Grace AND Truth || Victory Church [Book of John #3]

Yes, yeah, a little-known fact about myself. I like to people watch. I'm a people watcher. I'm kind of like a student of human nature. I love watching how people act, interact, react to each other based on different circumstances because it's kind of telling. It's telling about the person. It's telling about society and culture and kind of what's happening in the world. And particularly, I do that in the church. And so here's the deal. I live in the same world that you guys do. And so what I've seen in this last season is that I've seen church people. I've seen Christians who really ideally should be the most unified people in the world that somehow we become some of the most divided people in the world that we have Christians at each other's throats, right? And it just, how, like how did that happen? Like same Jesus, same spirit, same Bible, yet completely at odds with each other. How in the world? And to kind of compound it, everybody's got a Bible verse to back their side up. Have you noticed that? And everybody's convinced that Jesus is for their thing. Right, like this side's convinced Jesus and somehow Jesus is also on that thing, right?

And then we just throw spheres at each other from the other side. So how in the world is that possible? Well, here it is, three words. Three words is how it's possible. And we're gonna walk through those three words today because we are in fact on week three of an 11-month journey through the book of John. And if you've been tracking with us so far, you've noticed how John just hits different, right? Like he writes a little different than Matthew, Mark, and Luke. He goes higher, he paints with more vivid colors. He unashamedly pronounces that Jesus is the King of the universe. And these are just a few of the verses that we walked through in the first two weeks. So John 1, 1, here's where it reads very famously, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning through him. All things were made without him. Nothing was made that has been made. That's the first week. And what it's saying is Jesus is God. Let there be no misunderstanding that Jesus is preexistent. He created all things, that he is God with skin on. Come to be with his people. And then we continued last week.

It says, in him was life. And that life was the light of all mankind, that the light shines in the darkness. And good news, the darkness has not overcome it. That the best way that I can say it is this, is that Jesus is God flipping on the light switch in a dark world. And those in the darkness cry out, ah, it hurts my eyes! But in essence, Jesus coming to the world gives us a choice. Will we remain in the darkness, or will we say, God, shine the light in every room of my house? God shined it in the basement, shined it in the attic. God, clear out the cobwebs in my closet. Like God, I want all of Jesus in my life. And maybe I can say it like this. If you are born again, here's what this means. You are as free as you wanna be. Because sin is no longer your master, all right? So if I could just kind of summarize the first 14 verses that we've walked through, here's the three things it would be. That the world is dark, but God himself has come to call us into the light. And in so doing, he now offers to give us eternal light and to transform us and recreate us into being children of God, all right? And so today, we are closing out, big Bible, big theological word.

I try and give you these every once in a while. We are closing out the prologue, all right? So the prologue of John is the first 18 verses of John. We're gonna finish the first 18 verses today. And here's the big idea of the first 18 verses, the prologue. It serves as the introduction. We could even call it the cipher or the key. So basically, here's John's idea. I'm giving you these first 18 verses that will become how you see the rest of the book of John. And so if you can get the first 18 verses, you'll get the rest of the book of John. That's the big idea. But before we kind of dive into the rest of the book of John, we have to see three more words. And here's the idea. They are three of the most important words you will ever hear because they are the three words that reveal to us the character of God himself. They are three words that will clarify the confusion that so many people have about Jesus. They're three words that will help us understand why do people hijack Jesus for their agenda and throw spears and everything. But here's the idea. Before we read these three words in John, I believe that God wants us to see where John got those three words from, all right? That John didn't just kind of grab them out of thin air.

He actually got them from somewhere. So we're gonna go all the way back to Exodus, all right? Everybody say Exodus. Exodus. Genesis, Exodus, all right? So Exodus, if you know the story, Hebrew people in slavery in Egypt, God comes and sets them free through mighty miracles, plagues, splits the Red Sea, delivers them through, on their way to the promised land. If you know the story, it takes them forever to get to the promised land. promised land because they're idiots, just like us. And they sin, and they complain, and they point their finger up at heaven and say it was better back in slavery, and God's like, I'm done with all you guys. The only person who keeps God from just wiping them out is Moses. Moses jumps in the middle so many times. He's like, God, don't destroy them! And God's like, I like you, Moses, so I won't. That's basically the Old Testament, okay? And then one of these conversations, Moses is pleading with God, and they're on their way to the promised land, and he says this, he says, God, will you go with us into the promised land? And God says, Moses, for your sake, I will go with you into the promised land. And then Moses is like, no, no, no, God, I just want to make sure that we're on the same page. And here's what he says, if you don't go with us, I don't want to go. I don't want to go. What does Moses actually say? Moses is saying this, I'd rather wander around in the desert with God, than go into the promised land without God. Come on, somebody, that's a word for somebody today. I'd rather wander around hungry and thirsty in the desert, than go into the land of milk and honey without God. Come on, could that somehow become our hearts cry today? Come on, I'd rather be poor and have God, than be rich without God. Come on, all my single people, I'd rather be single and have the love of Jesus, than have the weak love of

