Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, and in this eighth message of the Jesus series Dr. William P. Hohman begins a new element of the teaching: grace and truth. Reading John 1:1–18, he shows that God works in a fixed order: life before light, and grace before truth. He explains the authority given to all who receive Jesus, why no man should be deified, and why the light of Jesus exposes what we would rather hide. It builds on the teaching in Jesus #6 The Light of Life.
Below you will find the full video, a summary of the sermon, the Scripture behind each point (NKJV on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps for this week.
Sermon at a Glance
Pastor Hohman opens by noting that this is part eight of the Jesus series and the start of a new element, grace and truth, with a part two to come. His foundation is John 1:1–18.
The sermon runs about 63 minutes. It moves from John 1 through Ephesians 4, Psalm 36 and Genesis 1, then turns to two stories, a young American soldier in postwar Germany and a former burglar hired as a night watchman, before closing with a prayer to receive Jesus. The thread through all of it is that God’s order never changes: first life and light, then grace and truth.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Dr. William P. Hohman |
| Series | Jesus (part 8; first message on grace and truth) |
| Main text | John 1:1–18 |
| Key theme | Life before light, grace before truth, and confessing what the light reveals |
| Length | About 63 minutes |
All the Bible Is About Jesus
Pastor Hohman starts with a simple claim: “It’s all about Jesus. All the Bible is Jesus.” Abraham is in there as the father of our faith, but the story is still about Jesus. We are flawed, with our own little idiosyncrasies, but that is all right, he says, because He will perfect what concerns you (Psalm 138:8). We still apply ourselves, but we are not condemned for who we are.
Jesus told the leaders of the Jews that they read the Scriptures thinking they would find life there, when in them they should have been seeing Him (John 5:39). Many believers, he says, read only to learn how to be healed or prosper. Read your Bible to see Jesus instead; then healing comes and prosperity is available, because all things are from Him, through Him and to Him (Romans 11:36).
He then has the church read John 1:1–5 aloud. The Word is Jesus, and everything in the Old Testament, he says, is a type and shadow of Him. John wrote his Gospel from Ephesus a couple of decades after Matthew, Mark and Luke, because people kept trying to add to Jesus or take away from Him. Like someone woken at night by a big flashlight, people say, turn that light off.
When John says the darkness did not comprehend the light, Pastor Hohman explains that the word is not about understanding. The darkness could not take hold of the light, could not grasp it, and could not even quench it.
The Right to Become Children of God
In John 1:6–13, John the Baptist is sent to bear witness of the light, and to as many as received Jesus He gave the right to become children of God. Pastor Hohman says the Greek word for right means authority, strength and jurisdiction. It is up to us to mature and grow. Children who stay close to their parents become like them.
The Greek of verse 1, he explains, means the Word always had been God, while John, sent from God in verse 6, came into being by Him who always was.
Why did John write this? In Ephesus, Pastor Hohman explains, a group had risen whose name means the daily bathers. They were baptized every day, and some began worshiping John the Baptist as the Messiah. People raised under the law, he says, could not accept that salvation was that simple.
The danger, he says, faces everyone: to deify a man, such as a very charismatic minister, thinking God can only reach us through someone more holy. But Christ is made to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5–6). Not a saint, not a preacher.
The week before, he says, the Lord gave him a word of knowledge and he asked everyone needing healing to put a hand where they needed it. He reports healings that followed, including a man’s 15 years of violent pain instantly gone.
Yet the point is not the minister. The apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher are given to equip the people for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:11–12), not to become deified. “It’s about Jesus, not us.” You have to be looking to Jesus, the great I AM. Jesus said whoever believes in Him will do His works, and greater works, because He goes to the Father (John 14:12).
Life and Light, in That Order
If you feel distant from Jesus, Pastor Hohman says, draw near to Him and He will draw near to you (James 4:8). After 46 years in the ministry, he has counseled many couples who stayed together only for their kids and never knew each other. He asks how often we pray without asking for things, simply talking with Jesus.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16). His love is the same for everyone, but the relationship with that love is not. That is why Jesus said that if you do what He commands, He and the Father will come and make their home with you (John 14:23).
In Ephesians 4:17–18, Paul tells believers no longer to walk in the futility of their minds, with understanding darkened and alienated from the life of God because of ignorance and blindness of heart. Futility, Pastor Hohman explains, means unable to achieve what you were meant to do, and all creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8:19–21).
Here is the pattern: Jesus is life and light, in that order. “You can’t have the light of God without the life of God.” First the life, then the authority and privilege to become children of God. Psalm 36:9 says the same thing: with God is the fountain of life, and in His light we see light.
