Living in the Balance of Grace & Faith: Episode 1

Welcome to our Monday’s broadcast of the

Gospel truth today I’m going to start a

brand new series teaching on what I call

living in the balance of Grace and Faith

I have this book on this and this is a

uh over 210 page book and I’m going to

be giving this to you as a gift you know

this teaching on living in the balance

of Grace and Faith in my opinion is the

heart of what God has called me to teach

I teach on Grace a lot and some people

would think that that’s the focus of my

Ministry but if you just focus on Grace

the abuse of Grace not Grace itself but

if all you do is focus on Grace the

abuse of that is it leads into sin it

leads into lethargy it leads into an

extreme sovereignty of God where

everything is just up to God and if you

teach on faith by itself well then that

leads into

legalism where you feel like you have to

do something to make God move you will

often hear people say faith is what

moves God faith doesn’t move God and I

know that that may be a shocking

statement to some

people but if you can stay tuned I’m

going to put all of this into balance

and you have to live in a balance

between Grace and Faith and it seems

from my experience that most people

either get turned on to Grace like say

for instance if they grew up in just a

traditional

legalistic denominational

setting they get to where they feel like

they’ve got to do all of these things to

appease and Angry God and at first they

may be very motivated and they just give

it everything they’ve got but did you

know it when you start basing God’s love

for you on what you have done you’re

eventually going to run out of that

because you aren’t going to do things

perfectly and you will come under your

own judgment you will come under your

own Doctrine and feel like how could God

love me you won’t doubt that God has the

power to move but you’ll doubt that he

would use his power on your behalf

because your own heart condemns you and

you know that you aren’t doing things

right so if you were raised in one of

those legalistic backgrounds and then

you hear about the grace of God the

tendency is to just throw away

everything that was ever taught you

about faith and get over here to oh God

it’s just you it’s just your love and I

have nothing to do with it and if you

aren’t careful you’ll go to an extreme

you know there was a man named Bob boo

and I never read this book I I’ve seen

the book and I’ve read portions of it

and I’ve had people talk to me about it

but the title of it if I’m not mistaken

was the pendulum swings or as the

pendulum swings and on the front of the

book it had like an old grandfather

clock in this pendulum you know that was

the uh thing that calls the motion there

and it had the pendulum way over here on

the side and then when you you stop that

instead of coming back to center it goes

past the center and back and and the

whole purpose of this book was to say

that people hit an extreme over here and

like say for instance they get into

legalism and what I must do and then

they realize that man that’s wrong it’s

not what I did it’s what Jesus did for

me and so they come completely and

instead of stopping in a balance of

Grace and Faith instead they go way over

here to where now it’s all about me and

I’ve got to do all of these things are

it’s you know if they’ve been in

legalism they come over here to it’s

just up to the grace of God you have to

have a

balance between these two things it says

in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 for by

grace are you saved through faith and

that not of yourselves it is a gift of

God not of Works lest any man should

boast that is saying that you’re saved

by God’s grace but God’s grace alone

doesn’t save you now I’m going to go

into more Det detail on this

and I’m going to say some things that

are kind of shocking and so please don’t

turn this off I’m trying to get your

attention and let people realize that

it’s not either or it’s a combination of

the two it’s technically not wrong or

let me say it this way it’s not wrong to

say that you’re saved by grace if you

take Ephesians chapter 2:8 the verse

that I just quoted and if you back up to

verse 5 it says even when we were dead

in sins hath quickened us together with

Christ and then in parenthesis it says

by Grace ye are saved and so it’s not

wrong to say you’re saved by grace Paul

right here said you’re saved by grace

but then just a couple of verses later

he said you’re saved by grace through

faith and so I’m not going to sit here

and nitpick with people you can say that

you’re saved by grace to emphasize that

you didn’t save yourself that we were so

destitute we had to have God come and

save us and I understand what they’re

saying but it’s technically correct to

say you’re saved by grace through faith

it’s also not wrong to say that you’re

saved by faith because over in the Book

of James it talks about that that you’re

saved by faith but it’s not by faith

only you’re also saved by works and uh

so anyway I’m going to get into this in

a lot more detail but my point is you

got to have a balance between Grace and

Faith Grace is what God does for you

independent of

you it says in John chapter one that

Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ so