a frail human and not have the love of Jesus. Come on, I'd rather gain my soul and lose the world, than gain the world and lose my soul. Right? Moses is just so desperate, he's like, God, you're the best thing that's ever happened to my life, I will never turn my back on you. I'd rather just be in the desert with God, than be in the promised land without. And God answers this prayer, Exodus 33, this is gonna take us through for the rest of the day. Verse 17, and the Lord said to Moses, I will do the very thing you've asked, Moses, because I'm pleased with you and I know you by name. So just pause. Huge win, huge win. God says, I'm gonna go with you. And I kind of equate Moses with Peter, right? Peter is the guy in the New Testament, his mouth moves faster than his brain, and so he just says wild stuff. And so I think Moses is like, hey, I just had a huge win, I already got God on the phone, right? Like, you miss every shot you don't take. And so he's like, now show me your glory. He just, he doesn't even know what he's saying. He's like, all right, God, I want all of it. Just show me everything. And the Lord said, whoa, slow down, cowboy. But here's the deal, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. But, he said, you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live. I love this detail. The Lord said, there's a place near me where you may stand on a rock, and when the glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by, and then I will remove my hand, and you will see my back, but my face must not be seen. Love this. Okay, basically, here's what's happening. God tells Moses, you cannot see my face, but I'm gonna let you see my back. What God is saying is this, Moses, I'm gonna let you see as much as possible, but you can't see it all. You can't see me in my fullness, or else you'll die. All right? You can't see the full, everybody say fullness. That's an important word. You can't see me in my fullness, or else you'll die. So, what happens as Moses walks up the Mount Sinai? Why am I walking like this? Because Moses is carrying the two blank tablets. All right? I say blank tablets, because the first time, God actually gave him the fully written out tablets. Moses saw the people sending, smashed the tablets. And so, the second time, God's like, hey, you smashed the first

ones, and I didn't really tell you to do that. So, this time, you got to bring some raw materials. I think there's, like, you got to put some skin in the game, Moses. So, Moses had to go up with blank tablets, and God's like, don't worry, I'll put the Ten Commandments on there. All right? So, he goes up with the blank tablets, and he goes up the mountain, and his heart is beating a million miles an hour. He's like, I'm about to meet the glory of God. Right? And adrenaline, just driving, driving, driving. He's waiting to get the law. And he goes up to the top of the mountain, and here, just a few verses later, Exodus 34. Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and stood there with him, and proclaimed his name, the Lord. We said this before. Wherever you see all caps in the Old Testament, that's actually the word Yahweh. So, he proclaimed his name, Yahweh. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, Yahweh, Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger. Here it is. Abounding in love and faithfulness. Everybody say, love and faithfulness. Everybody say, love. Everybody say, faithfulness. Okay, God's proclaiming his name. Maintaining love. thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin, yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished. He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and the fourth generation. Wow! But right there in that place, Moses quickly bowed his head towards the earth and worshipped. He had just met the king. So let's just play this out. Moses goes up to the top of Mount Sinai, heart beating a million miles an hour, and he hears, Your way! Right? The whole mountain starts shaking. I have a pretty vivid imagination, just go with me. And God, he sees this hand just kind of come over and he covers Moses, and he, as God is passing by, the other hand just kind of goes like he writes the Ten Commandments on the tablet. And as he's walking by, he self-reveals. This is where we have to go, guys. You have to understand this. How does the character, how does it make Beth know about Shakespeare? Only if Shakespeare writes himself into the story. How do we know about God? Only if the author writes himself, enters into his own story. So God has to self-reveal. He passes by, and he tells us what his character is. What is his character? He

