(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

So, John chapter 1, the part I want to focus in on there is in verse 14 where it says, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us, and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And you know, you can't really read this verse, but I'll mention the fact that this is such a great verse to prove the deity of Christ. It says the Word was made flesh, and you compare that, you know, with verses 1. It says, you know, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him. Without Him was anything made that was made. So you know, who is the Word? You know, the Word is God, and of course it's referring to Jesus. That's not really what I want to get into, but you know, it's worth maybe marking in your Bible since we're there that this is a great text proof of Christ's deity because it says the Word was made flesh, talking about the fact that Jesus became God. Who else, you know, became flesh besides Jesus, you know, that we would consider divine or the Word? Nobody. Only the Lord did that. But it says there that we beheld His glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So not only is this a great verse about the deity of Christ, but it also shows us one of Jesus' attributes that we should seek to make our own. And that attribute is the fact that He was full of grace and truth. That's the title of the sermon tonight, full of grace and truth. And in the Christian life, you know, this is important because of the fact that we need to exercise grace and truth in our lives. You know, Jesus came to do a lot of things, and one of those things that He did, or came here to do, rather, was to show us how we ought to live, how we ought to behave, how we ought to conduct ourselves as Christians. And truly, one of the ways we should conduct ourselves is to be full of grace and to be full of truth. And Jesus was certainly full of grace and truth as well. And what that means is that He was very gracious towards people. I mean, just think about what He did for us. His purpose in coming here, His ultimate purpose, was to come and to die for our sins. I mean, there could be nothing more gracious than that, you know. The Bible says that God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You know, He died for us while we were still as sheep going astray as when He sought us. He didn't wait for us to clean up our lives and didn't wait for us to earn His graciousness. No, He was very gracious because He sought us and gave us something that we did not deserve. That's what it means to be gracious. You know, if you say if somebody is very gracious of you, often they will have done something for you quite unexpectedly. You know, maybe they'll do some kind gesture, whatever it might be, and say, oh, that was very gracious of them. And why would you say that? Because you weren't anticipating that. You weren't expecting that. In fact, it wasn't even something you necessarily had earned or deserved. That is the definition of grace. To receive something you did not earn. You know, getting something you do not deserve. And of course, that is why the Bible says that we are saved by grace. You know, we don't deserve to be saved. We don't earn our salvation. Being saved is a very gracious thing that God does for us, and He did that through Jesus. Therefore, we can see why the Bible says that He is full of grace, and He's also full of truth. He died for our sins, a very gracious act. So grace is receiving something you do not deserve. If you would, go over to Exodus chapter 34. When you get to Exodus, go ahead and put something in there. We're going to come back later in the sermon to Exodus 34. But think about the fact that the Bible says, for all have sinned to come short of the glory of God. You know, we're all sinned. We've all sinned. We've all come short of God's glory. And we are justified freely by His grace, the Bible says, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So we can begin to see why John wrote that Jesus was full of grace and truth. And you know, the reason why He's full of grace is because of what He came to do. To redeem us freely by His grace. The Lord is very gracious. This is an attribute of God that we should emulate in our lives. To be full of grace. To be a very gracious people. That we should forgive one another, even as Christ hath forgiven us. Bible says in Exodus chapter 34, Luke at verse 6, and the Lord passed by before Him. Of course, this is the story where Moses desired to see the Lord and he put Him in the cleft of the rock and covered it with his hand and took away his hand as he passed by and allowed him to see his hinder parts. He could not behold the face and glory of God. Otherwise, you know, no man can see God and live, the Bible says, of course, speaking of the Father. But it says there, after when He had put Him in the rock, that the Lord passed by before Him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. You know, and of course, this is the Old Testament, right? People have this inaccurate view of God that somehow God was different in the Old Testament than He was from the New Testament. They'll say, oh, the Old Testament, God was just this bully, He was just this mean, angry God. But here it is in Exodus, you know, we're two bucks in, we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of the Old Testament, and here is God proclaiming that He is merciful, that He is gracious, that He is longsuffering, that He is abundant in goodness and truth. And people say, oh, no, that's the attributes of the New Testament God, you know. God in the New Testament, He is merciful and gracious, then you read the book of Revelation where He's just killing everybody, you know, and He's sending people to hell. You know, God has never changed. God is always the same. God has always been merciful. God has always been gracious. God has always been full of grace, but also God has also been full of truth. And we'll get into that a little bit here in a minute. So we see that being gracious is