The more I have got into ministry and the more I have studied
theology, the more I have realised two things
- Firstly, I
have realised that what was said of old is generally of much greater worth than
what is said today. As Charles Spurgeon
once proclaimed
“Should we not hear learned essays upon advanced theology? No
sir; when the devil inspires the church we have ‘modern theology’; but when the
Spirit is among us that rubbish is shot out with loathing.”
- Secondly, I
have learned that the very heart of God is found in one word – GRACE. As much as humans have tried to cover this
truth up, the Spirit of God has led people to rediscover it.
"the very heart of God is found in one word – GRACE"
When the early Christian heretics like those we call
‘Gnostics’ tried to hide the heart of the Lord behind claims of hidden
knowledge and secret things, the Spirit raised up a man named Irenaeus.
When that most destructive of heretics, Pelagius, tried to
distract God’s children from His freely given love, the Holy Spirit came and
turned a sinner like Augustine to Christ.
When the Pope smothered the truth of God so well it all but disappeared,
the Holy Spirit gave strength to John Wycliffe to be that bright Morning Star
of the Reformation – a time when He raised up the likes of Luther and Calvin,
Cranmer and Zwingli.
When modern theology tried to undermine the Gospel the Spirit
inspired Spurgeon and the likes of Roy Hession.
Today, the Holy Spirit calls on each and every one of us to
live lives that speak above all else of the grace of God. To live lives that speak of a love, freely
given but totally undeserved. A love
that cost the Father the life of His only begotten Son, that we who betrayed
Him might be adopted as His children.
So thinking of grace and old truths I thought it best to look
to the Old Testament and the grace we find there.
Many people seem to think that there are two gods – the god
of the Old Testament who is bitter, judgemental, and cruel, and the god of the
New Testament who is loving and gentle and kind. One is all hellfire and
brimstone, holding a lightning bolt in His hand ready to smite any who put even
a toe out of line. And one who is like a
model from a shampoo advert, stroking lambs and singing to birds like a Disney
Princess.
The problem is that both of those images are utter nonsense –
they are even blasphemous. As God Himself tells us in Leviticus:
“God is not a man who
lies, or a son of man who changes His mind”
God is the same,
yesterday, today, and forever.
Grace is, and always has been, at the centre of God’s
heart. So let’s look at the Old
Testament and see the grace of God that we might adore Him more and know with
greater certainty the truth that we are not saved or made right with God by the
'good' things we do but by His sovereign grace.
The word ‘grace’ first appears in the Bible in Genesis
6.8. Now most of your Bibles will read
something like this “But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord.” But once again the old is better and the more
truthful than the new. John Wycliffe and
John Purvey first translated the Bible into English in the 14th
century and they translated Genesis 6.8 like this:
“Forsooth, Noah found GRACE before the Lord.”
How much better does that sound! FORSOOTH! I feel a deep
sense of loss that ‘forsooth’ has been dropped from the English language, it
pains me in my soul to think that such an epic word might be found only in the
chains of dictionaries and ancient literature.
But more important than ‘forsooth’ is that far mightier word,
which we understand even less, - Noah found GRACE before the Lord.
When William Tyndale translated the Bible once again into
English in the sixteenth century – again because Wycliffe and his Bible were
deemed dangerous and heretical for giving people free access to God’s truth –
he translated it like this “But yet Noah found grace in the sight of the
Lord.” Finally, the King James Version –
or Authorised Version – would write “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the
Lord.”
All this ‘grace’ stuff ended with the Revised Standard
Version – RSV – and since then it has been translated ‘favour.’ The New English Bible (better called the
Novel English Bible given how it changed so many Scriptures!) went so far as to
speak of Noah “winning favour before the Lord.”
But the old is right and the new is wrong. The word ‘grace’ in Greek, the same word
James used to translate the Hebrew for ‘grace’ as is found in our verse, is the
same word Paul used to speak of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
"Noah found GRACE in the eyes of the Lord."
Now the text
of Genesis regarding Noah is very important.
Chapter six begins by describing how evil the world had become. “Every
scheme his mind thought was nothing but evil all the time.” Every thought of mankind was nothing but evil
at all times – always evil. It is like
Paul would later write concerning all humanity, ourselves included:
“as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.
