What does First B Jackson teach about grace and mercy?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First B Jackson, the teaching on grace and mercy starts with a clear distinction between the two. Pastor Cody, preaching from Titus 3, put it plainly: grace is receiving something good we do not deserve, and mercy is not receiving the punishment we do deserve. Both are entirely God's doing. The passage Paul gives Titus makes the point that God saved us not because of works done in righteousness but according to His own mercy, and that leaves no room at all for self-congratulation. The agent of that change is the Holy Spirit, poured out richly through Jesus Christ, and the moment of turning can be instant, as the thief on the cross makes clear.
The Ephesians 2 messages, taught from several angles over the years, press into why grace and mercy feel as large as they do. Todd Lampa and others have underlined that Paul is not describing bad people becoming good but dead people becoming alive. That is a different scale of problem, and it calls for a different scale of solution. The great turn in the passage comes with 'but God, being rich in mercy,' and Robert Lillo pointed out that Paul earns that phrase by first holding the valley of chapter two alongside the peaks of chapter one, so that the mercy of God is never received as something we had coming to us.
The Hebrews 4 teaching adds one more layer. Pastor Wayne showed that the letter's repeated 'let us draw near' is not a lecture from a distance but a hortatory subjunctive, the writer putting himself inside the group. The ground for drawing near is that we have a great high priest who was tempted in every way we are, yet without sin, and who deals gently with those who are ignorant or have gone astray. Grace and mercy are not abstract qualities of God. They are made available through a priest who knows what weakness feels like, and who carries no debt of His own that would disqualify Him from covering ours.
Taught from Titus 3:4-7 · Ephesians 2:4-6 · Ephesians 2:1-3 · Hebrews 4:14-5:10 · Titus 2:11-14
The passage taught · 1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- September 1, 2019 A Great High Priest Who Can Sympathize A sermon from Hebrews 4-5 on Jesus as our great high priest, who was tempted as we are yet without sin, and offers mercy and grace to all who draw near.
- August 5, 2018 He Saved Us, Not Because of Works Titus 3: Paul reminds us we were once foolish and disobedient, but God saved us by His mercy and grace, not our works, renewing us through the Holy Spirit.
- April 8, 2018 Dead in Trespasses, Made Alive in Christ Todd Lampa walks through Ephesians 2:1-10, showing how Christians were once dead in sin, deserving judgment, and what God's mercy and grace mean for how we live now.
- June 4, 2017 And You Were Dead: The Valley Between the Peaks Robert Lillo, a Global Scholars missionary in Nigeria, opens Ephesians 2 and shows why Paul uses "and" to hold our blessings and our ruin together in one honest view.
- January 28, 2015 Dead Man Walking, But God Deborah teaches Ephesians 2 at First Baptist Jackson, tracing how God rescues spiritually dead sinners by grace and calls them His masterpiece with purpose.
Mentioned along the way
- June 4, 2017 And You Were Dead in Sins Robert Lillo shares how God is using education and Bible translation in Nigeria to build up the church, drawing on Ephesians 1 and 2 to show grace in the valley and on the mountaintop.
- June 9, 2013 Continuing in Acts, Morning Praise A Father's Day message from First Baptist Jackson on grace, mercy, and peace, drawn from Paul's words to Timothy and what it means to be a father.