildest dreams. That person is someone who will become like Jesus! The other person is the guilty person of who we as sinners really are! When you come face to face with truth, one person will die and the other set free! If you face the truth, and walk away from it, choosing to ignore it rather than deal with it, then you crucify the person of what God wants you to be, and you loose the guilty man and continue in your sin! There's a danger in ignoring truth!
________________________________________________________________________
What Pilate didn't realize was that when Truth walked in to his courtroom that day and confronted him, mercy was there as well! Pilate didn't realize it and didn't experience mercy that day and didn't even realize mercy was in the vicinity because he walked away from truth!
If, when you come face to face with truth, you realize that you need God's help to overcome your sin, MERCY shows up! Mercy and truth have MET together just as our text stated! "Met" means "to have an encounter" or "to encounter each other." How you respond in this encounter to TRUTH determines whether or not MERCY gets involved.
________________________________________________________________________
{Adlib the familiar story of the woman caught in the act of adultery.}
John 8:3-11 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
Twice Jesus knelt and wrote in the dust on the floor of the temple. Several of the Greek translations add that Jesus wrote "the sins of her accusers." The Pharisees had come face to face with truth! For them to be able to find a woman who was committing the very act of adultery at the exact time that Jesus was in the temple was far from coincidence! It follows that many of them had knowledge of the woman's adultery beforehand and probably some of them had even committed adultery with her, because they had not been zealous to prosecute her before now! By dragging her from her secret place, they forced a face to face meeting with TRUTH! But when the meeting with truth happened, MERCY also showed up!
We tend to focus on the woman, and rightly so, but I want you to notice that Jesus wrote in the dust on the floor, twice. By writing the sins of the accusers, He turned the situation into a meeting with TRUTH in their life as well! He didn't take his finger and carve those sins permanently into the rock like He did when He gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, even though He could have. He wrote them in the dust -- and then waited for their reaction to their meeting with truth. He stayed stooped down, with His finger hovering over the sins, until they made their decision. They chose to ignore the truth. Not one of them admitted their guilt and asked for forgiveness. It was easier to run from the truth than admit their need for God and His mercy. Jesus wrote their sins in the dust and stayed down close. If one of them had simply responded to the truth rather than run, then the hand of mercy would have reached down and erased the sin! But because they chose to run from the TRUTH of their sins, Jesus stood up, leaving the sins untouched and faced the one person who had not fled from the truth. And forgave her! She had faced the truth about her lifestyle but MERCY MET TRUTH!!!!!! Don't run from the truth of who you are!
_______________________________________________________________________
{Briefly adlib the story of David and Bathsheba.}
2 Sam 11:2-5 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. 3 And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. 5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
The facts said that most kings of that day had a harem of women that they had relationships with. The facts said that David was the King and could have whatever he wanted, but the TRUTH said that David had committed adultery and murder! For at least nine months, David did not truly repent. It wasn't until the baby was born, that one day the prophet Nathan showed up and confronted David. During this time, David still participated in the daily sacrifice at the temple. He still went through the motions of worshipping God, but, even though he was trying to ignore it, inside truth was screaming for attention:
Ps 32:3-4 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. 4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.
The moment of truth showing up came! The prophet Nathan came in and confronted David and called him a murderer and an adulterer!
2 Sam 12:1-7 And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: 3 But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. 4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. 5 And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: 6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. 7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
2 Sam 12:13-14 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. 14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
When David responded to the face to face encounter with TRUTH by GENUINE repentance, mercy showed up! The child would die instead of David! David's life was spared! Mercy and Truth had met together! It was at this same time that David wrote the 51st psalm:
Ps 51:1-19 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. 5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. . . 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. . . . 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. . . . 19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.
________________________________________________________________________
The truth is we ALL are sinners, the scripture makes that very clear.
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
When you realize the fact that you are a sinner, then you come face to face with truth! But if you will face it and get Jesus involved in the truth, then mercy will meet you there!
Paul writing to the church in Corinth said this:
1 Cor 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
________________________________________________________________________
When Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost, he preached a similar sermon to what I have done today. He called sin, sin. He knew for mercy to show up, the listeners would have to come face to face with TRUTH!
He boldly pointed his fingers at his audience and proclaimed: "you have crucified the Messiah!" "You are sinners and murders and guilty of death." They had come face to face with TRUTH!
Acts 2:37-41 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
They didn't justify their actions as to being tricked or being a part of the crowd. They didn't run away and avoid the truth of their actions. They didn't say "well everybody else was doing it!" They responded with "yes, we know that it's the truth, what can we do about it?!" Then Peter answered them:
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. 40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. 41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
For 3,000 people, MERCY met TRUTH that day! And the procedure is still the same today:
Repent - You are responding to the truth that you are a sinner by asking God to help you to change! This gets mercy involved!
Be Baptized in Jesus' name - Your past sins and wrongdoings are covered in the precious blood of Jesus Christ and your sins are forgiven! The dust on the temple floor is erased!
Receive the Holy Ghost - God's Spirit comes to guide you and to bring you into "all truth." You can't continue acting like a sinner, because then your sinful habits will cause you to once again commit sin. The Holy Spirit comes to "reprove us of sin" and brings back the Word of God to our remembrance and lets us know when we are doing something that is sinful, so that we can get it right with God! The Holy Ghost helps you to overcome sin in your life!
When you respond to the TRUTH, then the guilty man of your past is crucified at the altar of repentance. We bury him in the water's of baptism, and then the person in the image of Jesus Christ, the person that God's wants you to be, is born afresh when you receive the Holy Ghost! And you stand with joy, power, and true freedom! You have met Truth, but Mercy has shown up! Mercy and Truth have met together! And Mercy wins!