Warren Wiersbe once wrote, “We live by God’s promises.” This is an undeniable truth, that is present in all of our lives. As humans we are unique among all creation. In the beginning God gave mankind dominion over the earth and blessed mankind. He continues that blessing to this day as the earth he has created provides for our needs. He made a promise to Noah that he would never destroy the earth again and reminds us with his rainbow. And he made a promise to Abraham that he would make a great nation out of his descendants and that all the world would be blessed. All of God’s promises are of a supernatural nature that could and have and can only be fulfilled by him. When we seek God’s promises with our own power and in our own flesh, we will always fail and only disappointment and despair will remain.
Galatians 4:22-23
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.”
Not all people who call themselves Christians believe themselves to be sons and daughters of God most high are speaking, living and hoping in the same truths. Ishmael and Isaac both called Abraham their father and while this is true both took different paths. One was a son born of the flesh the other was a son born from supernatural means and was the son of God’s promise. There are many today who say they have been born again, but their birth was not supernatural but was of human origins. They seek to do better on thief own, putting faith on their own actions and efforts in seeking God. They are focused on a human region, based on human thought and desires. Charles Spurgeon describes this human religion, “It is human nature dressed up with a thin layer of what is thought to be grace.” There sadly are many who have cleaned themselves up and brushed of the dirt and out on new cloths and a new nature, trying to convince themselves and others that they have put thru old nature to rest. These human attempts to gain our own righteousness based on our own works and actions will always fail. They are short lived, temporary at best. Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” It is long those that have sought salvation and God on their own power will return the sinful ways of their past self. When try and rise up from our corrupt human nature on our own we can only rise as far as our own flesh will allow. Jet as water will only rise as high as its source, so it is with human nature it cannot reach thru heights of God’s divine nature. The flesh will always fall short, as it is only from God that the promise flows. If you sore seeking salvation in the power of your own flesh you are an type of Ishmael a child born of nature not of God.
Jesus tells Nicodemus, “You must be born again.” Upon hearing this Nicodemus response, “How can a man be born again when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Nicodemus like many people was thinking like a natural man, failing to realize that this act of being born again is not natural but supernatural. Ishmael was born of the flesh, so he lived by the flesh, Isaac was born to Abraham and Sara in their old age and was a supernatural act that could have only been accomplished by God. Isaac was to be the son of the promise made to Abraham and Sara. The promise that Abraham would be the father of a great nation, a nation that would bless all nations. To partake in this promise, we to must be born into the promise, for there is no grace, and no salvation apart from the promise and the grace found in the promise. We cannot come to God under our own power the promise an only be fulfilled by God. We come to him as like beggars at the gate of the King, weeping over our sin seeking his grace. Charles Spurgeon said of this, “My hope lies only in the promise of God. He has set forth that promise in the person of his Son Jesus, to every sinner who believes in Him. I do believe in Him; therefore, I trust and believe that the Lord will fulfill His promise and bless me. I look for heavenly blessedness, not as the results of my own effort, but as the gift of God’s free favor. MY hope is set only and completely upon the free and gratuitous love of God., to guilty men, by which He has given His Son Jesus Christ to put away sin and to bring in everlasting righteousness for those who deserve it.”
If this is the condition of your heart then you are an Isaac, born not od natural means but of the supernatural power of the Holly Spirit. You are a child not of the flesh but a child of the promise. There is no religion that can save you, no work you can do, no effort you can make that will save you apart from being born again. It is only by putting your entire faith and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ that this supernatural rebirth can happen, and you will be saved.
Having different origins will lead to living different lives. The person who relies on their natural self and their own works in seeking righteousness and salvation will live lift that reflects that. So many people live like this they have the outward appearance and characteristic that appear Christian. They attend church they pray, and they read their bibles. They do this so they can justify their actions and seek to earn or work their way to heaven. There are many who have great knowledge when it comes to the Bible and give the appearance of having meaningful religious lives. But living in the flesh and seeking salvation and righteousness but their own works can lead them to be pious and legalistic as the seek not only to control their own lives but seek to control and judge the lives of others. Seeking to be wise they become fools. They become like the Pharisees that Jesus described as white washed tombs. They appear clean on the outside but inside their hearts are dead.
