Sure is good to see everybody.
Would you turn with me to John chapter 1? John, the first chapter, verse
17. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Now here we see a distinction
that God the Holy Spirit makes. The law, God's holy law. And everything that's included
in that was given by Moses. Now we know that God inspired
Moses to bring forth the law. But God the Holy Spirit makes
a distinction. The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. I've entitled the message
for this evening, Law, Grace, and Truth. Law, Grace, and Truth. Now let's pick up in verse 15
of John chapter 1. speaking of John the Baptist
at this time. John, bear witness of him. Now I would love to have this
laid to the charge of every one of us. John, bear witness of
him. May that be the true description
of me and you. John, bear witness of him. And cried, saying, this was he
of whom I speak. He that cometh after me is preferred
before me. For he was before me. Now he is talking about the eternal
existence of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, only God is eternal.
He never had a beginning. He'll never have an end. The
Lord Jesus, as God, is eternal. Now, I realize that we can't
really grasp eternity, but I know this, every attribute of God
is implied in eternity. What do I mean by that? What
he is right now, he always was. There was never a time when he
was not. And what he was, He always will
be. Now, every attribute of God is
implied in His eternal existence. John says, He was before me. I love that passage of scripture
in Colossians chapter one that says, He is before all things. Whatever it is, He's before it
because of His eternal existence. By Him, all things consist. He was. Look in verse one. In the beginning was the Word. In the beginning, the Word already
was. And the Word was with God as
a distinct person, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. Now look in verse 16. And of his fullness have all
we received. And grace for grace. Now who is the all speaking of? Of his fullness have all we received. Everyone God's elect every believer
without exception has received his fullness I Love Colossians
119 it pleased the father that in him should all fullness Dwell
Now There is a fullness of saving efficacy in His blood. You know
what it does? It makes me to be without sin
right now, present tense, before God. There is a fullness of justifying
righteousness in His life. You cannot be any more righteous
than you are right now. There is a fullness of prevalence
in his plea as our intercessor, wherefore he is able to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them. There is a fullness of
satisfaction in his death. When he died, the father was
completely satisfied. with what he did and with everybody
he did it for. That means God the Father in
his holiness is completely satisfied with me. Christ is satisfied
with what he did. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied. God the Holy Spirit is satisfied
with what he did. He brings this message to all
his people. And beloved, by his grace, I
am satisfied with what he did. When he said it is finished,
it was finished. Nothing else to look for. There is a fullness
of victory in his life, in his death, in his resurrection. The
scripture says we are more than conquerors through him that loved
us. Have you ever heard a preacher
talk about a defeated Christian life, living a defeated Christian
life? There's no such thing. There's
no such thing. Every believer is more than conquers
through him that loved us. What victory there is in him. There's a fullness of grace to
pardon. There's a fullness of grace to
regenerate. There's a fullness of grace To
bear fruit, there's a fullness of grace to preserve me. There's
a fullness of grace to make me glorified before the Father.
There's fullness of grace in him. Of his fullness have all
we received. Every believer has received his
fullness. Now somebody says, have I received
his fullness? Well, look in verse 12 of this same chapter. But
as many as received him, To them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name. Do you believe on
his name? Do you believe that his name
is all that God is? Do you believe that? If you do,
that means you have received him in his fullness. Every believer has done that.
I love that scripture in Colossians chapter 2 verse 9, in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. What a glorious statement. All the fullness of everything
God is dwells in his body, every attribute of God. And the next
verse is this, you are complete. Now that word is actually you
are full. You are so full that nothing
can be added to you. Of his fullness have we all received. And look what he says next. I
love this phrase in verse 16. And grace for grace. Grace because of grace. It takes grace to receive grace. And the only way you and I receive
His grace is by His grace. You know, religious people almost
act the act of reception as the act of salvation. You know, God
loves everybody. Christ died for everybody. God
wants to save everybody. That's the message. But the ones
who are saved are the ones who receive Him. The ones who don't
receive Him, they're not saved. The ones who receive Him, they're
saved. Now if you don't receive him,
he was never given to you. Everybody he gives himself to, they receive
him. And they do so by his grace. It takes the grace of God to
receive grace. Salvation is all of grace. God's
eternal, sovereign, saving grace. The reason for grace is grace.
