If you have your Bibles, please open them up and turn to the book of Psalms, Psalm 85. It's our Psalm today. The Matrimony of God's Graces. It's the title of the sermon. So let's give our attention and our affection to the Lord as his word is read. Psalm 85, to the chief musician, a psalm of the sons of Korah. Lord, you have been favorable to your land. You have brought back the captivity of Jacob. You have forgiven the iniquity of your people. You have covered all their sin, Selah. You have taken away all your wrath. You have turned from the fierceness of your anger. Restore us, O God, of our salvation and cause your anger toward us to cease. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your mercy, Lord, and grant us your salvation. I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people and to his saints. But let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed. Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yes, the Lord will give what is good and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him. and shall make his footsteps our pathway. And may the Lord add his blessing to our receiving of his word. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we do pray for your favor to be upon us, that we would be, oh, zealous to think upon your word as it is preached, that we would believe what we read of you and what you have promised, what Christ has accomplished, what the Holy Spirit has applied. And Lord, may we not doubt, but may we rejoice and rejoice greater and greater to think of all the goodness, all the depth of the love and the sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ for us. And so Lord, indeed increase our faith. Through your word and by the power of your spirit, we do pray, amen. So as we look at the first three verses of this relatively short psalm before us, it is a very glorious, encouraging psalm that God has given to his people throughout all time. And so just as a reminder, Lord, you have been favorable to your land. You have brought back the captivity of Jacob. You have forgiven the iniquity of your people. You have covered all their sin. Selah, you have taken away all your wrath. You have turned from the fierceness of your anger. And so the first point, the Lord accomplishes salvation. And here is a very, concise and beautiful statement of salvation, of God saving his people. And these are words to be treasured by all who do believe. And for any who don't believe, but they have a burden due to their sin and being right with God, they should read these words and believe it and apply it to themselves. And so a remembrance of the Lord redeeming his people. And this was probably written during the time of captivity in Babylon. The term bring back the captivity of Jacob probably definitely refers to that Babylonian captivity. Sons of Korah were during the latter time of Israel history, so when it applied to the Egyptian captivity. But both of them, you know, the coming out of those captivities are a beautiful, very vivid picture of salvation. given to us that the Lord taking a people out and it's interesting there's a contrast between the Egyptian captivity where God by force and by power of miracles and destruction upon Egypt step-by-step over ten plagues brought all of Israel out But the Babylon captivity didn't involve any miracles There was no Moses figure. It was a set time of 70 years. And then the Lord moving in the heart of Cyrus to call for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and of the temple. And it was volunteers who went back. And it was a remnant. It was a small amount of Jews who actually did go back to Judah. But nonetheless, It was a great fulfillment of God to his word and blessing upon the people of Israel of the deliverance from the captivity. And so notice there's not just a promise by the Lord to overlook sin, but a definitive work of grace that secures salvation for the people, the people of God specifically. And so, you know, also in this returning from the captivity is really kind of, literally kind of, sometimes just translated, restored the fortunes of the people. to restore where they were blessed. And it was clearly seen that they were blessed and not restricted to a physical blessing, but it would encompass both a spiritual and a physical blessing for the people of God. And so the Lord can reverse our circumstances. And we do pray to the Lord who is sovereign and powerful to reverse the circumstances. If the land was in a time of drought or famine, They would pray for the prosperity of the crops, for the favor of the Lord to be upon the land, upon His graces, upon the people, and perhaps it caused us to turn more fully to Him. And the psalm speaks about the anger and also the wrath of the Lord And the Lord is not simply annoyed. Sometimes you might have people in your family or at work who are annoyed with you and they seem to be mad. No, this is a justice of anger because of sin. And so this is Psalm 84, longing for the Lord and his blessing. But this is applied to the church. in this this psalm and so there's kind of uh metaphors taken from psalm 32 1 you know about the forgiving of iniquity uh of of covering over of sin or blotting it out uh psalm 51 7 7 says purge me with hyssop and i shall be clean wash me and i shall be whiter than snow So the faithful Israelites joined the Lord in praying this prayer, and they understood the scriptures and the exercising of their faith, that they would be washed clean by the Lord. Now the particulars we know more fully with the New Testament revelation, but they believed, Isaiah 1, 18 says, come down, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. So the Israelites knew the power of God, the willingness of God, the inclination of God towards his people of faith. Indeed, with forgiveness, there is no wrath. Receive the forgiveness, God, you will not receive the wrath of God, for there is no guilt in you any longer. No debt to pay for Christ has paid that debt on the cross. And the sinner who daily wallow in the mire of guilt and shame must hear the Lord's words in this psalm. Believe it, for it is true and is already accomplished by the Savior Jesus Christ. And then we have these next three verses, four through seven. Restore us, O God, of our salvation and cause your anger towards us to cease. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your mercy, Lord. and grant us your salvation." Now, this seems like a contradiction of what was just said four verses, or three verses earlier. And so, indeed, the first three verses is talking about salvation, and yet there is this anger of the Lord that is manifest, and there is a desire for a blessing of God to revive them again, to show mercy further to grant salvation. And so, again, we have to look at salvation in a broad term, not that they have to be born again a second time, but that they need deliverance. The Savior is a deliverer. And so when Israel, like in the book of Judges, was under the tyranny of the Amorites or the Edomites, they called out to God for salvation. for deliverance. And indeed, they need to be revived. And look what caused them to be under the captivity of these foreign pagan armies. It's their idolatry. They had forsaken the Lord. They were acting like they were apostates. They were acting like the pagans. And they had to repent. They had to have a fullness of repentance. and a working of the Holy Spirit to bring that to pass in their life and as a society. And so it is right to continue to pray for salvation, although we know that Christ has died once and paid the penalty fully. But we find ourselves in sin and rebellion. And collectively, the church enters into great rebellion. And we can even say apostasy. It needs to come out. We don't write it off and say it is forever unclean, forever ungodly, forever holding to false truths or false gospel. But we do pray for the worst of churches that they would be revived and forsake all that is evil, all that which is contrary to scripture, and to submit to the Lord. And this prayer is seeking that for Israel, and we can bring it forward to the churches today. So salvation indeed is given to those who trust in the Lord and loathe their own sin. And this is important. We can loathe the sin of others, all day and all night. But the Lord wants you to be responsible and to respond to your own sin situation. And that is where we have to be most active. And so yes, collectively as a nation, Israel is guilty of gross idolatry. This is why they were taken by the Babylonians, by the Lord's decree. And this is why their cities were destroyed the temple was obliterated, and people were just taken en masse to Babylon. And there was only just a few that were left, and kind of the poor and despised were left in Judah. And so they, Israel, forsook the covenant because they forsook the Lord. They didn't want to be under the authority of the Lord. They wanted to do their own will. They wanted to enjoy the seeming pleasures of sin. And the Lord gave them over to that. And so what was left in Judah and Jerusalem? Ruins, literally ruins, burnt, broken, ruins of a city. And so we must understand that us, this makes it a plural prayer here, not just one person, but us, the people as a whole need the Lord and restoration. And so when they're in exile, rightly so, they feel the anger of the Lord. They're not feeling the pleasure of the Lord in the full sense of that word, but they're in captivity still, and yet they're to still be faithful to the Lord. And so this is something we have to keep in mind, especially with the election looming on us. What if the worst case happens? Your worst case scenario next week. Your response is to live as a Christian. to speak as a Christian, to assemble as Christians do. There is not one step of your Christian life that is to be out of place, regardless of who is in government, or regardless of their policies. We are to be open, honest, forthright, and expressing our Christian faith in the teaching of Scripture. And just like Israel, In captivity they were to live as Christians and we see this highlighted in the book of Daniel and also in the book of Esther But they were fearful many of them were fearful fearing the consequences of defying the king But the Lord was with them when they did and doesn't guarantee immunity from death or imprisonment but it does guarantee blessing and favor from the Lord and And so this calls, show us your mercy, Lord, and grant us your salvation. Let it be realized. Let it be experienced. Let it be fully manifest, Lord. Let us honor you and glorify you. And so they already had salvation if they were believers, but they're praying for that deliverance from the chasing of the Lord, which involved the earthly wrath, not the eternal wrath, but the earthly wrath of the Father. And so we should indeed pray for both the church and the state. And so our second point, this is only a two-point sermon here, the matrimony of mercy, truth, righteousness, and peace is for you. Again, it is realized by the believers, and it needs to be continually realized. But it is extended