In Genesis 1:1–5, God said let there be light and separated the light from the darkness on the first day. There was no sun yet; Pastor Hohman says that light was Jesus, His own light. God did not make the sun, moon and stars until the fourth day (Genesis 1:14–19). “He thought it more important that we have his light than we have the light of the sun.”
That is also why hell, a fiery furnace, is outer darkness and total loneliness. “There’s no forgiveness in hell and there’s no unforgiveness in heaven.” Refuse to forgive and you draw hell into your life: torment, loneliness and solitude. Forgive and you draw heaven in: the goodness, power and greatness of God, His grace and His authority.
Full of Grace and Truth: Grace First, Then Truth
The tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life were both right there for Adam. If he had eaten of the tree of life, Pastor Hohman says, God would have given him the knowledge of good and evil, because he would have held it in truth. That is the order this message is about: first grace, then truth.
He reads John 1:14–18. The Word became flesh, full of grace and truth. John the Baptist was six months older than Jesus, yet said Jesus was before him, because Jesus always was. Of His fullness we have all received grace for grace, one blessing on another. The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Life and light allow grace and truth to flow through our lives. Dislike someone you do not even know because of something you heard years ago, and there is no truth there, because there is no grace. “You have to have grace to have truth.” The Bible is not misprinted: “It has to be first life and light. Then it has to be grace first, then truth.” No man could ever come full of grace and truth. Only Jesus.
Jesus came to manifest the nature of the Father, the personification of all the compassion of God. Freely we receive, and freely we give (Matthew 10:8). “I don’t give it to get it. I get it. So I have it to give.” It is the same with grace. If you want more grace and greater favor, receive the life of Jesus and allow His light to come.
Nobody hollered at the darkness when the church opened that morning. Someone flipped the switch, and everything was exposed: the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful. When light comes into our lives, Pastor Hohman says, it is not only “God, you’re so incredible” but “Look at how far short I fall.” Some people receive the grace of God yet never acknowledge their weaknesses, shortcomings and sin.
John was different. He brought his shortcomings and weaknesses to Jesus, and Jesus reciprocated his love. In that mutual affection they built something that Peter and James only got later. Jesus said a time of darkness was coming when no one could work (John 9:4), and at His death the disciples ran, hid and were bound in fear.
People without Christ may mock, bound by their five physical senses. It is not that they are bad people. They refused to acknowledge their sin and let the light expose everything. Whoever is forgiven much loves much, Jesus said (Luke 7:47). You cannot be forgiven of what you are unwilling to take ownership of by saying, “This is me.”
The Children Didn’t Start the War
To show what receiving life looks like, Pastor Hohman tells a story from 1946. In the American section of a divided Germany, a young private named James O’Connor came upon a pregnant woman with two little children, their lips blue, almost frozen, skin and bones.
The children would not take his Hershey bar, so he got down on his knees at their level, took a bite himself and handed it to them. Their mother nodded, and they ate. He covered her with his coat and brought the family to the mess tent, where the cook served each of them two fried eggs, milk, rye bread with butter and a bowl of peaches, then the same again.
The next morning she found him to thank him, bringing a little porcelain angel, the only thing left intact after the bombing. She wrapped his fingers around it and said, “You’re my angel. You gave us life.” When she said he would feed the children of his enemy, he answered, “The children didn’t start a war.”
Back home he became a firefighter. In 1962 a postcard found him through the Red Cross tracing service, with a photo of three children: “You once told my mother children didn’t start the war. Because of you, we got to grow up.” He kept that photo in his pocket until he died at 88. One of the children, now a doctor, flew him over for his wedding and honored him as “our grandfather from America.” At his funeral, Anna, the oldest, said, “We were dead. He gave us life.”
That, Pastor Hohman says, is people without Christ, and even believers unwilling to confess their sin. It is why testimony matters; he says he was a drug addict and an alcoholic, and he confessed his sin. Verses 14 and 17 say Jesus was full of grace and truth, so the life and the light are full of grace and truth. When we accept the life of Jesus and let the light expose everything, grace and truth fill our lives.
Known Better Than You Know Yourself
The primary purpose of Jesus coming, Pastor Hohman says, is in His conversation with Nicodemus: God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:17). We were all born into a war zone with the nature of sin, and many people go to church all their lives yet never confess their sin or let the light of God in.
He becomes emotional telling of a burglar who left prison wanting to go straight and was hired as a night watchman at a jewelry store. The owner knew nothing of his past. An old friend from the streets demanded money to keep quiet, and he paid, but he could not sleep for fear of being found out.
