Grace - Part 3
What’s so Amazing about Grace
Grace: more than we deserve and more than we can Imagine
Have you ever:
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Went to take a drink of something and missed your mouth?
You immediately look around to see if anybody saw you.
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Went to open a door and you pulled and pulled when it simply needs you to push the door open.
In this case you just look down not wanting to see anybody’s smile
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Been out in public and tripped over something and then try to act casual as if nothing happened?
It can get a lot worse for embarrassing moments.
-I once got a speeding ticket with my son and his 2 friends in the car.
-a man tried to steal an ATM machine by chaining the ATM to his vehicle’s bumper. He then moved the vehicle; the ATM didn’t move at all but tore the back bumper off. In a panic, the man took off and left his back bumper including his licence plate.
Embarrassing moments can really get serious, and even have deadly consequences as was the case with an adulterous woman. Watch Jesus apply grace.
John 8:2-11 New International Version
2 At dawn he (Jesus) appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down (He stooped down) and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
For the first time all morning there was silence. Nobody spoke. They were waiting for an answer. Jesus didn’t speak, He stooped down and wrote in the dirt. Jesus was already sitting and was teaching. It was common for teachers to sit and teach. So, as the people approached Him, Jesus was already sitting down, but before He stood up . . . He stooped down!
We would expect Jesus to stand first, we would expect Him to stand up so everyone could see Him. As He stooped down, He was lower than every person who was there. He was lower than the woman. They were already looking down on the woman, but now they have to look even lower.
Hang unto that thought, Jesus stooped, Jesus Christ, God’s Son, stooped.
Jesus was prone to stoop. He stooped to wash the disciples feet, He stooped to embrace the children, He stooped to heal the sick, He stooped to pull Peter out of the sea, He stooped to take His lashes and He stooped to pick up His cross.
In the Old Testament, the word for grace comes from the family of the word ‘to stoop.’ Grace bends and lowers itself to give to another. Then Jesus drew in the dirt.
God stooped down, He lowered Himself and at that very point grace flowed.
The Hebrew word for Grace is “chen.” Each Hebrew letter has a symbol attached to it and the Hebrew word ‘chen’ can be pictured as a fence protecting life inside (to separate from the outside). This Hebrew word “chen” is linguistically related and part of the root “cha-nan” and “channun” meaning “to be inclined toward or favor”.
Hebrew thinking is concrete (seen, touched, smelled, tasted or heard; -it is action oriented) while Greek thinking is more abstract, concepts or ideas. The English word “grace” as we understand it, means “unmerited favor,” and is fairly abstract. In Hebrew, we must understand it in more concrete terms, which provides a wonderful picture. Our God stoops down in favour to put a fence around us to protect us.
So here we have Jesus and the caught adulterous woman. Jesus stooped down in grace, built a fence about this woman’s life and granted her forgiveness (no condemnation). The protecting words Jesus spoke chased the accusers away and the saving words of grace, “neither do I condemn you”, ended with life changing words to her, leave your life of sin. Jesus must have known her sorrowful heart to forgive.
He didn’t say, go and sin no more and maybe I won’t condemn you. Jesus didn’t say adultery is an extra bad sin, it’s unforgiveable. No. He placed her in a state of grace, in a place where there is no condemnation.
-and God has stooped down to meet your need of forgiveness and new life. God has stooped down in grace and favour and chased your accusers away.
Romans 8:1
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
Jesus asked, ‘Woman, where are your accusers?’ What a question!!
-our accusers are silenced before Jesus and yet we sense many times that we are being constantly accused.
-Our own voices have a way of accusing us, don’t they. Our voices from the past. Voices from our mistakes. Other voices we hear of criticism, voices of condemnation, voices which remind us of the sin and mistakes, dishonesty, stupidity, irresponsibility, foolishness . . . you fill in the blanks. You aren’t good enough. The voices in the world and in our heads seem to patrol our thoughts. Reminding us we’ve been caught . . . over and over and over . . . again.
Do these voices ever shut up? No, they don’t. Because satan never shuts up. This is what he does for a living. The accuser, satan, makes a career out of accusing us. He holds stones in his hands, and says I caught you. Calling us names, calling us every and anything he can, so that we’d believe we are no good and are under condemnation.
What do you do with the accusations for past sins and failures?
Whisper -Father, and Let grace stoop down to you and hear Jesus say, ‘neither do I condemn you, you’re forgiven forever’.
Christ can protect you. What He did for that woman, He does for you. Didn’t He stoop low enough to be born in a manger, or stoop low enough to work in a carpentry shop? Did He not stoop far enough that all of the sins of the world would be placed on Him and He would die a death on a cross?
-Yet, after He stooped on the cross and the grave, what did He do? He stood up, right there in the tomb. And the stone was rolled back and Jesus looked into the face of the accuser. Finished. And now Jesus stands between us and the accuser. He intercedes for us, for you.
Look at how God sees us, He has brought us into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault - Colossians 1:22.
How in the world can that be said about you? How can that be said about me? God looks at us as holy, blameless, without fault. How can this happen?
-It can only come through the grace of God. We don’t earn it, so we can’t lose it. It’s a gift from God to us. We’re the beneficiaries of His kindness and forgiveness. Because of God’s grace, we are forgiven and accepted by God. We’ve been adopted and acquitted.
So, the accuser no longer can accuse you with just cause. WE ARE FORGIVEN. Christ’s blood cleanses all our unrighteousness away. What case can he make against Christ? Satan has no power over you.
As God said in Romans 8:33-34, Who will bring a charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died, more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. For you.
In the case of the woman caught in adultery, what did Jesus do? He stooped, then He stood, then He spoke. And what does He do in our case? He died, He rose, and now He speaks. You’re beyond accusation.
You’re asking, ‘if I have Christ within me, then why do I still have my bad habits and sinful desires? If Jesus’ spirit lives within me, then why am I stuck in depression. If Jesus lives within me, why do I struggle to forgive? If Jesus lives within me, then why do I do the things I don’t want to do?
It’s just like a heart transplant. Transplants take time to take hold. Just because it takes time doesn’t mean the transplant hasn’t occurred. It’s going to take time. It’s going to work. Because it’s not up to you and it’s not up to me. And God has made a promise to us ~ God who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ - Philippians 1:6.
It’s not up to you, it’s up to Him. We will all struggle, we will all stumble. But are our struggles and stumbles signs of God’s condemnation? Absolutely not! God will correct us and convict us, but not condemn us. As Paul said in Romans 8:1, There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
-Amazing, amazing grace how sweet that word -grace
July 16, 2023
