It is sad that so many people live at such a meager spiritual level. They trudge about through life trying to live up to their own expectations and those of others. They sense no joy. They have no peace. God desires to elevate you to a Royal Status. He wants you to experience the joy of salvation. He operates with your eternal peace in His cross-hairs.
Do you feel that? Do you know that sort of peace? Or is your life a treadmill of performance, trying to impress Him and live up to His standard?
Paul reminds us, "It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith" (Romans 4:13). God made a promise to Abraham. What Paul points out is that the fulfillment of the promise is not based on Abraham's law-keeping-skills. "For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise worthless. Because law brings wrath." (Romans 4:14-15a). If the promise is based on how well we keep the law, then faith is a non-essential. So what is the point of the law? It is to show us our needs. We are without out hope and without help on our own. We cannot leverage our goodness to make God have to bless us. We are incapable of putting God in our debt. The Law is too great. The standard is too great.
Abraham couldn't live up to the promise God made with him. He was declared to be heir of the World. That through him all men would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). But Abraham was bankrupt. His ancestors rebelled against God when they fashioned a tower in Babel. Abraham himself was no great man either. He pushed his wife off on others to save his own hide. But, in God's goodness, Abraham was a conduit through which the grace of God flows...
"Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring" (Romans 4:16)--including you and me. So what is this Promise? His name is Jesus. It is through Abraham's seed that the Righteous One came. The One who could live up to all the demands of the Law. He came and conquered. God put all things under him. He owns it all. Now he extends the Kingdom to us by faith. If we will believe and trust in Him we become co-heirs.
Do you see how beautiful this is!? God saw your desperate state. He knows your inability to live up to the law... but do you? Do you see your own bankrupt status? Do you see your need for a Rescue? That is what Christ is! He is the fulfillment of the promise that you couldn't bring about yourself. But in Him all the promises of God are yes and amen. " For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:20).
So here is the rub. Will you continue trying to meet the law by your own righteousness. Or, will you live in a righteousness that comes by faith? Will you be saved or will you save yourself. God opposes the proud. He comes to those who are humble in spirit. He rescues those that need a Savior. Fall on Him. Cry out to Him. Let Him be your Promise and your Hope.
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