A Life of Grace

Happy Sabbath, everyone! Hope you've been enjoying this beautiful day! It's not raining in Cincinnati right now, so it's an accomplishment today. So we can enjoy maybe just a little bit of sunshine, which would really be wonderful. For those on the webcast, if it hasn't been raining where you are, we've got plenty to share with you. They tell me that the ark down in Kentucky is actually floating. There's been so much rain. Okay, maybe not, but we definitely have had plenty of rain. Now, you may have heard the story about the little boy who was at services, and the pastor was giving a sermon on grace. And it was going on and on, and there's so many facets to the subject. It just seemed like it was never going to end. Finally, the sermon came to an end, and that little boy ran right up to the pastor afterwards, and that was pretty impressive. And the little boy said to the pastor, you know, I'd like to show you some grace, and when I grow up, I want to give you lots of money. The pastor was, wow, that's really, really nice of you, but why do you want to do that?

Well, he said, my daddy told me that you're the poorest preacher we've ever had.

I'm not sure if the pastor exhibited grace on that little boy or not. He probably thought of some other things he'd like to do. But it is a challenge to live a life of grace. Can you accomplish that? Is that even possible to live a life of grace? Are there any biblical examples of how to do that that illustrate the point? Or is grace not really even that important? And what is it after all, and what does it have to do with the way that I live my life? Well, if you begin to think about that, where do you think we'd find the best example of a life of grace? Okay, you're way ahead of me. Of course, Jesus Christ would be the one. What about the way that Christ exhibited grace? Did he really show a life, a lifestyle of living by grace? Was he a person of grace? Was he one that showed favor? Or maybe he was just a guy who kind of liked those 12 other men that he was hanging around with, and he favored them. He appreciated them. But what about other people? What did he do by exhibiting an example of grace? What kind of grace did he live? Does he expect us to show favor to others? Does he expect us to show, by example, what our character should be? Hopefully you're probably thinking, well, yeah, yeah, yeah, I would think so. But let's take a look at the beginning for a moment. John 1, no, I'm not going to Genesis, but John 1 begins to give us some insight into the example of Christ. And as we think about that example, do we see how it should be a fact in our life, in the way that Christ lives, setting an example for us? And here in John 1, it gives us the very, very beginning, and the beginning was the Word. Christ was there as everything was coming together. Ultimately, that one who created all things became flesh. Look at John 1, verse 14. Verse 14, it says, the Word became flesh, dwelt among us. We beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So how much grace did Christ exhibit? Well, here it says He was full of grace, not only grace, but also truth. He's characterized by grace. And when you think about that for a moment and think about this connection to the Word, as the Word, He was also the Lawgiver, the one through whom God created all things. He's the one then that became flesh and became a human being. He was like us. And so in the form of a human, in fleshly existence, He lived among us. And what characterized that existence? Grace and truth. In fact, in verse 15, it says, John bore witness of Him. Now, that's not the John that's writing. This isn't the Apostle John. But here he talks about John the Baptist. The baptizer, it says, He cried out and said, This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. And so he uses an interesting word here that we beheld His glory. He was among us.

He was before me. He was there, preferred that way. And we beheld Him. We actually did hold Him. We hugged Him. We put our arms around Him. For three and a half years He was with us, a part of this life, experiencing this life. And they knew it. They saw it. He lived it. And they were there.

And He's not just saying this to fill some space. He's talking about this very profound experience of the Savior dwelling with mankind, being God in the flesh, right there with Him. Because verse 16 begins to expound on that very thought. Look at verse 16.

Of His fullness we have all received. So they're expressing the fact the fullness of truth and grace was something they experienced. And then to explain it a little bit further, He says, and grace for grace. Kind of an odd way to word it, isn't it? What is He talking about here?

When John says we've received this fullness, all of us, but then grace for grace. Did He just kind of mess up and use the same word twice there? Is that what He was doing here? What does He really mean? What did Christ exhibit? What was His example? How did Christ live His life? Well, He points to grace for grace. Literally receiving blessing upon blessing.

