Address—Doug Buchanan
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I'd like to open our meeting this afternoon with hymn #10.
For you younger children, you're only going to have to count to 10 for my meeting because we're not going to sing any songs above that number.
Hymn #10.
Grace is the sweetest sound.
When you come.
Here.
Before we.
Make pray I want I have a special request.
40 minutes ago I received a call from Florida asking prayer for Caleb Roorda, the son of Paul and Irene Roorda. He has left a note.
Of disappearing.
And they cannot find him.
And search is being made.
Suicide is feared.
So let's pray for that dear young man, his soul and the family, as well as our time together here.
At the close of the last meeting, our brother read.
I believe it's from Luke.
About.
Them marveling at the gracious words that came out of.
The mouth of the Lord Jesus.
It's my purpose this afternoon to take up this subject of grace, which many know is a favorite of mine.
This news.
That we just received.
Certainly impacts our souls as to the need.
That our human hearts have of forgiveness, of love.
Of grace.
The national news of late has been much occupied with a young man who took his life.
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Because of the shame.
That he had been exposed to.
Publicly.
We're going to read about a woman that went through that.
And how the Lord?
Stood by that woman.
An extended forgiveness to her.
That's in the 8th chapter of John. Again, we don't need to count past 10.
In the 9th chapter of John.
We also have a story about a man.
Who is destitute, blind from his birth?
And we might be summed up this way.
We see how the grace of God and the government of God.
Worked in a man's life to bring blessing.
In the first story, we're going to notice how that the grace of God and the truth of God.
Can unite together.
In spite of what we are to bless us.
This is a wonderful subject.
It's good that our heart be established with grace.
We were singing of it being like a mine of wealth.
Grace, the Law was given by Moses. Let's just turn to that John's Gospel, chapter one.
Verse 17.
The law, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
These are two opposite principles.
Law and grace.
And we understand readily that law is giving people what they deserve or what they merit, what they work for, what they obtain by their own means.
Grace, on the other hand, is giving according to the goodness of the donor, the giver, and it supposes.
A resource, a capacity to bless.
And Jesus Christ had that.
All the treasures.
In the counsels of God.
All the treasures that God could purpose and think of. Indiana is in the past eternity.
Can come to fruition.
Because of the principle of grace.
Without compromising.
One iota of truth.
Sometimes we have a rather shallow perception.
Of what grace is that? It's like passing over what really people deserve and not applying it.
Or as if it might be.
Some virtue within ourselves to merit God's goodness.
Grace may be used in that way, but it's not the principle.
Of what this verse is Speaking of.
Our God.
Has the Storehouse a blessing for you and for me?
Unbelief keeps us from laying hold of it sometimes.
Inward focus on ourselves.
Will keep our eye from.
Considering what Jesus Christ really has brought to us.
The acronym for GRACE has.
Sometimes been said.
God's riches at Christ's expense.
I think that fits a nice description.
Grace and truth.
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At Christ's expense of going to Calvary's cross.
He can administer freely to all of us who are undeserving.
Is grace.
Calvary is the truth of God judging sin for all.
That it demanded, that it required.
And God now looks down upon you and me.
Favorably disposed to bless us.
And it's a laying hold of this that will change our lives.
You know this past week.
Bob and I were at a meeting for prisoners.
Where they had a group of speakers together.
To prepare those about to come out into society or be put on parole from incarceration to prepare them.
To defend themselves or to live?
Their lives.
Rightly before their fellow citizens, because there's a real challenge of coming out of prison for many years and facing society and all the temptations.
And all the attractions are there that can take people and drag them down.
Into sin.
Really appreciated some of the words that the Christian men spoke.
Advice given to those men.
After the meetings were over, we had a luncheon together and we met a very interesting man.
I was charmed by him.
You could see in his face.
A love for souls and an outreach. An appreciation for the gospel and the Lord Jesus.
We conversed with this man. His name was Manny. He doesn't live too far from here.
And he deals with these kind of people.
In the course of our conversation.
I mentioned about Paul being the chief of sinners.
Oh, he smiled.
And he looked at me straight in the eye, and he said, you know, Paul wasn't the chief of sinners. I was.
And he meant it, he said. Paul wrote that before I was born. He might have been the chief then, but I'm the chief now.
And I've been forgiven.
That man understood grace.
There was number need to diminish or pretend that his past history wasn't as bad as it could have been thought to be, as society might require.
And this man was taking up the very occupation.
Because he had been incarcerated too, for his sins.
And he was using his life story as a witness to help these men.
And he helped me even though I haven't been in prison for my sins, though I deserve it.
A sense of grace keeps us in our souls. Young people, you don't have to go out and live your life like some of those men have.
To understand grace.
Many times we do, sad to say, and that's where the government of God comes in, allowing us.