associated with these other attributes. You know, these are words that will help us to understand what it means to be gracious. He is merciful and gracious, it says. Now mercy would be you not getting what you do deserve, right? Sometimes you would plead for mercy. You would throw yourself at the mercy of a judge, perhaps, if you were going to be condemned, if you were found guilty. You would plead for mercy. What are you doing? You're asking to not get what you do deserve. So mercy is not getting what you do deserve. Grace is getting what you don't deserve, if you see the difference there. And He says that He's longsuffering, you know, He's patient, to suffer long with somebody, to put up with somebody. That's God, and boy does He do that with us. He is longsuffering and abundant, you know, He's full of what? Goodness and truth. There it is again, that phrase, being full of grace and truth, being abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sins. So God has always been full of grace and truth. Our Lord is full of grace and truth, and we as God's people should also seek to be full of grace and truth in our lives. Now because Jesus is full of grace and truth, and again, keep something in Exodus 34, go over to Mark chapter 10. We should expect that we can see examples of Jesus being gracious. You know, if John is saying, hey, He's full of grace and truth, then you know what? We should be able to go through the Gospels and see some examples of Jesus being full of grace and also full of truth, even beyond just, you know, the sacrifice for our sins. Of course, that is the greatest example probably that we could look to of Jesus being full of grace, is that He died for our sins. But there will be other examples. I want to look at a few of them. Think about His treatment of the rich young ruler, if you're familiar with the story. In Mark chapter 10, verse 17, Mark chapter 10, verse 17, it says, and when He was gone forth into the way, there came one running and kneeled to Him and asked Him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And before He answers His question, of course, Jesus corrects him and says, well, He doesn't correct him, but rather challenges him or points out, you know, something that He had said that should have been a clue to this young man. And Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. He's saying, are you calling me God? And it's interesting how He responds. He says there, we'll jump ahead. He says, verse 20, and He answered and said to him, Master, notice He dropped out. He left off the good, right? Jesus says, hey, why are you calling me good? There's none good but God. Are you calling me God? And then when He replies to Jesus, He says, Master, you know, He stops calling him good. And you know, even that and how Jesus takes that, you know, when this young man is refusing to acknowledge Jesus for who He is, God, He doesn't rebuke Him. He doesn't, you know, jump down his throat and go, hey, buddy, it's God to you. It's good, Master. You know, He had it right when you showed up. I don't know what changed. This is a great example of His graciousness in one way, but further, let's go ahead and look more into this. He says, and He asked him, good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit into your life? And Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, and that is God. Thou knowest the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not honor thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto Master, all these I observed for my youth. Then Jesus, beholding him, scoffed at him and said, liar, whatever, buddy, yeah, right. I know you. And it's God, by the way. No, it says, beholding Him, He loved him. You know, Jesus was full of grace. He was merciful. He didn't jump down this guy's throat. He didn't call him out for being. Do you really think that guy had kept all those things? And Jesus said, well, yeah, maybe you haven't done those things, but you certainly thought them. You certainly felt like doing it. You know, you might not have committed adultery, but you've looked on a woman to lust. You've done it already in your heart. You might not have, you know, stolen, but you've certainly coveted. No, He beholds him and says that He loved him. You know, if we were out soul winning and we told somebody and someone's like, well, what do I do to be saved? And we gave them a reply to that and they said, well, I haven't sinned. Have you ever run anybody out soul winning and says, I've never sinned? I can think about it one time in all the soul winning I've done, one person has said, I never sinned. And I tell you what, that was not my response. I didn't behold them and love them. I'm thinking in my mind, did you slip on a banana peel? Did you bump your head in the night? What happened to you? What do you mean you haven't sinned? Nope, never sinned. And I don't know if they were just, you know, shining me on or something like that, but they were certainly lying. But Jesus here, when He hears just this ridiculous answer, this guy gives back, just this, you know, preposterous answer of just saying, oh, I've never done any of those things. He loves him. He's full of grace. And He said unto him, one thing thou lackest. So remember, Jesus is full of grace, right? What else is He full of? Truth. Truth. So, yeah, He's going to be gracious toward this guy, but you know what? He's not going to spare his feelings either. He's not going to spare him the truth. And He says this, one thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell what thou ever so thou hast and give to the poor. And thou shall have treasure in heaven and come away and come take up the cross and follow me. And it says in verse 22, and he was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions. So Jesus was very gracious here, gave him a gracious answer. Didn't call him out, didn't call him on the carpet, but rather, but that doesn't mean he didn't spare pointing out the truth. He said, okay, well, let me, let me point out something when you do have