says, I'm a compassionate, gracious God. I'm abounding in love. How many of you like that God? I'm a compassionate, gracious God, abounding in love. And here's the truth. Right when we're like, I like that God. And right when we're really tempted to be like, mm, he's just a cute little teddy bear God. Kind, compassionate, gracious, abounding in love. He comes right behind it and says, but I will not leave the guilty unpunished. Whiplash. We call that spiritual whiplash. I'm compassionate, gracious, abounding in love and faithfulness. Yet I will not leave the guilty unpunished. How do you reconcile those two words? Well, here it is. Where we get this idea of abounding in love. Remember we said love and faithfulness, right? Where we get that word abounding in love, that phrase, it actually comes from, I think, one of the most beautiful words in Hebrew. And one day I will do a whole series about it. So just mark your calendars for 2043. Alright, we'll get there someday. It's the Hebrew word hesed. Hesed. And hesed is covenantal love. It's sacrificial love. It's loyalty. It's goodness. It's grace. Everybody say grace. Grace. And that word right behind it, faithfulness, that is the Hebrew word emet. Emet, which is faithfulness, firmness, trustworthiness, or truth. Everybody say truth. Everybody say grace. Everybody say truth. Here's what I love about that word emet. This is why, honestly, I'm not that great at Hebrew, but Hebrew is so much of a cooler language than English. English is very precise. Hebrew is very painted, very vivid. The word emet in Hebrew is actually comprised of the first letter of Hebrew, the middle letter of Hebrew, and the last letter of Hebrew. And what it's saying is God's truth is all of it. It's from A to Z. It's the whole thing. God's truth does not hide anything. God's truth reveals everything. It's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Emet. It's emet. So here's what he's saying. God is his head, and God is emet. And so that day, Moses learned two words. That God is grace, and God is truth. Come on, everybody turn to your neighbor. Say, God is grace. Look at your other neighbor. Say, God is truth. Now reverse it. Like, tell that one, God is grace, and then look at the other one, and say the other, God is... You get it. Now I know some of you are really good at math, and you're like, but

pastor, that's two words. I thought you said there are three words. Well, here's the idea. Most of us actually just missed the third word. But don't worry, because the good news is this. God doesn't just tell us his character. He actually shows us his character. And this is where we pick up with John. John 1 14. This word became flesh, and he made his dwelling among us. And we have seen his glory. The glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Out of his fullness. Everybody say fullness. We have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son who is himself God, and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. Here's the deal. This is why it's so important to dig deep into Scripture. Without reading Exodus 34, that just seems like a random passage. That just seems like John's just putting some random phrases together. If you're like me, a church kid, you grew up reading some of this stuff. It just feels like, why John's just saying... But now that you know Exodus 34, you can start feeling the dots starting to connect. And here's what John's beginning to tell us. That Moses himself only saw a glimpse of the glory of God. But Jesus Christ has come to show us the fullness of the glory of God. That Moses only saw God's back. Jesus has come to show us God's face. That nobody has actually ever seen God in his glory. But the son, here's what he just said, who's in closest relationship in the Hebrew. That's the word bosom. That the father holds the son to his bosom. What do you do with the things that are most precious to you? You hold them tight to your chest. That's the father and the son. And Moses only saw a glimpse, but the one who actually saw the father in his fullness came to put on flesh and reveal him to the world.

And Moses brought the old covenant, but now Jesus has brought the new covenant. This is how John just said it right there, verse 16. Out of his fullness we've all received grace in place of grace already given. In other words, we have received the new testament in place of the old testament. We've received a greater grace in place of the old grace. And this is where Christians mess this up, guys. He's not saying that the old covenant was graceless. Think about it. God did not have to call Abraham. God did not have to call Moses. God did not have to split the Red Sea and send the plagues and deliver the people. God did not have to lead them into the promised land. God did not have to dwell with them in the tabernacle. God did not have to bring the walls of Jericho down after seven times marching around. God did not have to send the prophets. God did not have to send a sacrificial system to cover over their sins. He didn't have to do any of it. It's grace, it's grace, it's grace, it's grace, it's grace, it's grace, it's grace. So why is Jesus a greater grace? Because the old covenant could only cover sin, but it couldn't cure it. It could point to the Messiah, but it couldn't be the Messiah. And I've been reading through the Old Testament. Every drop of blood you see in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Every drop of blood that you see touch an altar is whispering, Something better is coming. Something better is coming. And Moses gives us the map, but Jesus is the destination. Moses points to grace. Jesus is grace. It's because, listen guys, this is the whole context of the Old Testament.

The law was never meant to save you. It was meant to show you that you need to be saved. So when Jesus comes, he doesn't erase the old covenant. He fulfills it, come on, and then he replaces it with something better. Not a set of rules to follow, but a person to follow. We don't follow the rules anymore, now we follow Jesus. And here's how you sum that up. The law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. And there, finally, is where we find our third word. Did y'all hear it? Did you hear it? This is the word that makes all the difference. Who heard the third word? And. That may be your most theologically significant revelation today. And. Jesus is grace and truth. Okay, question. Why are so many Christians at each other's throats? Why is everybody so divided right now? Because we want Jesus to be grace or truth. But Jesus is not grace or truth. He's grace and truth. Some of us want Jesus to be all grace. Some of us want Jesus to be all truth. Some of us want Jesus to just shrink back from both and kind of be like 50-50. Here's the problem with that. When you make 50% grace and 50% truth, trying to get them to meet in the middle, you water both down and rob them both of power. But Jesus did not come half grace and half truth.

