Save the Best for Last

John 2:1-10

It has baffled many Bible scholars for years, why Jesus would perform as His first miracle, the changing of water into wine. It brought no healing to a broken body and no salvation to a lost soul. In fact, it didn’t even bring glory to Jesus at the time, as everyone at the marriage supper gave credit to the host for bringing the best wine out at the end, while not even acknowledging Jesus’ miracle (verse 10).

God first dealt with man with grace, demanding nothing of Abraham but faith, and that was counted to him for righteousness (Romans 4:3). Even when Abraham sinned in bringing Lot with him, or going in to Hagar to bear a child, or lied to Pharaoh about his wife, there is no evidence that God reprimanded or punished him. Grace and mercy was God’s original default position.

When Israel arrived in the wilderness between the Red Sea and the Promised Land, they informed God that they were well capable of doing whatever God demanded of them (Exodus 19:8), and in their self-righteousness God gave them the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law. Of course no man can keep the Law, so humanity plunged into the wrath and judgment of God.

Then came Jesus, who lived perfection in every way, fulfilling all of the demands of the Law and who laid down His life as a sacrifice for the entire world. He took the full brunt of God’s wrath against sin and became sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

When Jesus turned the water to wine as His first miracle He was doing it as a metaphor for the message that He was to proclaim. As the giver of the law, Moses becomes synonymous with that Law (John 1:17), while Jesus is the bringer of grace. Moses touched the water in Egypt and it turned to blood (Exodus 7:20) which produced death. Jesus touched the water in Cana and it turned to wine which produced joy and merriment. Jesus is showing us that the introduction of the Law brought death and condemnation, while the introduction of God’s amazing grace brings life and peace.

God truly saved His best way for last. Grace is God’s final method of dealing with mankind. When you accept Christ by faith you return to the original promise that God made to Abraham which was not dependent upon His obedience but only y upon his faith (Galatians 3:29). This is not an admonition to be disobedient, for God’s grace truly teaches us how to live and when we accept His grace we will see His righteousness come out of us (Titus 2:11, 12).

Christ has filled you with His goodness, just like the water pots in the story were filled with water. Jesus has transformed who you used to be so that you can bring Him glory now through who you are in Christ. Let Him touch your soul today and bring greatness out in the mighty name of Jesus.

New Every Morning

Lamentations 3:22, 23

The mercy of the Lord is a beautiful thing. His mercy ensures us that we will not get what our actions certainly deserve. Jeremiah, the author of Lamentations states that it is only due to the mercy of the Lord that we are not consumed. The writer of Hebrews tells us that our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29), and John the Baptist told us that Jesus would burn the chaff with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:17), so God surely holds the power to get rid of us. Why then, does God show mercy?

The end of verse 22 gives us both the answer to our question, and insight into the heartbeat of God, “because his compassions fail not”. God shows mercy because He is compassionate. He loves mankind so much that He holds back the flood waters of judgment, just so man can have another opportunity to turn to Him.

Christ’s death on the cross took the brunt of God’s fury against sin. Now, all who will accept Christ are free from that wrath. God delays sending Jesus back to get His church so that one more sinner might come home. For the one who will leave the 99 sheep in the fold to go and find the one, this is precisely within character.

Jeremiah goes on to explain that God’s compassions are not just feelings, but rather they are tangible things. He tells us that they are “new every morning” (verse 23). All good gifts come from the Father above (James 1:17), so we can view even the smallest blessing in our life as “His compassions”. Just like the manna in the wilderness for the Old Testament saints, Christ is the manna for the believer. He is pure white and tastes like honey (Exodus 16:31), and you will never be left wanting when you trust Him as your redeemer. Every day He is there with a fresh supply of goodness and mercy for you, requiring only that you take from Him.

How can we possibly pay the Lord back for this wonderful mercy, grace and goodness? Some say that you should witness to pay Him back, bringing souls into the kingdom. Witnessing for the Lord is great, but you could win everyone that you ever meet until you die and you could never pay the Lord back for His grace. Others tell you to give, and you could give until you have nothing else, and God still has the streets of heaven paved in gold, with or without your money. Actually, anything that you get by payment is achieved by your own works, and salvation is free. Is there a way to pay Him for His wonderful mercies, new every morning?

