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W.D. Frazee Sermons Ministry

W.D. Frazee

Mercy and Truth Are Joined

I always enjoy hearing the rustling of the leaves as we turn to the text in the Bible.

The important thing is what God says, and he's speaking through this book.

Matthew 19, verse 6, wherefore they are no more twain, but 1, 1 flesh.

What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

What God puts together, man is not to separate.

And there are some things that belong together because God has put them together.

We're going to read this Psalm and I want you to look for some things that God has put together.

Now I'll tell you this, friends, we're in a world and we're in a generation when everything that God has put together, the devil is trying to put asunder.

The home obviously is 1 thing, but that isn't the only thing the devil is aiming at.

He's aiming at anything that God has joined together.

He has a million imps out at work at it, trying to segregate, trying to fragment, trying to decimate, trying to get 1 thing away from something else.

But God is joined together, let not man put asunder.

85th Psalm, I'm going to ask that you read with me responsibly.

I'll read the first verse, you the second, and so on.

Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land.

Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.

Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of Thine people, Thou hast covered all their sins.

Thou hast taken away all Thy wrath, Thou hast turned Thyself from the fierceness of Thine anger.

Turn Thou Thyself from Thy anger, and draw out Thine anger for us to see.

Will thou draw out thine anger to all generations?

Show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation.

I will fear him, but God the Lord will not leave me, for he will be pleased unto his people, and to his name, for that can not bring him to poverty.

Surely His salvation is nigh them that fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land.

Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps." Now you notice 2 great traits or attributes that are said to meet together in that 10th verse.

And in the beautiful repetition of Hebrew poetry, the thought is emphasized.

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Another of the translations puts it this way, loving kindness and truth have met together.

Love and truth, in other words, are joined together in God's program.

The New English Bible translates it, love and fidelity have come together, justice and peace join hands.

And another translation, love and loyalty now meet, righteousness and peace now embrace.

Now why the emphasis on the meeting of these 2 great attributes?

Because the devil has been trying for 6, 000 years to separate these 2 attributes.

1 emphasizes the strict, hue to the line, character of God.

The other emphasizes His mercy, His forgiving kindness.

But what God has joined together, let not man put asunder.

And no 1, don't miss this, no 1 truly understands 1 side of the character of God on this matter, unless he understands the other side.

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other, they've embraced.

This was wonderfully and gloriously demonstrated at the cross.

Here was the complete manifestation of the character of God.

At the cross, justice and mercy, love and truth met and embraced.

I want you to notice a most vivid presentation of this meeting in Selected Messages, Book 1, page 349.

The grace of Christ and the law of God are inseparable.

You can't separate them, but the devil says, I'll try, just watch me.

I'll tell you my friends, there are many things passing for the gospel today that separate these 2 things.

And when you separate them, you really have neither 1 when you get through, I'll tell you that.

In Jesus, mercy and truth are met together.

In his life and character, he not only reveals the character of God but the possibility of man.

He was the representative of God and the exemplar of humanity.

He presented to the world what humanity might become when united by faith with divinity.

Notice, he was not only a substitute, he was that, certainly, but he was a demonstration of what by the grace of God can be wrought in our lives.

Now comes the sublime presentation of what happened at the cross.

The only begotten Son of God took upon Him the nature of man and established his cross between earth and heaven.

Through the cross man was drawn to God and God to man.

In what sense could it be that God was drawn to man through the cross?

Did God love man more because of the cross?

Did he love man more after the cross than before?

And God, representing justice upon the throne of the universe, saw a way that man could be pardoned without in any sense weakening the structure and justice of the universe.

He saw how man could be forgiven without setting the law aside.

He saw how He could bend toward the repenting sinner without in any sense accepting or condoning the sin.

Justice moved from its high and awful position, and the heavenly hosts, the armies of holiness, drew near to the cross, bowing with reverence, for at the cross justice was satisfied.

Christ on the cross bore everything that justice required.

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Mercy and Truth Are Joined

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