He actually came full throttle both. 100% grace and 100% truth. And let's just say it so it makes sense for today. When you're all grace, the grace side loves you, man. And the truth side hates you. When you're all truth, the truth side loves you. And the grace side hates you. When you're 50-50, you're politically correct and be like, come on guys, we can all just get along, right? Come on, we just try and walk the line and get everybody to like everybody, right? But when you're 100% grace and 100% truth, you offend everybody. And that's Jesus. This is how we say it around here, okay? Jesus is an equal opportunity offender. In fact, if you have not ever been offended by Jesus, you've never met the real Jesus. You've met society's view of Jesus. It's not because Jesus is offensive. He shines light, and the darkness in us doesn't like that. And I'd rather you just stop talking about that, Jesus, because Jesus comes full of grace and truth. And I think here's a revelation for us today, okay? I'd say it like this, that there's four types of Christians. All right, the first one is this, Christians who are all grace, who are all grace. Y'all know all grace? Don't raise your hands, don't raise your hands. It's a trap, all right, okay, don't do that. All right, so what is grace, what is grace?

Maybe you've heard this said before, it's an acrostic, God's riches at Christ's expense, G-R-A-C-E, God's riches at Christ's expense. What is grace? It's God giving us what we don't deserve, okay? This is where we contrast grace and mercy. Mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. Grace is God giving us what we don't deserve. All right, mercy is God not punching us when we deserve it. Grace is God opening up the bank account when we don't deserve it, right? It's God's forgiveness, his blessing, his love, all right? And here's the truth, in today's world, if I can say it like this, this is kind of the spirit of the age that we're in right now. You will find many Christians who are all grace, all grace, all grace, all grace, okay? If you haven't been offended yet, let's go ahead and get started, okay? What they've done is they've taken the big, bold, beautiful, bloody cross, and they've transformed it into a blank check to sin. These are the churches that put rainbow flags out front. These are the Christians who sleep with their boyfriend, girlfriend on Saturday night, and then stroll into church on Sunday like everything's fine. These are the Christians who look at somebody who's affirming abortion and say,

who am I to tell you what you can do with your body? These are the ones who say to the racist, you know, you're right, that racial stuff is all politics. We should just stick to the gospel. These are the Christians who put an arm around the addict, the prostitute, the wife abuser, and be like, dude, it's okay, God loves you, period, without sharing an ounce of the truth of the gospel. This is Bonhoeffer in the World War II. He called this cheap grace, cheap grace, not costly grace, cheap grace. And here's our revelation about cheap grace, is that whenever grace stops calling sin, sin, it's no longer biblical grace. It's a perversion of grace. So if that's the first type of Christian, the second type of Christian is this, Christians who are all truth. Anybody know all truth? Don't raise your hand. All right, what is truth? What is truth, right? That's what Pontius Pilate asked, what is truth? It's unflinching, unchanging, godly honesty. God doesn't cast a shifting shadow. God doesn't change his mind. He's the Lord, he changes not. It's the light, it's the floodlight, it's the light switch that exposes every little dark part of our life.

This is a phrase from today, it's facts over feelings. Truth does not care how you feel about it. It's gonna tell you the truth, absolute candor. I don't care how you feel. I'm willing to hurt your feelings to tell you the facts. And you find many Christians today who are all truth. Now, these are the Christians who would stand back and condemn somebody who's living in homosexuality without reaching out to say, actually, there's someone who can meet the real need of your soul. These are the ones who get online and as Pharisees and murder people with their words. Well, in Exodus 34, if you didn't know, throwing spears, screaming at the other side, saying you're going to hell. Standards are very high, but mercy is very low. Truth is very loud, but grace is very quiet. Come on, somebody. Criticism is everywhere, but love is nowhere. And this is the side that said, well, I'm just saying it like it is. No, that's an unsubmitted tongue to the lordship of Jesus Christ, and you've weaponized the good news to hurt people. It's all a perversion of truth. There's actually a third side, a third type of Christian too. It's Christians who are 50-50. This is the squishy group in the middle who want 50% grace, 50%. I'd just rather pull them both back.

