Grace and Truth

I'm going to do a little more
teaching tonight than preaching. There's something of which I
am most assuredly and solemnly convinced, and that is that most
people in our generation do not really know the gospel. You say, but religion is at a
peak, at an all-time high. My friends, man has always been
a religious creature. Abel, who worshipped God aright,
was religious. Cain, who worshipped God wrong,
was religious, but they both were religious. You'll find that
the men who crucified Jesus Christ did it in the name of religion.
And our Lord told his disciples, they'll cast you out of the synagogue,
and the day will come when men who kill you will think they're
doing God a service. There never has been a shortage
of religion. All men, by nature, are religious. So what we are witnessing and
experiencing in this day in the form of a religious upheaval
is nothing new. I'm still convinced that most
men do not know the gospel. And not only the man on the street
and the man in the pew, but regrettably, the man in the pulpit does not
know the gospel. Here's how serious it is, and
I made this statement in a Bible conference last week in Danville. If I am really God's servant
sent to preach to you the gospel, and you do not hear, and you
do not heed, then you're in trouble, deep, serious trouble. Now, if I am not God's servant,
then I'm in deep trouble. We're all in deep trouble. But I am persuaded in my own
heart that God has called me to preach the gospel. And I'm
not doing it for gain, materially, recognition, honor, which men
give. I'm doing it because, first of
all, I believe it. I am in my own heart convinced
that salvation is of the Lord. And it's not an emotional experience,
not a sentimental feeling, it's fact upon fact. Our Lord loved
us and gave himself for us. And the Heavenly Father can look
upon us with acceptance because Christ died for our sins. That's
the gospel. I do it for the glory of God.
I'm going to preach this gospel whether men believe it or not.
Because God must be glorified. It's the gospel of his glory.
Now there was a time when God freely and openly fellowshiped
and communed with men. The scripture tells us that the
voice of the Lord God walked in the cool of the garden. With
unfallen Adam, with sinless Adam, God dwelt in sweet, intimate
fellowship. Can you just imagine such a thing?
Here we are struggling to find the will of God, struggling to
find that peace and rest and joy that comes from walking with
God. in his unfallen, sinless state,
walked with God, had a sweet, intimate fellowship with the
living God. But sin came. Sin came. Sin entered this world, rebellion. And sin not only destroyed the
garden and all of creation and nature, but it brought death and disease
to the man. Sin came into this world and
brought destruction upon the garden and also upon the man.
But not only did sin bring disease and death, and most all religious
people believe that because you can't deny the fact of death,
but sin destroyed that union with God. Sin destroyed that
fellowship between God and men. Sin destroyed that. Adam experienced
not only physical death later on, but he experienced something
right then that was far more tragic than physical death, and
that is spiritual death. A great gulf was opened between
man, who is now evil, and God, who is perfectly holy. There is a great gulf fixed.
The Scripture says your sins have separated you from your
God. The scripture says man loves
darkness rather than light because his deeds are evil. The scripture
says that we are without God, without Christ, without help,
without hope, that we are strangers and aliens from God. So when Adam sinned, when sin
came into this world, it not only destroyed the garden, the
perfect garden. It not only brought death physically
to man, but sin destroyed that union which Adam had with his
God, that fellowship, that sweet fellowship. Now, that's so. And had it not been for the amazing
love of God, now listen to this. Had it not been for the amazing
love and mercy of God, we would have, like the fallen angels,
been forever banished from the presence of God. Now the angels sinned, but there
is no salvation and there is no redemption and there is no
restoration and there is no recovery for fallen angels. Can I show
you that? Turn to the book of Jude. In the book of Jude, verse
6, and the angels which kept not
their first estate, their principality, their position, place of honor,
that's what Adam had, created in the image of God, king of
the world. These angels didn't keep their first estate, we didn't
either. But they left their own habitation
God hath reserved in everlasting chains unto darkness, unto the
judgment of the great day. They've been chained in darkness
reserved for wrath. Now turn to Hebrews chapter 2. Now these are the two verses
that show you that, help you understand that there's no recovery,
there's no restoration, there's no redemption for all fallen
angels. In Hebrews 2.16, talking about
Christ, but verily he took not on him the nature of angels,
but he took on him the seed of Abraham. When Christ came down
here to redeem some people, creatures, he didn't take on him the nature
of angels in order to redeem them. He passed them by and took
on him the nature or the seed of Abraham in mercy and grace. Had it not been for the love
and mercy and grace of our God, we would have been forever banished
from the presence of God. But God purposed to bridge that
gap. Are you with me? God purposed to bridge that gap. Because of sin, a great gap has
been opened between evil men. That's you and me. All men, all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All we like
sheep have gone astray. None good, no, not one. God looked
down from heaven to see if there were any that did do good. He
said they all together become unprofitable. Empty imagination
of man's heart is only evil continually. And that pure, immaculate, immutably
holy God is a great gift. There is no contact. Don't fool
yourself. There is not. We don't walk with
God and God doesn't walk with us in sin. But God purposed to
bridge that gap. He purposed to bridge that great
gap. He purposed to restore that union. Man didn't get together down
here in a council of human flesh and decide that he's going to
implore God to do something for him. God, in a council, in the
eternal councils of glory, purposed to do something about that gulf.
