Walk With Me
Christian discussion of biblical topics, and a dose of daily application. Yes the Bible is still relevant, and we find out more and more each day how relevant it has always been.
Walk With Me
Grace and Mercy: Misunderstood Pillars of Faith
What if understanding two crucial yet often misunderstood concepts could transform your spiritual journey? Brace yourself for an enlightening episode of Walk With Me, where we dissect the intricate differences between grace and mercy in the Christian faith. Through key biblical references such as Hebrews 4:16 and Romans 6:14, we reveal how grace serves as a divine extension allowing us time to amend our ways without immediate penalty—much like a credit card's grace period—while mercy embodies God’s compassionate treatment, sparing us from the punishment we truly deserve. This episode promises to deepen your appreciation of these spiritual pillars and guide you in interpreting scriptures more accurately.
In another compelling chapter, we tackle the essence of judgment, grace, and reprobation. We clarify the vital role of mercy and grace, stressing that God's mercy is not an infinite allowance for sin but a limited period for repentance and transformation. We explore the consequences of persistent sin through the concept of reprobation, where one can fall beyond the reach of mercy and grace. This discussion highlights the importance of genuine repentance and the pitfalls of abusing grace, urging you to lead a righteous life and avoid spiritual complacency. Join us for this crucial conversation and gain the tools to navigate your spiritual path more consciously.
Hello everybody and welcome to today's episode of Walk With Me. I am your host, jj. It's so good to have each and every one of you here, so I thank you all so much for the many views we are getting now and the likes and the shares. I'm watching the counters go up and I really thank you, god, for each and every one of you. Love each and every one of you, and you guys can be listening to any other podcast, but you've chosen to listen to this one and to that. For that I am eternally grateful. Thank you for sponsors. Which is True Boss, lyricist with the intro and outro music Exquisite Creations will be getting her website up and running soon. And the new sponsor which is coming New which is coming. The new sponsor is coming. It's going to be a craft and sort of a craft sponsor, and I can't say it yet until we seal the deal, but I can't wait for that to be able to announce that.
Speaker 1:Thank you all for your questions that you send to, your questions and your comments that you leave on the YouTube page and on the in the inbox or walk with me BibleStudy at gmailcom. We're actually going to be talking about a question that someone sent. It seems like we've talked about it before, but I am okay with repeating these things because a lot of times we I don't know we sort of get bogged down in what words mean and things like that. We kind of get, you know, we start coming up with our own doctrines and things like that, and I'm not going to go back through and say, hey, listen to episode 45 and that'll tell you the answer. I'd rather just go ahead and answer it again, because, you know, I just love doing this podcast and I love, you know, being with each and every one of you every week. That being said, what is the question? The question is what is the difference between grace and mercy? Now some of you guys are saying, oh yeah, he did speak about that, but I don't know when. And I don't know when either, because I don't keep track of the titles of the episodes. The podcast platform does that for me and I say you know what? I'd rather just talk about it again, because, hey, we could talk about this every, every day. I could talk about it every day, all day, and I still love it. Don't get tired of it. All right? So let's talk about grace and let's talk about first a lot of times because and I don't know why we we do this as as christians, as people who are living for god.
Speaker 1:I don't know why we tend to interchange these words as if they mean the same thing, but they really don't. They are two very distinct concepts. As a matter of fact, you look in the Bible and mercy is mentioned. I'm sorry, grace is mentioned like 170 times and mercy is mentioned almost 262 times. So, um it, the mercy is more important than the grace. So what is the grace?
Speaker 1:Let's look at some bible scriptures where I talk about grace and, as we can start looking through them, you'll start seeing what the difference is. First one we're going to look at is Hebrews 4.16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy. Let's stop right there. We're coming to the throne of grace so that we may obtain mercy. Now, if these things were interchangeable, they would both be. Let us come unto the throne of grace that we may obtain grace. Come unto the throne of mercy that we may obtain mercy. And yes, throne of mercy, that we may obtain mercy. And yes, and somebody out there is right now saying hey, wasn't there a mercy seat in the tabernacle? Yes, but this is not the mercy seat. You come to the throne of grace to receive mercy, and let's continue the scripture and find grace to help in time of need.