You know, Jesus in the Beatitudes says, blessed are the peacemakers. They believe that it's not peacemakers, it's peacekeepers. There's a difference in peacemaking and peacekeeping. Peacekeeping is very political. Peacekeeping is like we all compromise. And listen, whenever grace compromises and truth compromises, no longer the gospel. It's now people pleasing. It's not peacemaking, it's people pleasing. This actually used to be what I was in, is where a lot of people who struggle with rejection, you're a people pleaser, right? And so you wanna play politics. And let me just say this, for anybody who ever aspires to proclaim the gospel, you cannot be 50-50. You're not worth it to stand on the platform if you don't proclaim the whole. gospel. All right? And we need more people and more platforms to proclaim the whole gospel of Jesus Christ. I had to allow God to pull me out of that. Because what it is, this 50-50, it's trying not to rock the boat. It's trying to make everybody like you. In fact, when you're in this, you're more interested in people liking you than liking Jesus. Here's what it sounds like. It sounds like, hey dude, I know you're in that affair, but you know, who am I to judge, you know? It's, hey man, I know you're leaving the faith, but like, I mean, God's love, like I'll send one up for you, you know what I'm saying? And 50-50 is not Jesus. It's not Jesus. Now here's the deal. If I was to stand up here today and give you unadulterated, all pastoral truth, it would sound something like this. Why is it that Christians in China hide and meet underground, but you don't come to church when it rains? Why do you come late, leave early, you're not in a small group, leave early, you're not in a small group, and then you complain you don't know anybody?

Why do you stick your hands in your pockets during worship when the King of glory stretched out his hands on a cross to save your soul? Why is it you say you love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, but then you spend all your money on yourself? Because Jesus says wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So actually your heart is wherever you're spending your money on. Why is it that you have more fear of your boss than you do fear of the Lord? Why is it that you're so concerned about the president's behavior when you're addicted to porn, and you take the Lord's name in vain? Why are you saying that the government doesn't love people, but you road rage, you hate your coworker, and you gossip about your friend? You don't love people. And that's what I would say if I was just up here speaking all truth. But I'm not doing that today. I would never do that to you guys. It's crazy. Can you imagine somebody doing that on the platform? Just being all truth? Oh my gosh. Oh my God. It's crazy. And if I got up here with all grace, right behind that, I would say, guys, come on. We know it's no big deal. Jesus already bled for all that. No big deal. God's love. Come on. After all, we know the one who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion. Just trust the Lord's timing. In fact, don't just trust the Lord's timing. Trust your heart. Follow your heart. We'll never steer you wrong. God's in love with your emotions. God will forgive you. His mercies are new every single morning. We all know it's not a big deal. And that's what I would say if I was all grace. I'm not saying that today. And so let me say it like this. To those stuck in cheap grace, you've embraced a weak gospel. To those stuck in abusive truth, what Jesus would say is to the Pharisees, stop tying loads and placing them on people's shoulders, but being unwilling to lift a finger to help them. To the people pleasers among us, in trying to spare people, you're actually dooming them. You're afraid to forgive them, and so you're withholding the thing that could actually save them. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. But thank God, Jesus actually offers us a fourth way. The fourth type of Christian is this, Christians who are grace and grace-loving. Grace and truth. Come on, one more time. Look at your neighbor. Tell them, let's be that one. Let's be that one. Okay. If I got a pick, which by the way you do, let's be that one. Christians who are grace and truth. Here's our wake-up call, okay? Grace without truth is just as bad as truth without grace. Okay? I say it like this. Grace

without truth is a lie that hugs people on their way to hell. Right? No dude, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay. That's why God was so mad at the prophets, who were like, you're saying there's peace when there is no peace. No, don't tell somebody there's peace when there is no peace. You're withholding truth from them. And on the opposite side, truth without grace is legalistic and self-righteous, and it hammers, but it does not heal. And the truth is, here's what we have to acknowledge about ourselves. We all naturally lean one way or the other. Okay? And that just is what it is. I mean, I'm not saying good or bad. I'm just saying it is what it is. We all lean one way or the other. So to the truth leaners here today, I take you to Ephesians 2.8 through 9. You should have this committed to memory by now. For it is by grace. Say grace. Grace. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it's the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. So to all the truth-bearers out there saying you're not doing it just right, here's my question to you. How good is good enough? How good do you have to be for Jesus to save you? Because whatever you fill in the blank, God will hold you to to the fullest. Bad news, you already broke it. Okay, if you're really wanting like, like, well, I did the baptism thing, I take communion all the time, I repent, I do the stuff, I'm nice to the person, I buy a lot of Girl Scout cookies, like I do to help the old people cross the street, all right? Then listen, what you're really asking for is a paycheck.