Now I want you to think about that. The reason for grace It's
not found in me, it's not found in you. The reason for grace
is grace. Grace needs nothing from you.
You can't merit it, you can't demerit it. The cause of God's
grace is not found in me or you. You can't disqualify yourself
for grace. Your sin can't keep you from
having grace. Your goodness can't cause you to have grace. The
reason for grace is grace. It's not found in you. God doesn't
give you grace for any other reason than this. Grace. of His fullness have we all received
and grace for grace. It's full, it's free, and it's
irreversible. You receive the fullness of His
grace. His grace is not, He doesn't just give you a small portion. Every believer receives the fullness
of His grace. It's absolutely free, there's
nothing I do to earn it, and it's irreversible, there's nothing
I can do to lose it. Grace for grace. And every sinner without exception
receives the fullness of his grace. And you know, we were
listening to that song, All That I Have is Jesus. The only way
you can receive the fullness of his grace is if he's all you
have. If you have anything else, you don't receive the fullness
of his grace. What a blessed place to be, where all that I
have is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, grace for grace. Now look in verse 17, four. The law was given by Moses, but
here's a distinction. Grace and truth. came by Jesus
Christ. The law was given by Moses. Now
we know that God wrote the law with his own finger, and it was
inspired by him. It was given through Moses. The law was given by Moses. And
let me say this as well. I love God's law. I will not
in any way speak disrespectfully of the holy law of God. It's a reflection of his holy
character. And I love what Paul said, I
delight in the law of God after the inner man. And I do. The law was given by Moses. And God gave it to Moses for
this purpose. Romans chapter five, verse 20
says, for moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. If you have any understanding
of the law, you see that you haven't kept one commandment
one time. And sin just bubbles up and abounds
out of you. That is what the law tells us. It was given that the offense
might abound. The law can never save. Listen to Paul's words in 1 Timothy
1.9. Knowing this, that the law was
not made for a righteous man. And do you hear what that's saying?
The law, God's holy law, was not made for a righteous man,
but for the lawless and the disobedient, for ungodly and for sinners,
for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and mothers,
for manslayers, for whoremongers, and them that defile themselves
with mankind, for men-stealers, liars, and perjured persons. Did you hear that? That's who
the law is made for. And I think of what Paul said,
you the desire to be under law, don't you hear? Don't you hear
what it says? All it does is condemn. All it does is condemn. is exposed
as sinful. Now let me ask you to turn to
Galatians chapter four for just a moment. If you want to understand
what is meant by law, I think this passage of scripture teaches
as clearly as any other passage of scripture what is meant by
the law of which John tells us the law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Verse 21, tell me, ye
that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For
it is written, here's what the law says, here's what is written
with regard to the law. And I would have thought he would
go to the 10 Commandments. It is written, thou shalt, thou
shalt not. That's what I would have gone
to. That's not what Paul goes to. For it's written, and he
tells us about something that is recorded in Genesis chapter
16, that Abraham had two sons. The one by a bondmaid, the other
by a free woman. Now do you remember the story?