wrong that I know and Jesus knows all things. And he says, look, give away, give away all your possessions to the poor and come follow me and take up that cross. And he knew that guy could not give that up. And that's why he went away sad. So yes, Jesus is full of grace, but He's also full of truth. He wasn't afraid. He was not going to hold back and say, well, if I, if I say that to him, that might make him sad. You know, I don't want to give this guy a pouty face. You know, he doesn't want to see that little, little lipstick out. He wasn't afraid of doing that. He was going to go ahead and hurt, hurt his feelings if he had to. Jesus loved him. He's full of grace, but he did not spare telling him the truth, despite how it might have made him feel. Think about if you would go back to Exodus chapter 34, Exodus chapter four. Think about the example of the Lord's proclamation to Moses, right? We started out in verse seven, where he said, he's keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. That's where he left off. But he says, he goes on and says, yeah, I'm merciful, I'm gracious, I'm longsuffering, I'm abundant in goodness and truth, I keep mercy for thousands, I forgive iniquity and transgression and sin, and will by no means clear the guilty. Yes, he's a full, he's a God that is full of grace, but he is also a God of truth. And he will not clear the guilty. He will hold people accountable. In spite of his mercy, in spite of him being very gracious and kind and longsuffering, God is also a God of truth. Begin to see how God embodies both of these characteristics. Not of only being full of grace, but also being full of truth. So what we see here is that the example of Jesus Christ that we should try to emulate in our life of being full of grace and truth, of being gracious and kind, but also being truthful, is that we should be gracious when appropriate, but never at the expense of truth. Never at the expense of truth. You know, if it comes down to, hey, we have to spare somebody, somebody's feelings, or we have to tell the truth, we go with truth. Because really, that is the gracious thing to do when you think about it. That is the kind and loving thing to do. Go to John 4, verse 10. Look, Jesus is our example. Jesus is full of grace. Jesus is full of truth. And we see time and time again that Jesus in the Scriptures was very gracious, but He was also full of truth. I thought of another example here in verse 10 of John 4 where He's dealing with the Samaritan woman at the well. You know, when Jesus goes to the well in Samaria and He rests being weary and His disciples go off, and He gets in this conversation with this woman, and it says in verse 10, Jesus answered and said to her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that sayeth to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked him of him, and he would have given thee living water. So what's Jesus saying here? If you knew who I was, you would ask me for the living water, and I would give it to you, is what He's saying. And He's saying that gift of that water is that living water that springs up onto everlasting life. That's what Jesus wanted to give her. Again, Jesus is being very gracious here, isn't He? He's talking to a woman that the Jews had no dealings with. They had nothing to do with the Samaritans. And Jesus here is talking to her and saying, Hey, I would give you this water if you would just ask me. And of course, she goes on in verse 11 and says, The woman sayeth unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, the well is deep, from whence hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us this well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give him shall be in him, a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. She's like, I'm tired of coming up to this well. This sounds like a good deal. I'm never going to be thirsty again. She's still not understanding what He's telling her, the spiritual application. She's just thinking, man, to never have to come up here and haul this water again, that would be great. Jesus saith unto her, Go and call thy husband, and come hither. So we see how Jesus, man, He wants to give her the living water. He said, I would give it to you, but He doesn't let her off the hook about the truth of her situation. Yes, He's very gracious. Yes, He wants her to understand that He will give her water that will spring up into everlasting life. He wants to give her that, that she'd never thirst again spiritually, but before He's willing to do that, He also deals with her sin. He tells her the truth, full of grace, but also full of truth. That's what our Lord was and is. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands. I mean, He's, that's kind of, you know, you don't exactly just go around saying that to people, right? But here He is just calling her out. Thou hast had five husbands, and he who now now hast is not thy husband, and that thou said is truly. And of course, we know that the story, she goes and gets the people and says, come meet a man that tells me all things whatsoever I did is under that effect. He knows everything about me. Come see him, and the whole town gets saved, and so on and so forth, and it's a great story, isn't it? But we see in this example, and if you would go over to Mark, Matthew, excuse me, Matthew 16, is that Jesus is full of grace and truth. He wants to give people, heard this living water. He wants people to save and come to a saving knowledge of Him, but He's going to deal with their sin. Look, we have to do the same thing when we're out trying to preach somebody the gospel. We don't just jump into, you know, the free gift, and it's eternal, and it's all by faith. No, where do we start? We start with sin. You know, I preached the entire gospel to a lady today, and I said, and she was getting it. I mean, she was understanding it. Hey, you know, how do you get saved? Oh, is it by belief only? Yep. Can you ever lose it? Nope. I mean, she was getting it. I'd ask her a question. I'd test her with