also to the sinner who has not surrendered, who has not bowed the knee to Christ, who has not forsaken the ways of iniquity, who still has pleasure in protecting their transgressions. But this call for salvation is heralded out. Verse eight, I will hear what God the Lord will speak. for he will speak peace to his people and to his saints, but let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. Again, there is good news in each sentence of this psalm. Even when it talks about the anger, he's calling for the anger to cease in his anger. And the Lord is willing to hear that petition. And he's inclined to respond. For the Lord does not rejoice in the death of the wicked, but he'd rather have people turn and turn to him. And so this peace is a permanent peace that comes from the gospel proclamation. Such an emphasis in Christ's ministry. That's why we shouldn't go long without reading the Gospels, reading the epistles. He governs the nations. He does have a rod of iron, but he is known now as that Prince of Peace. He will judge for eternity. He will have a final proclamation of guilt and innocence. on the great day of judgment, but you can know him now as the God of peace, the God of reconciliation, as the savior for sinners. And so we must hear his message. We must turn from our sinful ways. We must see sin as our enemy and not our friend. It's not our counselor. It's not our comfort. You know, people have a comfort food. Sin is never your comfort practice, your comfort hobby. It is destructive. It is a plague. It is always deadly. And so we are to keep in the ways of the Lord and both in our way of thinking and indeed in our behavior. Grace is realized if grace is lived out. And then the folly spoken of as foolishness in the practice of sin. Do not turn back to your sin, in other words. Don't be stupid. Don't be foolish. The fool is the idiot, the village idiot. Don't be the village idiot for going back into your sin. And we should see it as that way. Because no one likes to be called an idiot, right? It'd be wrong for us to call one another idiot. But to enter into sin, is being an idiot. It's self-harm. It's the ultimate self-harm. And we should be on guard. But we should develop spiritual practices that draw us closer and closer and keep going back to the Lord each day as we rise out of bed, as we go along the way, as we lie down to seek the Lord, And so God preserves his people. And you should know this so well by reading from Genesis to Malachi. God has preserved his people. Those who truly love the Lord are preserved by the Lord. Everything around them might be destroyed. Think of Job. And just think of Israel as a nation that was ultimately destroyed by the Romans. But the people of faith still flourished. The church was still standing and going forth And so although we can fall into the folly of sin, the Lord will bring them back. To his righteous ways. A gracious and loving God is. And if the Christian live in accord with God's word constantly, there is more conversions realized in our land than our nation will experience a reviving of the land, a restoring a prosperity, of the land. Talk about how will crime go down when righteousness flourishes more? Should keep that in mind. Indeed, it will be Christ's glory, not our own. And this prayer is not just about restoring, but a greater spiritual flourishing for the Christian, for the church, and indeed for the nation that follows this teaching. So salvation is eternal for an eternal God has spoken his truth that cannot change. The Lord is sovereign and no evil forces can override the work of Jesus Christ. And there have been attempts Again and again, think of the French Revolution or the Communist Revolution. You pick whatever country you want, the secular movement. Again and again, there have been attempts to rid the mention of the gospel, the mention of Christ, the authority of God, the existence of the church and also of the scripture. But it fails because God's will And God's glory is what prevails throughout all the earth. And so the Lord is sovereign and no evil forces can override that the Savior Jesus Christ rules and He will save. He saves sinners each and every day and He preserves His people in the testimony of His church. But are we daily surrendering to Him? Because when we stop seeking the Lord daily, when we stop seeking to apply the teaching to our lives, when the church has diminished and cut out so-called offensive messages and not talk about hell or judgment, and then there's no great grace that needs to be talked about. There's really no need for a savior, but rather just a leader for social movements. And then there's a dying death of the church. So all of us have to daily surrender to Christ, daily examine ourselves in light of the law, daily apply ourselves to live in accord with the will of God, but also the example of faith and life of the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so are we surrendering daily to Christ? Because Israel broke that process. They went long periods of forsaking the Lord. Even the Lord warned them and sent prophets and brought more revelation to them. They did not heed as a whole and they were judged. They were invaded and ultimately their nation was destroyed. We're brothers and sisters understand salvation is truly eternal and praise be to God. So anyone who hears the gospel is indeed near that salvation. When we say someone is near salvation, they know the gospel. They had it explained. They understand the tenets of it and of the promises that are extended out to