They seek God not for His glory but for their own. They pray and mediate not to grow closer to God but under the false belief that God will fulfill their desires if they are religious enough. But their desires are of the flesh and the world not of the spirit. They seek approval for their sins not repentance of their sins. They believe themselves to be free having worked themselves free from the bondage of sin. Yet they are living a lie and are still slaves to sin. They work towards a salvation they will never obtain because they are born into slavery. Like Ishmael who was born of the slave woman and can never truly be free, they have been born into sin and will nerve be free. They seek not the approval of God but the approval of men. Slaves to their own pride and arrogance they ignore their sin and their hearts hardened to the things of God. They are born in the flesh and live lives that reflect this origin.
For those that have been born again, born by supernatural means, by the Holy Spirit, having put their faith and trust in Christ alone for salvation there is a different life. A life that rises up and walks in faith. A people that have become through this birth a new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” This can only happen when we trust in Christ and in God’s promise. Just as we had no involvement with our own conception and birth, so there is nothing we have done or can do in our new birth. And that will lead us down a different path in how we live. We shall live to honor God and not man, we do not seek approval for our sin but weep over it and repent seeking forgiveness. Forgiveness that only God can provide. We worship and pray ins spirit and truth. They are no longer child of a slave, but reborn free from sin and death. They have set their eyes, hearts and faith not on earthly things but on eternity. They love not because of what they can receive but because of what they have received. Born again as child of the promise. Like Isaac their birth was of supernatural origins, an act that can only be accomplished by God.
When I looked up the word hope I found two definitions. The first was: To cherish a desire and anticipate; to want something to happen or be true.” The second reads: “To desire with great anticipation; to expect with confidence.” It is interesting that one word can have such different meanings, and then it struck me that between those that have been born natural and of the flesh and those that have been born again by the Spirit their concept of hope is also drastically different.
“To cherish a desire and anticipate” This is the hope of the people who put their hope in the world and man. They put their hope in the accumulation of material goods in their quest for happiness and security. How many of have heard people proclaim, such things as “which my rich uncle dies, and I get my inheritance I will be happy and set for life.” Only if I could win the lottery it will be better.” If only I had a raise or this job or that job, a new house, a new town, all will be good. This is a how that cherishes the desire, the grass is always greener on the other side hope. It is a hope that can never be satisfied as people continue to seek the next better thing.
“To want something to happen or to be true.” This is the hope of those that have convinced themselves that they can be born of the flesh and that they can be saved by their works. They believe and hope that since they go to church, pray and read the Bible they are saved, that religion is the answer. They hope that when the day comes, and they stand before God that the good they have done will outweigh the bad. So, they do what the world sees as good works, they seek the approval of men for their works, hoping that this will validate them with God. Many attend churches where they do not speak of sin but only of God’s love, so they hope and believe that this God of love would never condemn anyone to hell, that he will forgive all who have tried to be good. They do not want to hear that God is just and holy and that sin cannot go unpunished. Their hearts have been hardened against hearing the truth. So, they hope, they want what they believe to be true, they hope it will happen. But they have put their hope in hope without any real foundation for expecting fulfillment of their desires.
“To desire with great expectation; to expect with confidence.” This is the hope of the born-again Christian. This is the hope of those that have put all their faith and trust in Christ and have been born again not by their works or the flesh but by the Holy Spirit it is a supernatural rebirth. It is a person who does not seek the things of this world to fulfill their needs, to provide them with joy and peace. They do not have to look for greener pasture as they have access to the King who has proclaimed to them that they will never thirst nor hunger again. They live with confidence and assurance that God will provide for their needs. Like Paul many have known hardship but have learned no matter the circumstances they can be content. Living on the promises of God knowing His unending faithfulness, and his strength. When the world presses in they know with great confidence that his grace will be enough. It is in their weakness that they are made strong. “The promise attends our present life by creating in us an elevated spirit, a life above visible surroundings and a calm and heavenly frame of mind’ Charles Spurgeon.
These people who have been born again by the Spirit of God. Have great expectation and confidence in their salvation. Our first appeared when Christ died on the cross, paying the price we could never pay. When they come to the truth that there is no work or task that can justify them to God and make them righteous before God apart from trusting in Christ. On the third day Christ rose from the grave and hope was confirmed. It is with confidence they look to him for eternal life. He then ascended to heaven where he has ensured their hope as he intercedes with the Father on their behalf. And with great expectation they wait for his return when all their hopes will be fully realized. All this is because they have trust the promise of God, and chose to be born again, all of this hope is of supernatural origins, given to them by the Holy Spirit.
Hope against hope a hope without any foundation for expecting fulfillment.