Favor upon favor. Or a different way to think of it. Grace that now is heaped upon more grace, covered by additional favor. Things that are undeserved, continuing to be piled one upon another and upon another. So grace in place of grace that's already been given. So to get the idea, we're talking about a superlative kind of thing. This is the best. This is the greatest. That's the kind of favor that God pours upon us. And it's far superior to anything that had happened before. Even more so superior to anything we could say that was given under the law. That's the kind of grace that Christ brought. Grace upon grace.

And that kind of favor consists of being pardoned of sin. Fully removing sin. It talks about God's protection and His blessing. It talks about redemption. And this is all undeserved. Things that we don't deserve. So it entails the free gift of God's blessing. Which ultimately points to salvation and eternal life. And how is all of that possible? By grace. By God's grace. His impact on our hearts and our minds and our thinking all comes. Not because we deserve it, but because God is who He is. And He loves us and He cares for us and pours out grace upon grace. Now it's interesting He makes a contrast here in verse 17. It says, the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Now, it doesn't say it does away with the law. That's not here, is it? And it doesn't mean that absolutely no grace came through Moses. Or that was no grace in the old covenant. And definitely not saying that at all, because all of that, all of that was still done through grace, wasn't it? Did God show favor on Israel, bringing them out of Egypt? I mean, no doubt about that. He showed them grace and mercy, brought them out of slavery, brought them to the Promised Land. What did they do to deserve that? Nothing. Nothing at all. The law itself is a matter of grace, isn't it? Because it's by the law, we know what sin is. Without God's law, we would have absolutely no idea what sin entails. But the law shows us what sin is. And so even that law was for the benefit of man, for his own good. So it too was a matter of grace. But Christ here is drawing a contrast. John's spelling it out for us under God's inspiration. The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth comes through Jesus Christ. Because even under the terms of the old law, when it was violated, could a person change? Could they then come and give a sacrifice? And sin could be covered. Certainly that was the case under the old covenant, no doubt. And that allowed them to continue to be a part of the covenant people. They were blessed because of that. Because ultimately sin could be atoned for. So it would be wrong to assume there's this massive separation between law and grace. Because the law itself is a matter of grace. But the point he's bringing us to help us to see here is now this grace is extended to us personally.

Personally, through Jesus Christ, we can be called to God's way. And we, personally, individually and collectively, can experience the grace of God. Because God knew that man would sin. We are weak. We are human beings who fall short of God's way.

And because he favors us, he makes it possible that we can come to a relationship with him. He can seek forgiveness. And so now grace is extended to us personally. Christ in the flesh makes that possible. And he lived that life so that we can have sin forgiven and we can experience God's grace. And so what did Christ do? He extends grace. He was the living, breathing example of what grace and favor is all about. God's gift to us, his favor to us. And personally, he shows us how to live a life of grace. Have you thought much about how he actually did that? How did he extend grace to people even while he was there for that three and a half years?

How did he extend that grace of God to people that he came across? What did they do to deserve his grace? Let's think about that for a moment. There's an interesting section in Mark 2. Let's take a look at Mark 2 to get an idea of how Christ lived a life of grace. Mark 2 will begin in verse 3. Mark 2, verse 3, familiar section of Scripture.

Here, Christ is healing a man. This paralytic is brought to Christ. Some translations say it's a paraplegic, a man that's unable to move for whatever reason. We're not sure exactly what the problem was, but they brought this man to Christ. And they did it in a very interesting way. Verse 3, it says, They came to him bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. When they couldn't come near him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was. So if you can imagine this situation, it says, They had broken through, and they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.

Obviously, this didn't take place in Cincinnati, where it's been pouring rain for the last six months, I guess. They just took the roof off and put down this man who couldn't move. And what was Christ's reaction to this? Well, verse 5 says, When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven you. The reaction of the people? Verse 6, Some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts.

Why does this man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone? Oh, not a good thing to be thinking. Christ knows exactly what they're thinking. Here we see, Christ immediately perceived in His Spirit, They reasoned thus within themselves. He knows exactly what they're thinking. And He says, Why do you reason about these things in your heart? Which is it easier to say? Is it easier to say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven you?