Be careful asking for a paycheck from God because the wages of sin is death. It's no longer a gift if you want a paycheck. The gift of God is salvation through Jesus Christ by grace. Grace. Grace, stop driving people to works when they're saved by grace. So if you're a truth-leaner, you need to commit Ephesians 2a to memory. On the other side, if you're a grace-leaner, you need to commit Romans 6 to mind. What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? Here's the thought that Paul's addressing. Maybe you're stuck in this today. He's saying like, here's the deal. If I sin and then God forgives me, God gets so much glory from that. So what I should do is sin more. I've got the great worship strategy. So the more I sin, the more grace God gives, which means he gets more glory. I've got it figured out. I can sin all I want to because then God gets more glory. By no means. We're those who have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? And he goes on to say, didn't you know that when you were baptized, you were buried with Christ? You died to the old man to come up and live a new man.

Like you are not who you used to be. And sin is no longer your master. You are mastered by whatever you give yourself to. Are you giving yourself to sin or are you giving yourself to righteousness? If you are stuck in the grace cycle, the cheap grace cycle of just saying, I can do this all I want to and God will forgive me. Listen, you need to commit Roman six to memory. Grace and truth. Because listen, here's the Jesus I know. We'll get there in just a few weeks. The Jesus I know was brought into a situation where a woman had been caught in the midst of adultery. And they threw her on the ground. They're about to stone her. And then Jesus walks up and he says, hey guys, here's the deal. If you're without sin, just go ahead and pick up a rock. Everybody puts the rocks down and they leave. And all the grace people are like, slow clap. That's my Jesus. Right? And then Jesus looks down at her and says, hey, you know there was a way to avoid this whole thing, right? So go and sin no more. And all the truth people are like, clap, clap, clap.

That's my Jesus. And we neglect. How many times online have you heard people just talk about the first part of that story? They never talk about the second part of the story. Because we love grace Jesus. We don't like truth Jesus. But he's both. He's both. We're gonna meet the woman at the well in a few weeks. And God calls out her sin, but then heals her. Grace and truth. We're gonna meet a man born blind and God heals him. Jesus heals him and then tells him, hey, go and stop your life of sin or something worse will happen to you. We're gonna meet the Jesus who sits with tax collectors and prostitutes and sinners, oh my, in absolute grace. And then he stands up, leaves the table, finds the religious Pharisees and says, you brood of vipers. Grace and truth. Why? Because grace and truth are not enemies. They are not meant to be separated, one or the other. They are not opposites. Truth shows you the wound, grace heals it. Grace and truth complete each other. You separate them and you've got half a gospel. But we need both.

We need both. And this is why, listen, this is why. You will always be able to find one verse that supports your side. You'll find one. And then you'll stand up and be like, see, Jesus is this. You found that one verse, took it out of context and just made them all that. And what happens is this. We end up weakening or weaponizing Jesus. Weakening or weaponizing the gospel. When all grace is weakening the gospel, all truth is weaponizing the gospel to hurt the people who's actually meant to heal. But when you take all of scripture, you're gonna find a grace and a God who is all grace and all truth. And this is why Jesus upsets everybody, guys. Because we want Jesus to come down and care about the thing that we care about and hate the people that we hate. And when you find out that your Jesus hates all the people that you hate, you can be assured that you've made God in your image. we're not called to bring him down to us we're called to go up to where he is did y'all hear me to go up to where he is all grace all truth and we have an opportunity in today's world let's just make it really real let's just some of you were like man you already went there let's go there even more let's talk about immigration it's not offensive right let's make it real okay today

grace people are yelling at truth people and truth people are yelling at grace people okay and here's our problem the culture says it's only a political issue let me guarantee you something as soon as it's about people it's no longer just a political issue it's now a gospel issue as soon as it touches people because people are made in the image of God and so we have to care about these things these aren't just debates to be had these are people that we need to engage okay so let me tell you truth truth is this as scripture tells us we are called to honor the government we are called to obey the government we believe in borders we believe in enforcing the borders okay that's truth grace says there's the law of the land and the law of love and if you have not noticed we're a church not the government you might notice that okay I'm not like the president of the church you know I'm saying all right I'm a pastor not a politician okay I'm not trying to get elected because I couldn't anyways because I believe in grace and truth righteousness and justice you only get elected if you believe in one of those things okay we're not called to enforce the law of the land we're called to enforce the law of love okay so hear me today listen we have a very diverse church you need to know this your value is not based on whether or not you have documentation your value is based on the fact that you're made in the image of God okay and so that's how we see that's how I see I love you I'm glad you're in my life okay I'm glad you're in my life I'm glad you're here okay now I want you to notice everybody's a little upset right now if you can't feel it I can it's okay we can say it why because one side the gray side is saying well why do you believe in enforcing the borders and the truth sides like to just tell them all to leave what are you doing tell them to go back home here's our problem we're so busy hiding behind philosophical public policy debates that we're excusing ourselves from loving our neighbors if there's anything that Jesus tells us in the story of the Good Samaritan is that your neighbor is whoever's right in front of your face so love your neighbor here's what here's what I'm trying to say listen listen I'm not saying right wrong all that so here's what I'm saying here's what I'm