Sometimes to go down a certain course because we won't learn it by precept or being told.
Let's turn over to the 8th chapter of John.
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Beginning with verse 2.
We're going to read through this before we make comments.
And early in the morning.
This is Jesus in verse one. He came again into the temple.
And all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them.
The Scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery.
And when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him.
But Jesus stood down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.
As though you heard them not.
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
And again he stooped down and rode on the ground.
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out 1 by 1.
Beginning at the eldest, even unto the last.
And Jesus was left alone.
And the woman standing in the midst, when Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he saith unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord.
Jesus said unto her, Neither do I commit them thee go, and sin no more.
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Wonderful to have the light.
And where the light shines, the love covers, as we've often enjoyed.
Because the light of God also reveals the love of God.
And so grace and truth are able to come together and meet together.
And both be applied to the full extent.
And yet have a soul forgiven and blessed.
That's grace and truth.
And this story of this poor woman.
Is a real example of that.
And it was brought to the Lord.
This whole story is brought to pass.
Because of unbelief of a group of people.
Who didn't understand or appreciate grace?
A little bit like the elder brother of the prodigal son.
Who was envious and angry because the Father would receive a wayward son and forgive him and bless him?
Why did he have that anger?
He didn't understand Grace.
He could not conceive of how his brother would deserve such a such a treatment.
Now before the Lord Jesus spoke this story.
In our 8th chapter here if we go back to the third chapter.
We would hear him saying these words.
As Moses lifted up the serpent.
In the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
That whosoever believeth in him should have.
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I think I left out a clause.
Should not, should not perish, but have eternal life.
Our blessed Savior spoke these words.
About his being lifted up on Calvary's cross.
Being made a curse bearing the judgment there so that we might have life.
The foundation is being laid for God's blessing.
To flow out.
Without compromising his truths and sin that must be judged.
Was to fall on him, and he uttered those words.
It hadn't even yet taken place yet.
But in anticipation of that.
He could stand before these Pharisees.
Before this poor woman.
And he could stoop down on the ground and wait.
And we might ask ourselves.
Why?
Did he stoop down?
Why didn't he answer him straight away?
Did he not know the answer?
Oh yes.
He knew the answer.
He knew what was entailed.
For him to administer forgiveness to that woman.
He had a love for that woman.
And her soul destiny.
And he had a love for those Pharisees.
That were standing there accusing him.
And he knew if it was going to come to throwing stones.
He would probably have to stone one of them before he stoned the woman.
Doesn't matter where you fit in, friend or brother.
Whether you're at the top of the list or at the bottom of the list.
You need grace.
We need forgiveness, and we have.
We are not told what he wrote.
Not sure why.
A lot of us have enjoyed different thoughts.
And I think I've enjoyed everyone of them and they've all been different.
Because they have a mired right moral teaching.
You know sometimes to understand the scriptures.
You have to know the man that wrote them.
And when you know the man that wrote them.
You can figure things out sometimes what it's like.
That's what it is about grace, too.
Our Lord Jesus said to his disciples, when he sent them out, he said freely you have received, freely give.
And they were pretty generous people.
They did a lot of wonderful things, a lot of witnesses to what God love and care is. How could they doubt that and bring a case like this of a woman like this before him?
And belief.
You know.
When we read our media today in the newspapers and other media today and we shouldn't do it too much, but sometimes we need to get keep it current a little bit.
Doesn't take very long. No matter what kind of media you read, you'll find it full of stories like what we just read.
Except for leaving the Savior out.
Sad.
People get themselves into so many predicaments.
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Maybe right there where you're sitting in your chair, you're in a situation you don't know how to handle.
We get, we get ourselves into those kind of things.
They're real.
But we have the answer.
Depending on the grace of God.
Strong, my son, be strong.
This is not being wishy washy about sin. This is not passing over.
I think this very story would intimate to us how the people in the world look at forgiveness.
They look at it as compromising.
They look at it as not right.
How can God take a criminal, the chief of sinners to seven, to heaven? And here's a good man who never murdered anybody, never beat his wife, never stole?
And he stands in his own goodness.
And he goes to hell.
Calvary.
You have to see the whole story.
You have to see the basis upon which God.
Gives forgiveness.
And because of that judgment, that was so completely born.
Because God is so satisfied with it.
He gives into the hands of the Lord Jesus.
The option to forgive whoever he wants.
And Jesus.
Gave us the preaching of it, the gospel.
To the whole world, and it's available.
But only those who claim it as their own in Jesus name.
Is there that forgiveness?
So this woman.
Can't you picture her saying this is the worst day of my life?
None of us would want.
To be taken and put in those circumstances, even those of us who raised in Christian homes and sheltered from doing a lot of these things.
We wouldn't want.
What we've done written up here before, it's possible what Jesus wrote on the ground.