this. She got it. She got it. She got it. And I came to the end, and she's, I'm wrapping up, and she's just like five or six questions away from getting saved. And I said, so do you believe you're a sinner? Yes, no. That's literally what she said. Yes, but no. Maybe. Kind of. Not always. You know, and you know what? I give, I'm being gracious because sometimes, you know, and I said to her, I said, hey, you probably didn't expect to be asked these questions when you woke up this morning, did you? She said, no. I said, I know it's kind of hard to hear yourself say these things out loud, but it's true, isn't it, that you're a sinner? And she finally admitted, yeah, I'm a sinner. I mean, and I was, I wasn't, I'm saying, hey, I'm not trying to pick it. I'm trying to make you feel bad. It's just what the Bible says. You're a sinner. I'm a sinner. We're all sinners. Would you agree with that? Yeah, I'm a sinner. Okay. You got me. I said, now don't sinners deserve to go to hell? Which is a nice way of saying, don't you deserve to go to hell? You know, hopefully they make the connection. No, not me. Well, which ones don't? Ones that don't kill people? Ones that don't murder? Oh, okay. That's why you're going to go to heaven. I didn't kill anybody. You know, well, I kept the commandments. Great. You didn't commit adultery or kill or steal or lie. You know, good job. Come on in. You know, that was just kind of expected. That's like, you know, bare minimum. That's just to help us get along down here, right? But she says, no, well, you know, not, they don't all deserve to go. And I kind of had to nail her down on that and say, well, they all deserve to go, don't they? Isn't that what the Bible says? I said, well, what's the punishment for sin? Hell. And we're all sinners, right? Yeah. Well, don't we all deserve to go there? Yes. Do you believe that? No. But that's what the Bible says, doesn't it? Yeah. But do you believe that? No. And that's where I had to leave her. And I said, thank you for your time. Here's a YouTube card. There's some more information on the invite. And she's got plenty to go on. I mean, unless she, you know, the devil comes and snatch away that which is so in her heart. She could go on YouTube. She could read the back of that thing and she could get saved tonight, for all I know. But I wasn't going to go any further with her and get to the part about the grace. And we've been all over it, all of that, if she's not willing to admit the fact that she's a sinner. Now the gracious thing might have just been, oh, well, you know, she got it. Oh, well, yeah, yeah, we can move along here. Just kind of gloss that over, not deal with the fact that she doesn't think she deserves to go to hell. That she doesn't believe the Word of God. You know, and say, oh, that's the gracious thing to do. You know, no, that's not the gracious thing to do. The thing to do is to preach the truth. That's what Jesus did here. He's here at the well. Tell this woman, hey, I'll give you living water. Go tell thy husband. Thou hast well said, what's he doing? He's dealing with their sin at the fact that she's a sinner. You're in Matthew chapter 16. Let's look at another example of Jesus and how he was gracious, full of grace, the Bible says. And he was gracious whenever it was appropriate. But do you know sometimes it's appropriate to not be gracious? Sometimes we should put graciousness aside and just tell the truth. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 16, verse 13, when Jesus came to the coast of Caesarea of Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am? And they said, Some say thou art John the Baptist, some, Elias, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. And he's pleased with that answer. He answered correctly. And he blesses him, blessed art thou. He's being very gracious here. For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. I imagine Peter is feeling quite proud of himself at this point, saying, I got a gold star today. He says in verse 18, And I say unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church. And of course that rock is the faith. It's not Peter himself. He's not the first pope. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against, and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loose in heaven. Then he charged his disciples that he should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time forth began Jesus to show his disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him, and saying, Be it far from thee, Lord, this shall not be unto thee. But he turned and said unto Peter, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah. For you are well-intentioned. You just care about me. No, he put the graciousness aside, and he said, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou art an offense unto me. He said, Look, you don't understand what I'm here to do. This is going over your head. You need to understand something. This is what I came here to do. You better not get in my way. And you trying to stop me, and he's not, you know, he's calling this spirit or this attitude, you know, satanic, right? And it doesn't mean that Peter was a bad guy. He just wasn't getting it. But you know, maybe that does lend some credence to what the Catholics believe about him being the first pope, you know, because he calls him Satan. It's like, well, maybe there is something to that. Jesus called him Satan. Maybe he was the first pope, you know, I don't know, but you could think about that later. But again, we see this example of Jesus being very gracious to Peter, giving him an attaboy, you know, saying, Good job, flesh and blood is not revealed to me, but my Father which is in heaven, he gave me the right answer. But just a little short while later, when Peter gets out of sorts, when he's not seeing things in God's way, he says, Get thee behind me, Satan, and just tells them the truth. He says unto him, For thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Go to Revelation chapter 2, Revelation chapter 2. We're just looking at some examples tonight of our example, Jesus Christ, who was full of grace and truth. And Jesus was always gracious when appropriate, but it was time to take the gloves off and just tell the truth and tell it like it is. That's what he did. And that's what we should do, too. And not in a belligerent way, you know, tactfully, you know, gently, if we can. You're going to Revelation chapter 2, let me just remind you of some verses before we get there. