Chapter 13.3
Grace and Truth
Grace minus Truth is Deceptive - Truth minus
Grace is Defective
Truth plus Grace is Salvation – Compassion plus
Conviction
The Sweet Bye and Bye, and the Nasty Now and Now
First Word
Jesus
was a great teacher of Truth; He embodied TRUTH; He was
compassionate, kind and caring for the sick and healed ALL that came to Him… He embodied GRACE. [1]
It was GOD that came down from heaven to the Womb;
He was MAN from His birth to His death in the
Tomb
including coming back from the dead.
From
the Womb to the Tomb, He was ALL God
and ALL Man.
John 1:1-4 – Jesus existed in the very
beginning
1 In the beginning the Word (Jesus) already existed.
The Word (Jesus) was with God, and the Word (Jesus) was God.
2 He (Jesus) existed in the
beginning with God.
3 God created everything through
him (Jesus),
and
nothing was created except through him (Jesus).
4 The Word (Jesus) gave life to everything that was created,
and his life (Jesus) brought light to everyone.
(NLT)
The Book says God came down
from heaven and lived in the flesh among us filled with GRACE and TRUTH,[2] so
if we are full of Jesus, then we are
also full of Grace and Truth.
What is the difference between Grace and Truth? I
taught Electronics at Atlanta Tech and I had a student that was struggling with
the math portion. The TRUTH was, he was just plain slow and was failing; so
instead of using words like numerator, denominator and resultant, I took him
aside and playfully taught him using terms which he could easily understand and
remember; like multiply the “TOP NUMBER” by the “BOTTOM NUMBER” and you get the “ANSWER”. That was GRACE; and he became
an excellent student.
Being filled with the Spirit is not what your FEEL; it’s what you DO. SELAH
Grace
Sin is the only thing that qualifies us for Grace; it is Grace that rescues us from our sin.
GRACE understands
struggles and cares; it shares burdens; has compassion for others; responds
even when it is not convenient; treating people far better than they deserve.
The Book says that when SIN increased, Grace abounded even more.[3] Paul was given a THORN IN THE FLESH from Satan to
buffet him; yet God told Paul to not give it another thought, that His GRACE
would be sufficient to sustain him.[4]
Grace minus Truth is
Deceptive
-- Truth
minus Grace is
Defective --
Truth plus
Grace is Salvation
GRACE is not given before a need arises;[5] GRACE is collected like manna one day at time
just as the Israelites did in their walk in the wilderness.[6] GRACE sustains us, holds us up and helps us when
we cannot understand what God is working out in our lives.[7]
Truth
TRUTH can be difficult if not
downright offensive and can even can be deadly if mishandled. There is a
tendency to view Truth and Grace as opposites where you must pick one or
the other.
Today we see many TV Evangelist teaching
only the GRACE of Christ, His
compassion for mankind. I’m OK, you’re OK, and God’s OK; it will all
work out in the “SWEET BYE AND BYE.” The
TRUTH about the “NASTY NOW AND NOW” is placed on
the back burner. Many times just about
anything is accepted in the name of GRACE, including
behaviors that oppose God’s will, as well as teaching things that contradict
what the
Book reveals as the mind and will
of God.
Jesus, knowing that He would lose some of
His followers, refused to compromise His message[8]
and stayed committed to speaking the TRUTH
along
with GRACE,[9] this resulted in many of his disciples turning away
and deserting
Him. [10] It’s in the Book
The Balance
The TRUTH of the Law sets the standard that guides us in our Christian walk; it is His GRACE that provides the tools, ability and means to strive, obtain and achieve that standard. Jesus taught we need both TRUTH and GRACE in order to
demonstrate God’s heart and transforms others’ lives.
James Merritt a TV Pastor
with a program called Touching Lives presented a sermon on Grace and truth
which he called; Joined at the Hip; speaking of Grace
and truth. I was so taken back by how they go hand and
hand, that I feverously took notes for this Word study.
This is a
summary of what he said.
We tend to lean one way or the other; more of a Grac’er or more of a Truth’er.
Jesus was balanced, He never shared grace
at the expense of truth and never spoke truth at the expense of Grace. Some folks
lean more toward speaking FIRMLY, just the Truth while other lean
mostly toward talking with COMPASSION about God’s unlimited Grace.