Or to say, Arise, take your bed and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. He said to the paralytic, I say to you, Arise, take up your bed, go to your house. And immediately He arose, took up His bed, went out of the presence of them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, We never saw anything like this. I mean, this was an unheard of example. This experience was something that had never happened before. This man had his sins forgiven right before their eyes. They didn't like the fact that this happened. They were questioning Christ about this.

And you wonder, well, why would they? Isn't this an amazing miracle that the man was healed? He got up? Yeah, but he didn't go through the right process, did he? Wasn't he supposed to get a turtle dove and go to the temple and sacrifice and go through all of these things? And then, maybe then you might heal him. No, he didn't go through the prescribed fashion, did he? I mean, do we see here, they lowered the man down and he repented of his sins. He doesn't say that either, does it? Did he just simply have faith? It doesn't really say that either, does it? I mean, it does say, verse 5, Jesus saw their faith.

Well, whose faith did he see? Did he see the people that came down, that led him down through the roof? Was it the man himself that he healed? Was it someone else? Or was he seeing a lack of faith? He saw their faith and it wasn't much. Well, we don't really know. It doesn't really say. But we see Christ forgiving this man's sin.

In fact, he did it both ways, didn't he? He said, your sins are forgiven, and then he turned around and said, take up your bed and walk. He did both. He did both. And what did he do?

He extended grace to this man who couldn't move. But he did it outside of what would seem to be the normal procedure, didn't he?

Now, what's also interesting, if we go a little bit farther to Mark 7. Mark 7, verse 24. You can follow along here if you'd like, but I'm going to turn over to Matthew 15.

Matthew 15 and Mark 7 tell another story about healing. Let's notice what happens in this situation. I mean, is this just a one-time occurrence that Christ healed this guy and seems kind of out of the ordinary? Well, when we look at Matthew 15, it's the same story as in Mark 7. We have a couple of little different details here in Matthew 15. But look at verse 21.

So Christ leaves there and He departs to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Verse 22, Matthew 15, Behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him. Now, in Mark it says, a Syrophoenician woman. What does that tell us? She's not a Jewish woman. She's a foreigner. She's not a part of the covenant people. She's in the red zone. She's like, oh boy, look out. We don't have anything to do with her if we're a good Jew. That's where she's at. What does she do? She comes to Christ.

Verse 22, She cries out to Him and says, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely demon-possessed. So if Christ then heard her, immediately He's going to heal that woman, just like He healed a paralytic, right? Or heal her daughter. What does He do? He answered her, not a word. So in a way He says, talk to the hand.

He ignores her. Well, why would He do that? Why would Christ ignore this woman who has a daughter that's demon-possessed? It's interesting, the disciples' reaction. His disciples came to Him and urged Him, saying, Send her away, for she cries out after us. But Christ keeps silent. He ignores her. The disciples are saying, This woman is getting on our nerves. Can you just tell her to get lost?

We don't have anything to do with this woman. I mean, look who she is. Why would we want to even talk to this woman? That would be the normal reaction. But then in verse 24, Christ just answers and says, I wasn't sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So we have a little bit of an explanation. But how is He responding to her? I think it's important to note this. I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Then, She came and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, help me. Now He would heal her, right? Nope. Verse 26. But He answered and said, It's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. Wow! That doesn't sound like grace to me. But, man, the world does that fit in with the character of Christ filled with grace and truth. And He can say something like that. Wow! What's He getting at? He's using this as a teaching moment, trying to help this woman to see a greater truth. What's the greater truth that He's driving at here?

Well, here's this foreigner, this woman who's not a part of the covenant people. And is she assuming anything? I think when we read the story, she is. How did she begin this conversation with Christ? She began, verse 22, by saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David. She's kind of including herself in the group, isn't she? Oh, you're the Son of David. You ought to heal me just as well.

You ought to heal my daughter, because, you know, I should be a part of this. And that He should heal her daughter because He was the Son of David. So she's kind of acting like she's a Jew. Like she's a part of the covenant people when she's not. She's not. Jesus Christ understood, without a doubt, she was not a part of the group. So He says, Let the children be filled first.