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 5, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word. Isn't that a very gracious thing of Christ to have done, to have given himself for the church? I mean, Christ has given himself for us tonight. That's a very gracious thing. Bible says in Acts chapter 20, Wherefore I take you to record this day, I am the purer from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock of God over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, and to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. How did Jesus give himself for it, for the church? With his own blood. He literally bled and died for the church. Very gracious act. You know, I was trying to wrap my head around this the other night. I was sitting in Wednesday night's service and I was thinking about the sacrifice that Christ made for us. And I had my son sitting next to me and I'm just trying to understand what it is that the Father did for us. And my earthly example can't even come close. And it would be like me telling my little son, saying, go over for that person over there. Go over for some derelict down the street. Go over there for somebody who cares nothing for the things of God and die for him. And not just die for him, but be tortured and die for him. And we say, I can't imagine ever telling my son that. I can't imagine telling my little child to go and die for somebody who cares nothing for the things of God. But that's exactly what God did for us. God looked at his son and said, go die for them. Those who mock and reject and those sinners over there, go die for them. Look, Christ giving his blood, Christ giving himself for the church is the most gracious thing that anybody has ever done, ever. And the Bible says in Revelation, you're there in chapter 2 verse 1, let me read to you from Revelation 1, it says, John to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace be unto you and peace from him. Speaking of Jesus, right? Which is and which was and which is to come. So they're getting these letters in Asia saying, oh, John, this is going to be really nice. We're going to read these and just feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I mean, look how he started out the letter. Grace be unto you and peace from him, which is and which was, which is and was and which is to come. And from the seven spirits which are before his throne. You know, and John's not, you know, just blowing smoke here. This is the truth. He really is saying grace to you. But then it goes into Revelation chapter 2 and you know, it kind of starts to take on a little bit of a different tone in the letter. You think one chapter later, they're all kind of like, oh man, this isn't quite the way I thought it was going to go. John chapter 2 verse 1, unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things saith he that holdeth seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience, and how thou canst bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars and hast borne and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored and hast not fainted. Yeah, it's about time someone acknowledged everything we did. That's right. Verse 4, nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. A lot of gracious words here, a lot of grace coming their way, a lot of acknowledgement, a lot of attaboys coming their way, but you know what, he didn't do it at the expense of truth. He didn't just say, well, I'm just here to say only the nicest things. He also said, you know what, nevertheless, I do have somewhat against thee. You can see how the Lord is full of grace, but he's also full of truth. Yes, he's very gracious, but he's not going to hold back and not tell us the truth. Verse 12, and to the angel which is the church of Pergamos, write, These saying he which hath the sharp sword with two edges, I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is, and thou holdest fast my name, and hast denied mine by faith, even in those days where an Antipas, my faithful martyr, was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, saying, look, I appreciate the fact that you're where you are, it's a tough place, it's where Satan's seat is, people are being killed for the cause of Christ, that's great, but you know what, I still have a few things against thee, because thou hast them there that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast the stumbling block before the children of Israel. To eat things sacrificed unto idols, to commit fornication, that means he starts calling them out. Jesus is full of grace, but he's also full of truth. Repent, he says in verse 16, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Verse 18, under the church of Thyatira, write, These things that saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass, I know thy works and charity and service and faith and patience, and thy works and the last to be more than the first. Just a lot of gracious words, a lot of praise about their charity, their service, their faith, their patience, and again their works. Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee. Jesus was gracious, but never at the expense of truth. Because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication, to eat things sacrificed unto idols. Now, Jesus is telling the truth, and he's calling this lady out by name. But then again, the grace comes back in. I mean, wouldn't you say that's pretty wicked? This woman Jezebel? I don't know if that's her actual name, or he was just calling her that because that name is associated with Jezebel of the Old Testament, Ahab's wife, that wicked woman. He's saying she teaches to seduce my servants and to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. That's pretty wicked. I mean, these are things that'll get you kicked out of the New Testament church, according to 1 Corinthians 5, idolatry, fornication. He's telling the truth here, but notice the grace comes back in in verse 21, and I gave her space to repent of her fornication. God didn't just find out about it, just bring down the hammer immediately. You know what I said? No. You know what? I know what she's doing. I know what's going on, and it's wicked. I'm going to give her space to repent. But God is full of grace, and he's also full of truth. And she repented not. Verse 22, Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her, into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. So now he's giving her another warning. I gave her space to repent. She repented not. And you know what? Unless she repents of her deeds, then I'm going to come down. God is just telling her the truth about her, but he's also warning her. He's giving a lot of grace at the same time. And I will kill her children with death, verse 23, and all churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts, and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. Look at chapter 3, verse 1, and on the angel of the church in Sardis write, These things saith he that hath the seven golden spirits and the seven stars. I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. I have not found thy works perfect before God. I mean, that's kind of a, that's not what you want to hear. That's not what we want to hear as a church. If God wrote us a letter today to the Church of, you know, Faithful Word Tucson, you know, there'd probably be some really great things he could say. Or maybe he would write us a letter personally to each one of us. He would say, hey, you know, I know this about you and I appreciate this and I appreciate that. And we'd say, those are very gracious words. You know what? There'd probably be a few things in there. He'd say, I have not found you perfect, and yet, nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee. God is very gracious, but God is also a God of truth. He says in verse 3, Remember, therefore, how thou hast, what thou hast received, and hold fast and repent. Thou shalt not watch, I will come unto thee as a thief, and shalt not know what hour I shall come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. Verse 14, another angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness. The beginning of the creation of God, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, I counsel thee to buy of me gold, and try to defy thee that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve and that thou mayest see. Look at verse 19, as many as I love. Isn't a loving thing, isn't love a very gracious thing? Isn't the love of God a very gracious thing? The fact that God would love us, you know, that's very gracious. He doesn't have to do that. God is very loving. God is very gracious. But he says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. God is a God who is full of grace, but he's also full of truth, and Jesus is very gracious, but never at the expense of the truth. Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, we're almost done, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, and look, this is an important lesson. This is something we have to learn. This is something, a characteristic that we have to exemplify in our lives. We're called to do it, and we need to understand this because of the fact that telling the truth is not always easy. The truth hurts. The truth hurts. I mean, do you think they walked away in those seven churches just feeling great about themselves where he's just calling out sin? I'm sure Jezebel wasn't just, you know, feeling pretty good. He's going to kill me. He's going to kill my children. That's heavy, right? The truth hurts. But here's the thing about that. Sparing feelings is anything but gracious, and we live in a world today where everyone thinks that if we just don't say anything, if we don't ever point out sin, if we don't ever call it for what it is, that we're very gracious people. I mean, that's a criticism that often gets leveled at, you know, hard preaching. People that are going to get up and just tell it like it is, oh, you're so mean. You're so unloving. Where's the grace in that church? Well, here's the thing. We are gracious. We do love people. We do go out of our way to preach the gospel and to reach the lost and to teach people and to love people in the church and all of that. But we are never gracious to the point where we're going to just cast aside the truth. That's not the example of Jesus. Jesus was never gracious to the point where he would just put aside the truth. And we have to learn this because telling the truth hurts, but sparing people's feelings, that's anything but gracious. Look at 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 1. For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you that it was not in vain. But even after that we had suffered before and were shamefully entreated, as ye know at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention for our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile. But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak. How is it that they speak? Not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts. For neither at any time used to be flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness, nor of men sought we glory, neither of you nor yet of others. And Paul, you know, what we need to understand here is that Paul's saying, look, I didn't do this. I didn't do any of these things. I didn't speak to please men. I didn't speak and use flattering words. And I didn't use a cloak of covetousness. I did seek men's glory. He's saying, look, the way we spoke, the way we preached to you was to please God and not men. And the inverse is true. This is