Tag Archives: eternal life

Sin Has No Right – Romans 8:3

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(Romans 8:3)  “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:”

The Law could forbid me.  The Law could scold my conscience.  The Law could correct me.  But what could the Law not do?  It could not free me from the law of sin and death! In my Christian walk, every time I try to live according to the letter of the law, I face condemnation.  I am not able to escape failure under the law.  I see my own inadequacies.  But when I come back to the source, the center of my identity, I realize once again that in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation.  My sinful flesh is weak and powerless to fulfill the law.  My sinful flesh is unable to meet the righteous requirements of God.

God’s plan is not for me to receive constant condemnation.  God’s plan is not for me to bear a continual burden in my soul as a reminder of my past.  God’s plan was to turn the tables on sin and the flesh.  Instead of condemning my spirit, “sin in the flesh” received the condemnation.

When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, sin in my flesh was condemned.  When I placed my faith in Him, God rewrote my history so that Christ became my Adam.  My past link to the first Adam was removed and my life is now eternally linked to the second Adam, Who is Christ.

(1 Corinthians 15:45)  “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.”

Because sin stands condemned, it has no right to operate in me.  Sin is a convict without a home.  When I choose to sin, I am choosing to allow something without spiritual rights and privileges to have power over me.  Therefore, sin operates illegally when it has free reign to work through me.

Renewed Thought – Thank you Lord that my history is defined by Christ alone.  Sin has no legal right over me today.  I choose to be a servant of You and I choose to be defined by You in all that I am.

Casting Out The Bondwoman And Her Son – Galatians 4:30-31

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(Galatians 4:30-31)  “Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.“

The bondwoman and her son are Hagar and Ishmael.  They represent the Law and the flesh.  Sarah’s advice to Abraham was:

(Genesis 21:10)  “Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.”

The Galatian believers, as heirs of eternal life, were identified with Isaac the child of promise.  But Jewish teachers put enormous pressure on the Galatians to seek holiness by the Law.  In essence, they were attempting to make a child of promise also become a child of the flesh.  This is an impossible and incompatible proposition.  Paul’s plea to the Galatians was the same as Sarah’s plea to Abraham – “Cast out…”  Everything about bondage and legalism was to be driven out from their presence.

It’s never easy to come to terms with our flesh.  It requires an honesty that makes us uncomfortable.  It requires us to deal with habits formed.  We must recognize our religious self is not our new self in Christ.  Just as Abraham was grieved at Sarah’s words, our religious self will be grieved when we recognize the need to cast out legalism and the flesh.  Our flesh will want to compromise.  It will say, “Just a little legalism can’t hurt, right?”  Just as Abraham plead for Ishmael (Genesis 17:18), we will be tempted to plead for our religious self.  But we cannot be a child of the bondwoman and a child of the freewoman.  If we try to be both at the same time, our Christian lives will be fragmented, never peaceful or unified.

Come to terms with the flesh.  Is your service for the Lord really your flesh acting religious?  Deep down inside you don’t have peace.  You thought your service would earn you blessing and favor with God.  But you aren’t satisfied and you feel as if what you are doing is drudgery.  This is legalism and the flesh operating.  You thought singing in the choir would earn you something special.  You thought becoming a Bible teacher would bring blessing.  You may have become a pastor because you thought it would give you peace and joy.  But now all you feel is pressure to perform.  You feel frustration.  You feel disappointment. You wonder where the blessing is.  You are bound in legalism even though your life has all the appearance of a Christian life.  It is time to come to terms with the source of your service.  It is time to drive out the religious reason for serving.  It is time to find a new source of power and a new motivation for living for the Lord.  It is time to cast out the bondwoman and her son.  That isn’t your heritage.  You are a child of promise, heir of eternal life.  You are free – this is your true spiritual heritage!

Renewed Thought – We cannot please God by manufacturing joy and motivation within ourselves.  Christ must be the source of our joy and motivation first, before we ever attempt to serve Him.

What God Hath Promised – Galatians 4:28

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(Galatians 4:28)  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

Isaac was the fruit of a promise made by God.  God bound Himself to fulfill the promise.  God obligated Himself to provide the way for Abraham and his seed to inherit the world.  At the core of it all, God promised eternal life.

(Romans 4:13)  For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

God’s promise wasn’t fulfilled through “a deal” made with Abraham.  It wasn’t based on performance.  It was founded in faith.  Isaac was a child of promise because Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.  Righteousness is required for eternal life.

(Romans 4:21-22)  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

Politicians make promises to get our vote.  Parents make promises to get their children to respond in a certain way.  We have been conditioned our whole lives to base the fulfillment of promises on our own behavior.  If we don’t behave, we don’t receive.  This is performance based on conditional response.  This is not grace.  Before the world began, God promised to give eternal life (Titus 1:2).  We are recipients of that promise because we are recipients of His righteousness.  None of this is based on our performance.  It is all based on the work accomplished for us by the Lord Jesus Christ when He paid for our sins on the cross.

When politicians don’t fulfill their promises, we become cynical.  When our parents don’t fulfill promises, we become bitter.  Sometimes we think there is “a deal” with God.  We believe God is obligated to provide a life that fulfills our expectations.  When our life doesn’t go according to our plans, we become cynical and bitter against God.  But the promise of eternal life never included a deal to meet all of our expectations.  Eternal life is designed to meet our deepest needs.  We need His righteousness.  We need His forgiveness.  This is what enables us to appreciate His life, not ours.  This is what empowers us to live His life, not ours.  His life is the unconditional promise we have as children of God.

Renewed Thought -

God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

-Hymn “What God Hath Promised,” Annie J. Flint, 1919