them. But they do have to respond. They do have to pray to surrender for the Lord to take over their heart, to give them a new heart of faith. So hearing is the first Crucial step to receiving saving grace. But it is only the first step. And so it is not enough. But it is needed. And so you and I are messengers to the center of the word of God. We bring it in season. If we can, we bring it out of season. We share what we can in the time that we have. We pray. Often we have more opportunity to pray than to speak the Word of God to others. And if the Lord allows us to share again, we will do that again. But we know that the results are to the Lord, and we have comfort in that truth. Now, people may look to things in the world, their careers, their relationships, or worse yet, within themselves for some manifestation of peace of conscience. But that fails each and every time. And there is only one way of happiness, and that is having a surrender to Christ and having sins forgiven and knowing Christ intimately and acquiring that forgiveness of sin and that heart that follows the Lord. Romans 10, eight through nine says, but what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith, which we preach. And if you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised them from the dead, you will be saved. And we rejoice in that truth that is always before us. And as we get towards the end of the Psalm verse 10 through 12, mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed. Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yes, the Lord will give what is good and our land will yield its increase. One of my favorite expressions in all of the Psalter This image is really overwhelming as you consider it. The Lord is turning to his people, not mechanically, but affectionately. He articulates in the most beautiful way the grace, salvation, kindness, and covenant love towards the sinner. He will reconcile forever. The Lord wants all to know his will, his written will, this truth, every jot and tittle, every law, every ordinance, every promise, every mention of Jesus Christ, every work he did, every agony he encountered, every aspect of the resurrection and the ascension of Christ. He wants his people to know. And then he grants to his beloved people Every aspect of his three offices as king, high priest, and prophet applies to the sinner saved by him. The Lord Jesus brings eternal blessing and salvation to the elect. Mercy is a grace of the Lord. Indeed, some translations would have the word grace instead of mercy, and indeed that would be fitting as well. Fallen man would not think of mercy on his own. Have you ever thought of that? Mercy is a divine concept meant to rescue the sinner. Mercy is created by the Lord after the fall. There was no need for it before the fall. But God's justice has to be poured out for proper satisfaction for punishment of sin, for God has a righteous standard. And this is why false religions do not possess mercy. They don't possess biblical mercy, for they lack God's righteousness, his true standard of righteousness as the standard to live by and to be judged by. And so false belief systems practice injustice as a result Towards others or wanton indulgence in iniquity And think about the Islamic or the Hindu faith just to mention a few But how wonderful the declaration before us and what we read in the New Testament in John 1 17 for the law was given through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ Let me read it again. The law was given through Moses. We understand that. The law, the commandments. And what does the law require? Obey or die. As simple as that. By grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Doesn't come through anyone else, but only through Jesus Christ. So that perfect man is Jesus, who established righteousness as a man and imputed that to all who do believe on him. He obeyed the Father fully in every aspect and every day of his life. And where mankind failed in righteousness, Christ has accomplished as the God-man. And every word, every interaction he had with others contains perfect and complete righteousness. His perfect righteousness kisses peace. There's a love there, the righteousness of the earth where Jesus took upon himself our nature yet without sin. He established every Christian's righteousness and we are to imitate Christ alone. And through the mediator Jesus Christ, righteousness as man and peace from a God is accomplished and realized and experienced and lived out, not perfectly, because we're still under a cursed world, but in heaven, it will be fullness of manifestation and perfected in glory. So Jesus is the only way to salvation. Isaiah 45, 8 says, rain down, you heavens from above and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open. Let them bring forth salvation and let righteousness spring up together. I the Lord have created it. So through Christ, the rule of God on earth will be as it is in heaven. And this is indeed part of our petition and the Lord's prayer. And although the first rebellion Was in heaven with Lucifer and the other angels who joined him in rebelling against God Then act of treason on earth happened with mankind following the suggestion of Lucifer fell into sin and rebellion Believer there are now two creations in contrast there is first the beginning of the the earth and the universe and six days God created all things and they were all very good and And then the second creation involves a new heaven and a new earth. And yet that has not come into being yet. But those