a warning to us that should we take this as a warning that there are people out there that will come and under the guise of being gracious, they will leave off the truth and they will speak to please men. They will use flattering words like God's not mad at you, your best life now, and just lie to thousands of people, lie right to their face and tell them anything but the truth. And see, and then when people say, oh, they're very gracious, those words are so gracious, they're so kind, they're so loving, but why are they that way? They're using those words, those flattering words as what? As a cloak for covetousness. I mean, we could just go down the list of examples. My favorite, you know, horse to kick is Joel Osteen, right? Not that he has teeth like a horse, right? But he's a perfect example of that. I mean, wouldn't the world listen to Joel Osteen's message and say, what a gracious man. What kind words. He says such nice things. He seems so loving. Is anyone going to get up and say, boy, that Joel Osteen, man, that guy tears it up. That's one hard preacher. Man, that guy doesn't spare anybody's feelings. I walk out of Joel Osteen's church and just rubbing my backside going, man, why do I even come to this church? You know, I just go in there and get a tongue lashing from old Joel, right? No. And here's the thing, Joel Osteen sells out stadiums, Joel Osteen goes on tours and makes millions of dollars. But how? Because he doesn't speak to please God. He speaks to please men and people can call him gracious. He's anything but. He's a liar and he uses those kind and loving words as a cloak for his own covetousness. You know, these guys that are flying around in these private jets and they own these huge mansions, they're fakes, they're phonies. That's not the example of Paul. That's not the example of Christ. They were very gracious people, genuinely gracious people. I mean, think about the Apostle Paul. How was that guy not a gracious guy? You know, gives up the married life, doesn't have children, just gives himself completely over to the ministry and just spends his life just traveling the world in a time when there was no other way really to get around, but by foot and ship. Having a horse was a luxury and he's just walking around. He's being stoned in this city, chased out of this one. He's being arrested here, arrested there, being in just peril of this, peril of that. Just putting his life on the line over and over again for what? For the church. Graciousness isn't just words, it's actions. Very gracious man to have done all that for the church, but you know what? He also spoke to please God. You go read his letters. Go read the things he said. He didn't hold back. He told people exactly the way it was and exactly what they needed to hear. He said, God is witness, nor men sought we glory, neither of you nor out of others. So look, we didn't just come in here to try and impress you and try to gain some kind of admiration, have people exalt us. We came here to speak the word of God and we'll show grace where it's appropriate, but you know what? When it comes time for truth, that takes precedence. He says in verse seven, but we were gentle among you. You know, and here's the thing we have to understand. Sometimes people think, well, you know, if you're going to speak the truth, you just got to be some kind of hard-nosed, you know, preacher, you just got to, sometimes you just got to be a jerk. That's not what I'm saying. I mean, here's something I'm often reminding myself that I was told, you can tell people no nicely. I used to always have that in my head, I'm going to have to go tell somebody something they don't want to hear and I'm just going to have to be mean about it. No, you can actually be nice about it. And it's surprising how well people receive things if you go to them with the right attitude. And he says here, look, we weren't seeking to please men. We weren't using our words as a cloak of covetousness. We weren't trying to get your glory. You know, he was saying, look, we were going to tell you the truth, whether you liked it or not. But he says in verse seven, but we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherishes her children. And I love that illustration. That's the illustration of a nurse nursing her child, caring for some young infant, as a nurse cherishes her children. That's how Paul was amongst these people. I mean, you have to be gentle with a baby, right? I mean, if you're not gentle, bad things can happen, right? And I hope that this isn't too crass of an illustration, but I thought about it, like that's such a great example of what it's like to have to, you know, be a man of God. You know, you want to be gentle. You want to be kind. You want to be gracious, even like a nurse that cherishes her child. You know what else nurses put up with? Dirty diapers. Ask my wife. I've done it a few times. And here's how I, this is just a little side note, a little joke, a little sugar tonight helped the medicine go down. You know, you haven't changed very many diapers when, when you do it, you feel like you've really accomplished something, when you feel like you've scalped your enemy, you know, you're like running around the room, you know, just like, you know, it's like my wife's like, I can do that in the dark, you know, in seconds, you know, and I'm just anyway, but it's such a great illustration, right? You know, the nurse, you think about all this loving, just this, you know, sweet little lullabies and, and just nursing them and, and you know how people get when they talk to babies, grown men, even, oh, you know what, sometimes you have to do some dirty work when it comes to nursing a baby, taking care of a child. Sometimes the diaper stinks. Everyone can smell it. Like, Oh, what is that? You know what it is. Someone's got to deal with that. It's not pretty. What else are you going to do though? Just let them sit in it? Get a rash? Put up with the smell? No, you're going to deal with it. And look, that's a great illustration. We were gentle