Speaker 1:Now let me just stop right here, because I think I forgot to mention the most important rule of this podcast. Yes, I would like it if you subscribe, I would like it if you shared it, I would like it if you talked about it or made comments. The most important thing about this podcast, the most important assignment, is read a verse or two above and a verse or two below, but preferably the whole chapter. Why? Because context is key. This is where we eliminate some of these erroneous thinking. And I'm not saying that we do this maliciously. Some of us just do it because we don't know any better, and some of us do it with the good intention, because no one ever explained it, and now we end up in a situation where we don't know what we're worshiping. And you have to be careful when you have these kind of situations, because in a situation like this, where you're talking about grace and you're talking about mercy, we don't understand why these two things are separate.
Speaker 1:Romans 6.14. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law but under grace. Now, when you take that scripture and a lot of people take that scripture and say, well, you know, that means I can just do what I want, but remember, romans 6 starts off. Shall we continue and send that? Grace may abound, god forbid. So they'll take this scripture 6 14 and say that, well, we don't live under law anymore, so we could just do what we want because we we live it on the grace.
Speaker 1:Let's keep this as simple as possible. Grace Is not the absolution of your sin. Grace Is not the absolution of my sin, is not the absolution of your past sin. Your it's not. It doesn't. It doesn't save you. What grace does and you can look at our credit card statements to get a good definition of it. When you get a grace period on your credit card, they tell you you get 25 days to the day of your purchase to pay that purchase off so that you don't get charged interest. It does not allow you to not have the debt. The debt is still there. All you have is a grace period. Once that grace period is over, then you get hit with the judgment, in this case the interest rate, the same thing with sin and grace.
Speaker 1:Grace allows you that time, that time from the moment that you messed up. The moment that you messed up and you went awry of the law, or you went awry of what God said, you went aw riot of the holiness things that God tells you. Grace allows you a certain period of time and it's unspecified. I mean, there's no hard, fast rule of what that grace period is. Grace allows you that moment to escape judgment, just long enough for you to obtain mercy. I'll say that again Grace allows you to escape judgment from the moment that you've broken a divine law so that you can obtain mercy. Now again, there is a grace period and I have no idea what that period is. That's totally up to God, you know.
Speaker 1:You see, I mean some of us you're probably thinking of somebody right now that has sinned and sinned and sinned and sinned and done crazy stuff and stole stuff and killed people and still walking around, stole stuff and killed people and still walking around. But that's because they're under grace. God is giving them time to repent. God is giving them time to make their way to him. God is giving them time to get this right. So that means God is giving them time to get mercy, and mercy is where your sins are wiped away and forgotten. Mercy is forgiveness, not grace.
Speaker 1:Now, there are other definitions of grace, but I feel that this is the most important thing, because the other definitions of grace cannot be interchanged. Well, are not interchanged when we're talking about theology with mercy. So when we're talking about mercy, mercy is complete erasure of the sin from your record. You messed up and you told a lie and the Holy Ghost convicted you of it and you feel bad. You're now in that grace period that allows you time to get home, get on your knees or even get to the bathroom or get somewhere away and be like God. I'm so sorry I lied. Go back and make that lie right and then ask for forgiveness, because the Bible does say if you have part against your brother, leave your offering at the altar and go make it right and then come back. So God is very specific about this. Before you make your sacrifice that gives you mercy, the sacrifice of praise, the sacrifice of repentance you need to go and make that lie right. Whatever that sin is, you got to go make it right and that allows the grace period, so okay. So what is grace?
Speaker 1:If you look through God's law and we're going to go back to that, romans 6, 14 in a moment If you look at God's law, every sin had a specific punishment. Well, the groups of sin had a specific punishment. If you sin, you die. If you committed adultery, you die. If you stole something that was it you die. That was what the law was given back in the Old Testament. That was the punishment for most of the sin. That was it. You're dead. Even if the high priest the high priest, if he was not properly claimed, if he was not properly giving respect to the house of God, the tabernacle, when he walked in there, there was no grace, he died. And God was so strict about these things that he didn't even let anyone go in there and get the dead priest. He literally had to pull him out with a rope.
Speaker 1:So this whole thing about grace being mercy, it starts to fall apart when you look at how it's applied in the Bible, in the word of God. So the whole thing is where, if you're looking at how God talked about mercy and talked about grace, well, you know what I can? I can tell you I'm blue in the face. But let's read some more verses Romans 11 and 6. And if by grace, then it is of no more work. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. Which means if you, if, when you do this thing, whenever you, let's say, you steal something, Working it off doesn't, doesn't provide the mercy.
