God made a covenant with Abraham based on the ‘I will’ of
God. The full story of this is found in Genesis 17 and surrounding chapters.
Abraham received this in faith and it is recorded in scripture that ‘Abraham
believed God and it was credited, reckoned to him as righteousness’, Romans 4:
3, Galatians 3: 6, James 2: 23. Abraham’s righteousness was based in the
promise of God which he received in faith.
God made a covenant with Moses on behalf of the people that
was based in the ‘you will’ and the ‘you won’t’ of the Law, the ‘yes’ and the ‘no’
of the Law, see it clearly it Exodus 20, even written on stone! It is holy and
absolutely right but it was unattainable for human kind and it’s only purpose
was to reveal sin because before the Law sin was in the world but it was not
imputed, not revealed, not exposed, Romans 5: 13, and so it is because of the
revealed Law that we declare ‘all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God’, Romans 3: 23
God always would restore the covenant of Abraham, the
covenant of faith, the covenant of the ‘I will’ of God and not the ‘you will’
(the yes) and ‘you won’t’ (the no) of man because man, sadly, couldn’t do it.
Listen to these words, ‘so that, as sin reigned in death, (the law brought
death because the holiness of God revealed in the Law demanded death), even so
grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ
our Lord.’ Glorious words! Jesus came because we were unable to save ourselves
and we are still unable, even if we have accepted Him…do not be alarmed. I will
explain what I mean by that statement right now.
God restored the covenant of faith in the ‘I will’, the YES
of God, the person of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Our salvation, our
reconciliation, our eternal life is in HIM, not in us. Yes we receive it by
faith, that is, we position ourselves to receive Him and we are saved but once
saved we don’t then move to a place of receiving the working out of our
salvation by works (our yes and no), it is still by faith, still in Him.
Do you get it?
It is ALL IN HIM, not you, HIM and we just receive it by
faith. Faith is our position, not our work. Work entails movement, activity,
action on your part but faith is sitting at His feet (like Mary), ‘seated …with
Him in the heavenly places…so that in the ages (from now for all eternity) to
come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in…
(In what? In who? In our works? In our ‘yes’ and ‘no’? In what we do?)...NO,
eternally NO!... but in Christ Jesus’ and in Him alone, no-one else, nothing
else, only HIM, Ephesians2: 6, 7.
Now, listen to these words, Romans 4: 16, ‘For this reason it
is by faith , that it might be in accordance with grace, in order that the
promise may be to all descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but
also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.’
Another version says it like this, ‘Therefore it is of faith that it might be
according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all seed, not only
those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of us all…’
Listen very carefully…this passage has just been saying that
if the promise made to Abraham was based in keeping the Law and not through the
righteousness which comes by faith (faith that comes by receiving THE righteous
One, Jesus Christ) and if the Law produces heirs then faith is made of no
effect, useless, a waste of time and the consequence is the promises of God are
also made of no effect, useless, a waste of time, Romans 4: 13, 14.
Verse 15 then declares that the Law brings wrath, (the wrath
of holy God against the sin of one who turned his back on God and consequently
we, by descent, have all turned our back on God), and that our violation was revealed
by Law. Law, keeping Law, no matter how hard we try, is impossible and so the
only way available to us to be reconciled with our God is through faith.
Now we don’t now run off and try real hard to be faithful
for that is not what we are talking about. Rather now we position ourselves to
receive grace, ‘therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace’…
What is grace? It is Jesus Christ, the ‘exact representation of the nature of
God’, Hebrews 1: 3. He alone reveals the unmerited favour of God, the nature of
God, and He alone is the basis of our acceptance. You see what the verse goes
on to say…’…that it might be according to grace, SO THAT THE PROMISE MIGHT BE
SURE TO ALL SEED…’ Not just those of the Law, the people of Israel but to you
and me, those who are children of Abraham, this means those who like Abraham
received the promise of God by faith, those who position themselves, like
Abraham, to believe God and it is on this basis, and this basis alone, that God
declares we are ‘the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, 2 Corinthians 5: 21,
and that our sins are remembered no more, Hebrews 8: 12, 10:17. This is the
foundation clause of the New Covenant, which is the fulfilment of the Covenant
of Faith made with Abraham. It is fulfilled in Jesus Christ because He came
without sin and fulfilled the absolute requirements of the Law on our behalf, doing
what we couldn’t do, so we only need receive Him. Our need to ‘do’ is gone.
