Posted on 09/16/2019 4:55:05 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil” (Proverbs 16:6).
“By mercy and truth iniquity is purged,” if a man seeks mercy and truth, he will have his iniquities purged. Don’t look for justice. If you seek justice, you’ll find it. You seriously don’t want justice. A man says, “I want what’s due me!” Then you’ll probably get it. I don’t want what’s due me. I want what’s due Jesus. I get what is due Him, because He took what was due me.
“By mercy and truth,” you just can’t put a price on truth. You have a hard time finding anyone that wants truth. We are to “speak the truth in love.” Truth is hard for people to swallow. It is especially hard to swallow when it isn’t spoken in love. There is two ways to present truth. It can be presented with the attitude that the hearer is a low-life scum and the presenter is so much better than him in so many ways. That is not very effective.
The truth is that we are all in the same boat. We are all hell-deserving sinners. We are all in need of a Saviour. The Bible tells us that “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). If it wasn’t for the mercy of God, and the love of God, and the grace of God, and the Bible and the Holy Spirit—we would all be in hell. Listen, if God showed me how to be saved, He can show you how to be saved. This is speaking the truth in love, putting ourselves in their place. We were there once and know all about it. “Love your neighbor as yourself,” then it is easier for people to accept the truth.
If we give the attitude of “take it or leave it,” people will generally leave it. Don’t we still win more people with honey than with vinegar? I don’t care if you have the truth or not, if you don’t present it with the right attitude people are not going to accept it—and you are going to be responsible for it. Their blood will be on your hands.
“By mercy and truth iniquity is purged,” Christ said, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Through Him, and Him only, our iniquities are purged.
“. . . and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil,” the reason that Americans are so evil is that there is no preaching on judgment and the fear of God. Another reason is that many Americans are not interested in sound-biblical interpretation and are rather fond of saying what they “think” the fear of the Lord is instead of just taking the Bible at its word. There was a time in America when preachers preached on people being God-fearing, now it’s just God-respecting. Big difference. Politicians once feared God. Well, they didn’t have politicians back then, they had statesmen. Another big difference. They realized that doing right was a blessing and doing wrong brought a curse. Even Christian people today can’t figure out right from wrong.
Let’s read a chapter of Proverbs a day and see what God might have for us. As the Lord leads, share with us what God has shown you in a special way and by His grace let us build up a devotional repository. Let’s keep our knives and forks handy for some daily bread!
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Bears repeating... Thanks for that, I'm going to pass this one on... :)
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