Man was content to stay where he is. Men are content to be
damned. They're content to live in darkness.
They're content to walk contrary to God. But God purposed to restore
that union and that fellowship with men. He purposed to have
a people, not from the angels, but from Adam's race. He purposed
to have a people like his That's right, you turn to the book of
Ephesians. God purposed to have a people like Christ. That's
what this is all about in Ephesians, if you will. The scripture says here, in Ephesians
chapter 1, verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
and heavenly places in Christ, according as He has chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will." It's His will. It's His purpose. God Almighty determined to have
a people. He said, I will have mercy upon
whom I will have mercy. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. So then it's not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Are you with me? All right. Thirdly, now in token
and type of this restored fellowship, which God purposed to restore,
which God predestinated to restore, he says, I'm going to have a
people. Now they will not come to him. They will not love him,
they will not seek him, but he says, I'm going to have a people.
I'm going to have some folks just like my son, that in the
ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his great
love toward us, which he commended toward us in Christ Jesus. For
in token and type of that restored fellowship, God made himself
manifest to his chosen nation Israel in the wilderness. He
was pleased to dwell in the center of the camp, in symbol and type,
in a tabernacle. God was pleased to dwell once
again with men. Not like he walked with Adam.
This is just in type, this is in picture, this is in symbol.
And here in our text, John 1, 17, let's look at it. For the
law was given by Moses. What is this? This is the moral
law. Now watch this. The moral law
which was given to Adam in his innocence, which having been
broken and almost pushed out of man's mind and memory, was
given once again in a new edition of it in writing through Moses. pointing out man's duty to God. You'll find that in Exodus chapter
20 when God gave the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai. He said, Thou shalt have no other
God before me, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,
thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain,
remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, and thou shalt Honor
thy father and thy mother, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not
kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not bear false witness,
thou shalt not covet. These laws were given in annuity. Adam knew those laws. Adam knew
God. Adam had those laws given to
him in innocence. Maybe not listed in ten, but
he knew the character of God, he knew the commandment of God,
he received the law, do this and live. disobey and die. And when the people heard this
law, when God was pleased to give this law through Moses,
this holy moral law, instead of running to God and throwing
their arms out to be received, they backed off, they ran. Because
this law does four things. Now watch this. This law discovers our sins. it discovers to us our sins. They're there, but we don't see
them until we see them reflected in the holy law of God. Paul said, I had not known sin,
except the law said, Thou shalt not covet. You get this. God is going to restore this
fellowship, but he starts with us where he must start with us.
He started by tide and symbol, he gave through Moses a law.
Adam had this law in the garden. Adam knew what holiness was.
He didn't know anything about sin, but he knew what holiness
was. He knew what purity was. He knew what God said. He knew
what God commanded. When God sets forth to restore
this fellowship, he starts right back where he started with Adam.
He starts with his law. But when God gave the law through
Moses to Israel, they ran, they backed off. They said, we don't
want Moses, don't let God speak to us. Why? It discovered their
evil, it discovered their sins. It'll do the same thing to you
when you take a good look at God's holy law. I'm not talking
about the law just in its external commandments, but in its internal
requirements. And then secondly, the law accuses
us. What the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world become guilty. Has God's law ever discovered
your sin? Paul discovered his sin in the
light of the law. He said, I discovered that I
lusted. I discovered that. When I saw
the law, I discovered that I was a sinner. And then the law accuses
us, the law pronounces us guilty, and then thirdly, the law convicts
us. And Paul said when the law came,
I died. I died. What is a dead man? He's a helpless
man. He's a lifeless man. He's a man who cannot lift his
hand, or his finger, or bat his eye, or breathe. He's helpless.