Was what some of those people did.
Not told.
But I know very well that what most of us if the Lord Jesus started writing.
What we've done, Because, you know, if he died for our sins, then he knows what they were.
And he knows what the judgment of them was.
So he stooped down on the ground.
And wrote.
But they insisted.
So it says.
The law have been referred to should be stoned.
That was the way of capital punishment in those days.
Where's the mercy?
The law was given by Moses.
No one could keep it.
God's purpose, we read in the New Testament.
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In allowing man to be put under that trial was.
To prove that sin was exceeding sinful.
That is to show man that that was not the way to be justified.
Now the man is on the scene. The Lord Jesus Christ is here.
To bring something new, a new principle of action, Grace.
These people love their law. They love their religion.
We live in a Christian land that loves religion.
And a lot of times it's used to pat people on the back and say you're not quite so bad.
Keep trying.
You're better than the other person or not next to you.
And so on.
Will that get us out of our predicament?
It wasn't helping this woman.
And yet they wanted to apply it.
Why do our hearts love the law?
Why do we like that?
We like to do things our way, our wills.
It doesn't give us any credit to take things from God on the basis of grace. It gives God all the credit.
And that's when one of the reasons why it's so wonderful.
And maybe that's probably why sometimes we're slow to lay hold of it too.
So Jesus.
Is insisting on these things he's following through.
In action and help to this woman.
He's not going to let her go. He's not going to drop her halfway through this problem.
And Lord Jesus won't do that with you either. You turn to Him.
His grace is sufficient for the whole way, not just to put your sins away.
And it's the understanding of that.
That will keep us from sin more than anything else.
If we really understand that, it will teach us to deny ungodliness and worldliness when we really understand that.
And yet one of the doctrines in the New Testament that is reticently accepted is the eternal security of a believer.
For that very reason, I don't understand grace.
Well, when the Lord rises up again.
He turns the tables.
All the concentration had been on this woman and the Lord. They were the focal point. They were in the middle, here in the midst.
Now the Lord Jesus quietly says.
He that is without sin, let him cast the first stone.
Now he's taken the law.
And applying it to all the rest of them too.
He's not setting aside the law. He didn't say, oh, this doesn't apply now.
No, he's just turning the tables. You know, it's like a two edged sword. We applied the lot somebody else.
And the Word of God is that way too. It cuts both ways.
And so he simply turns the tables and applies the law to them. OK, you want to apply the law, All right. Which of you is holy and righteous enough to stand in judgment over somebody else having never failed in it and able to throw stones?
But then he Stoops down and writes on the ground again.
And again, we're not told what he wrote.
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There's a verse in Old Testament, maybe Jeremiah, their name, about their names being written in the earth.
Could be.
Could be. He looked around, figured out which one was the great biggest Sinner, and wrote his name down there.
He could do that this afternoon if he wanted.
Our friend Manny.
He willingly admitted that. He said I was the biggest Sinner, I was the chief of sinners, and he meant it.
And every one of us can probably put our name in there too, if we really started measuring things up and looking in our own heart.
Because you know you know more about your own heart than anybody else's.
So the Lord Jesus.
Wrote on the ground.
Again.
It could have written what they'd done, whatever it was.
They touched their conscience.
Caused him to leave.
Which was the biggest mistake they made?
The light was there.
That's why he stooped down and waited the first time.
He didn't come to condemn. He didn't have a heart like they did. He didn't. He didn't rejoice in making a scandal.
It would have made good money on the in the paper today.
It would have been the feature article that people would have brought in the most because people feed on that kind of a thing.
Sad what our hearts, our fleshly hearts feed on, isn't it?
Lord Jesus doesn't have any delight in that kind of a thing.
We might ask ourselves, who do we want to stand before?
Take your pick.
You want the Pharisees to be your judges and you want to have their religion? Or do you want the Lord Jesus Christ?
That's the two choices.
Wonderful to see them here.
No compromising the law.
Could be that, he thought as he went over the life of this poor woman.
I love her enough to go to the cross for her.
I don't want a Stoner.
That's great. That's love.
They go out 1 by 1.
Nobody's left but the woman.
And this is beautiful.
He didn't want them to go away.
It had been a better thing if they'd all stayed there and let the light shine.
Let the light shine in their hearts.
Let it reveal what was there. It doesn't matter how bad it is.
It will forgive.
So.
The woman is alone.
And he asked the question, Woman, where are those nine accusers?
The first part of the question.
How wonderful for those of us here.
To be able to hear from him, those words.
Similar ones in Romans.
Who is he condemned that condemneth? It is Christ that died. He rather that is risen.
God justifies us.
Because we believe in Jesus.
Who is he that condemns no one?
No condemnation. Consider it my soul.