saying we may not all be able to make public policy okay here's the thing culture right now tells you you have to have an opinion about everything you don't have to have an opinion about everything you don't you need to have a biblical opinion about everything you don't have to have a political opinion about everything and they're trying to draw lines and polarize and get everybody to fight with each other don't buy into the game don't get punked like that and what I'm saying is you may not have the ability to form public policy if you do I'd love to talk to you at the door but we may not all have the ability to form public policy but I do promise you one thing every single one of us has the opportunity to love our neighbor this week I promise you that in grace and in truth and grace and in truth allow the gospel to offend you again guys and to call you higher because we can only do this listen listen because Moses only heard God say I'm grace and truth but we have seen walking talking breathing grace and we've seen walking talking breathing truth and grace and truth have a name and his name is Jesus grace and truth is Jesus and here's what's gonna happen okay as we continue on in the book of John you're gonna find a Jesus who's always offending the world okay not because he's offensive because what he says exposes the parts of us that we're so convicted about right he's always offending the world and what he's always doing to his disciples is calling them higher up out of our camps up into his camp okay we have to be willing to leave our camps and go up into his camp the kingdom camp and so let me just give you one more grace and truth today maybe I'll land the plane on this there's a Tim Keller quote he said this you're more sinful than you ever thought you were and you're more loved than you ever dreamed you could be as Tim Keller he's gone to be with the Lord he's experiencing this right now you're more sinful than you ever thought you were and you're more loved than you ever dreamed you could be so guys here's the deal I'm not gonna sugarcoat it the shocking truth is that the wages of sin is death your sins are a big deal yes the ones that you rationalize yes the ones that you barter with God about yes the ones that you compare your sins to everybody else and be like well I'm

better than Hitler here's the problem you're not compared to Hitler you're compared to Jesus and compared to that comparison all of sin and fall short of the glory of God you are lost Beyond hope and completely bankrupt, even your righteousness is like filthy rags compared to the glory of King Jesus, okay? That's the crazy truth. Yet there's amazing grace that even though we deserve death, behold, the Lamb of God has come to take away the sins of the world, and through his sacrificial death on the cross, we can be forgiven, we can be free, we can inherit eternal life, we can become children of God. Your sins, yes, your sins are not too great for the blood of Jesus to forgive them. I promise you that, the little asterisk where you say Jesus can forgive me for everything, except for that one, he can do that one too. So it's time to come home, okay? Grace and truth. The offensive truth is that relatively good people go to hell. The amazing grace is that even the worst of sinners can go to heaven in Jesus' name. There is grace to erase your sin at the cross, but never forget the truth that it required the bloody cross to forgive your sin. It is not just the grace that says, do you know Jesus?

It's the truth that says, do you know Jesus on his terms? Not on your terms. As soon as you know Jesus on your terms, he's no longer Jesus. We don't call him down to us, put him in our pocket. No, he calls us up to him. Here's my encouragement. Stop giving out truth to everybody else, but grace to yourself. Because we're condemning people and robbing salvation from them, but explaining and skewsing away our own cheap grace. Flip it. Stop giving grace to everybody else and truth to yourself. I know so many people stuck in shame and condemnation because of what they've done, but they're like, I think he could do it for you, he just can't do it for me. Here's the thing. Some of the most offended people I've seen in life are the people who don't understand grace. Because you've never received grace, you can't give grace. You don't even know what it tastes like, and so you just hammer everybody. Stop trying to get Jesus to be 50-50. He's all grace and all truth. Jesus will offend people. In fact, maybe you've discovered this before. Sharing the gospel can be offensive. Okay, sharing the gospel is offensive,

especially with your family and stuff like that. Sharing the gospel is offensive. In fact, there's only one thing more offensive than sharing the gospel, not sharing the gospel. The only thing more offensive than sharing the gospel is withholding it from people. Because I'll tell you something that will deeply offend your friends and your family. It's that when we all meet Revelation 20, great white throne judgment, and the book of life is open, and their name is not found written in the book of life, and they are cast into the lake of fire, and the last thought they have is, why did nobody tell me? And on your way to heaven, you answer, because I didn't want to offend you. And we're gonna talk about how to do that next week. Yeah. So I'm gonna say something real quick in closing. And some of you are gonna get offended, and you're gonna walk away. But I must stand before God and give an account. And you can't say nobody ever told you. You will go to hell without faith in Jesus Christ. He's the way, the truth, and the life, and nobody can come to the Father except by Him. But in Him, and by believing in His name, you can receive eternal life since forgiven, a place in the family, become a child of God, okay? And I love you enough to tell you that.

