The Blessing Of The Spirit - Part 3

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law so that in order that the whole purpose of this was not just that I can be free but that the blessing of Abraham might come upon us. I mean he the Jews may claim him to be their father but the blessing which God gave Abraham is for us and if the Jews don't claim it well just too bad and that is so the blessing of Abraham so we can receive the Holy Spirit by faith we can receive a blessing and the blessing in the New Testament is the Holy Spirit. See that's the opposite of the curse of the law. Law Holy Spirit, curse blessing, curse of the law blessing of the Holy Spirit. So this is it. So if I don't replace this I was you and I were under the curse of the law for so many years because we tried to please God that way and didn't work but now have you just kept our heart empty now we sort of nod and say yeah I believe in the Holy Spirit. It's not a question of believing it's a question of whether he's occupied the place in our heart and say Lord I believe that you have given me the Holy Spirit to give me Abraham's blessing. That's been a tremendous encouragement to me. We can receive the promise of the Holy Spirit by faith. Abraham received it by faith. He didn't do any works. I want you to turn to Genesis chapter 12 and see what Abraham's blessing is. Genesis chapter 12 you know we read here what the Lord said to Abraham when he was 75 years old It tells us in verse 4 he was 75 years old when he departed from Haran. Now I don't know at what age he left Ur of the Chaldees. You know because God had called him when he was in Ur of the Chaldees is down south near somewhere near south Iraq or somewhere there and then he went north to a place called Haran and that was just the route to go to Canaan which is today Israel. But because he took his father with him and took his nephew with him and there were some others also. It says in chapter 11 31 Terah took Abraham his son and left the son of Haran grandson and Sarah's daughter-in-law and they all went together to Haran and when they saw this place called Haran Abraham's dad said hey this is a good place we're gonna stay here and little boy Abraham 75 years old said okay daddy we'll stay here. God had told him to go to Canaan and he didn't listen. Imagine listening to your dad when he was 75 years old. That dad must have been a strong man for Abraham. You know what God had to do? He killed his father. I've got a full full of purpose to live I'm not gonna let I mean he didn't kill his father when he was young father must have been 150 or something it's okay about time to die just knock him off so that Abraham can move on it says there the days of Terah oh 205 he's much older than that that's fine. So he killed him and then Abraham then it says so chapter 12 verse 4 Abraham went forth. Why? Because in between it tells us in verses 1 to 3 chapter 12 1 to 3 what God had told Abraham when he was in Ur of the Chaldees. You see chapter 12 verse 1 to 3 is not what he told him in Haran. That's what he told him some years earlier in Ur of the Chaldees. Now as I said I don't know it doesn't say here how long they settled in Haran. I hope it was only a year or so or less. I don't think God ever kept them long there but anyway chapter 12 verse 1 to 3 says way back in Ur of the Chaldees maybe a year earlier a few months earlier God had told Abraham leave your relatives. He didn't listen. Leave your country listen to that part. You see it's very common throughout scripture for people to obey half of God's commandments. They'll believe in the Lord Jesus Christ but they won't get baptized or they'll come out of Egypt but they won't go to Canaan and then numerous cases like this the Lord told told Abraham give up your land and give up your relatives he gives up his land but not his relatives and they become the cause of the problem. You look into your life you may see a lot of problems come because you obeyed one thing and you didn't obey the other. The numerous husbands and wives who suffer because God tells the husband leave your father and mother and cleave to your wife the last verse of Genesis 2. God tells the wife in Psalm 45 10 forgive your father's house. Well one or the other don't obey they don't have very happy marriage. That is true universally. So it's like that you know they think they know better than God and Abraham probably thought okay but he didn't leave his father's house. He left his country but he didn't leave his father's house. He took his dad along with him. The Lord said you've got to leave all that if you want to follow me. Even today you find you know Jesus said if you want to be my disciple you're gonna hate your father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children and I'll tell you many many years I've discovered the fundamental reason why many people don't become disciples of Jesus is they got some attachment to some earthly relative who means more to them than Christ whose word means more to them than Christ's word. So they're never disciples. They always wonder why they don't make progress because they've got one leg tied back to somebody on earth. That's what happened to Abraham. Anyway God did something radical and listen here is Abraham's blessing now when you fulfill this. It's like I said the other day you get rid of this wretched chameleon or lizard sitting on your shoulder and throw it down it becomes a horse. The steed on which you can drive right and so when he the Lord said if you break free from your relatives and break free from your family you know what I'm gonna do for you I'm gonna bless you and this is the Abraham's blessing now listen to this in verse 2 it's all there together I will bless you and you will be a blessing. Basically that's it in one sentence two parts I will bless you and you'll be a blessing and all the families of the earth verse 3 will be blessed through you. Now there's certain other things he told him about he would curse those who curse them which you know in Jesus that's under the law for the Jews but it doesn't apply to us because there's no curse on us and we don't put a curse on anybody else either. Jesus said bless those who curse you. We don't curse anybody. So that part doesn't apply to us. We're talking about the blessing. The blessing is I will bless you and you will be a blessing to everyone. You see in fact that's one of the promises the Lord gave Israel towards the end of the Old Testament in Zechariah chapter 8. The Lord told Israel in Zechariah 8 and verse 13. That's a lovely promise and it will come about that just as you were a curse among the nations so now you will become a blessing. I will save you and you'll become a blessing. Don't fear let your hands be strong. So that's a promise we can take ourselves. I mean if you've been a nuisance and a curse to other people in your past life the Lord says I can change all that. Now the thing I want you to notice in Genesis 12 you remember in our last study on Sunday I mentioned how the old covenant was thou shalt thou shalt thou shalt thou shalt not thou shalt not thou shalt not thou shalt not and now the new covenant God says I will I will I will I will I will. Now notice how it is with Abraham's blessing Genesis 12. There's nothing of thou shalt. There's nothing of you have to do this or you shall do this. It's almost like before God gave the old covenant in Exodus he gave a glimpse of the new covenant in Abraham. He told Abraham I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and I will bless those who bless you and and you will become a blessing not you should. You know there's a difference between you will becoming a blessing and you should becoming a blessing. Some people they feel God said you should be a blessing to others and so they try to be a blessing. Have you ever tried to be a blessing to other people? You don't realize what a nuisance you are if you go and ask those other people to whom you are trying to be a blessing hey listen please don't try to be a blessing to me. You tried to be a blessing to me last month and I know what happened. Thanks