David asked the same question, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?” (Psalm 116:12). Those benefits could be called the compassions of the Lord that are new every morning, given by a God who is faithful to do so (Lamentations 3:23). David answers his own question with, “I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord” (Psalm 116:13). He learns that the only way to pay God back is to take more of God’s goodness. You and I are pleasing to the Lord when we feast at the table of God’s mercy and compassion.

Recognize the faithfulness of the Father all around you today and feast on the manna from heaven, because it is new every morning. Go in Him!

Mercy and Truth for Them; Grace and Truth for Us

Proverbs 3:3-6

“Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:” (Proverbs 3:3). The combination of the words “mercy” and “truth” is not unique to this passage. It is actually a very common theme particularly of Psalms and Proverbs, often used to describe God’s dealings with man. His mercy is described as “everlasting” and His truth as enduring to “all generations” (Psalms 100:5).

This combination is foreign however to the New Testament, not being used even once. The closest that we get is 2 John 1:3, when the Apostle John uses the two words in the same verse, but not in connection with one another. The New Testament equivalent of this phrase is found in John’s writing as well, this time in his gospel:

“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

Notice that instead of truth coupled with mercy, it is now joined with “grace”, and the method of this combination coming to us is not given through a doctrine, but is brought by the man, Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus is truth, for He told us as much in John 14:6, but why the change from “mercy” to “grace”?

In the Old Testament, man was judged by his keeping or breaking of God’s law. This is the same law that our previous verse told us was “given by Moses”. This law was so holy, just and good that men could not possibly keep it, so they were constantly seeking God for forgiveness by the offering of sacrifices. If not for the mercy of God, man would have gotten what he deserved many times over. God never ceased to be “true” to His holy nature, even though He was merciful to mankind.

When Christ met all of the demands of the law, He offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the whole world, satisfying the anger of His Father (1 John 2:2). While mercy is us not getting what we deserve, grace is us getting what we could never deserve. The cross is what we deserved, for it was death for sin, but God’s mercy killed Jesus instead of us. God’s unconditional love and favor is what we can never deserve, but the cross brought us those things and God calls it grace. With no law to keep in order to please God, we now walk in His grace and truth, thus the New Testament preaches these concepts for the believer.

When you function under His grace, you are giving Him your whole heart, and not leaning to your own understanding (Psalm 3:5). The more we learn this dependency, or “learn to lean”, the clearer that His path will become, leading us to even more of His glory and grace.

Thank the Lord today for His mercy which has spared you from judgment. Thank Him as well for His grace and truth, which has given you all things and blessed you with joy unspeakable.

When Mercy Met Truth

Psalms 85:10

God is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4), and Jesus is the embodiment of that mercy. On the cross, Jesus took what we deserved, so while the Father was not merciful to His own Son, He cannot help but be merciful with you and me. It has been well said that mercy is you not getting what you deserve while grace is you getting what you don’t deserve. In both cases, Jesus took care of us by paying for the judgment meant for us and giving to us the glory meant for Him.

God’s righteousness demands holiness and perfection, which is why the law could never bring man to fulfillment. No man has ever been able to keep the law in its entirety, thus all men are declared guilty and sinners. Jesus lived sinless and died sinless, thus becoming the first human to whom the law had no hold. Since holiness and perfection had been met, Jesus could lay His own life down as the sacrifice for all of us hopeless law-breakers. Now, when we accept Jesus by faith, we are declared righteous in the eyes of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

With God’s demands for righteousness having been met in Jesus, peace was the end result. At Calvary, righteousness and peace met together in the form of the crucified Christ. God had been appeased for a man had lived righteous and following His violent death for the sins of the world, peace would be the resultant emotion. This is why Paul said, “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

The Psalmist takes this allegory a step further, showing us that righteousness and peace have kissed one another. This makes the cross a beautiful picture of love, not a gut-wrenching scene of blood and death. True, the cross was the violent sacrifice of the Lamb, but it was also the marriage of righteousness with peace forevermore. You and I are free to be at peace, because the Lamb was at war!

Jesus embodies mercy and He called Himself “the truth” (John 14:6). These two qualities met in the form of Jesus and they can never be separated again. When you speak of Christ’s mercy, you are speaking of Him as truth. It is absolutely true that He cannot be anything but merciful to those who accept His love and favor. It is also true that when you see His mercy in your life, you are seeing the Ultimate Truth.

