Mercy and Truth for Them; Grace and Truth for Us

Proverbs 3:3-6

“Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:” (Proverbs 3:3). The combination of the words “mercy” and “truth” is not unique to this passage. It is actually a very common theme particularly of Psalms and Proverbs, often used to describe God’s dealings with man. His mercy is described as “everlasting” and His truth as enduring to “all generations” (Psalms 100:5).

This combination is foreign however to the New Testament, not being used even once. The closest that we get is 2 John 1:3, when the Apostle John uses the two words in the same verse, but not in connection with one another. The New Testament equivalent of this phrase is found in John’s writing as well, this time in his gospel:

“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

Notice that instead of truth coupled with mercy, it is now joined with “grace”, and the method of this combination coming to us is not given through a doctrine, but is brought by the man, Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus is truth, for He told us as much in John 14:6, but why the change from “mercy” to “grace”?

In the Old Testament, man was judged by his keeping or breaking of God’s law. This is the same law that our previous verse told us was “given by Moses”. This law was so holy, just and good that men could not possibly keep it, so they were constantly seeking God for forgiveness by the offering of sacrifices. If not for the mercy of God, man would have gotten what he deserved many times over. God never ceased to be “true” to His holy nature, even though He was merciful to mankind.

When Christ met all of the demands of the law, He offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the whole world, satisfying the anger of His Father (1 John 2:2). While mercy is us not getting what we deserve, grace is us getting what we could never deserve. The cross is what we deserved, for it was death for sin, but God’s mercy killed Jesus instead of us. God’s unconditional love and favor is what we can never deserve, but the cross brought us those things and God calls it grace. With no law to keep in order to please God, we now walk in His grace and truth, thus the New Testament preaches these concepts for the believer.

When you function under His grace, you are giving Him your whole heart, and not leaning to your own understanding (Psalm 3:5). The more we learn this dependency, or “learn to lean”, the clearer that His path will become, leading us to even more of His glory and grace.

Thank the Lord today for His mercy which has spared you from judgment. Thank Him as well for His grace and truth, which has given you all things and blessed you with joy unspeakable.

The Friendly Man Has Friends

Proverbs 18:24; 17:17

This was a principle that was drilled into me from as far back as I can remember. My parents told me this frequently, though I did not know where it was at in the Bible. The phrase, “the friendly man has friends” is not used word-for-word in the scriptures, but the concept is prevalent in this verse. To have friends one must be friendly; and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.

Jesus said that the greatest love is one that will lay down its life for its friend (John 15:13), while the writer of Proverbs said, “A friend loveth at all times” (Proverbs 17:17). There is no love like the love of a true friend, and those friendships are often forged through fire. Out of great adversity, great relationships are born (Proverbs 17:17).

All of these principles are wonderful, and are Biblically sound, but there is little life to them without the finished work of Jesus Christ. Remember, it is Christ’s finished work that changes all things and brings all to life. To find Jesus in this passage, we must look a bit closer at the original Hebrew, which is the language of the Old Testament.

“A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). The first usage of “friends” in this verse is better translated from Hebrew as “acquaintances”, while the last usage of friends in the verse should be translated “lover”. The writer is saying that in order to have friendly acquaintances, one must be friendly to others. This is the type of affection that is given to someone who is kind to you, and they in turn, are kind back. Jesus spoke of this type of friendship as being common to the world (Matthew 5:46).

To change the second usage of “friend” to “lover” is to change the equation entirely. Now we are no longer talking about friendly relationships, but we have advanced to speaking about an intimate relationship that is stronger than the ties of blood and family. To “fall in love” is to sell out so completely to love that you actually are bound closer to that individual than you are to those members of your own family. Jesus sanctioned marriage with this kind of love in Mark 10 and sealed all marriages with that type of love and sacrifice.