Jesus is the one who brought the grace

of God and that was 2,000 years ago

before you and I even existed before we

had ever done anything good or bad God

commended his love toward us through

Christ Romans Chap 5:8 and he died for

us while we were still in our sins we

hadn’t deserved anything see that’s

Grace but grace alone doesn’t save again

I’m going to get into more deta detail

on this but Titus 2: 11 says the grace

of God that brings salvation hath

appeared unto all men now if grace alone

saved then all men would be saved

because the grace of God that brings

salvation has appeared to all men God’s

grace does not save you by itself God by

Grace provided it he made the sacrifice

it’s available but faith is what we do

not in order to get God to do something

but just to receive what God has already

done some of you may think that you know

I’m just dealing with semantics but when

I understood this and I saw the balance

between Grace and Faith Grace is God’s

part faith is our part when I saw the

balance between is it up to God or is it

up to me and I begin to see a balance

that it’s God who provides and does

everything it’s his power but it doesn’t

flow without us it flows through through

us and we certainly don’t make God do

anything we don’t force God what we do

is become a channel and let God flow

through us and as we act in faith that

just receives and releases what God has

already done when I begin to understand

this it just transformed my life and in

my

opinion I really believe that this is

kind of where God has placed me in the

body of Christ most people either get

turned on to Grace and they just focus

on that nearly exclusively or they get

turned on to faith and they focus on

that exclusively and you’ll often hear

Faith people criticize people who are

preaching Grace and then you’ll hear

Grace people criticize people who are

preaching faith and it’s either one of

these two camps but very seldom do you

see people combine these two things and

I tell you this when I understood this

it transformed my life you know I just

got through through teaching a series

celebrating our 55th year anniversary of

when the Lord changed my life and I

experienced the grace of God in a

powerful way in

1968 but then when I got back out of

Vietnam a couple of years

later I got exposed to the faith

teaching and I began to start realizing

that Faith was powerful and that

Miracles could happen but I fell into

the Trap I don’t know that I’ve ever

really abused grace to the degree that I

you know some people believe that there

is no hell that there is no

accountability you can live anyway and

it doesn’t matter there’s some people

that are in under the guise of Grace are

actually uh promoting homosexuality

transgenderism and everything I never

went that far I never went into that

abuse but I did get to where I was

abusing Faith because I had heard about

faith and how that Faith man is powerful

and you can believe and you can make

things happen and I got to to where I

had all night prayer meetings trying to

force God to send a Revival I took the

responsibility upon myself to get people

saved to get people healed uh to uh

provide and do all of these things and I

tell you it was wearing me out and when

I begin to start

combining Grace and Faith to where my

faith doesn’t make God do anything but

just here’s one of my definitions of

faith it took me 20 years to arrive at

this and you may think and I’m just

really slow butth nonetheless this is my

story that about 20 years after the Lord

had miraculously changed my life I

really begin to merge Grace and Faith

together and here’s one of the

definitions of what I believe faith is

most people believe faith is what you do

to move God and you’ll often hear that

but God doesn’t have to move God moved

by Grace 2,000 years

ago before you and I existed he’s not

the one that’s stuck he doesn’t have to

move he’s already provided everything

even before you have a need Faith

doesn’t move God faith just

appropriates what God has already

provided by

Grace now that that is awesome and again

that may just go right over some

people’s head and say well what’s the

important thing about that that

transformed my life it it gave me a

peace

and I begin to enter into a rest I’ll be

talking about that out of Hebrews

chapter 4 where we have this sabbath

rest to where we’ve ceased from our own

labors and we’re just resting in what

Jesus has done instead of trying to do

something to get him to do things and

when I experienced this it just moved me

to a total new level of relationship

with God and

also it really made my faith abound

because when you’re having faith in in

your faith well then see that’s

contenent upon you and I guarantee you

there’s none of us that do everything

perfectly and your own conscience is

going to be condemning you and the only

time you will ever have confidence and

assurance and really believe that

something is going to happen is when you

have done everything right which doesn’t

happen very often and so there’s not

going to be a lot of times that you are

really strong and bold and confidence

but when you understand that Faith isn’t

something you do to move God

but faith is just your positive response