Mercy and truth in their combined forms are manifested in one other important word: grace. Remember, grace is not a doctrine; it is a person and His name is Jesus. The law was given (denotes distance) by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Where the law was cast at you from the mountain (and it is still hurled at us by many pulpits), grace always comes to you.

Notice that truth must line up on one side or the other. Truth is either lined up with the law or with grace and the Word makes it clear that it is with grace. This shows us that all truth is “grace truth”. While the law is “true”, only grace is “truth”. If you want to see mercy and truth, look past the veil of the Law and see what only grace (Jesus) can offer.

The Lord Prefers Mercy

Hosea 6:6

Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees concerning His eating with publicans and sinners. He responded that the healthy do not need a doctor, but the sick do (Matthew 9:12). He then challenged those Pharisees to “go ye and learn what that meaneth, ‘I will have mercy, and not sacrifice’: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (9:13).

The passage that Jesus is challenging them to go and learn is found in the Old Testament book of Hosea, and it is an indicator as to the nature of God. The default position for God has never been judgment, but rather, it has always been mercy. When Adam sinned in Eden, God could have killed him outright or worse yet, he could have let him remain in the Garden to eat the Tree of Life and live forever in a fallen state. God’s mercy kept Adam from that terrible fate, and then went with him to sojourn the earth.

When God dealt with Abraham, He showed him constant mercy, even though Abraham brought along his nephew Lot, and lied to Abimelech about his wife, as well as to Pharaoh. God gave him endless mercy, for that is the heart of God.

God has always desired to show mercy over the offering of sacrifices, but few men could see that through their blind lust to attempt to do the right thing by their own power. When David sinned with Bathsheba, the prayer that resulted from that terrible sin of adultery was one of faith and hope in a better covenant. The normal method for receiving forgiveness of sins was to slaughter a lamb and offer its blood as atonement for one’s sins, but David bypasses this method, stating, “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalms 51:16, 17). There was not a single scripture to indicate to David that God wanted anything but sacrifice, but his heart of faith knew that it was not the heartbeat of his loving Father to prefer anything but mercy.

God desires mercy over sacrifice because mercy speaks of relationship, while sacrifice speaks of religion. For a merciful exchange, there is an intimate relationship that results, while a sacrifice is a ritualistic, religious practice that needs only obedience but no emotional attachment. In other words, anyone can offer up a sacrifice with no change of heart, but God wants to know His children. Mercy is for those that you know, while sacrifice is for those that you wish to know. We have a greater relationship with our Daddy God than to just “want to know”.

Apparently, the Pharisees ignore Jesus’ request to study the book of Hosea, for He says the same thing to them a few chapters later when they accuse the disciples of doing unlawful things on the Sabbath day. “But if ye had known what this meaneth, ‘I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless’” (Matthew 12:7).

Thank God for His mercy and goodness toward us! Let’s not be accused of the same apathy as the Pharisees. Let us study to show ourselves approved and find out what it means when Jesus says “I prefer mercy and not sacrifice”.

New Every Morning

Lamentations 3:22, 23

The mercy of the Lord is a beautiful thing. His mercy ensures us that we will not get what our actions certainly deserve. Jeremiah, the author of Lamentations states that it is only due to the mercy of the Lord that we are not consumed. The writer of Hebrews tells us that our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29), and John the Baptist told us that Jesus would burn the chaff with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:17), so God surely holds the power to get rid of us. Why then, does God show mercy?

The end of verse 22 gives us both the answer to our question, and insight into the heartbeat of God, “because his compassions fail not”. God shows mercy because He is compassionate. He loves mankind so much that He holds back the flood waters of judgment, just so man can have another opportunity to turn to Him.

Christ’s death on the cross took the brunt of God’s fury against sin. Now, all who will accept Christ are free from that wrath. God delays sending Jesus back to get His church so that one more sinner might come home. For the one who will leave the 99 sheep in the fold to go and find the one, this is precisely within character.

