Proverbs 16:6

by steadfast love and faithfulness.

And some translations use the phrase,

loving kindness and truth.

But most translations use the phrase,

by mercy and truth.

By mercy and truth. And in the Hebrew, the verse reads like this. It says,

in mercy and truth, atonement is provided for iniquity, and by the fear of Yahweh,

that is Jehovah, or the covenant name of the God of Israel.

By the fear of Yahweh, one departs from evil.

Now whether you're reading from the ESV, the NAS, the New King James, the King James, the New Living Translation, or something else, the focus on the first half of verse six is God's mercy in keeping his covenant promises to atone for sin. God's mercy in keeping his covenant promises to atone for sin. And that's your first heading for tonight. So let's consider God's mercy, why it is necessary, and mercy on display. So firstly, mercy is being spared from the judgment that we deserve. That's easy to understand. We are sinners before a righteous and holy God and we stand before him in judgment. And so judgment is eternal punishment in hell. That is what we deserve. And mercy is necessary because God is holy and man is sinful. Now God is holy meaning he is perfect in righteousness, justice, moral purity, and he is worthy of worship. God is perfect in righteousness, perfect in justice, perfect in moral purity, and he is worthy of worship. God is holy. He is totally set apart from sin. He hates sin. In fact, his righteous indignation burns eternally against sin. But man, on the other hand, is totally depraved in sin, meaning he is utterly incapable and unwilling to obey and to please God. He is so corrupt, in fact, that

every intention of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually,

Genesis 6, 5. And so to be spared from judgment is an act of God's mercy, because judgment is what we deserve. And listen to the pleadings of King David, who expresses his need for God's mercy in atoning work in Psalm 51, beginning in verses one and two. He says,

have mercy on me, O God, According to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

He says in verses 7 to 9,

purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.

David knew that he was a wretched sinner. He knew he was born in sin, born in judgment. But he also knew that Yahweh was holy and merciful, and he was the only one to cleanse him and forgive him of his sins. Which brings us now to the atonement, and that's your second heading for tonight, the atonement. And this is God's steadfast love and faithfulness, or mercy and truth on full display at the cross. So atonement means that your sin is covered, taken away, or totally removed. And we find the first example of atonement in the Garden of Eden. It was in Genesis chapter 3 when Adam and Eve sinned against God, that according to verse 21, God provided garments of skins and clothed them, indicating that there was an animal sacrifice that took place. And so this prefigured what was to come in the atoning work of Christ at the cross, the very seed who was promised to crush the head of the serpent in verse 15 of Genesis 3. And then we have Leviticus 17 11, which says,

for the life of the flesh is in the blood. and I have given it to you for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

So in the New Testament, in the death of Christ on the cross, Christ mediated that covenant promise to atone for our sin. And so by steadfast love and faithfulness, or by mercy and truth, the promise of atonement was made by the Lord Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God of Israel, and fulfilled in Christ and his atoning work on the cross. One commentator summarizes it this way, he says,

by the covenant of grace in which mercy and truth shine so bright, even the mercy and truth of God which meet together and kiss each other in Jesus Christ the mediator, by mercy and promising and truth in performing, is the guilt of sin taken away from us,

he says,

when we are truly penitent and cast our sinful souls by faith on that mercy and truth.

Well now let's consider our response to God's atoning work at the cross. The second half of verse six says, by the fear of the Lord, one turns away from evil. And so we're gonna consider two questions for our application as we flesh this out. The first question is how can I cultivate fear of the Lord? How can I cultivate fear of the Lord? And what does fearing the Lord look like in my life? What does it look like to fear the Lord? Well, one way to cultivate fear of the Lord is to revere God as holy. To revere God as holy, meaning to think highly of God with respect and adoration. In other words, reverence for the holiness of God. Reverence for God's holiness. And as an example of this, please join me in Nehemiah chapter eight, and that's page 403 in your pew Bible, if you would. Nehemiah chapter eight. In chapter eight, Ezra the scribe brings the book of the law to read before the people of Israel. And how they respond to God's word is remarkable and I think instructive for us. So I'm gonna read verses one to the first half of verse four, verses five and six and then eight and nine before we continue. So beginning in verse one,

and all the people gathered as one man into the square before the water gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, that the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it, facing the square before the water gate, from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women, and those who could understand. In the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose.

And verses five and six.

And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people. And as he opened it, all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, amen, amen, lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

And then verses eight and nine.

they read from the book, from the law of God clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra, and the priest, and the scribe, and the Levites, who taught the people, said to all the people, this day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep, for all the people wept as they heard the words of the law.