Jesus loves His church with more than a familiar love, or a brotherly love. He considers Himself the “lover” which will always stick closer than a brother. I have had many people in the church to call me “brother” in one breath and then cut me with their next breath. Christ speaks love and affection to His church and you need never fear that in His next conversation with you He is going to turn on you with abuse and judgment. While a brother can be persuaded to turn on you, your heavenly lover never will.

I counsel some people who complain that they are lonely and can find no friends. It is difficult for me to be consoling in many cases because more often than not, they are difficult to get along with! They are quiet and reserved, so people think that they are angry or wish to be left alone. Sometimes they are judgmental and distant, wanting everyone to fall into their way of thinking, and oftentimes they have little sense of humor and are rarely caught smiling. If you find yourself longing for friends just remember that a friendly person has friends. Spread the love of Jesus that rings so true in your heart to someone around you and your circle of relationships can’t help but grow. Other people want to know that they are love also, so speak of His great love today.

The Fear of the Lord

Proverbs 9:10

Did you know that there is a proper and an improper fear of God? David said that, “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever” (Psalms 19:9), showing us that proper fear is pure and clean and it will last for all of time. Paul wrote to the Hebrews, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28). Here, we see that there is “godly fear” which comes only from those who “have grace”.

Jesus was confronted by the devil in the wilderness with various temptations. One of those temptations was to take possession of the earth without going to the cross. Satan offered all of it to Christ if Jesus would only worship him (Luke 4:6, 7). Jesus refused, and said, “For it is written, ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve’” (Luke 4:8). Notice that Jesus said, ‘it is written’, meaning that He is quoting from the scriptures. The only problem is that what He claims was written is not written!

Jesus puts two verses together, both from the book of Deuteronomy:

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name” (Deuteronomy 6:13).

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name” (Deuteronomy 10:20).

In neither verse do we see, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God”, yet Jesus says, “It is written”. In fact, the phrase, “Thou shalt worship the Lord they God” never appears in the Bible until Jesus says it in the wilderness. Rather than assume that Jesus is mistaken, we must take into account something of more importance.

Jesus is the author of Deuteronomy! John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, and then he writes, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus was there in the beginning and He was the inspiration for all of the Old Testament scriptures. As the author of the Old Testament, he retains the right to change the wording in the New Testament, thus, when He speaks to Satan in the wilderness, He is not confused, He is simply changing the wording to reflect the Spirit of the New Testament.

With the arrival of grace and truth in the form of Jesus Christ, God no longer wants man to have an unhealthy fear of Him. Now, instead of fear, Jesus changes the words to “worship the Lord thy God”. Every time you read of the fear of the Lord in the Old Testament, you have the right to insert “worship” in its place, for this is how New Covenant believers live. We do not fear our heavenly Father; we worship Him because He is so good.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). As a believer in Jesus Christ, remember that now, “The worship of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. The man who is wise enough to worship the Lord for who and what He is is truly wise indeed.

Mercy and Truth for Them; Grace and Truth for Us

Proverbs 3:3-6

“Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:” (Proverbs 3:3). The combination of the words “mercy” and “truth” is not unique to this passage. It is actually a very common theme particularly of Psalms and Proverbs, often used to describe God’s dealings with man. His mercy is described as “everlasting” and His truth as enduring to “all generations” (Psalms 100:5).

This combination is foreign however to the New Testament, not being used even once. The closest that we get is 2 John 1:3, when the Apostle John uses the two words in the same verse, but not in connection with one another. The New Testament equivalent of this phrase is found in John’s writing as well, this time in his gospel:

“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

Notice that instead of truth coupled with mercy, it is now joined with “grace”, and the method of this combination coming to us is not given through a doctrine, but is brought by the man, Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus is truth, for He told us as much in John 14:6, but why the change from “mercy” to “grace”?