For it's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. Now that sounds demeaning, especially if you read it like that. I don't think that's the inflection that He used, though. I think He's just making a point. First things first.

God has a plan. God has a purpose. And that statement was made to help teach her something. To help her to identify and realize a critical factor here. And look at this change. Look at this shift in the lady's thinking. Verse 27. And she said, Yes, Lord, even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. A little bit of shift of attitude here. From saying, You're the son of David, heal my daughter to, even the little dogs get a little snack once in a while. And so she has this change of attitude.

And look at the difference in Christ's response. And Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, great is your faith. Let it be to you as you desire. And her daughter was healed from that very hour. Now did Jesus show grace to her because she was a Jewish? No, not at all.

Did He show grace to her because she had a change of perspective? No, not really. I mean, here in this example, same with the paralytic, first of all, they asked. They asked to be healed. They believed at some extent to another that Jesus Christ would and could heal them. That's very true. To some extent, there was some level of humility that was necessary.

There was a sense of a contrite spirit, I guess you could say. But it certainly wasn't the fact or the reason why He heals. Yeah, we could say the woman didn't express that to start with. She more or less expected it to happen. But certainly she wanted it to happen. And as we look at this event, there is one thing that is missing. Okay, maybe she demonstrated a level of faith here. But did you notice?

There's no repentance here. There's not a change where she's changed her mind that Christ said, Okay, now that you've repented, I'll heal your daughter. It's not here. It's not here. I mean, we might be able to say, well, she sort of changed her attitude. Yeah. But we don't see that type of repentance that Peter talked about in Acts 2. Repent and be baptized. We don't find that here.

What we do find is Christ extending grace to people that don't deserve it, showing mercy and love, even when they didn't follow the prescription of repentance and baptism.

They request it, and Christ is willing to bless them. And so what we do find is Christ extending mercy and grace and love in general, not just to His chosen people, not just because I'm a full-fledged believer, not because I've repented and dusted ashes and accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior and Mass. No, not because of those things.

In fact, we find that kind of missing in these stories, in fact, not just in these stories, in so many of the examples as Christ went through His ministry. Now, if you're in Mark, stay in Mark. But if not, if you're in Matthew with me, flip back over to Mark 7. Mark 7, an interesting occurrence happens right after this, to help cement this point even further. Let's notice what's going on in Mark 7, verse 31. Mark 7, verse 31, He departs from Tyre and Sidon. Now what happens? It says He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis. So He comes to the Sea of Galilee. Now look what happens.

Word is getting out. Christ heals. Verse 32, they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in His speech. It says they begged Him to put His hand on Him. So they're begging Christ to lay hands and heal this man. Something crazy kind of happens in this situation. What does He do? Verse 33, He took Him aside from the multitude and put His fingers in His ear. And then it says He spat and touched His tongue. So let's see, I spit on my hand and touch His tongue.

That's disgusting! Are you kidding me? Why would you? Wouldn't that be the thing? Oh, that's really gross. And get your finger out of my ear! That's really odd, isn't it? But look at the results. It says, Christ looked up to heaven, He sighed and said to Him, Epetha, that is, be opened.

Be open! What a powerful prayer! Immediately it says His ears were open, and the impediment of His tongue was loosed, and He spoke plainly. I could use that for some of my sermons. It comes out just the way I intended it to come out. Talk about a powerful miracle that takes place. Then Christ says that He commanded them they shouldn't tell anyone. But you know human nature. The more He commanded them, the more they widely proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure.

Yeah, I think that's probably an understatement, wouldn't you say? He makes the deaf and the mute, the deaf to hear and the mute to speak. And so this powerful miracle takes place. And how does it happen? Because of the grace, the free gift, this blessing that He poured out upon this man, grace upon grace, undeserved, no prerequisite. He isn't said to have followed the formula to repent and be baptized. Christ simply heals Him. Well, not simply. He does this amazing miracle and heals this man.

