Obeying the leading of the Spirit (2)
What we call the entire Christian journey is in the spirit, the promise of God is revealed in the spirit.
Romans 8:9;
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Ephesians 1:13;
13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
This is who we are, and we must lay hold on it. A believer shouldn’t act like a mere man. On the day of Pentecost, Peter attributed all that happened to the spirit (Acts 2:14-47). Peter linked Joel’s prophecy and what happened on the day of Pentecost to the work of the spirit. The spirit is what we call Christianity.
Romans 1:3 -5;
3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
Jesus was not the only seed of David, something had to mark Jesus out as the son of God.
4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
To believe that Jesus is the son of God is not just by miracles (Moses did many miracles), Jesus was declared the son of God by the resurrection from the dead, and the spirit was given upon the resurrection.
vs. 5,
5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:
The word ‘obedience’ is the word ‘hupakoe’ in the Greek, and it means ‘you hear to do’, Paul calls salvation obedience, heeding to what Christ has done.
1 Peter 1:2;
2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
He said everyone who has believed the gospel obeyed.
Ezekiel 36:25-27;
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
The water typifies the spirit. In verse 26, he says a new heart, that is, he will take away the stony heart, that one that proves difficult. Salvation is that obedience.
In verse 27, the word ‘within’ is the Hebrew word ‘qureb’ which means something that becomes part of your nature. The word ‘new’ is the Hebrew word ‘chadesh’, meaning something that has not existed before. The new birth promises that the spirit of God is in our DNA. The word ‘cause’ is used for a finished work; that is, he is the one that will do it. The word ‘walk’ is the Hebrew word ‘Halak’ which typifies our going out and coming in. In other words, God is saying that our going and coming will be in his statutes (in his plans). In the new birth, which is obedience to the faith, our going, coming, pause, and stop will be in God’s plan. Our decisions will be influenced by God’s decision — we will start to think like him.
The new birth comes with an already equipped life to reflect God’s choices. There is no believer who cannot know what God is saying. We are not the ones led by external experiences, what we have are spirit-led experiences. We can pray out our day, because with the new birth comes an equipped life for his choices. Learn to follow God’s plan.
Psalms 127:1;
1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
The builders will build the house, but it will not be the Lord’s. We must stay alert to know what God will have us do. The Christian life is in the spirit, he is with us always, because of this, he gives us instructions. We ought to recognize and walk in them.
Daily Bible Reading Plan:
Bible Reading – Genesis 49-51
TEACHING OF THE DAY
Working out your Salvation (3)