In the Old Testament, man was judged by his keeping or breaking of God’s law. This is the same law that our previous verse told us was “given by Moses”. This law was so holy, just and good that men could not possibly keep it, so they were constantly seeking God for forgiveness by the offering of sacrifices. If not for the mercy of God, man would have gotten what he deserved many times over. God never ceased to be “true” to His holy nature, even though He was merciful to mankind.

When Christ met all of the demands of the law, He offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the whole world, satisfying the anger of His Father (1 John 2:2). While mercy is us not getting what we deserve, grace is us getting what we could never deserve. The cross is what we deserved, for it was death for sin, but God’s mercy killed Jesus instead of us. God’s unconditional love and favor is what we can never deserve, but the cross brought us those things and God calls it grace. With no law to keep in order to please God, we now walk in His grace and truth, thus the New Testament preaches these concepts for the believer.

When you function under His grace, you are giving Him your whole heart, and not leaning to your own understanding (Psalm 3:5). The more we learn this dependency, or “learn to lean”, the clearer that His path will become, leading us to even more of His glory and grace.

Thank the Lord today for His mercy which has spared you from judgment. Thank Him as well for His grace and truth, which has given you all things and blessed you with joy unspeakable.

The Friendly Man Has Friends

Proverbs 18:24; 17:17

This was a principle that was drilled into me from as far back as I can remember. My parents told me this frequently, though I did not know where it was at in the Bible. The phrase, “the friendly man has friends” is not used word-for-word in the scriptures, but the concept is prevalent in this verse. To have friends one must be friendly; and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.

Jesus said that the greatest love is one that will lay down its life for its friend (John 15:13), while the writer of Proverbs said, “A friend loveth at all times” (Proverbs 17:17). There is no love like the love of a true friend, and those friendships are often forged through fire. Out of great adversity, great relationships are born (Proverbs 17:17).

All of these principles are wonderful, and are Biblically sound, but there is little life to them without the finished work of Jesus Christ. Remember, it is Christ’s finished work that changes all things and brings all to life. To find Jesus in this passage, we must look a bit closer at the original Hebrew, which is the language of the Old Testament.

“A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). The first usage of “friends” in this verse is better translated from Hebrew as “acquaintances”, while the last usage of friends in the verse should be translated “lover”. The writer is saying that in order to have friendly acquaintances, one must be friendly to others. This is the type of affection that is given to someone who is kind to you, and they in turn, are kind back. Jesus spoke of this type of friendship as being common to the world (Matthew 5:46).

To change the second usage of “friend” to “lover” is to change the equation entirely. Now we are no longer talking about friendly relationships, but we have advanced to speaking about an intimate relationship that is stronger than the ties of blood and family. To “fall in love” is to sell out so completely to love that you actually are bound closer to that individual than you are to those members of your own family. Jesus sanctioned marriage with this kind of love in Mark 10 and sealed all marriages with that type of love and sacrifice.

Jesus loves His church with more than a familiar love, or a brotherly love. He considers Himself the “lover” which will always stick closer than a brother. I have had many people in the church to call me “brother” in one breath and then cut me with their next breath. Christ speaks love and affection to His church and you need never fear that in His next conversation with you He is going to turn on you with abuse and judgment. While a brother can be persuaded to turn on you, your heavenly lover never will.

I counsel some people who complain that they are lonely and can find no friends. It is difficult for me to be consoling in many cases because more often than not, they are difficult to get along with! They are quiet and reserved, so people think that they are angry or wish to be left alone. Sometimes they are judgmental and distant, wanting everyone to fall into their way of thinking, and oftentimes they have little sense of humor and are rarely caught smiling. If you find yourself longing for friends just remember that a friendly person has friends. Spread the love of Jesus that rings so true in your heart to someone around you and your circle of relationships can’t help but grow. Other people want to know that they are love also, so speak of His great love today.

The Fear of the Lord

Proverbs 9:10

Did you know that there is a proper and an improper fear of God? David said that, “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever” (Psalms 19:9), showing us that proper fear is pure and clean and it will last for all of time. Paul wrote to the Hebrews, “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28). Here, we see that there is “godly fear” which comes only from those who “have grace”.