Because He could. Because it was His to give. He gave it. Because He could do it, He did it. And when He was asked, He was giving those blessings. And yeah, we could say they exhibited some level of faith. But when we look at the model, whether it was sacrificing or repentance, it's not here. Now, of course, it's not saying that at some point repentance isn't required, because it absolutely is. It isn't saying that obedience isn't required, because at some point it absolutely is.

There's no doubt about that, so we can remember that as a disclaimer. But the powerful point that Christ is making is that He and God can, and they do, extend grace whenever they want, to anyone they want, without requirements, without prerequisites.

And that is vital for us to recognize Christ's example. If we're to live a life of grace, we have to look and understand, what did Christ do, and why did He do it? And what were His expectations? We can see here, boy, He set the bar pretty low, didn't He?

He did it because He could. He did it because He could. And I think that helps us to recognize that grace is such an amazing concept when it comes to an application in our life. Because Christ not only showed it in these types of examples, and we could keep going one after another after another, but He also wants us to see grace from another perspective when it comes to living a life of grace. So we look at His example, but look at the perspective that we find in Luke 7.

So not Mark 7. Let's turn over to the book of Luke. In Luke 7, we find another familiar story. But as we read through this story, let's look at it from the perspective that Christ looked at this situation.

Because I believe He wants us to see grace from another perspective so that we can build upon this. So we can recognize the undeserved favor, the free gift, the pardon, the blessings that He is so willing to pour out on us. Luke 7, we're going to begin in verse 36. Luke 7, verse 36.

It says, Now it seems like probably a little simple meal, but probably not as simple as it may seem. The Pharisees, who were they? They were the leaders. They were the religious leaders of the day. Oftentimes, they would throw themselves big banquets. And who would you invite to your banquet if you're important? Other important people. So you get the other Pharisees to come. You get the other bigwigs to come. You get people who are famously healing people to come. Because it gives you that eye of importance. And so that's probably what's happening here. The Pharisee asks him, he goes. That itself is an example of the grace that Christ showed. And then something interesting happens. Can you imagine this scenario? They sat down to eat. Verse 37.

Wow, that's kind of weird. How did this woman get in here anyway? I guess she knew she had a captive audience. They sat down to eat. And of course, they didn't have the dining room tables like we have. They're kind of lounging. Christ can't get out. He's not going anywhere. I've got a captive audience here. So she shows up. How'd she get in the house anyway? I don't know. We're not told. Maybe they thought she was just a servant girl. And okay, I guess she's going to come and do something for the meal. Maybe that's what they were thinking. But that is definitely not what happens. So she comes in. She has this fragrant oil. And she's crying. She's weeping, wailing. And if that isn't enough, she began to wash his feet with her tears. Okay, now that's almost as bad as touching the tongue thing. It's like, what are you doing to my feet? So she washes his...that's a lot of tears. That's a lot of tears. And then it says she wiped them with the hair of her head. I never saw that happen at Passover. I forgot my towel. Let me use my hair.

So she uses her hair, and then it says she kissed his feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.

What did Christ do? It's like, lady, get away from me. Get away from me. You're embarrassing me. Would you just knock it off? In fact, how'd you get in here? Would you just leave? It is totally inappropriate for you to be doing this.

Okay, he didn't do any of that. He never said anything like that. He exhibits grace. He knew where she was coming from. More than likely, when it talks about her being a sinner, she's a prostitute. And yet she comes in and washes his feet and weeps and then anoints them. He was very mindful of who she was and what she was doing and how she felt about it. And he was not about to embarrass her. He was not about to call her out. Even though he's in the bigwig's house, Simon the Pharisee's house, he doesn't call her out. He was in front of all these other people. And what does he do? He extends grace and he accepted what she did and recognized her pure reasons. And he accepted that very thing.

But the story doesn't end there. Not only does he extend grace to this woman, we see the reaction of the rest of the guests, especially Simon, verse 39. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, we've already saw how speaking to yourself isn't a good thing. Christ still knows what's... It's okay to talk to yourself, but don't answer. Is that the other thing? I don't know, something like that. Well, Christ already knew what's going on here. He's speaking to himself. I'm not sure if he's muttering or just thinking this. He's thinking, if this man were a prophet, he'd know who and what manner of woman this is who's touching him. For she's a sinner. Well, Christ knew that. Christ knew that. But he also knew what they were thinking about, what she was doing, and what they were thinking about what she was doing.