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No doubt that woman will be able to sing that hymn up in glory.
We can sing it now too.
But then it goes on, and it says, hath no man.
Condemn thee.
Probing a little further.
There was still one man standing before her.
And this was a test.
Attest to faith.
And this shows that this woman believed in him. She had seen enough of the graciousness of him.
At that moment, up to that point.
That she believed in him.
And her answer proves what she believed No man.
And so.
She got.
The answer back from the Lord according to her faith.
Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more.
Wonderful words. Forgiveness.
It's my desire and going on this subject.
To establish our hearts.
With a better understanding of grace.
In our dealings with one another.
As fellow Christians.
Sometimes we can be hard on one another.
And call up inconsistencies among us, our believers, our fellow believers.
And I want to qualify these words a little bit because we're going to briefly touch on in the next chapter, God's government, because I believe it's necessary for us.
In order to lay hold of grace, a work of God's government is very often necessary to bring us to the sense of appreciation of His grace.
Like for example, it took this woman being put into very difficult circumstances.
In order to receive these forgiveness.
Now if we go over to the 9th chapter of John.
We're not going to read this, this account. I'm going to like Bill said yesterday, I'm assuming that an understanding of this.
We have this man who was born blind from birth.
And the disciples asked him in verse 3.
In verse two and his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind.
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man nor his parents, but that the works.
Of God should be made manifest in Him.
As I mentioned before.
I'm going to apply it this way.
The government of God.
Was needful in this man's life to cause him.
To be born blind in order to work a work of God in him.
To bring him to see, to bring him to life, to bring him to be a worshiper.
You see?
We need God's governmental dealings to bring us down.
Oftentimes otherwise, we will not trust in His grace.
And these things go parallel.
God's governmental dealings are not to do us harm.
Or because necessarily we have done. That's true, oftentimes we do suffer from God governmental dealings, but here it's more God's governmental dealings in preparing a scene.
How many?
And that I meet in prison that tell stories.
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Of how God had to bring them down, even to prison, before they would bow the knee and accept forgiveness on the basis of grace.
And So what happens?
You see, God is sovereign and He sees that need.
In our lives, young people, after we're Christians, sometimes we have to have governmental dealings too.
We lose the sense of what grace brings us, and we become wayward until God calls us up short.
And he calls us up short. He puts us into problems not because he wants to do us harm.
Not because he wants to make life miserable.
He wants us to come to the end of ourselves.
So we cast ourselves on his grace.
And then we become blessers and worshippers.
And those who appreciate His ways with us.
And so I like to look at these two stories then as examples of this.
The disciples couldn't figure out why a man could be born blind. They knew that.
Blindness was a governmental punishment or dealing of God upon his soul, and how could a man who was born in that condition have done some wrong to deserve that? Or could? Was it possible that children, because of the sins of their parents, inherit?
A judgment like that? Neither one makes sense.
God ways are bigger than that.
God's ways are over all.
He can see beforehand what's necessary.
And say he saw that in this case it was necessary and he wanted to work a work of grace. He wanted to bring this man as a witness to his power.
His saving power, and so he allows them to be borne blind.
Is it worth it to be borne blind to have this happen to you?
You think this man afterwards had, Lamentations said, Oh, I wish there hadn't been. God hadn't worked that way with my life, No.
But maybe in the interim, questions might be asked. Look at this poor man, his predicament he's in. Maybe right now you are in that kind of a predicament. You don't see the end of the story.
Look up fellow Christian, look to this man who's controlling all this.
He's got a plan, a blessing for you.
I've seen his plan in my life many, many times.
And I become a worshipper.
The more I consider it, and you will too. This man became a worshipper.
He was willing to be led and you read through the chapter.
It's amazing chapter of people stumbling over problems.
Unbelief, Unbelief.
That's the besetting sin that it talks about in Hebrews unbelief.
Look up.
Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. It's a good thing.
The heart to be established with grace, and the governmental dealings of God go along parallel with that.
To cause us to lay hold of it.
May we thank Him, may it be encourage us to go on for the Lord.
You know, we're a small crowd here tonight, today.
Our assemblies go through problems.
And some of these were ongoing and we don't see the answers.
But I want to encourage our hearts with these two stories to as examples of what God is doing today with us here.
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In our assemblies.
No matter where you are in the story, in a hard part or in a happy part, and it will be always be a mixture of the two.
That bring out the most praise and worship from our hearts.
We have to admit that if life would all smooth, never any problems, we would begin to coast, wouldn't we? We would lose our forever. We would lose our sense of love, we would lose our sense of dependence upon the Lord, and so on. We need these things.
May the Lord help us then.
In closing, I'd like to sing together hymn #9.
Father, we thy children, bless thee, for thy love on us bestowed.
Source of blessing we confess thee now, our Father and our God.
Father, we die.