She was sitting on the front lawn talking with her grand daughter. Suddenly a car stopped and a man stepped out. He was dressed in the formal white uniform of a naval officer and decorated with a colorful array of ribbons.
He rushed up to the white haired lady, embraced her warmly and the two leaped into a lively conversation. “How have you been doing, where have you been?” Her questions were met with story after story and always punctuated with gratitude. Over and over he said, “I can never thank you enough. I wonder what would have happened if you had not been there.”
After he had left, she shared the story of her visitor.
She had been a school teacher for many years and he had been her student . His mother had died when he was at a very vulnerable, impressionable age and his father had been an alcoholic. The family was poor, the children neglected. But this teacher saw something special in her student, believed in him, and looked for ways to touch his life.
One day she heard a rumor that he had been accused of stealing ten dollars from another student. The Holy Spirit witnessed to her that it was true.
Before any action had been taken, she called him in to her room. She shared her concern for him, her appreciation for his abilities, her vision for his future. She told him that he was not bound by his father’s addiction or his family’s poverty; told him that he could rise above all that.
Then without discussing the issue of the stolen money, she placed ten dollars on her desk, told him he could pay it back by working in her yard, told him to pick it up, take it to the office, pay his debts and start over. He did and by his senior year he was recognized as a leader, an exemplary student and he received an appointment to the Naval Academy at Annapolis.
For many years, when he visited his hometown, he would stop to see his former teacher, pouring out his gratitude. He always asked with wistful wonderment, “Where would I be without you?”
Isn’t it amazing, the transforming power of God’s grace released through somebody? And where would we be without the miracle of grace?
Jesus was teaching one day on the temple grounds when suddenly a mob pushed through the crowd and a woman, weeping and terrified, was thrown down at the feet of Jesus. They were a lynch mob, hateful and wild. The leader of the pack snarled, Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say? (Jn. 8:4,5).
If they had caught this woman in the act of adultery, then where was the man? But they were not concerned with justice. They were out to trap Jesus. If He condemned her, he would appear heartless, appear to violate the grace and mercy He constantly poured out on broken lives. If he excused her, He would violate the Law of Moses and the holiness of God.
Jesus knelt in the dust and silently wrote. The words of Jesus amaze me but the silence of Jesus awes me even more. The mob, though, was not awed by the silence of Jesus. They persisted in their demand for a verdict.
Jesus then stood and no doubt looked each man in the eye. After several moments of silence, He spoke these well known words: He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her (Jn. 8:7). Again there was a heavy silence as Jesus refused to back away, stood before the mob as if He was prepared to take the first stone. Again Jesus knelt and wrote on the ground and one by one the men began to walk away.
Jesus was left alone with the woman. Here we have the most basic encounter in all the universe: Jesus kneeling to meet a sinner in the dust. Now the Lord stood and asked, ‘Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more’ (Jn. 8:10,11).
She passes out of the story and we’re not sure if we ever meet her again in the Gospels. There are many legends and stories about her. Some say that she was Mary Magdalen who followed Jesus with unswerving love. But there is no Scriptural evidence that this is true. Others say she was Mary the sister of Lazarus, who sat at the feet of Jesus in rapt devotion and anointed Him with perfume. Others say she was the woman who fell down at the feet of Jesus and washed His feet with her tears. But again, we have no evidence of this.
No one knows who she was but we know her life was transformed by the grace of God. Just as sin destroys everything it touches, God’s grace transforms everything it touches.
1. Grace transforms:
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17).
God met a murderer named Moses, transformed Him by grace and used this man to lead the Hebrew nation out of slavery, through the wilderness, all the way to the Jordan River. God met a religious bigot who shared in the execution and beating of many Christens and transformed him into the great evangelist, church planter and writer of Scripture, Paul the Apostle.
God’s grace transforms every person, every circumstance it touches.
2. Grace is always free, abundant and costly:
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace (Eph 1:7). The storehouse of God’s grace is infinite and eternal and freely bestowed on all who will kneel before the Savior. But grace is released through the immeasurably costly gift of Christ’s life blood, poured out for us.
3. Grace is never an excuse to sin:
People say, “God will forgive me so I can do anything I want.” No, God judges sin because sin destroys. To the woman laying in the dust before Him, Jesus said, Neither do I condemn you, because she was already under condemnation, being destroyed by her sin. Jesus came to introduce her to the grace that saved and transformed her life. He also said, Go and sin no more.
4. The word of God is God’s instrument for releasing grace:
We were separated from God by our sin, spiritually dead and spiritually blind but the word of God which is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebr. 4:12), the Word of God pierced into our innermost being, awakened us to our sin, and awakened us to God’s grace.
And though the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing … to us who are being saved it is the power of God (I Cor. 1:18).
The Apostle Peter said, For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God (I Peter 1:23).
The living word of God is the instrument by which the Lord awakened us to His grace and opened our lives to His grace so He could pour out His grace upon us.
5. The Church is God’s instrument for proclaiming grace:
In the closing days of His ministry with His disciples, Jesus said, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:18-20).
Among His final words to His disciples are these, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8).
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe (I Cor. 1:21).
The Church is God’s instrument for proclaiming grace, as Paul reminds us, How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? (Rom. 10:14).
So it was that Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit on the church so that we could be vessels of grace, proclaimers of grace, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8).
Every truly redeemed follower of Christ has the same essential biography as the woman thrown down at the feet of Jesus. We sinned and our sin cast us down in the dust of death. But there we met a Savior who stooped to our dust, who bore our sin, died our death. As our risen Lord, He lavishes redeeming grace upon us.
We are not called to excuse sin. Neither are we called to condemn sinners for all are already under condemnation. We are called to proclaim grace, pour out grace, introduce sinners to a Savior whose grace is sufficient to redeem and transform.
On a Sunday evening, a church in Scotland celebrated Holy Communion. As the steward came to a young woman, he noticed she was weeping. He gently offered her the bread and cup but she shook her head, tears running down her cheeks. He came back a few moments later and offered again. But again she shook her head.
The humble, wise steward leaned over and whispered, “Take it Lassie, it’s for sinners.”
The Apostle Paul reminds us, These whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified (Rom. 8:30). Before there was a universe the Lord purposed our destiny — that we would be called, justified and glorified. We are not yet glorified — that refers to the fulfillment of God’s salvation purpose in us when we stand before Him in resurrection glory. But that event is so certain, Paul uses a past tense verb — whom He justified, He also glorified — it is declared, established. That which we will inherit someday is already our possession. We are experiencing now that which we will someday receive in fulness.
Before there was a universe, God chose to lavish His grace on a someday fallen race. He took human form to offer Himself as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. The God / Man wrapped Himself in our death and then exploded death from the inside out.
When we were separated from God by our sin and entangled in sin’s destruction, He came to us, awakened us by grace, opened our spiritual eyes to perceive Him by grace, turned our heart to receive Him by grace, blessed us with a new birth and a transformed life by grace. And though there will be tests and trials in this walk of grace, we may be certain, this God of grace will keep us by grace through time into eternity.
All is grace.
Many years ago a woman wrote the words to this familiar hymn,
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt
yonder at Calvary's mount outpoured there where the blood of the Lamb was spilt
Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, freely bestowed on all who believe
you that are longing to see His face, will you this moment His grace receive
Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse from sin
Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that is greater than all our sin
(Julia Harriette Johnston, 1849-1919)
All is grace.
Take it and share it my brothers and sisters, it’s for sinners.