#12 Pez's For Jesus

Joh 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

 15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'" 16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Every now and then, the Bible has verses that stick out like a sore thumb. This is one of them. It seems their only purpose is to throw some random information into the mix, and if they were removed the text wouldn’t suffer great harm.

Try reading this portion of Scripture by not including verse 15. As you can see, nothing is lost. Having said that, it certainly doesn’t hurt to include it, because it gives us some great truth concerning the ministry of John the Baptist. (All Scripture is God-breathed!)

If we skip verse 15, John goes right into a further explanation of the “fullness of grace and truth” mentioned in verse 14.He says, “we, (the disciples) have all taken in and observed grace and truth first-hand. Not only did the disciples take in this fullness, but they also took in “grace for grace.”

I love that simple phrase. It implies that followers of Jesus, not only take in His grace, but they are to be grace dispensers! We are a bunch of Pez’s for Jesus!

Then John goes on to spell out the difference between the Law and the Gospel! (Moses and Jesus) The Law, an exterior influence on the heart was given through Moses, but grace and truth, (interior influences on the heart) came through Jesus Christ!

Jesus, was the promise of God spoken of in  Eze 11:19 "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,

Hearts of stone were the rule before the arrival of grace and truth in Jesus. The Law, given by God to Moses on stone tablets, and applied externally to the heart, causes a man to become rigid and cold. But, with the arrival of grace and truth in Jesus Christ, the heart becomes as flesh! It becomes alive and vibrant. The Law is internalized, and the grace and truth that is in the Law pours forth from the heart that has been “graced,” or changed by God.

How is your heart? Rigid? Cold? Stony? Or have you received the fulness of grace and truth? Have you received Jesus? He is the only one who can change your heart. He is the only One who can set you free from the bondage of external Law-keeping. Listen to the rest of the promise found in Ezekiel concerning a stony heart. God gives us a heart filled with Jesus…..20 "that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

New hearts in order to live in His Law rather than being crushed under it. That is the primary duty of the Law. It is to crush our hearts of stone, in order that we, in desperation might turn to the One who can take those broken pieces and turn them into a heart of flesh. Hearts that are “graced,” in order to “grace” others.