Kind of scary when you think of it in those terms. I mean, you probably wouldn't invite Christ to dinner if he knew exactly what you were thinking all the time, would you? But what does he do then as he reacts to Simon's thoughts? Well, now's the time to drop the hammer, because this guy is totally off, right? Well, wait a second here. Look what Christ does in response, verse 40. Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I've got something to say to you. He says, teacher, say it. In fact, this becomes a teachable moment. Is it the time of hard correction? Is he going to drop the hammer on this guy, or what is he going to do? He tells a story. He tells a story. Isn't that interesting? So he tells a story. Verse 41, there was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed 500 denarii, the other 50. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him more? Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And he said to him, you have rightly judged. Kind of interesting. What is Christ doing? He's extending grace. Simon didn't deserve it. I mean, he's a judgmental pig-headed, highfalutin Pharisee. He didn't deserve any of that kind of treatment. But Christ gives grace. He knows exactly how to handle this situation. He didn't embarrass the woman. He's not going to embarrass Simon either. I mean, is he mad at him? Do you see any anger in this? I mean, even as he goes on, he says, well, this woman gave water for my feet. She washed them. You didn't. You didn't kiss me, but she did. I don't think this is correction. He's just pointing out the facts. Pointing out the facts in this way. He's teaching him. He's just telling the story of what happened. He doesn't scold you and say, well, you should have known better. I'm surprised at you, Simon. What's wrong with your thinking? What's the deal? Well, you didn't do any of that. He was gracious. Christ was polite. He was tactful. Tactful in the way He handled Simon. Tactful in the way that He handled the woman.

So when we see grace from that perspective, we have to ask ourselves, would I be that generous? I want payback. You did that to me? I want justice. That's wrong. Correct the guy. He's totally out of line. But that's not what Christ did. That's not what He did. So when we begin to think about that, well, how far am I supposed to go? When it comes to grace, how far did Christ go to live a life of grace? And how far would we go? If we look back to Matthew 5, verse 38, a familiar section of Scripture where Christ is teaching.

And in these teachings, He makes an interesting point to bring a number of worlds together. Let's notice what He says here, familiar passage again. Matthew 5, 38. You have heard it said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. Okay, where did He come up with that one? Well, that was in the law. That was in the law. Well, is Christ taking issue with the law? No, He gave the law. He was the law giver. He's not taking issue with the law. What does He take issue with? Whether it's this concept, whether it's Sabbath observance, whether it's...

What does He take issue with, especially with the Pharisees? The application of the law. That is the issue. The way they understood it and the way they applied it. So Christ is not taking issue with the rule of judgment. That there has to be judgment. But in this case, who rules an eye for an eye? Who rules a tooth for a tooth? Well, in the law, that would be the judge. That would be the elders that decide those things, not an individual. But see, we fast forward to the New Testament, this time of Christ.

These people were taking it upon themselves to make those judgments. And so they applied this to their personal relationships. Well, I've got to get even with these people, because we need exact judgment for whatever is done. Somebody does something to me, I want justice. And that's the way the people were applying this law. You want to live eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth?

You do this to me, I'm doing that to you. You do that to me, I'll do worse to you. I'll get you back for that. And that's the way they were applying this. You do good for me, I'll be nice to you. That was the principle that so many of them were living by. You take offense to the things that are said to you. I've got my feelings hurt.

Every little thing I'm keeping track of because I'm getting even. You see, that's where the people were at and oftentimes we find ourselves in that kind of frame of mind. But what does Christ say about that? Verse 39. Christ says, I tell you not to resist an evil person. Huh? What do you mean? Don't resist. I don't like what they did. They dissed me.

They put me down. They did it in front of other people. Don't resist an evil person. What do you mean? Well, He goes on. He says, whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to Him also. Don't resist an evil person. Okay, we can see here, He's not talking about. My family is being attacked by a predator. Oh, don't resist evil. That's not what He's saying here. He's not talking about that. We know we have to protect our families. He's not talking about that in any way. You can defend yourself. You can defend your family.