swallowed up in His ‘done’, when He declared “IT IS FINISHED” at the cross. At
that moment the veil separating us from the Holiest of Holies was torn in two
and the way was made. He is THE WAY, He is THE TRUTH, and He is THE LIFE!
Can you see it?
Therefore the ONLY way the promise could be sure, the only
way the promise is sure is by GRACE, by Jesus Christ. There is no other way.
God has given me a mission and that mission is to preach His
Grace to the whole world! Please don’t think I am big-noting myself for I am
not, I take the ‘call’ of God over my life very seriously indeed. My prayer is
that you will receive His grace, yes in salvation but then in life. Too many
times in our churches do we preach salvation by grace and then life by works,
an alloy of Law and Grace, lukewarmness!
I will finish today with this, listen to these words…’For
the Son of God, Christ Jesus (just in case we had forgotten), who was preached
among you by us…was not yes and no, but is yes in Him, 2 Corinthians 1: 19.
Oh, hallelujah! The ‘yes’ and ‘no’ of the Law is removed
from us and replaced with the ‘yes’ of Jesus Christ!
So, yes to what?
It goes on…’For as many as may be the promises of God, in
Him they are yes; wherefore by Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us’,
2 Corinthians 1: 20.
Woohoo! The promises of God are ‘YES’ in Him! Not only that
our AMEN is by Him, and not only that it is by Him God is glorified in us.
What is it saying?
The requirements of our input in all these things are
removed and are perfectly established in HIM. WE receive ALL the many promises
of God in Him, HE is our AMEN, and God is glorified in us in HIM. EVERYTHING in HIM, Jesus Christ.
What has God promised you?
They are established in Him. Jesus said that even heaven and
earth will pass away, but His words will never pass away’, Matthew 24: 35.
God has promised many things to me and to WTL and God’s team
for WTL. He has revealed through His word and through His revelation to many people
the magnitude of the call He has placed on my life. Are they established in my
faithfulness? NO, a million times no!
They are established in His faithfulness and His true
declaration that what He has said will never pass away and this is truth
because they are established in Him and He is their Amen and He will bring
glory to God in me. That’s all!
So who does all this?
Read on…’Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and
anointed us is God, who sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a
pledge’, 2 Corinthians 1: 21, 22.
God was well pleased with the finished work of His Son.
Jesus went into the Holiest of Holies, the very presence of God, with His own
blood and it was accepted. He was invited to sit down at the right hand (the
hand of blessing and favour) and we are presently positioned there to receive
His grace, His favour. We are Benjamin, the sons of His right hand, favoured
and blessed in Jesus Christ.
We are established in Christ by God Himself. We are anointed
by God Himself. We are sealed by God Himself and the pledge is the giving of
the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. We are sealed by the magnitude of the truth
that Christ lives in us!
‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places… (this does
not mean our blessings are only spiritual…we are blessed with all the blessing
of the hand of God as He pours out His favour and love over His Son in the
heavenly place, and us in Him, as we are seated with Him in the heavenlies…positioned
to receive not striving to receive!)…in Christ Jesus, just as He chose us in
Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless
before Him… (We are holy and blameless in Him, in the righteousness of Christ;
we are the righteousness of God in Christ, 2 Corinthians 5: 21). In love He
predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace,
which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.’
In the Beloved we are accepted as heirs, as sons and
daughters.
Receive Him by grace and then live by grace.
Reject the lie that Life is by works…Life is by every word
which proceeds from the mouth of God, rest in His promises.
He is EVERYTHING.