Speaker 1:Working it off is in that grace period where you can now repent and get it taken care of and mercy to be applied. But you cannot, you cannot, I cannot do get mercy just by work. There's no amount of good person that was given under the law that provided anybody any different punishment for if they messed up and committed a sin, it was. If this happened, this had to be done. You were an idol. You died. It didn't matter if you were the tribe's worst person, the worst bum, or if you were a priest in the tribe and one of the highest respected members. You messed up, you died, that was it. But the grace part now allows you to get back to your altar, get back to your place of repentance and to experience the conviction of the Holy Ghost that's inside of you. If you have the Holy Ghost, that's the key part. You've got to have the Holy Ghost already. Notice, I'm reading out of Romans, I'm reading out of the Romans right now. I was earlier reading out of Hebrews. These are people who had already repented of their sins and baptized in Jesus' name and got the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1:We're still talking about grace, the difference between grace and mercy. Okay, so you know. Let's talk about mercy. Well, what is mercy? Mercy, like I said before, is the application of Jesus' blood to your sin. We always talk about get it under the blood. Get it under the blood why? Because the blood cleanses us from our sins. And I will actually read some scripture for you One moment here.
Speaker 1:Matthew 5 and 7. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. We're not talking about grace Merciful. Blessed are the merciful so that they may receive grace. No, that's not how it reads. Mercyful people get mercy. Luke 6 and 36. Be merciful merciful even as your father is merciful.
Speaker 1:Now let's stop and think for just a second. And if we are honest with each other, we are honest with ourselves. We know that the Lord has been very merciful to each and every one of us walking, know that the Lord has been very merciful to each and every one of us walkers, each and every one of us, because we could have died in our sins 24 times a day. We could have been in sin. God could have taken us out. God could have allowed some random act of violence to take us out, but God was merciful to give us grace so that we can get mercy, matthew sorry.
Speaker 1:Hebrews 4, 16. Let us then oh yeah, we read that already. We talked about mercy there, matthew 9, 13. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous but sinners. He was calling people to repentance so that he may issue mercy. By calling the sinners, he was already extending grace so that they can have mercy. Sinners, he was already extending grace so that they can have mercy.
Speaker 1:1 Peter 1 and 3,. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ the dead. And here's where it really begins to define mercy itself. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. That is exactly the definition of mercy, and it's found in 1 John 1 and 9.
Speaker 1:It's not about being able to sin every day. It's not about that and I have to keep going back to that because somehow, when people read these scriptures, they think, well, I could just do what I want to do and God is just going to be merciful. These two stuff, these two run out. Mercy runs out, grace runs out. There's a timer and God is very strict about these things. Whenever that time is up, time is up. Well, jj, god is the loving god. God is love. That is also a consuming fire and god will also tell you and and paul was very strict about this Because they had not a love for the truth. God gave people over to a reprobate mind that they could believe a lie and be lost. There is no grace Once you've entered into reprobation we'll talk about that, maybe another episode but once you've gone into reprobation, you start just believing lie and lies and there's no truth to the gospel and there's no mercy and there's no grace and there's no definition of sin.
Speaker 1:And you're just out here, just willy-nilly, and think you're just going to stroll into heaven. And we see it all the time. We see it all the time. And here, think you're just going to stroll into heaven because and and we see it all the time. We see it all the time, and here's what I'm going to trigger some people. We see it all the time when you walk into a building with with the word church on the front and you see a gay pastor, now you know there's a problem. You know there's a problem Because why would God allow this to go on and the congregation to go astray like this?
Speaker 1:Because he is already in the grace period or he's already in the reprobation? Because now you're just practicing the sin openly. You are now that congregation is already now in an area of reprobation. And once you have done that, once you've gone into reprobation, the mercy and grace no longer apply. Now can you come out of reprobation? Honestly, walkers, between me, you and all of our listeners, I have never I've never seen anyone come back out of reprobation. I've seen people I have seen more people come out of mental illness and be you know and be just and be good and without medication. I've seen God heal everybody of everything, but I've never yet seen anyone come back out of reprobation.