And because I just told you that, I'm gonna sleep really well tonight. And I pray, if you're ignoring me right now and don't want it, I pray, in Jesus' name, you sleep terrible. I just pray you be tossing and turning all night. Why can't I sleep? That's that preacher's words are in my brain. They won't leave. It's Jesus in His kindness, calling you out of death into eternal life. Because Jesus came to show us who God is. And He is what we all need. He is grace. And He is truth. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Guys, let's bow our heads. Let's bow our heads. Father, I love you. We love you. And that in and of itself is grace. Because we can only love you because you loved us first.

And we did not deserve that love. So Father, I thank you for the word of God, that you are grace and you are truth. I thank you that Christ is divinity with humanity. He is God with skin on. I thank you that Christ came to reveal the fullness of God to us. And in Him, we have seen grace and truth. And so God, today, I'm praying that you would rescue some of us who are caught in the grace trap, the cheap grace trap of just excusing sin away. that you would rescue some of us who are in the abuse of truth trap. God, of just condemning ourselves and condemning others. God, may you reveal Christ in his fullness of grace and truth. And to those of us who are just trying to get both to compromise and just try and get everybody to get along and not be offensive, God, I pray that you'll convict us to turn the dial up, to preach and to love in fullness. A prayer we pray every once in a while is Psalm 139, which just says, God, show me, examine me, what's happening on the inside of me. Holy Spirit, come, reveal, turn the lights on in the closet of my life and show me what's in here. And so let's just do that for like 10 seconds and just ask God, am I all grace, am I all truth? Where am I compromising God?

God, whatever you're putting your finger on today, our answer is yes. God, to the people in our lives, may we be full of grace and truth. In our relationship with you, may we engage you with grace and truth. I thank you, God, that the truth, you love us enough to call out our sin, but also the grace is so much there to say, even though a righteous man falls seven times, he gets back up. I thank you for that amazing grace and that astounding truth. In Jesus' name, amen. And God, right now in this place, I'm also very aware that some of us are on the outside looking in. We haven't tasted the grace, we haven't tasted the truth. Maybe we've only heard truth shown in our face and we've never seen the grace of the love of Jesus. Wherever you're at today, if you're outside of faith, but today's the day that you're coming into faith in Jesus Christ for the rest of your life, I wanna pray with you. And so if today's the day where you say, I'm gonna repent of sin and say yes to Jesus, I just love it if you raise your hand. I'd love to know who I'm praying with right now. Today's the day you're saying yes to Jesus. Thank you, I see your hand, I see your hand.

I see you guys, both of y'all up there, I see y'all. It's amazing, I love it. You can put your hands down. This is your line in the sand moment of just saying, I'm never turning back. And the word repent, which I'm gonna pray with you in a minute the word repent just means to do a 180. It means to just change the direction that I've been going. So I'm gonna invite the family of God to pray with you. And let's pray like this. Say, Jesus, right now I repent of my sin, my rebellion, the way I thought about sin. I turn from it and I step out of the darkness into the light and I proclaim Christ is King, Christ is Lord, Christ is my Savior. I receive forgiveness today through the death of Jesus. And I receive eternal life today through the resurrection of Jesus. Right now, I am forgiven and I'm a child of God for the rest of my life, all because of Jesus. Amen. Hey, let's lift up our hands just real quick. Is there a sign of surrender? God, right now we give you everything from A to Z. Shine the light of Christ upon our lives. And God, I'm praying that today you're turning on the light bulb and just saying we've been in the grace camp or the truth camp or watering it down, whatever it is. Our commitment is just yes,

is that we want to be like our rabbi. We wanna be like Jesus, full of grace and full of truth for the glory of God, in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen, amen. Come on, let's give glory to Jesus. Amen. Thanks for being a part of Victory Church on the Pando app. We hope this content was a blessing to you. But we want you to know that you're not done yet because we want to hear from you. So send us a letter and tell us things like what God is doing in your life, how we can pray for you, or even content that you would like to see us create in the future. We just want you to know that we see you, you're important to us, and we'd love to continue to create some things in the future that will bless you. So send us a letter and we hope to hear from you soon.