GRACE AND TRUTH - NYOBS 82.02

GRACE AND TRUTH

Grace minus Truth is Deceptive -- Truth minus Grace is Defective -- Truth plus Grace is Salvation

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.

·         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.

·         The Book says God came down from heaven and lived in the flesh among us filled with GRACE & TRUTH, 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 his 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”.  He became an excellent student. - That was GRACE.

·         Being filled with the Spirit is not what your FEEL; it’s what you DO. - SELAH –

John 1:14 – God came with Grace and Truth and lived among us
¹⁴ And the Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of GRACE and TRUTH. (ESV)

John 1:17 – Law came thru Moses – Grace & Truth thru Jesus
¹⁷ For THE LAW was given through Moses; GRACE and TRUTH came through Jesus Christ.

(ESV)

John 1:1-4 – Jesus existed in the 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)  

Grace

·         Sin is the only thing that qualifies us for Grace – It is Grace 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 better than they deserve.

·         The Book says that when SIN increased, Grace abounded even more.  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.

·         GRACE is not given before a need arises; GRACE is collected like manna one day at time just as the Israelites did in their walk in the wilderness. - GRACE sustains us, holds us up and helps us when we cannot understand what God is working out in our lives.

Romans 5:20 – As sin increased, Grace increased even more
²⁰ God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful

GRACE became more abundant. (NLT)

Lamentations 3:22 – His GRACE; mercies never come to an end
²²  The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; (ESV)

2 Corinthians 12:7-9 – God’s grace is sufficient to sustain you
⁷ even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.
⁸ Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.
⁹ Each time he said, “MY GRACE IS ALL YOU NEED. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

(NLT)

Exodus 16:4 – Received the Grace of Manna each day
⁴ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. (ESV)

Genesis 6:8 – Noah found Grace in the eyes of God
⁸  But Noah found GRACE in the eyes of the LORD. (KJV)

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 of God.

·         Jesus knowing that He would lose some of His followers refused to compromise His message and stayed committed to speaking the TRUTH along with GRACE resulting in many of his disciples turning away and deserting Him. – It’s in the Book -

Ephesians 4:15 – Speak the TRUTH with GRACE
¹⁵ Rather, SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, (ESV)

Matthew 5:17 – Jesus came accomplish the purpose of the Law
¹⁷ Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the Law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No,

I CAME TO ACCOMPLISH THEIR PURPOSE. (NLT)

John 6:65-66 - Many disciples turned away and deserted him
⁶⁵ Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.”
⁶⁶ At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. (NLT)

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.

·         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. - Tipping the pole too much either way and 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.

Colossians 1:5-6 – The WORD lets us understand Grace & Truth
⁵ because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,
⁶ which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the GRACE of God in TRUTH, (ESV)

2 John 1:3 – Grace and Truth with us through God the Father
³ GRACE, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in TRUTH and love. (ESV)

John 1:17 – Grace and Truth came through Jesus the Christ
¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; GRACE AND TRUTH came through Jesus Christ. (NIV2011)

Romans 5:15 – Truth Adam brought sin – Grace Jesus forgiveness
¹⁵ But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful GRACE and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. (NLT)

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. – 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! -  PRAY for those who persecute you”.  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. – 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.

·         Grace without Truth is DECEPTIVE; it’s just Liberalism seeking political correctness.

·         Truth without Grace is DEFECTIVE; it’s Legalism; just a bunch of laws;

·         Truth with Grace gives us LIBERTY; it’s Salvation and eternal life with God.

·         Grace wants to free you, but only the truth will set you free.

We need the Compassion of Grace plus the Conviction of Truth.

It’s in the Book –

John 1:14 – Jesus came with Grace and Truth and lived among us
¹⁴ And the Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of GRACE and TRUTH. (ESV)

John 1:17 – Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ
¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; of GRACE and TRUTH came through Jesus Christ. (ESV)

Ephesians 1:7 – His Grace forgave our Sins
⁷ He is so rich in kindness and GRACE that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and FORGAVE OUR SINS.

(NLT)

Romans 5:2 – We have obtained access through His Grace
² We have also OBTAINED ACCESS through Him by faith into this GRACE in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. (HCSB)

Matthew 5:43-44 - GRACE; love your enemies; pray for them
⁴³ You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and

HATE YOUR ENEMY.
⁴⁴ But I say, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES! PRAY for those who persecute you! (NLT)

John 1:17 – Law came thru Moses – Grace & Truth thru Jesus
¹⁷ For THE LAW was given through Moses; GRACE and TRUTH came through Jesus Christ.

(ESV)

In the multitude of counselors,

there is wisdom.

Proverbs 11:14

I am grateful to those that went before me providing concepts, ideas, historical

information, and scripture verses.  Because of them I can stand on their shoulders

                         and see further that I otherwise ever could have.              

                                                                                                                                     

A Commentary; Critical, Experimental and Practical - Eerdmans

Antiquity of the Jews – Flavius Josephus Matthias

Apocrypha – Goodspeed

Baker Commentary on the Bible – Elwell

Bible Almanac; The – Packer-Tenney-White

Bible Commentary – F.B. Meyer

Bible Dictionary – Harper and Row

Bible Dictionary – Nelson’s

Dake’s Annotated Bible – Dake

English Standard Version Bible – ESV

Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Frank E. Gaebelein

Forgotten Books of Eden; The – World

Gospels Interwoven; The – Karmit Zarley

Illustrated Bible Dictionary; The – Tyndale

Interlinear Greek-English New Testament – Baker

Invisible War; The – Donald Grey Barnhouse

Joined at the Hip – James Merritt – Touching Lives

King James Version Bible – KJV

Lost Books of the Bible; The - World

Lost Books of the Bible; The - Bell

Matthew Henry’s Commentary - Zondervan

Missing Books of the Bible; The – Halo Press

Mysteries of the Bible – Readers Digest

Nag Hammadi Library; The – James M. Robinson

Nave’s Topical Bible - Zondervan

New International Dictionary of the Bible; The – Douglas - Tenney

New International Version Bible (2011) – NIV

NOTE: The “new” NIV has been corrupted & made GENDER NEUTRAL.  AVOID IT.

New Living Translation Bible - NLT

Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls – Hugh J. Schonfield

Thru the Bible – J. Vernon McGee

Vincent’s Word Studies of the New Testament – Mac Donald

Who’s Who in the Bible – Paul D. Gardner

Wycliffe Bible Commentary; The – Pfeiffer & Harrison

Wikipedia –

Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible; The – Tenney