Life Through The Spirit: Part 2 - Diving Deeper
Thousands of years ago, a man named Abraham and his wife, Sarah, received a promise from God that seemed impossible. God told them that they would have a son. At the time God made the promise, Sarah was sixty-five years old. When she heard the promise the very first time, she laughed. But, God didn't just make the promise once, He reminded them of the promise over and over. God promised Abraham that he would have as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, or grains of sand along a shoreline.
Ten years passed and Sarah did not get pregnant. She was seventy-five years old. She had let herself believe what God said, but now the hopes and dreams of the life God had promised her seemed like they were slipping through her fingers. As the years went on without a single piece of evidence pointing towards this promise coming true, it seemed like God couldn't possibly be planning to fulfill this promise supernaturally.
In desperation, Sarah took her servant Hagar to her husband and told him that he could have a child by her. So Abraham had a son with Hagar, and named him Ishmael.
But this was not the supernatural fulfilment of God's promise that He had intended. Fifteen more years passed. Sarah was ninety years old when all of a sudden she conceived and gave birth to a boy, whom they named Isaac.
In Galatians, Paul tells us that this story is picture of the old covenant and the new covenant. The son Abraham had by Hagar is a picture of the law, the covenant given through Moses on Mount Sinai. It is the covenant of human effort.
The promised son that Abraham had by Sarah is a picture of the new covenant, which is salvation and righteousness by grace through faith in Jesus.
Abraham and Sarah received a promise of covenant-life with God, of blessing and relationship with Him. God promised them that He would be their God and that they would be His people and they would possess the promised land. But the fulfilment of this promise could only happen supernaturally!
Paul tells us in Galatians that this promise was made to "Abraham and his child." Not "his children" meaning his descendants, but to "his child," and the child referred to was Christ. Christ was the promised heir of Abraham's blessing and covenant!
On Mount Sinai, when God gave the descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, the law, it was a covenant of human effort. Just like the son of Hagar, it could not achieve the supernatural fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham. Galatians says that the law was like a "protective custody" we were under until the promised child, Jesus, came and fulfilled the requirements for us to receive our inheritance.
But now Christ, the promised child has come! The heir to the promises of Abraham came to earth and broke the curse of sin over us. Paul says that now that we belong to Jesus, we too are the children of Abraham, and the heir of the blessings promised to him.
Life in the Spirit, that is righteousness through faith in Christ Jesus that means we can be in full relationship with God, is the promise God gave to Abraham all those years ago! It is the promise that seems "too good to be true" just like Sarah thought! It is a promise that could only be fulfilled supernaturally by God through the gift of His son.
Just like Sarah, when we don't feel or see this promise manifesting in our lives, we can be tempted to try to bring about this promises' fulfillment through our own effort! We can try to bring about the promised life of righteousness and relationship with God through following the law. But Paul says in Galatians that we are not to return to slavery to to the law! Just like Hagar's son could not share in the inheritance of Abraham, we cannot receive the supernatural fulfilment of God's promise through our own effort.
Christ is the true heir of Abraham, the promised son. Because we belong to Jesus we are co-heirs of this promised life. Like Sarah awaiting her promised child, we put our faith not in our own ability to be righteous, but in God's faithfulness and the sufficiency of His work. Philippians 1:6 tells us to be confident in this: that He who began a good work in us will carry it out to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
This good work of sanctification that God has began He will carry out until completion! As we await the fulfilment of this promise, we stir up our faith through this confession: I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
This week, you can dive deeper into the message through one or all of the following:
Pray for a revelation of the gift of righteousness by grace through faith.
Do a DBS on Galatians 3:13-14.
Listen and worship along with "Better Word" by Leeland.
Listen or re-listen to the message by clicking the Podcast link at the bottom.
Reflect & Respond
Discovery Bible Study (DBS) is a way for anyone, anywhere to read God's word! You can dive deeper into this week's message by doing a DBS one any one or all of these scriptures. DBS is a great tool to use for your own devotions, as a bible study with friends, or as an evangelism tool!
Prayer Prompts
Pray that we would have a revelation of the gift of righteousness by grace through faith!
Pray that as we go through this series on life in the Spirit many would receive fresh and powerful encounters with the Spirit. Maybe that is being baptized in the Spirit for the first time, or maybe it is a fresh revelation of the indwelling of the Power of God!
Pray for the influx of souls coming into the Kingdom!