God had promised Abraham, You can have son. And 15 years pass. No son. Sarah comes up with this
brilliant idea. Obviously, God's promise is not
going to come through me. It hadn't happened. And we need
to do our part. So here's our part. You go into
my servant. Hagar a young woman and we'll
have seed by her you see God's promise will not come fast to
pass unless we do our part Abraham did his part and what we have
this meal And you'll remember that Some
13 or 14 years later Sarah miraculously had a son and the miracle of
God. For it's written that Abraham
had two sons, the one by bondmaid, Ishmael, the other by free woman,
Sarah. But he who was of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh. There wasn't anything miraculous
about his birth. But he, the free woman, Sarah,
was by promise. Remember, Sarah had already gone
through the time of life, and her delivery of Isaac was a supernatural
miracle. Which things, and look what Paul
tells us, which things are an allegory. And one thing I love
about this passage of Scripture, it lets us know that all these
stories in the Old Testament, They literally happened, they
took place, they're not fables. They literally took place, but
they all have an allegorical meaning to teach us the gospel,
no matter what it is. Which things are an allegory
for these are the two covenants the covenant of works the covenant
of grace the one from Mount Sinai Now that's God's law where he
gave Moses the law The one from Mount Sinai which genders to
bondage which is Hagar And here's what law is Law is any part of
my salvation being dependent upon me doing anything. That's all. Now if the beginning
of my salvation is dependent upon me accepting or some act
of my free will, that's all. That's all it is. In the middle
of my salvation, if I become more holy and less sinful by
the things that I do, and if I didn't do them, I'd be more
sinful, but if I do them, I become more holy. That's long. The end of my salvation, if I'm
rewarded a different place in glory because of something I've
done, that's long. if any part of my salvation will
not come to pass and is dependent upon me doing something. It's all dependent upon me. That
is law. The law was given by Moses, and
let me say this, the law cannot save under any circumstance. What about Adam? Adam was placed in the garden,
and he didn't have a sinful nature. If you would have talked to him
about sin, he wouldn't have known what you're talking about. If
you would have talked about evil desires or evil motives or evil
actions, he didn't have any. He was with an innocent nature. I won't say he had a holy nature
because holiness can't sin, but he did have an innocent nature
placed in the garden. And he only had one law. And you know, it seems like it'd
be kind of easy to keep that. You can have fruit from any tree
in the garden. One tree you can't eat of. And
the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. Now, law will
always end in failure. We see that from Adam. He had
this innocent nature. He didn't have this sinful nature.
He wasn't tempted to sin the way you and I are. And he was
given this one easy rule. Just don't eat of that fruit.
And he couldn't keep it. Let me tell you something else
the law never does. The law never produces love. It only produces
resentment and hatred. No one ever loved God under law
in any respect. The only way somebody loves God
is if they're not under law. Now, the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Now, do
you see the distinction the scripture is making? The law, and like
I said, I love God's law. I really do. The law was given
by Moses. I love the Ten Commandments.
I love all the ceremonies of the law that reveal Christ. It's
not like I'm speaking in any way disrespectfully of the law,
but the law can't save, it can't produce love. The law was given
by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Now, Law and grace are mutually
exclusive. The one excludes the other. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Law and grace cannot coexist. Now let me give you these distinctions
between the law and grace. In the law, you have to do things
to merit God's love. Grace begins with God already
loving you completely. And you already have the full,
complete forgiveness of sins. Ain't that glorious? I mean,
salvation begins. False religion has the forgiveness
of sins at the end of the equation. If you do this, if you do that,
if you refrain from this, if you begin being this way, you'll
have the forgiveness of sins. The gospel begins with the complete,
full, free forgiveness of sins. Law is non-relational control
through rules. Grace is the relationship of
love. Law is proud. Grace is humble. Law beat you up. Grace builds
you up. Law gives love only at the finish
line. Grace begins with the complete,
irreversible, unchangeable love of God. The law says blot out
the sinner. Grace blots out the sin. Law
says, keep the law. Grace says, I've kept the law
perfectly. Law curses. Grace covers. Law says, do. Grace says, it's
done. It's finished. Law was written in stone Grace
is written in the heart. Law is judgment under condemnation. That's all. Grace is complete
justification of life. I stand before God without sin. Law moves to sin. The strength of sin is the law.
Grace removes the sin. Law drives away. Grace brings nigh. Law says stoner. Grace says put
the best robe on him. Put a ring on his hand and shoes
on his feet. Law demands holiness. Grace gives
holiness. The law can never satisfy the
conscience. When have I done enough? What
can I find true satisfaction? But the only thing I find satisfaction
in, and that actually satisfies my conscience, is that salvation
really is all of grace, and God is completely satisfied with
me through the blood of Christ. I find satisfaction in that,
nothing else. If you tell me there's something
I must do, I will find no satisfaction. but hold the satisfaction and
salvation by grace. His righteous, saving grace. Listen, my sin is not just put
under a rug to where you can't see it. That doesn't satisfy
my conscience. It might come back up, but my
sin is done away with. It's gone. I don't have anything
to feel guilty about. I'm justified before God, and
that satisfies my conscience. Grace is the truth. The truth
is grace. Now, when he makes this distinction,
the law was given by Moses, and grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Here's the main distinction.