to what God has already done faith is

how you reach out and appropriate what

God has already provided and when you

get that understanding then it provides

this security and consistency because

Jesus never changes if your faith is in

Jesus and what he has done for you that

is a whole new thing than your faith

being in yourself and in how holy you’re

living

boy I tell you I’ve set a mouthful and

all of this is just introduction I’m

trying to show you that there has to be

a balance between these two you know I

had a man one time come up to me and he

said this reminds me of sodium chloride

sodium is poison and if you eat enough

sodium it’ll kill you if you eat enough

chloride it’ll kill you but you mix them

together and it becomes salt and you’ll

die without it you have to have salt and

so that’s the way Grace and Faith is did

you know Grace by itself is all if all

you do is focus on what God has done and

it has absolutely nothing to do with me

and you just totally disconnect this

leads you into that kind of attitude

about K sah Sarah whatever will be will

be it leads you into an extreme

sovereignty of God to where you don’t

believe that you have anything to do

with anything that everything is done

and ordained by God and I’m going to be

spending a lot of time showing you that

that is is not true that is not what the

word of God teaches but see that’s what

happens if all you do is just focus on

Grace and you don’t understand that we

have a part to play it leads to abuses

and if all you do is focus on faith and

faith is powerful and by faith in

Hebrews chapter 11 by faith people were

able to quench the violence of fire they

were able to stop the mouths of lions

they were able to do all of these things

but if you focus only on Faith you will

start bearing the burden and thinking

I’ve got to do these things and then

when I do this this and this when I do

all of these things right then God is

going to move and that’s not true Bible

Faith that’s what the Bible would

actually call Works our legalism it’s

not right there’s a ditch on either side

of the road you know out in the

country man I lived down the country for

30s something years on dirt roads and

they had the road beveled for drainage

and on each side of the road there is a

ditch and especially in the snow we had

a curve not far from my house and people

would go around that curve too fast and

they would begin to slide and when they

did they would overcorrect and try and

miss that ditch and they’d nearly always

hit the other ditch and you could tell

by their tracks in the snow exactly what

had happened and you know one ditch

isn’t better than the other ditch if you

want to get to your destination you got

to go down the middle you you got to

find a balance between those ditches and

that’s the way it is you know grace

alone will kill you if all you do is

just function in Grace the abuse of that

will be laziness queros and extreme

sovereignty of God if you focus on faith

only that’ll lead to legalism it’ll wear

you out you know I we had a a poem in

our Baptist Church and it says Mary had

a little lamb it would have been a sheep

but it joined the Baptist Church died

from lack of sleep and the point is that

man in in the Baptist Church you just

had to do stuff and you had to do this

and unless you were doing all of these

things God wouldn’t answer your prayers

and so people were motivated to live

holy in order to get something from God

it was kind of like a barter system God

I’ll do this and this and this and now I

expect you to heal or you to deliver or

you to do something that’s not the way

that the gospel is and so an abuse of

faith I am for Faith I’m a faith guy I’m

for Grace I’m a Grace guy but I’m for a

balance between these

two and if you don’t strike that balance

I guarantee you there’s a ditch on both

sides of the road you’ll either get into

laziness and complacency and just it’s

all up to God and whatever happens is

God or you’ll get over here to where you

were trying to make God you’re trying to

twist his arm and I tell you what trying

to force God uh for you to be trying to

force God God is just not an easy road

to nobody is up to that and it’ll wear

you out and I know that there’s some of

you watching this program that just this

little introduction that I’m giving to

this subject is already struck a cord

with you and you’re worn out you’re

trying to do everything man you’re

praying you’re studying the word you’re

going to church you’re trying to live

holy you’re doing everything you know

and you still aren’t seeing the results

that you want and you just are you’re

like on a treadmill and you can’t get

off you don’t know how to stop this

teaching is going to be a tremendous

help to you you know let me illustrate

this that when I got born again I was

eight years old and I was in a I grew up

in church I mean we were like skunks we

had our own Pew that we sat in it was

our Pew nobody could get that Pew and it

was right up at the front but I was in a

vacation bible

school thing and they brought us in

according to the classes we were in in

and there was about 600 kids in this

church and I was on the very back row

and this man was uh preaching and he

held up a dollar bill which back when I

was eight years old this would have been

