We are continuing our section of this series on grace. In this series on grace, we’re addressing
those who say “I’m standing on faith but not seeing results…I believe I believe
but I’m not seeing it happen.” We have
to have a balance between faith and grace.
You might have the faith but not believe you’re worth of it, OR you
might be living in grace but not putting effort into pulling on the Word so it
can work in your life.
Remember that last week we talked about avoiding insulting
the spirit of grace by thinking we have to be perfect to inherit God’s
promises. We also talked about the fact
that grace doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want or sin more in order to have
more grace. For grace to work, we have
to be trying. Romans 3:23 refers to “falling
short,” which indicates you were trying.
If we are living outside of grace, we have a “certain and fearful expectation of
judgment.” Grace indicates that we have
hope and confident expectation of good.
This week we’re focusing on 2 obstacles that keep us from
that confident expectation of good. The
first is generational curses. This means
that we all live under this due to Adam sinning. Exodus 20:5 and Numbers 14:8 talk about sins
being revisited to multiple generations.
Remember that when we are born again, we are no longer under any curses. Jesus hung on the tree to break the
curses. Remember 2 Corinthians 5:17 can
be referenced here—we are now no longer subject to the things in our family. We don’t need to be in denial if a doctor
diagnoses something that runs in our family, BUT we can still connect faith and
see God break that curse off of us. We
have to connect by faith in order to see these things broken off. It does not become real in our world until we
connect faith to it.
Jeremiah 31:29-31 refers to a common expression meaning that
what the fathers had done would pass on to their children. The promise here is that this will end. Hebrews 10:17-18 says God will forgive
entirely and remember it no more, with no sacrifice required. That includes things in our family. John 19:28 and on recounts Jesus’ death. He said “I’m thirsty” and received wine
vinegar (sour grapes). He received our “sour
grapes” for us. Before this, every one
of us was subject to a generational curse through Adam. In Joshua 3 tells the story of going into the
promised land. They are carrying the ark
of the covenant and need to go across the Jordan River
at flood stage. God tells the priests to
take the ark and when they set foot in the water, it would back up. Notice that He didn’t dry up the water until
they stepped into the water. The Jordan Jordan
The second obstacle is “what you sow you reap.” It is true that everything is sowing and
reaping (see Genesis 8—seed, time, and harvest). The new testament doesn’t talk about sowing
and reaping with regard to sin and punishment.
Jesus broke this by reaping what He did not sow. He defied this principle so sin would not
reap this punishment and destruction in us.
He obliterated the principle, even dying for the sin we had not
committed. El Shaddai is a name of God
that means “God reserves the right to speed up, slow down, or reverse any law
for the benefit of fulfilling a promise for His children.” For example, our bodies were originally made
to heal themselves, so when we are healed of an illness, God accelerates the
time needed to do it, along with removal of the issues causing it not to heal
itself. Galatians 6:6-10 says the reason
we sow and are generous (for God’s benefit or our benefit) determines what we
reap. Remember again we have to connect
faith to this in order to live under this side of grace. We must receive it (when we say we receive it,
we exercise faith that we deserve it through Christ). Remember this about sacrifices in the
original Jewish law. When a person
brought a sin sacrifice, the priest looked only at the sacrifice and not the
person. God looks only at Jesus’s blood
and not us.
To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on
online media. To learn more about Living
Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.