Jesus was confronted by the devil in the wilderness with various temptations. One of those temptations was to take possession of the earth without going to the cross. Satan offered all of it to Christ if Jesus would only worship him (Luke 4:6, 7). Jesus refused, and said, “For it is written, ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve’” (Luke 4:8). Notice that Jesus said, ‘it is written’, meaning that He is quoting from the scriptures. The only problem is that what He claims was written is not written!

Jesus puts two verses together, both from the book of Deuteronomy:

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name” (Deuteronomy 6:13).

“Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name” (Deuteronomy 10:20).

In neither verse do we see, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God”, yet Jesus says, “It is written”. In fact, the phrase, “Thou shalt worship the Lord they God” never appears in the Bible until Jesus says it in the wilderness. Rather than assume that Jesus is mistaken, we must take into account something of more importance.

Jesus is the author of Deuteronomy! John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, and then he writes, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus was there in the beginning and He was the inspiration for all of the Old Testament scriptures. As the author of the Old Testament, he retains the right to change the wording in the New Testament, thus, when He speaks to Satan in the wilderness, He is not confused, He is simply changing the wording to reflect the Spirit of the New Testament.

With the arrival of grace and truth in the form of Jesus Christ, God no longer wants man to have an unhealthy fear of Him. Now, instead of fear, Jesus changes the words to “worship the Lord thy God”. Every time you read of the fear of the Lord in the Old Testament, you have the right to insert “worship” in its place, for this is how New Covenant believers live. We do not fear our heavenly Father; we worship Him because He is so good.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). As a believer in Jesus Christ, remember that now, “The worship of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. The man who is wise enough to worship the Lord for who and what He is is truly wise indeed.

Mercy and Truth for Them; Grace and Truth for Us

Proverbs 3:3-6

“Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:” (Proverbs 3:3). The combination of the words “mercy” and “truth” is not unique to this passage. It is actually a very common theme particularly of Psalms and Proverbs, often used to describe God’s dealings with man. His mercy is described as “everlasting” and His truth as enduring to “all generations” (Psalms 100:5).

This combination is foreign however to the New Testament, not being used even once. The closest that we get is 2 John 1:3, when the Apostle John uses the two words in the same verse, but not in connection with one another. The New Testament equivalent of this phrase is found in John’s writing as well, this time in his gospel:

“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

Notice that instead of mercy coupled with truth, it is now joined with “grace”, and the method of this combination coming to us is not given through a doctrine, but is brought by the man, Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus is truth, for He told us as much in John 14:6, but why the change from “mercy” to “grace”?

In the Old Testament, man was judged by his keeping or breaking of God’s law. This is the same law that our previous verse told us was “given by Moses”. This law was so holy, just and good that men could not possibly keep it, so they were constantly seeking God for forgiveness by the offering of sacrifices. If not for the mercy of God, man would have gotten what he deserved many times over. God never ceased to be “true” to His holy nature, even though He was merciful to mankind.

When Christ met all of the demands of the law, He offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the whole world, satisfying the anger of His Father (1 John 2:2). While mercy is us not getting what we deserve, grace is us getting what we could never deserve. The cross is what we deserved, for it was death for sin, but God’s mercy killed Jesus instead of us. God’s unconditional love and favor is what we can never deserve, but the cross brought us those things and God calls it grace. With no law to keep in order to please God, we now walk in His grace and truth, thus the New Testament preaches these concepts for the believer.

When you function under His grace, you are giving Him your whole heart, and not leaning to your own understanding (Psalm 3:5). The more we learn this dependency, or “learn to lean”, the clearer that His path will become, leading us to even more of His glory and grace.

Thank the Lord today for His mercy which has spared you from judgment. Thank Him as well for His grace and truth, which has given you all things and blessed you with joy unspeakable.