Jeremiah goes on to explain that God’s compassions are not just feelings, but rather they are tangible things. He tells us that they are “new every morning” (verse 23). All good gifts come from the Father above (James 1:17), so we can view even the smallest blessing in our life as “His compassions”. Just like the manna in the wilderness for the Old Testament saints, Christ is the manna for the believer. He is pure white and tastes like honey (Exodus 16:31), and you will never be left wanting when you trust Him as your redeemer. Every day He is there with a fresh supply of goodness and mercy for you, requiring only that you take from Him.

How can we possibly pay the Lord back for this wonderful mercy, grace and goodness? Some say that you should witness to pay Him back, bringing souls into the kingdom. Witnessing for the Lord is great, but you could win everyone that you ever meet until you die and you could never pay the Lord back for His grace. Others tell you to give, and you could give until you have nothing else, and God still has the streets of heaven paved in gold, with or without your money. Actually, anything that you get by payment is achieved by your own works, and salvation is free. Is there a way to pay Him for His wonderful mercies, new every morning?

David asked the same question, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?” (Psalm 116:12). Those benefits could be called the compassions of the Lord that are new every morning, given by a God who is faithful to do so (Lamentations 3:23). David answers his own question with, “I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord” (Psalm 116:13). He learns that the only way to pay God back is to take more of God’s goodness. You and I are pleasing to the Lord when we feast at the table of God’s mercy and compassion.

Recognize the faithfulness of the Father all around you today and feast on the manna from heaven, because it is new every morning. Go in Him!

Mercy and Truth for Them; Grace and Truth for Us

Proverbs 3:3-6

“Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:” (Proverbs 3:3). The combination of the words “mercy” and “truth” is not unique to this passage. It is actually a very common theme particularly of Psalms and Proverbs, often used to describe God’s dealings with man. His mercy is described as “everlasting” and His truth as enduring to “all generations” (Psalms 100:5).

This combination is foreign however to the New Testament, not being used even once. The closest that we get is 2 John 1:3, when the Apostle John uses the two words in the same verse, but not in connection with one another. The New Testament equivalent of this phrase is found in John’s writing as well, this time in his gospel:

“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

Notice that instead of truth coupled with mercy, it is now joined with “grace”, and the method of this combination coming to us is not given through a doctrine, but is brought by the man, Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus is truth, for He told us as much in John 14:6, but why the change from “mercy” to “grace”?

In the Old Testament, man was judged by his keeping or breaking of God’s law. This is the same law that our previous verse told us was “given by Moses”. This law was so holy, just and good that men could not possibly keep it, so they were constantly seeking God for forgiveness by the offering of sacrifices. If not for the mercy of God, man would have gotten what he deserved many times over. God never ceased to be “true” to His holy nature, even though He was merciful to mankind.

When Christ met all of the demands of the law, He offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the whole world, satisfying the anger of His Father (1 John 2:2). While mercy is us not getting what we deserve, grace is us getting what we could never deserve. The cross is what we deserved, for it was death for sin, but God’s mercy killed Jesus instead of us. God’s unconditional love and favor is what we can never deserve, but the cross brought us those things and God calls it grace. With no law to keep in order to please God, we now walk in His grace and truth, thus the New Testament preaches these concepts for the believer.

When you function under His grace, you are giving Him your whole heart, and not leaning to your own understanding (Psalm 3:5). The more we learn this dependency, or “learn to lean”, the clearer that His path will become, leading us to even more of His glory and grace.

Thank the Lord today for His mercy which has spared you from judgment. Thank Him as well for His grace and truth, which has given you all things and blessed you with joy unspeakable.

When Mercy Met Truth

Psalms 85:10

God is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4), and Jesus is the embodiment of that mercy. On the cross, Jesus took what we deserved, so while the Father was not merciful to His own Son, He cannot help but be merciful with you and me. It has been well said that mercy is you not getting what you deserve while grace is you getting what you don’t deserve. In both cases, Jesus took care of us by paying for the judgment meant for us and giving to us the glory meant for Him.