Truth; God
hates sin. – Grace; God loves the sinner.
Truth; Sin
has separated Man from God. - Grace; God has provided a way back to Him.
Truth; The penalty for Sin is death. – Grace; whoever believes in Him will be saved.
Truth; There is judgement coming. – Grace; there is salvation for all who desire it.
Truth; Through
the sin of one man Adam, DEATH was brought. – GRACE; through one
man Jesus, FORGIVENESS was brought.[11]
Grace; Redemption is
Possible – Truth; Repentance and turning from sin is required.
Grace; There is a way
to God for anyone – Truth; There is only ONE WAY to God.
Grace; Anybody can come
to God – Truth; Everybody must come through Jesus.
Grace; There is a
Heaven & you can go there – Truth; There is a Hell
& you can go there.
Grace; God loves you
just the way you are – Truth; God
loves you too much to let you stay that way.
It’s a balancing act like a
tightrope walker holding onto a balance beam.
One side is GRACE and the other
side is TRUTH.[12]
Tipping the pole too much either way, we lose our perspective; our
balance.
While we must have a PASSION for truth we must also have a COMPASSION for people; if we let go of either, the results will be
tragic. If we are to be a good friend, we must be committed to love
others, nurturing their spiritual growth; but also speaking the TRUTH as the need arises.
What
is Truth?
- The Word of God is TRUTH.[13]
The
Take Away
In
the beginning Jesus already existed with God, in fact He was God; part of
the triune headship, He was God the Son and lived among us packaged with Grace
and Truth.
Grace is mentioned first, because a good Jew
already knew truth from the Torah’s
commandments and laws; the Jewish religion was all about truth.
The Laws
of Moses taught TRUTH that pointed
out error in our daily walk with God; Jesus taught GRACE that aligned
our activities so as to bring us closer to the goal of the truth. [14] Jesus, teaching His followers in TRUTH said;
“you have heard the Law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and HATE YOUR ENEMY”; then with GRACE He added; “but I say, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES and PRAY
for those who persecute you”.[15] Jesus raised the Bar.
Our
challenge
is to learn how to be transforming instruments of both GRACE and TRUTH, combining them
in the same way and manner as Jesus did.[16] Being filled with the Spirit of Grace
and Truth
is not a feeling; it’s NOT what you feel,
it’s what you DO. You don’t do good works to be saved; you do
good works because you are saved.
James Merritt: Grace says you are saved by Grace
through FAITH;
Truth says FAITH without works
is a DEAD FAITH.
ü Grace without Truth is DECEPTIVE; it’s just Liberalism seeking political correctness.
ü Truth without Grace is DEFECTIVE; it’s Legalism; just a bunch of laws.
ü Truth with Grace gives us LIBERTY; its Salvation and eternal life with God.[17]
GRACE wants to free you, but only the TRUTH
will set you free.[18]
We need the Compassion
of Grace plus the Conviction of Truth.
It’s
in the Book
[1] John 1:17 – Law came thru Moses; Grace
& Truth thru Jesus
[2] John 1:14 – God came with Grace and Truth
and lived among us
[3] Romans 5:20 – As sin increased, Grace
increased even more
[4] 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 – God’s Grace is
sufficient to sustain us daily
[5] Genesis 6:8 – Noah found Grace in the
eyes of God
[6] Exodus 16:4 – The Israelites received the Grace
of Manna each day
[7] Lamentations 3:22 – His GRACE;
mercies never come to an end)
[8] Matthew 5:17 – Jesus came accomplish the purpose of the Law
[9] Ephesians 4:15 – Speak the TRUTH with
GRACE
[10] John 6:65-66 - Many disciples turned away and
deserted him
[11] Romans 5:15 – Truth Adam brought sin – Grace
Jesus brought forgiveness
[12] 2 John 1:3 – Grace and Truth are with us through God the Father
[13] Colossians 1:5-6 – The WORD lets
us understand the difference between Grace
and Truth
[14] John 1:17 – The Law came through Moses – Grace
and Truth came through Jesus
[15] Matthew 5:43-44 - GRACE;
love your enemies; pray for them
[16] John 1:17 – Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ -- Ephesians 1:7 – His
Grace forgave our Sins
[17] Romans 5:2 – We have obtained access to God through His Grace
[18] John 1:14 – Jesus came with Grace and Truth and lived among us
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