who will populate the new heavens and the new earth are being redeemed every day. There is only one thing that's gonna pass from the old cursed world into the glorified new world. That is the believers. The believers are the manifestation. of what will be the glory of the new heavens and new earth, for we are saved by the King of glory, Jesus Christ. And so understand, coming to faith, that we are called to be upright. We are called to be different from the world. We like God in every respect that we can. We abide in his truth, rejoice in his truth. We share his truth, regard the truth, and we do not deny or diminish the truth. We know we are saved by the truth of God, and it is through that truth that people will experience the peace of God, the forgiveness of sin. Grace and righteousness is realized in the life of those who have been purchased by the blood of Christ. And so, indeed, Christ embraces his church, whom he loves and he adores greatly. Titus 2 11 says with the race of God that That brings salvation has appeared to all men. And so this is what we pray for This is what we support even with our tithes and offerings and our prayers and may physically support The spreading of the gospel the maintaining of the integrity of the church in the preaching ministry Even mercy ministry as we talked about mercy ministry should always be done with the gospel They go hand in hand together. And so God's truth exposes our sin and indeed does condemn us by the law. The mercy is far from us for justice Christ out for satisfaction. But what the sinner needs is God's intervention. We need God to act first and foremostly for he has the power to save and we have no power in ourselves. We don't have any wisdom to ask for salvation unless the Lord enlightens us. So the Lord gives that which is good to those who love him. He gives us the love to love him as well. Praise be to him. And so in his providence he works for your good, If you forsake your sin, and if you embrace the Lord as He is revealed in Scripture, if you walk not in the flesh, but by the power of the Spirit, you will experience favor and blessing. Maybe persecution, may suffer for righteousness sake, but you will experience favor and blessing from the Lord even in that midst. and know that the life of Christ is our pathway itself. And when we veer off the path the Lord has given us, it's a straight and it is a narrow path, as the law is narrow, we enter into that folly and we must exit that folly with confession of sin and repentance. But the word of God itself is a lamp to our feet. As Psalm 119, 105 says, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. So we speak of, you know, singing in our circles, as we sing acapella in four part harmony, yet the Christian life has this royal harmony following the life and divine standard of Jesus Christ. Believers by the Spirit are able to show mercy towards others, speak truth to all, even to our enemies, live in a righteous manner in all situations, and follow the sacred path of peace, for we follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Now when Christians deliberately, in bitterness, forsake that path, And forsake one of these, even just one of these godly graces is like scratching the chalkboard and producing disharmony and disturbing the peace of the church. So see the immense spiritual wealth available to you, believer, and following in 2 Peter 1, 5 through 9, but also for this very reason, giving all diligence add to your faith. Virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's the key, for he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. And the Lord does have to remind us, even in faith, that you are cleansed, you are free from that sin of your past, and you are not to be known by your former sins, but by the glory and righteousness that is in Christ Jesus. In our very last verse of this psalm, righteousness will go before him and shall make his footsteps our pathway. Indeed, a fulfillment in Christ Jesus brings these truths to the center. Indeed, we cannot think of Jesus Christ without thinking of righteousness. We cannot think of righteousness without thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ. He ensures salvation for those whom he calls. And the Holy Spirit applies the works of Christ too. Jesus' life is the pathway set before you, brothers and sisters, and we must follow him and always follow him. And lastly, I want to close with a quote from George Horn, who wrote a commentary on the book of Psalms. He says, draw us, blessed Jesus, and we will run after you. In the path of life, let your mercy pardon us, your truth enlighten us, your righteousness direct us to follow you, O Lamb of God, whithersoever you go, through poverty, affliction, persecution, and death itself, that our portion may be forever in your kingdom of peace and love. Praise be to God. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we do pray that this truly would be a psalm of delight for us, that we would sing it with full realization of the truth of it, have conviction to apply every aspect to our life, and that we would save it in our hearts and that we would share it with sinners who do not know your peace, do not have a pathway of life. who do not have a relationship with the Father, Son, or the Holy Spirit. And so, Father, we rejoice in your kindness and your love and your mighty, powerful words of grace and affection and reconciliation in this psalm. And so, Lord, may it be truly on our heart all our days. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.