God’s righteousness demands holiness and perfection, which is why the law could never bring man to fulfillment. No man has ever been able to keep the law in its entirety, thus all men are declared guilty and sinners. Jesus lived sinless and died sinless, thus becoming the first human to whom the law had no hold. Since holiness and perfection had been met, Jesus could lay His own life down as the sacrifice for all of us hopeless law-breakers. Now, when we accept Jesus by faith, we are declared righteous in the eyes of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

With God’s demands for righteousness having been met in Jesus, peace was the end result. At Calvary, righteousness and peace met together in the form of the crucified Christ. God had been appeased for a man had lived righteous and following His violent death for the sins of the world, peace would be the resultant emotion. This is why Paul said, “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

The Psalmist takes this allegory a step further, showing us that righteousness and peace have kissed one another. This makes the cross a beautiful picture of love, not a gut-wrenching scene of blood and death. True, the cross was the violent sacrifice of the Lamb, but it was also the marriage of righteousness with peace forevermore. You and I are free to be at peace, because the Lamb was at war!

Jesus embodies mercy and He called Himself “the truth” (John 14:6). These two qualities met in the form of Jesus and they can never be separated again. When you speak of Christ’s mercy, you are speaking of Him as truth. It is absolutely true that He cannot be anything but merciful to those who accept His love and favor. It is also true that when you see His mercy in your life, you are seeing the Ultimate Truth.

Mercy and truth in their combined forms are manifested in one other important word: grace. Remember, grace is not a doctrine; it is a person and His name is Jesus. The law was given (denotes distance) by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Where the law was cast at you from the mountain (and it is still hurled at us by many pulpits), grace always comes to you.

Notice that truth must line up on one side or the other. Truth is either lined up with the law or with grace and the Word makes it clear that it is with grace. This shows us that all truth is “grace truth”. While the law is “true”, only grace is “truth”. If you want to see mercy and truth, look past the veil of the Law and see what only grace (Jesus) can offer.

The Potter's House

Jeremiah 18:1-4

God used an object lesson, or an illustrated sermon of sorts to teach the prophet Jeremiah an important lesson about His nature. He sent him to a local potter’s house to watch the potter work on the wheels. The lesson regards Israel as a nation; and no matter how bad that they had become through sin and disobedience, God could make them a new vessel again.

It is not in the nature of God to simply destroy and start over. If God were destructive, He would have wiped Adam and Eve off of the earth and started fresh. Even the destruction of the earth and the inhabitants thereof in the time of Noah was done to keep the seed pure for the coming Messiah, not for the judgment of sins. God’s default position in dealing with man has always been, and always will be, mercy.

When the potter works with clay to form a lovely finished product, he must observe a few important rules. First, choosing good, pliable clay is a must. The product with which he is working has a large role to play in the final vessel. In us, God has placed His very breath, so when He deals with humanity, He has chosen clay that has the qualities of God already inside. He will not save the world through angels or animals, but only through us. What an honor!

The potter must also have a ready supply of water on hand as he makes the clay moist and usable. This water is the water of the Word, which Jesus uses to wash His church (Ephesians 5:26). Jesus said that we are made clean by His Words (John 15:3). When He speaks to us, He speaks words of beauty and love, washing the dross and filth off of us so that we are usable.

It is also important that the clay remain in the center of the wheel. As the potter spins the wheel, the clay may have a tendency to lean to one side or the other. The further from the center that they clay is, the more difficult that it is to create a vessel without any flaws. The very center of God’s WILL is the center of the Potter’s WHEEL. The essence of Christianity is wrapped up in this knowledge, which Jesus said is life eternal, “that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent” (John 17:4).

If an imperfection is to arise in the clay, causing it to become marred and unusable, the potter can simply remove it and toss it aside. The potter that Jeremiah watches has such an imperfection arise, but instead of tossing the clay out, he “made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it” (Jeremiah 18:4). When you and I are marred and imperfect in our actions and our lifestyle, the Father does not toss us out but rather He continues to fashion us into who He wants us to be. When God chose you, He predestined you “to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29). He is fashioning you to look like Jesus!

Do you see problem areas in your life? Are there things that appear to be imperfections in your spirit man? Do not fear, your Father is a great Potter, and He has a finished product in mind. Be still, know that He is God, and you will be “meet for the master’s use” (2 Timothy 2:21).

The Lord Prefers Mercy

Hosea 6:6

Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees concerning His eating with publicans and sinners. He responded that the healthy do not need a doctor, but the sick do (Matthew 9:12). He then challenged those Pharisees to “go ye and learn what that meaneth, ‘I will have mercy, and not sacrifice’: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (9:13).

