The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Inseparable Companions"
Grace and truth serve as inseparable companions in the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose through the Lord Jesus Christ.
The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).
First, consider our salvation:
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).
"Ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise" (Ephesians 1:13).
One cannot begin a relationship with God apart from His grace. Nor can one begin a relationship with God apart from His truth. The same spiritually alloy, as it were, applies to walking with our Heavenly Father after we believe:
"Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28).
"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" (III John 1:4).
Grace without truth always results in deception and detour from the path of righteousness. Always. A grace undefined by Biblical truth would grant our flesh a license for attitudes, words, and deeds that do not flow from the character and nature of the Lord Jesus. Indeed, God's integrity is at stake. If He provided freely given favor in broad and nebulous terms, all who receive His grace would inevitably come to believe that how we live as its recipients does not matter. This would cast our Lord in a false light because as believers, we represent Him. The truth that ever journeys with grace bears witness that the "free gift" of God's salvation in Christ provides not only pardon from the penalty of sin, but power for the overcoming of sin. Thus, we affirm grace, but only in terms of truth as declared by Scripture, and with the expection of a life that reflects our Savior's goodness. "God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work" (II Corinthians 9:8).
In the same light, we must never seek to approach God's truth apart from His grace. No human heart can abide the bright illumination of God's truth upon us apart from being hid in the cleft of our blessed and gracious Rock, the Lord Jesus. Attempting to live the Christian life in terms of mere adherence to method, code, or ethic inevitably condemns the one who sets out on such a graceless path. At the outset, the deceived may proudly perceive himself as more advanced and devoted than others. However, truth without grace always fells the victim in the end. No less than the Apostle Paul ventured upons this way of darkness at a point in his Christian life, as chronicled in Romans 7. It killed him, in the sense of temporarily short-circuiting his experience of God's empowering grace of life in the Lord Jesus. "Sin revived, and I died… The letter killeth" (Romans 7:7-13; II Corinthians 3:6). We must have grace in order to endure and benefit from truth.
Grace and truth. Always together in Christ. Always administered by the Holy Spirit as light illuminating light. Always declared in Scripture as inseparable companions. And always the dual administration of God's reality in which we must continually receive His freely given life, as defined by His faithfully delivered Word. We can't have one without the other. Indeed, we could not survive one without the other.
Come with Me, said Grace.
I'd have it no other way, said Truth.
I will shine upon His face, said Grace.
Yes, oh yes, I will too, said Truth.
I cannot go without you, said Grace.
I wouldn't think of it, said Truth.
They will need you to know me, said Grace.
And they will not survive me without you, said Truth.
I rejoice to go with you, said Grace.
It is my joy too, said Truth.
It is our joy to shine upon His face, said Grace.
Yes, oh yes, said truth, together, forever, let us shine upon His face!
"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."
(John 1:14)
"In Thy light shall we see light."
(Psalm 36:9)
Weekly Memory Verse
For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.
(Romans 11:36)
6310
No comments:
Post a Comment