The law is true, but it doesn't give us the truth. The law is
true, but the law does not give us the full character of God. The law tells me that God's just,
but the law doesn't tell me about God being merciful or gracious
or God loving sinners for Christ's sake. The law fails to give the
character of God. While the law is true, you can't
say the law is the truth. And God the Holy Spirit makes
this distinction. I wouldn't dare say this. Did
not God the Holy Spirit say it? The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. You see, the grace of
God reveals the true character of God. All of his attributes,
yes, his justice of sin, yes, his hatred of sin is seen, but
so is his love to sinners. His delighting in mercy, all
the character of God is revealed in the grace of God. Grace and
truth, those two things can't be separated. Grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ. Now let's look at verse 18 in
closing. No man has seen God at any time. That was true then, it's true
now. God is spirit. No man has seen
God at any time. If he did, it'd kill him. You know, when Moses was put
in the cleft of the rock and he saw God's back parts, he saw
the gospel. That's what that means. No man
has seen God at any time the only begotten Son. Now what's that mean? The only
begotten Son? You know, that's in the scripture
numerous times. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared him. What is
meant by the only begotten son? When Psalm chapter two, verse
seven, we read, I will declare the decree. This is God's decree. All other decrees come out of
this decree. I will declare the decree. Thou art my son this day. Have I begotten thee? Now would you turn with me for
a moment to Acts chapter 13, and we'll see what this means.
Acts chapter 13. Verse 32. This is Paul preaching,
and he says, we declare unto you glad tidings. How that the
promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the
same unto us, their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus
again, as is also written in the second psalm. That psalm
I just quoted. Thou art my son, this day have
I begotten thee. Now, understand this. When David
wrote this, when the Lord inspired David to write this, this is
a thousand years before the actual physical resurrection of Christ,
wasn't it? But do you remember when the Lord said, I am the
resurrection? The resurrection is not an event,
although it happened in time. The resurrection of Christ is
an eternal fact irrespective of time. He's not only the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, he's the lamb raised
from the foundation of the world, and all of God's elect have always
been viewed in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ as the
only begotten of the Father. His resurrection is eternal. Yes, he was raised on a day,
but not only is he the lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
he's the lamb raised from the foundation of the world. And
God is seen in the resurrection of Christ. There is no understanding
of God apart from the person and work of Christ. He that has
seen me, what? Hath seen. The Father. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father. Who can describe Christ in the
bosom of His Father? Oh, the love that exists eternally
between the Father and the Son. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and that implies face-to-face with
God. Face-to-face with God in His
bosom. And the Word was God. Oh, the delight in the Father
and the Son. You know, that was one of those
things you just think, You just bow. You don't understand it.
That's kind of like Mark. You're reading that passage of
scripture about the Lord in Gethsemane's garden being sorrowful, even
unto death. You just bow. You don't understand
it. You can't enter into it. You just believe it. Well, oh,
how we love to think of the son in the bosom of the father. And look what it says, no man
has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in
the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. Now that's where
the word exegesis comes from. You've heard of a preacher giving
an exegesis of the scripture, giving the meaning of it. Well,
Christ is the exegesis, the declaration of God. He hath declared him." Now, do
you know, think of this scripture, the law was given by Moses. And remember, wherever there's
law, there's threats of punishment for it being broken. And that's
how, wherever there's law, there's threats of punishment for it
being broken. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. You cannot have law without punishment
for breaking it. Now think about this. In heaven,
there is no law. Let me repeat that. In heaven,
There is no law. Because in heaven, there is no
sin. There will be no breaking of
the law. Nobody wants to. You know, in heaven, everybody's
doing exactly what they want to do. Worshipping Christ. Beholding
His glory. There's no sin in heaven. You
know, law, as I said, law doesn't produce love. Never has, never
will. But in heaven, there's gonna
be perfect love to God, to Christ, to the gospel. There's gonna
be perfect love and there will be no law. Everybody's doing
exactly what they wanna do and it will not be seen. No law in heaven. You see, if
there was a law in heaven, it would be broken. Never works,
never has worked, never will work. The law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, how we look forward to that time when
there will be no law, only love. And Lord, we thank you for your
law in that it has shown us that all we have is
Christ. How we thank you for the grace
and the truth in yourself. Bless your word to our hearts
for Christ's sake. In his name we pray.