The passage that Jesus is challenging them to go and learn is found in the Old Testament book of Hosea, and it is an indicator as to the nature of God. The default position for God has never been judgment, but rather, it has always been mercy. When Adam sinned in Eden, God could have killed him outright or worse yet, he could have let him remain in the Garden to eat the Tree of Life and live forever in a fallen state. God’s mercy kept Adam from that terrible fate, and then went with him to sojourn the earth.

When God dealt with Abraham, He showed him constant mercy, even though Abraham brought along his nephew Lot, and lied to Abimelech about his wife, as well as to Pharaoh. God gave him endless mercy, for that is the heart of God.

God has always desired to show mercy over the offering of sacrifices, but few men could see that through their blind lust to attempt to do the right thing by their own power. When David sinned with Bathsheba, the prayer that resulted from that terrible sin of adultery was one of faith and hope in a better covenant. The normal method for receiving forgiveness of sins was to slaughter a lamb and offer its blood as atonement for one’s sins, but David bypasses this method, stating, “For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalms 51:16, 17). There was not a single scripture to indicate to David that God wanted anything but sacrifice, but his heart of faith knew that it was not the heartbeat of his loving Father to prefer anything but mercy.

God desires mercy over sacrifice because mercy speaks of relationship, while sacrifice speaks of religion. For a merciful exchange, there is an intimate relationship that results, while a sacrifice is a ritualistic, religious practice that needs only obedience but no emotional attachment. In other words, anyone can offer up a sacrifice with no change of heart, but God wants to know His children. Mercy is for those that you know, while sacrifice is for those that you wish to know. We have a greater relationship with our Daddy God than to just “want to know”.

Apparently, the Pharisees ignore Jesus’ request to study the book of Hosea, for He says the same thing to them a few chapters later when they accuse the disciples of doing unlawful things on the Sabbath day. “But if ye had known what this meaneth, ‘I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless’” (Matthew 12:7).

Thank God for His mercy and goodness toward us! Let’s not be accused of the same apathy as the Pharisees. Let us study to show ourselves approved and find out what it means when Jesus says “I prefer mercy and not sacrifice”.

Save the Best for Last

John 2:1-10

It has baffled many Bible scholars for years, why Jesus would perform as His first miracle, the changing of water into wine. It brought no healing to a broken body and no salvation to a lost soul. In fact, it didn’t even bring glory to Jesus at the time, as everyone at the marriage supper gave credit to the host for bringing the best wine out at the end, while not even acknowledging Jesus’ miracle (verse 10).

God first dealt with man with grace, demanding nothing of Abraham but faith, and that was counted to him for righteousness (Romans 4:3). Even when Abraham sinned in bringing Lot with him, or going in to Hagar to bear a child, or lied to Pharaoh about his wife, there is no evidence that God reprimanded or punished him. Grace and mercy was God’s original default position.

When Israel arrived in the wilderness between the Red Sea and the Promised Land, they informed God that they were well capable of doing whatever God demanded of them (Exodus 19:8), and in their self-righteousness God gave them the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law. Of course no man can keep the Law, so humanity plunged into the wrath and judgment of God.

Then came Jesus, who lived perfection in every way, fulfilling all of the demands of the Law and who laid down His life as a sacrifice for the entire world. He took the full brunt of God’s wrath against sin and became sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

When Jesus turned the water to wine as His first miracle He was doing it as a metaphor for the message that He was to proclaim. As the giver of the law, Moses becomes synonymous with that Law (John 1:17), while Jesus is the bringer of grace. Moses touched the water in Egypt and it turned to blood (Exodus 7:20) which produced death. Jesus touched the water in Cana and it turned to wine which produced joy and merriment. Jesus is showing us that the introduction of the Law brought death and condemnation, while the introduction of God’s amazing grace brings life and peace.

God truly saved His best way for last. Grace is God’s final method of dealing with mankind. When you accept Christ by faith you return to the original promise that God made to Abraham which was not dependent upon His obedience but only y upon his faith (Galatians 3:29). This is not an admonition to be disobedient, for God’s grace truly teaches us how to live and when we accept His grace we will see His righteousness come out of us (Titus 2:11, 12).

Christ has filled you with His goodness, just like the water pots in the story were filled with water. Jesus has transformed who you used to be so that you can bring Him glory now through who you are in Christ. Let Him touch your soul today and bring greatness out in the mighty name of Jesus.

