This
week, we continued the “Be Like Abe” series. We looked at two ideas related to
this topic of grace. First, we looked at the importance of the role of the Holy
Spirit as we receive the message of God’s grace. In Galatians 1:11-17, Paul talks about how it
was not any man, including the apostles who walked with Jesus, who gave him the
message of the gospel of grace that he preached. It was the Spirit of God
Himself who gave it to him. Paul, after receiving Jesus on the road to Damascus , spent as many as 17 years back and forth to Arabia to study his new-found faith in the one he had
been persecuting.
The
power of the Holy Spirit will lead you to the truth of God’s righteousness by
faith, as opposed to righteousness by works. This is a difficult concept for us
to truly receive and live by. The Holy Spirit is also the source of God’s signs
and wonders – the things that will draw men toward God.
In
Mark 2:1-12, we read a story that perfectly illustrates both of these points.
Jesus was teaching in a home. The home was so full that no one else could fit.
Do you think so many would be drawn to hear a then still unknown teacher, if
all he was teaching was the same law teaching that they regularly heard in the
synagogues? In addition, the parallel passage in Luke 5 says that the Spirit to
heal was there – that is signs and wonders. Even though people did not yet know
WHO Jesus was, they were drawn by that healing spirit in Him (and that same
spirit dwells in each of us!). Because
of the crowd, a paralytic man there to be healed had to have four friends take
him up to the roof of the house, cut a hole in the roof, and lower him down to
where Jesus was. Jesus sees the man and tells him that his sins are forgiven.
The
Pharisees (read “the law”) were there thinking that Jesus was a blasphemer for
implying He could forgive sin. Jesus, by the power of the Spirit (again the
same Spirit who dwells in you!), knows what they are thinking and calls them on
it. After arguing with them and shutting them down, He goes back to the
paralytic and tells Him to take up his mat at walk away. Did you see what happened? The law was there
to try and disqualify the man from receiving what Jesus said was his. The enemy
likes to use the law to either disqualify you or disqualify the healer when you
stand for a miracle. Don’t let the law steal your miracle!
Next,
we moved on to Romans 4 to clarify our examination of what it was that Abraham
believed that caused God to credit his faith to him as righteousness. I believe
we will get to the actual answer next Sunday, but I wanted to draw our
attention to a couple points Paul makes in this chapter. He quotes King David in verses 7-8. This is
referencing Psalm 32:1-2. David says that blessed are they whose sins are
forgiven, and blessed is the man whose sins God never holds against him. I wondered why he changes pronouns there. Why
is it first “they” and then “the man?” There are many who believe they are
forgiven and will be received by Christ in eternity, but there are very few who
ever get the revelation that He is NEVER holding their sin against them – and
that includes NOW. You see, it is not just that we WILL be clothed in His
righteousness when we enter heaven, but we are righteous NOW because of what
Jesus did!
Many
in the early church had a very difficult time receiving Gentiles into the faith
without the requirement of circumcision. Even the apostle Peter was a proponent
of this qualification. Paul reminds that Abraham was declared righteous
and blessed BEFORE he was ever circumcised. Before Abraham had DONE anything,
God declared him righteous – not by what he did, but because of what he
believed.
To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/media.php. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee,
visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.