1957 that was a lot of money and he held

up this dollar bill and he said I’ll

give this dollar bill to the first kid

that comes up here and takes it and

immediately I mean there is just a rush

of kids there’s probably 20 kids around

him all saying I want it and I thought

of all times to be sitting at the back

of the church this was a wrong time but

this guy just kept his arm up in the air

and he kept saying I’ll give this dollar

bill to the first kid that comes up here

and takes it and everybody was wondering

what’s he doing because everybody all of

those kids wanted it and he just kept

repeating this and about the third or

the fourth time it finally hit my

Lightning Fast mind what this guy was

saying and I got out from the back row

ran down to the front of the church

pushed my way through all of those kids

and this guy had his arm up in the air

like that so I was you know just8 years

old I grabbed his arm like this and

climbed up his side and I reached up and

grabbed that dollar bill out of his

hand and when I did he looked at me and

he said now all of you wanted it but he

says that is the first kid kid that came

up here and took it and then he began to

use that to illustrate that by Grace God

provide salvation he’s made the payment

it is a free gift you don’t have to earn

it but you do have to take it you can’t

just sit there and say well if God wants

me to be saved then I’ll be saved no he

has provided it it’s like he’s he’s

placed all of this food in front of you

and he said eat but he’s not going to

stuff it in your mouth he’s not going to

feed you intravenously he provides it

and provides this spread for you but you

have to reach out and take it see that’s

kind of an illustration between grace

and faith by grace God gave the dollar

bill but I had to take it by Grace God

lays this food in front of you but you

have to reach out and take it do you

reaching out and taking it make God do

it no he did it in advance God has

already provided but it’s not God 100%

if it was just up to God every single

person in this world would be born again

because that is his will second Peter

3:9 says God is Not slack concerning his

promises as some man counts slackness

but his longsuffering towards us not

willing that any should perish but that

all should come to repentance that right

there tells you it is God’s will for

every single person to be saved and yet

Jesus himself said that there would be

many more that go by the broad gate

under destruction than go by the narrow

gate un everlasting life so that shows

you that God’s will does not

automatically come to pass God Wills for

every single person to be be saved in 1

John 2: 2 says that he is the

propitiation that means the atoning

sacrifice for our sins and not for ours

only but also for the sins of the whole

world so Jesus has made a payment for

everybody’s sins even the sins of people

who rejected him but they aren’t

automatically saved because you aren’t

saved by grace alone you’re saved by

grace through faith Ephesians chapter

2:8 so God by Grace has provided

everything but we have to reach out and

take it and faith is not something we do

to get God to move God by Grace provided

salvation 2,000 years ago before any of

us even lived it’s a done deal the Lord

doesn’t have to die for your sins today

he’s already done it he died for you

before you existed he paid for your sins

before you ever committed one it’s not a

matter of will God save you if I do this

right if I promise I go to church and I

promise I’m going to live right from now

on God will you save me the Lord has

already provided salvation he doesn’t

have to get up off the throne and go

suffer for your sins he’s already paid

for it that’s Grace but you have to

respond and if you don’t respond he’s

not going to force it on you he’s not

going to spoon feed you he’s not going

to feed you inous he’s put this spread

in front of you but you have to reach

out and take it he’ll give the dollar

Bill to any person but you have to reach

out and take it you just can’t say I

want it and then wait to see if God is

going to provide

it boy this is powerful and again

there’s very very very few people that

connect these dots most people are

either Faith people or they’re either

Grace people but very seldom do they

connect those to where they’re walking

in what God has done for them and their

faith is just a positive response to

what they believe God has already done

most most people are trying to use Faith

to gain a positive response all your

faith does is reach out and appropriate

what God has already provided if he

hasn’t already provided it then your

faith won’t make him do it your faith

doesn’t make God do anything God has

anticipated every need that you will

ever have whether it’s physical

Financial emotional any need that you

will ever have God has already made the

pro vision and you are not going to have

to get God to do something you need to

enter into a rest where you believe he’s

already done it and you just reach out

and appropriate what God has already

provided by

Grace I want to thank you for watching

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so thank you for being a part of it God

bless

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you