" So God's people wept in response to the reading of the book of the law. They were so gripped by the holiness of God and so grieved by the weight of their transgressions against God that they wept. And I just wonder, when was the last time that you wept before the Lord over your sin? When was the last time any of us wept over our iniquity before a righteous and holy God? I'm not suggesting that you need to cry all the time, but the point I'm trying to make is are you cold and indifferent to the holiness of God as revealed to you in his word? Or are you fearful? Are you in awe? Are you overwhelmed with respect and humility and reverence for the holiness of God as revealed to you in his word? Well, another way to cultivate fear of the Lord, and there are many, but we'll look at two, Another way to cultivate fear is to revere Christ and his atoning work. To revere Christ and his atoning work. In John chapter 19, as you may recall, when Jesus was crucified and nearing his death, he said,

it is finished.

And by saying it is finished, this signified that the payment of his death for our sin was settled and the work of redemption was complete. The seed had crushed the head of the serpent, iniquity was atoned for, his work was finished. And throughout the Old Testament, Yahweh made covenant promises to atone for our sin. And in the New Testament, Christ, who was the fullness of the revelation of Yahweh in the flesh in all his glory, well, he mediated that covenant by his death on the cross. And this is probably just the lowest hanging fruit that we can pluck from this, but because all roads of application in one way or another eventually lead to the cross where iniquity is atoned for, and so have reverence for Christ's atoning work at the cross. And so what does it look like to fear the Lord? A reverence for God's holiness, reverence for the atoning work of Christ, and by the fear of the Lord you turn away from evil and forsake your sin. And perhaps as I'm impressing the word of God upon your heart and your mind tonight, maybe you're reflecting on your own sin. Maybe that is sexual impurity, abuse of alcohol, maybe abuse of medication, Maybe you're hostile in your relationships, hostile in the workplace, hostile with your family, maybe your children or your spouse. But whatever sin that you are struggling with, I assure you that Christ died for that sin. He died for you. And so when temptation arises, you must resist it, put it to death, and keep Christ on the throne of your heart because sin is always competing for that position. God is holy and righteous and merciful, and he settled our debt at the cross, and because of him and through him, you can and you must put away your evil. In Ephesians 5.21, the Apostle Paul further emphasizes putting away evil, but practicing obedience, and he says to do all this, quote,

out of reverence for Christ,

end quote. Or other translations render it

in the fear of God.

It's all reverence for Christ. And if you're with us tonight and you're not a believer, well I have some dreadful news for you. And I guarantee you that in hell there is no grace, there is no mercy, there is no gospel invitation, there is no atonement for your sin in eternal hell. And I promise you that you will spend eternity paying for your sins. Only your payment is never concluded because it is never settled to the satisfaction of God for the forgiveness of your sins. But the good news that I have for you is that the Lord Jesus Christ made that payment for you. He made that payment for you at the cross and his death. So turn away from your unbelief, turn away from your sin, and to the salvation offered to you in Christ and to everyone who believes, revere God as holy, revere Christ and his atoning work, and by the fear of the Lord, turn away from evil. This is our deepest longing. to forsake our sin that was atoned for in the death of Christ. Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father, would you forgive us for being numb and indifferent to your holiness? Our reverence for you, we confess it changes with the wind, it ebbs and flows like the tide. But your steadfast love and your faithfulness, your mercy and truth was accomplished to wash us, to cleanse us, and to atone for our sin, and to rescue us from the judgment that we deserve. And Father, what a comfort it is to know you in your mercy and in the fulfillment of your promises and the atoning work of your Son to remove our sin forever. Truly, there is no greater mercy than yours, and without which we would all be doomed, doomed in judgment, doomed to spend eternity in hell paying for our sins, doomed in separation from the Savior and his glorious kingdom forever. What a dreadful and awful thing that would be. But Father, you are kind and gentle and gracious. You are a God of mercy and grace, yes, but you are also a God of perfect wrath and holy indignation against sin. And what a truly terrifying thing it is to pass from this life and to fall into your hands in judgment. And so we understand the urgency of the gospel. We understand the urgency and the warning that we must give to unbelievers to repent of their unbelief and their sin. So help us. We ask tonight that you would help us to compel unbelievers to come to the cross, to come to you with reverence for your holiness in the atoning work of Christ. Father, we ask that you would help us to live with reverence for you. And for the praise of your glory forever, we pray these things in the name of your son, amen.