Speaker 1:And also, the Bible talks about how certain people built up a memorial before God and God had to come down and issue a judgment. So there is a finite time to this grace thing. And once we run out of that grace thing, I mean it's going to be extremely hard. Unless God issues the grace again, we're not going to have mercy, we're not going to be able to get mercy. You know, you get drunk and you drive home. God gives you enough grace to get home, just for you to wake up and realize how stupid that was and repent of it and never do it again. But what if you keep doing it again, that grace is going to run out and you're going to run into something and possibly kill yourself or kill other people. Possibly kill yourself or kill other people. Now we're into judgment time because you have not done what it would have taken to get mercy. And now you're into judgment. And once we're into judgment, it's a completely different thing.
Speaker 1:Another thing we'll talk about the difference between judgment and a trial, because a lot of times we get so self-righteous that we want to consider a judgment a trial. No, no, no, no, no. Judgment is because of the sin that you or I have done, the sin that we've done. That's where our judgment happens. We have exceeded our allotted grace period and just like on that credit card, now that interest is applied, now that punishment is applied, you didn't make it right during that time.
Speaker 1:I know, I know and I say this in love, because we have to know what terms we are using and why we're using them and when we read it in the Bible, what God is really trying to tell us when it comes to these concepts grace, mercy, repentance you know judgment. Grace, mercy, repentance, you know judgment these things are real and if we run out of our grace period and God judges us, I know if God judged me, if I happen to make it to heaven, man, that would be unbelievable. The reason why I say that is because the Bible says if the righteous shall scarcely be saved, scarcely where shall the unrighteous and the sinner appear? Scarcely, scarcely, barely, making it Just barely squeak by by the hair of your teeny-tiny chin, because you were able to utilize grace and mercy the way God intended, not to abuse them Again. This does not give you the license to go out and just sin willfully and come back home and boo-hoo, whine and cry about oh God, I'm sorry. Meanwhile, you're fully intending to go out and do the same thing the next day. That's not repentance. You're still under the first grace and once your conscience gets seared. That's it, you're done, you're done, I'm done, we are done, you're done, I'm done, we are done.
Speaker 1:As I want you to understand, as I do this channel, I don't put myself above anyone out there. We are all on the same journey, trying to get to the same heaven and trying to avoid the same hell, and I guess I really want to stress that part avoid the same hell. And I guess I really want to stress that part. We want to avoid the same hell. You and I, we are on this journey together. That's why this is called Walk With Me.
Speaker 1:I'm not Jesus, I'm not God, I'm not even a pastor yet, but it is what it is. We are here to do one thing we are here to live for God, love each other, follow his commandments, make it to heaven and then shout the victory for the rest of eternity. Could you just imagine that? Could you just imagine that, walking on streets that are so cold that it's clear, living in the mansion? But now you are literally spiritual entities and there was a time where I had a dream, and I'm rambling now. But there was a time I had a dream about actually making the rapture and I was so sad when I woke up the next day because I was back in the bed, in this mortal body and therefore running the risk of not making it to that place.
Speaker 1:But yeah, let's recap, walkers. Let's recap only to get you and I back to a place where we feel the conviction of God, feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and allows us a time to repent of what we have done and to go make it right. If you've wronged somebody, that's when you go make it right. That's the order of your grace and once you have done all this, then you can receive mercy. That means the sin is wiped out in God's book. That's what we want Sin wiped out in God's book.
Speaker 1:All right, I love each and every one of you. I hope this answered questions. Listen, if I said something that was a little unclear, by all means drop me a line. Walkwithmebiblestudy at gmailcom. Walkwithmebiblestudy. Thank you for liking and sharing. Again, thank you so much.
Speaker 1:You're our assignment each and every day, and that's going to be a new thing for this podcast. Our assignment is to go out and show someone that God loves them. Now you don't have to give somebody $20. Just tell them that God has a plan for them. God loves them and God wants them to get right. That is the most love. That actually is more love than giving somebody a $20 bill. Peter said silver and gold have I none, but in the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to rise up and walk. And that man immediately went into the temple, leaping and praising God. That is love. God bless each and every one of you. Thank you all again for being here walking with us in this podcast. Thank you all for people who are liking and subscribing to the videos and the podcast. Thank you very much, thank you, thank you, thank you. See you all on the next one. God bless you all.