Then Pastor Hohman tells it a different way. The same owner goes to the prison himself and says he knows all about the man, more than the man knows about himself, and offers him the job. When the old friend threatens to tell, the watchman answers, “He knows me better than I know myself.” The owner tells the friend, “I know him better than you ever did and ever will.”
| Question | First scenario | Second scenario |
|---|---|---|
| What the owner knows | Nothing about his past | Everything, more than the man knows about himself |
| How he got the job | Hired while hiding his record | The owner found him in prison and offered it |
| When the old friend threatens | He pays money to keep him quiet | He says the owner already knows his past |
| How he lives | Unable to sleep, afraid of being found out | Working openly for someone who knows him |
Jesus knows us better than anyone ever will, but nothing is done about it until we are willing to fess up and say, “This is me.” Truth involves justice. “Condemnation presupposes the discovery of truth.” People are condemned because they do not want to be discovered, yet the discovery of truth is what allows justice to take place.
The justice that matters, he says, belongs to those who really know God. Be honest with yourself, and open with that honesty to God and to people. That is why the Bible says to confess your faults to one another (James 5:16). What you do not expose draws hell into your life: worry, loneliness, confusion, anger and bitterness. Being open, truthful and honest brings heaven in.
Living in Grace and Truth This Week
God knows you better than you know you, and He wants your life. Here are practical steps drawn from this message:
- Read your Bible to see Jesus. Before you look for healing or prosperity, ask Him to talk to you as you read.
- Talk with Him, not only for things. Tell Jesus about your day this week and draw near to Him.
- Let the light in. Name a weakness or sin you have kept hidden and say to God, “This is me.”
- Forgive someone today. Refuse to draw hell into your life through unforgiveness; draw heaven in.
- Give what you have received. Receive His compassion and grace freely, then pass them on freely.
- Look to Jesus, not a man. Honor those who pray for you, but keep your eyes on the one Mediator.
Timestamped Outline
- 0:00 Part eight: a new element, grace and truth
- 2:06 Read your Bible to see Jesus
- 4:14 John 1:1–5 read aloud
- 8:19 The right to become children of God
- 11:23 The daily bathers of Ephesus
- 14:27 The danger of deifying a man
- 15:29 Healing testimonies from last week
- 19:37 One Mediator: draw near to Jesus
- 23:42 Futility and creation waiting
- 25:44 Light on the first day, before the sun
- 26:47 Outer darkness and forgiveness
- 29:51 Adam, the tree of life and truth
- 30:53 John 1:14–18: full of grace and truth
- 35:03 Light exposes the good and the bad
- 38:06 Forgiven much, loves much
- 39:07 A young soldier in Germany, 1946
- 46:19 The children didn’t start the war
- 51:29 The burglar and the night watchman job
- 55:37 Truth, justice and confession
- 1:01:47 A prayer to receive Jesus
Jesus Series
A second message on grace and truth is coming. Start at the beginning or go back to the light of life teaching:
- First message: Jesus #1
- Previous: Jesus #6 The Light of Life
- You are here: Jesus #8 Grace and Truth
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have to be water baptized to be saved?
Pastor Hohman says no. You do not have to be water baptized to be saved, and you do not have to be water baptized to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. He believes in water baptism one time, not daily washing, and calls it a valuable part of our relationship with God. Sanctification comes through Christ, not repeated baths.
What does it mean that God is sovereign?
He says sovereign means God exists without any aid. It does not mean He does whatever He wants and you can do nothing about it. God is not in control the way some people say, he teaches, but He is in charge. And what He says is that if you do what He asks, He and the Father will make their home with you, a relationship you would never want to give up.
What does it mean to give your life to Jesus?
It is not just saying, “Yeah, I’ll take his love.” Giving your life is saying, “This is who I am, God. Forgive me for it.” You can know Jesus religiously and still never have given Him your life. You become born again when He has your life. Pastor Hohman points to confessing Jesus before men (Matthew 10:32–33) and leads a prayer asking for forgiveness, a new heart, His Spirit and newness of life.
Scripture References
All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:
- John 1:1–5 — in Him was life, and the life was the light
- John 1:6–13 — the right to become children of God
- John 1:14–18 — full of grace and truth
- 1 Timothy 2:5–6 — one Mediator between God and men
- Ephesians 4:17–18 — alienated from the life of God
- Psalm 36:9 — in Your light we see light
- Genesis 1:1–5 — light on the first day
- Luke 7:47 — forgiven much, loves much
- John 3:17 — not sent to condemn the world
- James 5:16 — confess your faults to one another
How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.
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