The law convicts us, and then the law condemns us. Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things that are written
in the law to do them. All things. The law offers no
hope, it offers no mercy, it offers no forgiveness, it's totally
opposed to grace. Totally opposed to grace. The
law offers, you look into God's holy law, and the law offers
you no hope whatsoever. a preacher, if God is going to
restore that fellowship, and he comes through Moses and
gives the law, where is the grace and the mercy in the wilderness,
in the tabernacle? The law is there. Oh, the strict,
immaculate, immutable, holy, awesome, terrible law of God
is there. Where is the grace? Not in the
law. The grace is in the Not in the
moral law, it's in the ceremonial law. That's right, God also gave
through Moses the ceremonial law. The grace is in the ceremonial
law. Grace is revealed or typified
in the atonement. When God told Moses to build
a tabernacle, he says, in that tabernacle I'll meet with men,
and men will meet with me. He says you're to put out here
a brazen altar and you're to slay a lamb and roast its body
with fire. That's a picture of Christ. Our
lamb who was slain, whose blood was shed, whose body was broken.
You're to bring it into the holy place and you're to put that
blood on the mercy seat. And when I see the blood, same
thing he said down there in Egypt, I'll pass over you. Now grace,
the law reveals the truth of God. The law revealed the truth
of God, the righteousness of God, and grace was revealed or
typified in the atonement. Not grace effectual, for these
sacrifices could not take away sin. Not all the blood of bulls
and goats on Jewish altars slain can take away our guilt. can
remove sin's terrible stain. This grace is typical grace. It's not grace effectual, and
it's not grace permanent because these sacrifices were offered
over and over and over again, but grace pictured. In other
words, God is saying, I will be gracious. I will be gracious. So now watch this. When you read
this text, John 1, 17, the law was given by Moses. You have
two different laws there. You have the moral law, you have
the ceremonial law. That's right. The moral law was
given on that Mount Sinai through Moses. And that moral law was
the truth. It was the truth. It was the
truth revealed. It was the truth given in commandment. And also the ceremonial law was
grace typified. and grace pictured, not grace
effectual and not grace permanent, but it was pictured. So the law
was given through Moses, and we have in type a restoration
of that union, of that fellowship with God. Not actually, but in
picture. You see what I'm saying? It's
in picture. It's not done yet. It's not fulfilled yet, but it's
pictured. God gives the truth, and the
truth about his immutable holiness, the truth about man's evil nature,
the truth about his justice, the truth about his righteousness,
the truth about man's total inability. And when we look at the pure
law of God, there is no ray of hope, there is no spot of grace,
there is no speck of mercy, the truth in the moral law. But when
we look in the ceremonial law, we see some hope, a picture of
hope, but not We see a picture of grace, but not grace. We see
a picture of mercy, but not mercy. Because these sacrifices cannot
put away sin. You see what I'm saying? God
is saying what he will do. God is saying what he's purposed
to do. God is saying what he plans to do. He's going to bridge
that gap. He's going to restore that fellowship.
Alright, now the next statement. The law was given by Moses or
through Moses, but grace and truth, grace and truth, came
by Jesus Christ. Grace and truth. You see what
we're preparing for here? When God made Adam in his innocence
and holiness and sinlessness, he had fellowship with God, unbroken,
intimate, sweet fellowship. He knew God, God knew him. sin
came, broken. God purposed to restore that
fellowship for some, not all, for some. All men aren't going
to be saved. There's no such thing as universal
redemption. But God's going to bring some folks back to himself.
They're going to be in an eternal, inseparable union with him. They're
going to be like Christ going to be heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ. And when he sent Moses, he sent
a picture of what he's going to do. He sent his truth, his
law, his moral law, the truth about himself and the truth about
man. Let's reissue this. Let's restate it. Let's put a
new edition of it. It's still true. It hasn't changed.