There is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away;
all alike have become useless.
There is no one who does what is good,
not even one.
Their throat is an open grave;
they deceive with their tongues.
Vipers’ venom is under their lips.
Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and wretchedness are in their paths,
and the path of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3.10-18
Isaiah goes so far as to tell us that even our good
and righteous deeds or actions are like filthy, used tampons or menstrual rags
before God – it is all tainted by sin.
Paul later in Philippians describes his previous good deeds and supposed
holiness before he knew Jesus as being like a pile of steaming poo – though the
word he used to describe it has more the nuance and offensiveness of words like
‘crap’ or ‘shit.’
At the time of Noah all humanity was depraved and evil. But Noah found grace in God’s
eyes. That is how the section ends, it
does not say why, it does not tell us of Noah, only that grace found him.
Then the text continues with the family records of
Noah and we are told that Noah was righteous, he was blameless before all the
other people around him. Noah walked
with God as Enoch had before him and Abraham would after him.
Many come to the conclusion that because Noah was
righteous and blameless he found favour in God’s eyes. Noah was just such a good bloke and all round
do-gooder, unlike everyone else on the entire planet, that he alone was good
enough to be God’s favourite and be saved.
Hence, the Novel English Bible spoke of Noah winning God’s favour.
There are two things to say to this. Firstly, it is
unbiblical, and secondly it is heresy.
As Saint Paul tells us in Romans 9 in black and white,
plain, bold, language:
“Our
salvation does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy.”
As Paul rightly makes clear by quoting Exodus, God says:
“I will
show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion.”
And do you know what is remarkable? The word there for
‘mercy’ – “I will show mercy to whom
I will show mercy” That word is in
fact the same Hebrew word for GRACE! The
original says
“I will
show grace to whom I will show grace, and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion.”
The text about Noah goes from cause to effect – as it
naturally reads – not from effect to cause. Finding grace in the Lord’s eyes caused Noah to be a righteous man, a
blameless man, a man who could walk with God.
His righteousness and perfection
did not cause Noah to receive grace, it is because of grace that he received
his perfection and righteousness.
You see Noah was a sinner just like everybody
else. Only Jesus is truly righteous.
Only Jesus is truly blameless. Only Jesus is truly perfect. Once Noah is off the Ark he becomes a drunk
who leaves his kids with some serious daddy issues!
Just like us, Noah was a sinner who deserved nothing
less than to die in the flood of God’s righteous anger at sin. Noah had no standing with God, he had nothing
in his life he could use to plea for mercy.
Noah was hopelessly helpless, lost in darkness, and like everyone else
he was as good as dead – a dead man walking.
"Noah's righteousness and perfection did not cause him to receive grace, it is because of grace that he received his perfection and righteousness."
But – FORSOOTH! – Noah still received grace and life
changing love from God. Noah still received Jesus Christ’s robe of
righteousness, Jesus’ perfect and blameless record, Jesus’ personal standing
with the Father of Lights that he might walk with Him. And Jesus took on all of Noah’s sin and
darkness, and ultimately Noah’s death sentence.
Noah deserved none of the this – but he got it, and that is the
definition of grace.
The Hebrew word for ‘grace’ (first used here in
Genesis 6) has in it the image of the stronger stooping down to the weaker, the
greater bowing low to give help to the lesser, the one who has in abundance
bending down to provide for the one in need.
Just like Jesus did before coming to earth – He bent
over and cast off His heavenly crown, he stooped down and entered the world He
created, and He bowed down low beneath the weight of the old rugged blood
stained cross.
And once you see this same grace we see in the New
Testament in the Old you see it everywhere!
God promised Adam and Eve they would be killed if they
took and ate from the Tree – but when they did He showed grace and mercy in not
killing them immediately but instead cursed Satan and promised us Jesus to make
it right. He then took an animal, killed it and made them clothes to represent
the imputed righteousness of Jesus – a righteousness that is not our own but
put on us from outside.
When Cain killed Abel it was not long before God
confronted him, God did not kill Cain in the name of justice but showed grace
and mercy, God gave Cain a mark so that no-one else would kill him.
