“No More a Servant . . . But a Son”
August 1, 2022 12:38 AM
Averine Pennington
7-31-22
The LORD has been laying on my heart for several weeks now, a teaching that He desires to make perfectly clear to the ‘Sons of God.’ It seems almost every time I open my Bible, the verses I am led to continually focus on this theme. This morning I went to Bible Gateway and read the ‘verse of the day’ and there it was again . . . John 1:12-13:
“But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Which were BORN, not of blood, nor of he will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but OF GOD.”
So, after much prayer and surrender to my King, I once again set my fingers to the keyboard. This message appears to be an addendum to the teaching posted on this site in early July entitled . . . “Living the Crucified Life – Displaying the Glorified One. Parts 1 & 2.” [Scripture references which are in ALL CAPS, bold, or underlined denote EMPHASIS MINE.]
I am trusting that Father will give me the words He wants to convey to His sons (and daughters) in these last moments. He loves you more than you can possibly comprehend and desires that you be ready to meet your Bridegroom with no misunderstandings between you. These words are a call to introspection as we approach the revealing . . . the manifestation of the sons of God (Rom. 8:19).
Consider this question: “ . . . how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire AGAIN to be in bondage?” (Gal. 4:9)
Father wants me to remind you that you are no longer a servant of sin. Having been BORN AGAIN and walking in His Holy Spirit as ‘sons and daughters of God,’ you should not be tempted to look back to the ‘old’ that once was, but rather embrace the ‘new’ that has come?
You are not living under the OLD covenant, but under the NEW covenant. The PROMISE HAS COME!
This topic is woven throughout much of the New Testament, especially in the epistles of the Apostle Paul, but it is also found in the Old Testament. I have been impressed by the Holy Spirit to help you understand the difference between the two covenants. The OLD Covenant operated under the law given to Moses. The NEW Covenant operates under the grace we have received through our Savior, Jesus Christ by His finished work on the cross to make atonement for our sins. This is by no means an exhaustive study, but rather a time of reflection and perhaps a means to spur you to further research so the Holy Spirit can impart more truths to each of you on a personal basis.
Let’s look at a prophecy in Jeremiah 31:31-33: “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” If you need a refresher course about this New Covenant, look to the book of Hebrews. Please read the following verses in context to get the full meaning. I will select just a few verses in order to paint you a picture of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for us:
“For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of A BETTER HOPE did, by the which we draw nigh unto God (Heb. 7:19).”
“By so much was Jesus made a surety of A BETTER COVENANT (Heb. 7:22).”
“Whereby He is able to save to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them (Heb. 7:25).”
If you look at the summation in Hebrews chapter 8, you will find that it is plainly written that Jesus is our “ . . . high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the TRUE TABERNACLE, which the Lord pitched, and not man (Heb. 8:1-2).” Reading further, we see that the priests who offered gifts and sacrifices according to the law as given to Moses, and the pattern of the earthly tabernacle were only “an example, a shadow of heavenly things.”
Jesus fulfilled Jeremiah’s prophecy: “. . . I will put my laws into THEIR MIND, and write them in THEIR HEARTS; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people (Heb. 8:10b).” “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more, In that He saith, A NEW COVENANT, He hath made the first OLD. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away (Heb. 8:12-13).”
It is way past time to ask, “In whom or what do you place your trust?” Those who are striving the most to please their Heavenly Father sometime struggle with the question of whether THEY ARE DOING ENOUGH to be found worthy. When doubt creeps in, the deceiver will always stick His foot in the door. He will whisper in your ear, telling you emphatically that you are a failure if you fail to keep every jot and tittle OF THE LAW? You must search the scriptures so you can stand firm against the enemy. You must know that you do not trust in your own ability to observe the OLD (the law) but you are trusting fully in the NEW, the PROMISE?
I think Paul explained this best when he wrote, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth . . . (Gal. 3:1a)?“ Much of the book of Galatians is Paul’s attempt to teach about our identity in Christ. “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain (Gal. 2:16-21).”
Do you know in your heart of hearts that you are a child of PROMISE! How can we know this for sure? Let’s look at what the scripture says:
“Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise. Wherefore then serveth the law? IT WAS ADDED because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up (preserved) unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the PROMISE (Gal. 3:16-29).
Most, if not all, at this moment in time, know whether or not you are called to be a son or daughter of God. You were preordained from the foundation of the world to this purpose (Eph. 1:4-14). When you were a child, you may not have had any knowledge that you were an heir to the kingdom of God. As it says in Galatians 4 as pertaining to an earthly heir, “. . . the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he is lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.” So, likewise, has our Father placed us. “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world; But when THE FULLNESS OF THE TIME WAS COME, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
How blessed we are that our Heavenly Father ‘hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.’ We can hear our Good Shepherd’s voice! We do not have to consult with what is written upon tablets of stone, for God has written His laws in our minds and upon our hearts. Our obedience is required, otherwise we could lose our way. But when we “trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not to our own understanding, and in all our ways acknowledge Him, He will direct our path (Prov. 3:5-6).”
Keep those lines of communication open, for we are about to step forward into more new things. Brothers and sisters, it is so comforting to know that we are ONE in Christ. We follow wherever He leads. And when our ears hear a word behind us saying, ‘This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left (Is. 30:21),” it’s like having our own supernatural GPS on steroids. You don’t want to miss a word of our Lord’s instructions and take a wrong turn. “Behold the former things are come to pass, and NEW THINGS DO I DECLARE, before they spring forth, I tell you of them (Is. 42:9). Are you listening? Will you have ears to hear OR are you stuck in bondage? “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be FREE INDEED (John 8:36).”
Harvest is Here,
Averine