It has not changed. God's still the same. Man's still
the same. The two are inseparably parted. are separate and impossible
for man to do anything. But now wait a minute, grace
and truth came by Christ. Look at John 1.14, 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. Now the tabernacle When God made
the tabernacle, it was a picture of Christ, for here the scripture
is saying that Christ, the Word was made flesh and tabernacled
among us. And Christ himself is full of
grace and truth. He's not a picture of grace,
he is grace. He's not just a revelation of
truth, he says, I am the truth. Now brethren, think about this
a moment. Grace without truth does me no good. Grace without
truth. And this is what the emotionalist
would have me to believe. It doesn't matter really about
your doctrines, it doesn't matter really about what you believe,
if you just believe God's good, if you just believe God's gracious,
if you just trust the Lord. Grace without truth does me no
good because it dishonors God. It dishonors God. Are you thinking
with me? Truth without grace does me no good. Truth without grace does me no
good because righteousness without mercy destroys the sinner. Now, if you come to me and you
say, well, it doesn't really matter about the fulfillment
of the law and the satisfaction of justice and to understand
what Christ did and who Christ is and what his work accomplished. If you talk that way, grace without
truth dishonors God. But truth without grace, which
the legalists would promote, does me no good because it puts
me in a state of depression. I must have grace. Now turn to
Romans 3, and I'll illustrate what I'm saying. Romans 3, verse 19. Now God says, I'm going
to bridge that great gulf. I'm going to restore that fellowship. And then he sends the tabernacle.
He sends the law. He sends the ceremony law. He
pictures it. He symbolizes it. He typifies
it. And then, in the fullness of
time, he sent his son. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father. He is grace and truth personified. The fullness of God dwelleth
in him. That grace and that truth is
in Christ. Now, look at Romans 3.19. First
we have verse 19, guilt. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God. That's what the law says, guilty,
subject to the judgment of God. Alright, verse 20, hopeless. Therefore, because the law pronounces
us guilt and shuts our mouth, therefore by the deeds of the
law no flesh shall be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. It can only reveal sin, it cannot
pardon sin. Verse 21, here's grace, here's
Christ. But now the righteousness of
God, the holiness of God, without the law, without my obedience
to the law, without my personal merit. The righteousness of God
without the law is manifested, is revealed, being witnessed,
or being typified, or being shown by the law, the ceremonial law,
and by the prophets. And what is that righteousness?
Verse 22. even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe. For there
is no difference, this is true without exception, for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. It is free to us,
but costly to Christ, being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Verse 25, "...whom God
has set forth, or ordained, or ordained." to be a mercy seed,
a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his
righteousness for the remission of the sins even of Old Testament
saints, sins of the past, people who waited the coming of Christ,
people who had the picture, who had the type, who had the symbol,
but not the revelation, through the forbearance of God, verse
26, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that
he might be just and justifier of him that believes in Christ.
God declares at this time both his truth and his grace, both
his righteousness and his mercy, that he might be just and justifier. He cannot be either or. He's got to be both. Now back
to the text. In John 1, grace and truth came
by Jesus Christ. God was in Christ, Jesus Christ
is God. Now Christ, three things I want
to give you before I dismiss. Three things. First of all, Christ
did not come to tell us the truth. Christ is the truth. We actually
beheld his glory, the glory of his holiness. Moses brought us
a law. Moses brought us a law that told
us the truth. Christ came and Christ is the
truth. You see what I'm saying? I wish
I could say it. We actually beheld his glory. We didn't read a law. We didn't
hear a man speak a law. We didn't even hear the voice
of word declare the law. We saw him. We beheld the glory of his love.
We beheld the glory of his power. We beheld the glory of his grace.
He is truth. Christ said, He that has seen
me has seen the Father. He's seen the Father. I am the
truth, truth came by Jesus Christ. And Christ did not come to tell
us about grace. He is grace. You go to others
to hear about grace, you come to Christ to receive grace. He
is grace. He has grace to communicate to
us. Grace without measure, grace
essential and abiding, because he is grace. Christ is truth. He doesn't tell us the truth.
This is what many preachers are preaching Christ as a great prophet. He is that prophet, but he's
more than a prophet, he is the truth. They picture Christ as a gracious
person. He is more than that. He is grace
itself. You come to Him to know the truth.
You come to Him to receive the truth. You come to Him to experience
the truth. You come to Him to know grace,
to receive grace, to experience grace. It's in the person of
Christ. Grace and truth are as far apart as the poles. What we're talking about here
is grace And we're talking about righteousness. We're talking
about mercy. We're talking about justice.