Obviously God showed grace and mercy to Noah, but also
to the whole world by promising not to destroy it in such a way ever again –
grace and mercy seen in action when He scattered humanity at Babel instead of
smiting them.
He showed grace and mercy when He called the pagan,
idol worshipping Gentile name Abram to be His patriarch – to be Abraham.
You see His grace and mercy in how He spared Lot and
his daughters, a depraved and disturbingly sinful group to say the least!
God saves and provides for Hagar and Ishmael even
though they have no part in the promised people.
He has grace and mercy on Jacob despite him being a
cheat and a sly liar. He shows grace
upon Joseph despite how awfully he was abused and his compromises in Egypt
under Pharaoh.
He has grace on Moses despite Moses being a murderer
with a stutter and more fears than sands on the seashore.
Samson was a womaniser who treated women badly, but
God gave him strength at the last to work out His judgement.
Rahab was a hooker, a whore, yet look at the saving
and amazing grace she received at His hands!
David was an adulterous murderer, yet sat on the
throne and was loved by God beyond words.
Elijah the great prophet was scared, depressed, and
even suicidal, yet he found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Isaiah was a man of unclean lips who for years had
been a prophet of God in name but not in truth – and he received such mercy as
to see the Lord Jesus high and lifted up, enthroned in glory, and yet
live. He was given the grace to become
the most remarkable spokesman of God.
Jonah spent so much time and effort running away from God. Yet God loved him and graciously brought him
home despite him still needing an attitude change to say the least!
Naomi was poverty stricken, a widow seriously misled
by her dead husband. And yet such grace
came on her that was fully restored and would have a place in the genealogy of
Jesus the Christ.
Job lost everything, his wealth, his health, his
family. Yet God’s love for him never changed and Job was restored threefold
despite his accusing and questioning God.
Looking at the Old Testament, a small sample given
above, we see God’s grace at work so powerfully. We see time and time again that people cannot
earn a place in God’s kingdom, that instead God has mercy and shows grace to
sinners before using them – not the self-righteous – to proclaim His love.
In my own life I had rejected God, I had committed
sexual immorality. I was a liar and a
deceiver who manipulated people for my own entertainment. I was a hater, I was an addict to self-harm,
I drank more than I should, mixing alcohol and strong pain killers. I was all kinds of sinner. I had sinner stamped over every atom of my
existence. But somehow, for some reason,
I found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
“Forsooth, I found grace before the Lord!”
And He changed my life forever. He took all my filth and shame and at Calvary,
in His blood, He washed it away. He took
out the darkness and breathed in His Holy Spirit. I still sin, oh yes I still
sin, but I repent joyfully knowing that when I do I am a righteous man,
blameless, walking with God just like Noah.
I don’t know your hearts. But looking at the Old Testament I can
confidently say that whatever it is that you think you have done or whatever
you think it is that stops God from loving you and using you, it is not true,
it is a lie from the father of lies, Satan himself. It is not from Jesus. It is not from the Holy Spirit. It is not from the Father of Lights.
It doesn’t matter if you have committed adultery, if
you suffer from depression, if you are poor or physically sick, if you struggle
day in and day out with temptation. If
there is one message for you in the Old Testament it is that God’s grace is far,
far, mightier than your sin. God’s love
is far, far, deeper than your shame. If
you come to Christ on your knees and tell Him you are wrong, you can’t go on,
you want to change, you truly do, then He will heal you, He will strengthen
you, and He will use you.
"He took all my filth and shame and at Calvary, in His blood, He washed it away."
And it is my prayer that each and every one of you
would leave here tonight, confidently proclaiming “Forsooth, I found grace
before the Lord.” It is my prayer that every morning when you wake up and you
brush your teeth and you look at the ugly mug in the mirror before you, you
will take your toothbrush out of your mouth, hold it like sword, like a holy
standard, and look yourself in the eye, take a breath, then remind yourself at
the beginning of each and every day that God’s grace is greater than
yourself. That you would proudly declare,
loud enough so your neighbours hear you:
“FORSOOTH! I HAVE FOUND GRACE BEFORE THE LORD!!”
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