His Goodness Will Hunt You Down

Psalms 23:6

The Psalmist is so confident that his Shepherd is good that he opens the final verse of the 23rd Psalm with “Surely goodness…” There is no doubt that goodness and mercy will come his way. When the sheep have the past experience of watching their shepherd protect them and bless them, they are confident that He will always do so.

It is important to note the word that the English uses in this verse, and how different that it is from the original Hebrew. David says that goodness and mercy “shall follow me all the days of my life”, but the word ‘follow’ is a bit misleading. The Hebrew word for ‘follow’ is ‘radaph’ which means, “To pursue, to run after, to chase” or literally, “to hunt you down”. It is first found in Genesis 14, when Abram finds that his nephew Lot has been kidnapped. Abram assembles his own army of 318 men and “pursued them unto Dan” (Genesis 14:14). The word ‘pursued’ is ‘radaph’.

Just as Abram hunted the kidnappers down and brought them to justice, the Holy Spirit is saying through the Psalmist that we can be assured that God’s goodness and mercy will hunt us down as well. This entire Psalm has been about the accompaniment of our Good Shepherd. If He leads, we follow. If we leave the path, He restores us. If we are hurt, He heals us. It even shows Him go with us into areas that He did not lead us. The finality is that as we follow the footprints of the Shepherd, His goodness and mercy follow close after us.

We do not have to look for the goodness and the mercy, for it will look for us. Many believers have become sidetracked and discouraged because they are always looking for goodness and blessings. They have actually turned Christianity into one big blessing, rather than the relationship that it is. Follow after blessings and you will always be on the chasing end. Follow after Jesus and the blessings will chase you!

David found that dwelling in the house of the LORD for ever was the most blessed thing. He commented that he would rather be a “doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Psalms 84:10). It was for this cause that he wanted to build the temple, but God deferred that honor to his son Solomon. David was a New Covenant thinker living in an Old Covenant world. You and I are the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19), so we dwell in His house forever. This promise in Psalms 23:6 is ours everyday because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Follow your shepherd today and fully expect that He is going to do the same to you with good things in your life and mercy in your spirit.

Mercy and Truth for Them; Grace and Truth for Us

Proverbs 3:3-6

“Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:” (Proverbs 3:3). The combination of the words “mercy” and “truth” is not unique to this passage. It is actually a very common theme particularly of Psalms and Proverbs, often used to describe God’s dealings with man. His mercy is described as “everlasting” and His truth as enduring to “all generations” (Psalms 100:5).

This combination is foreign however to the New Testament, not being used even once. The closest that we get is 2 John 1:3, when the Apostle John uses the two words in the same verse, but not in connection with one another. The New Testament equivalent of this phrase is found in John’s writing as well, this time in his gospel:

“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

Notice that instead of mercy coupled with truth, it is now joined with “grace”, and the method of this combination coming to us is not given through a doctrine, but is brought by the man, Jesus Christ. We know that Jesus is truth, for He told us as much in John 14:6, but why the change from “mercy” to “grace”?

In the Old Testament, man was judged by his keeping or breaking of God’s law. This is the same law that our previous verse told us was “given by Moses”. This law was so holy, just and good that men could not possibly keep it, so they were constantly seeking God for forgiveness by the offering of sacrifices. If not for the mercy of God, man would have gotten what he deserved many times over. God never ceased to be “true” to His holy nature, even though He was merciful to mankind.

When Christ met all of the demands of the law, He offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the whole world, satisfying the anger of His Father (1 John 2:2). While mercy is us not getting what we deserve, grace is us getting what we could never deserve. The cross is what we deserved, for it was death for sin, but God’s mercy killed Jesus instead of us. God’s unconditional love and favor is what we can never deserve, but the cross brought us those things and God calls it grace. With no law to keep in order to please God, we now walk in His grace and truth, thus the New Testament preaches these concepts for the believer.

When you function under His grace, you are giving Him your whole heart, and not leaning to your own understanding (Psalm 3:5). The more we learn this dependency, or “learn to lean”, the clearer that His path will become, leading us to even more of His glory and grace.

Thank the Lord today for His mercy which has spared you from judgment. Thank Him as well for His grace and truth, which has given you all things and blessed you with joy unspeakable.