There are situations where this is perfectly the thing to do. In fact, you have to do that. What's He talking about here? He's talking about the little things. He's talking about the trivial things. He's saying it's a lot better to take wrong than try to justify and get justice on every single little thing. Somebody said something and it wasn't appropriate and what do you got to do? You're going to nail them to the wall? Is that your job? Are you the judge? Is that what you're supposed to do? You got to get even? Because you heard somebody gossiped about you? Well, let me tell you. I'm going to get even with that person.

Now He's saying, don't. Don't do that. Don't resist the evil person. That's their problem. That's their problem. And so what happened in these cases? Well, everybody's taking everybody to task. Everybody's taking everybody to court and the situation's escalated higher and higher and higher. It grows and grows. And that's how situations tend to develop tit for tat. And now it's totally out of hand. And so Christ says, rather than get into that frame of mind, let it go. Extend grace. Can you do that? Well, what does grace do?

It overlooks it. It moves on. It doesn't try to bring every single situation into justice.

It doesn't do that. In fact, when we look at Christ's example, He doesn't even make them feel bad.

All right, I'll let you get away with that, but let me tell you how you made me feel. Did you know this is how it made me feel? What you did? Because I want to make you feel bad the way I feel bad. That's not grace. Okay, well, I'll let it go. But let me talk to you for about half an hour about what you did and how you did and what happened here and what had affected me.

And did you know that this is one of the results of that? And I'm going to give you a lecture, and I've got a longer sermon than you heard on the Sabbath about this whole thing.

I mean, you don't see that either. Christ didn't do that. He didn't give the lecture. He didn't give the sermon. He didn't make a federal case out. He said, let it go. Let it go. And that's grace. That's the grace that Christ exhibited. Because think about the situations in His life. How many times was He slandered? How many times did people say horrible things about the Son of God? How many times did He have to deal with that? Over and over and over. And what example did He give? What did He leave for us? He left this beautiful example of grace.

And He continued to shine that light of grace. In fact, we look down to verse 40. He says, okay, if you don't understand it yet, let me give you another example. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. Okay, He doesn't say, they're going to come and steal your house away from you and rip you off and leave you home.

He didn't say that. You better defend yourself if that's the case. But He's saying, somebody wants your coat? What's the big deal? Is that some big thing that we've got to get so all worried about? Or can you just let it go?

What did Christ do? He's not saying, well, they're trying to steal your wife and your family. Oh, just turn... No, He's not saying that. In fact, He uses another example, verse 41. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with Him two. And of course, first century Roman Empire, a Roman courier could compel you to take that letter. You've got to walk it a mile and they could force you to do that. Of course, what do you think the Jews thought about that?

A rotten Romans... Yeah, they didn't like it at all. They would do it, but they couldn't get out of doing that. Is it really that big a deal? Do I have to pretend like I'm lame so I don't have to carry that letter? No, Christ says, all right, they want you to go one. Be full of grace. Go to. Go to. Cooperate with them. It's not that big a deal. And so Christ set that example and showed that example.

He came with grace. He taught grace. He lived grace. And people completely missed it. They didn't understand it. And they didn't recognize the example that was set before them. And so when He says, verse 42, Give to Him who asks you, and from Him who wants to borrow from you, don't turn away. Don't turn away. And so they came to Christ and they said, I need this. I need this healing. My son is sick. He's throwing himself into the fire. I have a daughter who's demon-possessed. I have someone that's had this issue for all these years. Please heal me.

And what did He do? I don't know. Do you deserve it? No, He didn't ask that. Well, okay, what have you been doing the last 24 hours? He didn't ask Him that. Well, what was the problem that led you into this? I didn't really ask Him that either. Well, it must have been your childhood. It must have been the way you were talking. He didn't do that. And He doesn't. Look at the examples of Christ. The grace of Christ is extraordinary. And it's freely given. That's the nature of grace. Because Christ had the authority, He had the power to hold these people accountable.