among you as a nurse, cherish this child, but sometimes as a man of God, you still got to take care of the dirty diaper. Sometimes you just kind of quit all the cooing and coddling and lullabies and just deal with the dirty diaper and get it changed and get it cleaned up. And I'm saying, look, we have to look at the example of Jesus Christ tonight, who was full of grace and truth, and we have to understand what that means. That yes, he was very gracious when appropriate, but never at the expense of truth. And we have to understand why that's important to wrap our minds around that, because telling the truth hurts. It's not always easy, but sparing people's feelings is not the gracious thing to do if it's just going to leave them, you know, like the nurse who would just leave a child with a dirty diaper on. You'd say that's neglect, and it would be. We should also be gracious, even as the Lord was, you know, and we're commanded to be gracious. If you would, I'll jump ahead here, I got to finish, but go to James chapter 3, James chapter 3. You know, we're commanded over and over in the Bible to be gracious. You know, and if you're following along with what I'm saying tonight about how we have to be gracious and full of truth, you would say, oh, well, telling the truth must be the harder thing to do. And look, sometimes telling the truth is a hard thing to do. But you know what, it seems like when you read the Scripture and you just see how many times we're commanded to be gracious, to be gracious, to be kind, to be loving, that tells me that doesn't come naturally. It seems to me like that's probably the harder thing for us to do. It might not be the more uncomfortable thing to do. It might not be the thing that, you know, might put people at odds, but it's probably the harder thing to do in the sense that it doesn't come as naturally as it ought to, if you get what I'm saying. He says in 1 Peter chapter 3, you're going to James 3, finally, brethren, be all of one mind, having compassion one of another. Love is brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil, railing for railing, but contrary wise, blessing, knowing that ye are thereunto called that ye should inherit a blessing. Ephesians 4, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Bible says in 1 Peter 4, as every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. But God has been very gracious to us, we should do the same in return. And we don't want to extend grace to somebody, well just remember God has extended grace to them. Well I don't know if I should be gracious with that brother or sister in Christ. Well God has been far more gracious towards them than you ever will be. And it just seems to me that we're just commanded over and over again to do all these things, to be gracious. You would think telling the truth is the harder thing, but it seems like being full of grace is the harder thing. We should be gracious, but again, never at the expense of the truth. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 5, I charge you before God and Lord Jesus Christ and the elect and angels that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality. You know the tendency sometimes is, oh we'll come down hard on this person because we don't really like them. And look, that's just human nature. We're going to like some people more than others. It's just the way it works. Some people click, some people don't, whatever. But when it comes down to having to observe these things, to judge, to preach, to hold a standard, you can't do it with partiality. You can't say, well, you know, this person, you know, I don't like them so much, so I'm a little less grace here. No, they get every much as much grace as your best friend. Deuteronomy chapter 1 says, you shall not respect persons in judgment. That's a commandment. But he shall hear the small as well as great. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's. And that causes us to, for thee bring unto me and I will hear it. Look, don't respect persons in judgment. Look, we want to be gracious people, but never at the expense of the truth. And one way that can show up is, you know, we're willing to extend a little bit more grace to this person, but not this person, because we like them, but we don't like them so much. That's partiality. You know, and that's not truth. That's preferring one before another. The Bible says, these things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. We want to be gracious, but never at the expense of truth. You're in James chapter 3. It's commanded again in verse 17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits. It sounds a lot like grace, doesn't it? It sounds a lot like being full of grace. These are very gracious things. To be pure, to be peaceable, to be gentle, easy to be entreated. Sounds very nice. Full of mercy and good fruits. But what else is it? Without partiality, without hypocrisy. So grace, you know, is something that we want to endeavor to have in our lives, but so is the truth. God is full of grace, and God is full of truth. And being gracious does not mean, you know, sparing the truth. And we should seek to be full of grace and full of truth, but never doing it with partiality. Look, this was the example of Christ. I mean, I don't know if He preferred, I mean, obviously, you know, the Bible says that John was the beloved disciple, but I think he had a bit of a soft spot for Peter too. You know, he was the one that was telling, he said, hey, when he rose, he said to the ladies, go tell my disciples and Peter, you know, and he dealt with Peter and I, you know, he loved all of them, and I'm sure he loved Peter, but you know what, that didn't stop him from rebuking Peter, did it? Christ gave himself for the church. He bled and died for it, but did that stop him from telling them the truth? He did something very gracious for them, but then he also told them the truth. And this is the example that we should follow. We should be people who are full of grace and full of truth. Let's go ahead and pray.