And those two things, as far as this center right here is
concerned, are as far apart as the poles. And they only meet
in one place. Now, this is so important to
understand. That's the reason when Moses
brought the moral law, he brought the truth. It was a statement
of truth. It was a declaration of truth.
And when Moses brought the ceremonial law, it was a statement of grace
to come. It was a picture of grace to
come. But it was not that grace. It was not that grace. And here
Israel was under a moral law, under a holy law, under a righteous
law which they could not keep. which frightened them, which
struck terror in their hearts and fear in their souls. And
here they were going through the motions, picturing a grace
that was promised and a grace that would come, truth, immaculate,
immutable truth and grace. But when Christ came, the two
met in one person. Turn to Psalms 85. And David
deals with this a whole lot. David deals with this several
times. Now let me show you this, Psalms 85, and if you learn this,
you'll learn the gospel. And if we can't get hold of this,
if we can't lay hold of it, we haven't laid hold of the gospel.
I can go, I can take myself, really I think, I believe this,
I believe that most of the religious people in our generation use
the name of Jesus Christ, but they're living back under the
Mosaic law, Mosaic economy. Now, here's the reason I say
that. We read the law of God, we put it up on a sign, we read
it in the Bible, and we talk about this law and what it requires,
and we begin to measure ourselves by it, and we have some affiliation
with it, and we have some unhappiness because of it, and some conviction. But then we go right over to
the ceremonies, the keeping of a day, Sunday, the going to the
tabernacle, or the building, the going through the motions
of the singing, and the giving of the offerings, and the different
singing of the hymns, and the sacrifices, or as they call them,
sacraments, and communion, and all these motions, and then we
go to our homes, satisfied that we fulfill religious duties.
We fulfill religious obligations. We've made religious commitments.
Is not this what Israel did? Did not they face a law that
frightened them, a law that struck terror in their hearts, a law
that troubled them? And they looked in that law and
they saw judgment and wrath and condemnation, so they went through
certain religious rituals and ceremonies and motions and these
things to find some acceptance with God. But in Jesus Christ, the truth,
the truth, the truth about God, his holiness, his holy love,
and grace, the mercy of God, the love of God, the free favor
of God, all met in one person. Look at it here. Mercy and truth
are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. He is the truth, and he is God's
grace, all in one. Turn back to Psalms 61. David talked about this often.
Let's look at Psalm 61, verse 7. He shall abide before God
forever, O prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him. Prepare mercy and truth. Turn
back to Psalm 40. Here it is again, Psalm 40, verse
11. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord, let
thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve. Both, both. Now turn to Psalm 89. Here it
is again, Psalm 89, verse 14. Psalm 89, verse 14. Justice and judgment are the
habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face. I'm saying this, I've got to
keep that law. It has not changed. I've got
to have before that law a perfect righteousness. I've got to. God Almighty must honor his law.
He hasn't changed. He gave it to Adam when he talked
about showing grace to men and pictured it. He gave that law
again. Then when Christ came, we faced that truth again, that
holiness, that righteousness again. But you say, I can't keep
that law. Well, I can't either. What am
I going to do? That's what Christ did. He is
truth. He is truth and grace together. Grace flowed from his lips. Grace proceeds from his person.
I come to Christ. If I receive, not to the Church,
to the front, to religion, to doctrine, to all these things,
but I come to Christ and I find in him truth and righteousness,
which I have, which I must have, which I need, but I find in him
grace and mercy and free favor, and God Almighty can be just
and justifier in Christ Jesus, he can receive me. That's where
it is. It's total commitment to Christ.
It's receiving him. He came down here, the truth
of God and the grace of God in one person. And when I come to know him and
receive him, I have God's truth, God's righteousness, God's holiness,
and I have God's grace. And that fellowship is restored,
that union is restored, that sweet, intimate communion is
restored in Christ Jesus. Our Father, bless this word.
We feel that thou hast spoken to us through thy word. How deceitful
the human heart is. How subtle is the enemy of our
souls. How he would have us flee to
that awesome holy law, or he would have us flee to some empty
feeling, some grace without truth. But we flee to Christ, who is
the truth, and who is grace, and who becomes to us all that
we need, for we are complete in him. Turn the eye of every
person in this congregation to Christ. Let us drink from him
the living well. Let us eat of his flesh and drink
of his blood that we may have life in us. In him we have righteousness
and we have mercy. We have sanctification and we
have grace. It's in his name that we pray
and for his glory. Amen.

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