But He gave a greater expression of grace. I mean, there is accountability coming, so don't think that that's not the case. Because all the world will be held accountable at some point. And people will have to respond to the grace of God. No doubt about that. But He was teaching a better way. Verse 43, He says, You've heard it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But Christ turns it all around, and I say, verse 44, Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

Wow, what a great definition of how to live a life of grace. Bless those that curse you. Do good even when people hate you. Pray for those who use you. That's how to do it. I mean, when we think of this, how in the world could I love my enemy? This person is cursing me. They hate me. They don't like me. We'll talk kindly about them. We don't return it in kind. Return good for evil.

That's the lesson here. Pray for them. Pray for them. Because I know we pray for God's mercy on us. Should we pray for God's mercy for them? All the more so because we've experienced it, haven't we? Have you experienced God's grace? His mercy? His undeserved favor? His pardon of your sins? Acquitting you? The guilt? Yes, we know what that's like. And because we know it, how much better should we be equipped then to extend that grace to others? That's Christ's example. We've received it, and so we can extend it. In fact, verse 45, He says that very fact. That you may be sons of your Father in heaven, for He makes the Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

But you don't know my neighbor. He's a lousy, lazy cheater who would get away with everything and never returns my tools when I borrow him. I tell you, it's a mess.

Is it raining on His property too? Well, it's raining everywhere right now. Okay, so maybe a bad example. Yeah, but it is raining for them. In fact, their garden looks pretty nice. That's the grace that we extend. He's showing us we have to imitate that mindset that we extend mercy even when it's not deserved.

We extend favor even though they treat us wrong. Verse 46, if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Don't even the tax collectors do the same. If you greet the brethren only, what do you do more than others do? Don't even the tax collectors do so. And so God says, act like I do. Follow the example of Christ. Live a life of grace. Because your heavenly Father hasn't done bad things to you.

In fact, we see that in whatever the circumstances, we have to illustrate that in our lives. I mean, we can take it to the highest level. What's the highest level of this type of grace that's extended in the Bible? If you had to think of the ultimate illustration, the ultimate event that took place, to demonstrate God's grace, what would it be? Think of the crucifixion. Christ is dying. He's dying. And what does He pray?

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. They were mocking Him. They were making fun of Him. They jammed those thorns on His head. He was bleeding. He was scourged. He was beaten. Every excuse not to extend grace, but He still does. And it's... I can't even take care of these little things. And here's Christ, the ultimate, extending grace, asking God to forgive them.

I want to be like that. That's how I need to be. In fact, we're told we need to be just that way. Over in the book of 2 Peter, I think with all this background, it brings home the point that I believe Peter is making to us here in 2 Peter chapter 3, beginning in verse 17. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 17.

As we consider the kind of example that Jesus Christ set, how He lived this life of grace, how He showed grace from so many different perspectives, and how He did it time after time and went the full distance possible to show the grace of God, I think it brings the depth of meaning to what Peter is telling us here in 2 Peter chapter 3. Look at verse 17. Peter says, Okay, we have a responsibility to follow God, to obey, to do His will. No doubt about that. But then he says something interesting in verse 18.

He says, Peter is reminding us here, as God's people, He has bestowed grace upon grace upon grace to us. Grow in your ability to show grace to others in your life. The same grace that Christ has shown us, we have to extend to others. We should pray, help me to grow in my capacity to exhibit grace, to sustain that same kind of favor that Christ showed to me, that I may do that to others, in the church, out of the church, wherever, every opportunity.

To apply that grace, to grow in the application. How in my life can I apply this and put this into practice? God, give me the skill. Give me the ability to demonstrate the kind of grace that Christ did. Because it wasn't just an action for Christ, was it? It wasn't just an event. It was who He was. It was His character.

And we want to be like that. Christ has extended that grace to us. Let us grow in grace, so that we may have the capacity to extend the kind of mercy and love and grace that He has given to us, to others. Let's put it on display. He's given us the ability, through the power of His Holy Spirit, to demonstrate that very aspect of His character. So let's be determined to have the most kind, the most generous approach to everyone. Be merciful to everyone. Have a big-hearted approach, no matter what. Because ultimately our calling is to have that very goal, to grow and to live a life full of grace.