Isaiah 22:1-24:23, Galatians 2:17-3:9, Psalm 60:1-12, Proverbs 23:15-16
Today is the 16th day of September, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and here we are, in the middle of another one of our months, seems like we get to a brand-new, shiny, sparkly month, we step into it, we take a few days to move into it and all the sudden we’re halfway through it. And so, here we are, crossing through the center of another month. I guess we’re a little bit past the center of another month. But here we are. And it is fantastic to be around the Global Campfire together with you today. Our next step forward leads us back into the book of Isaiah, we’re reading from the New International Version this week, and today, Isaiah chapters 22, 23 and 24.
Commentary:
Okay so, in the letter to the Galatians today, Paul is laying out what has become foundational doctrine in the Christian faith. And a lot of what we read today, should at least echo familiar, like, we kind of heard this before, even if we haven’t read the Bible before, because so much of this is in the letter to the Romans. But as we continue the Jew, Gentile controversy that existed in the early church and what Paul is saying to Jewish people, which is that you believe in Jesus the law has been fulfilled, you don’t have anything to live up to, your faith, you are justified by your faith. And an unpacking that, we find one of the most famous New Testament passages in the Bible. I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives within me. And it’s no wonder that that is one of the most famous passages in the New Testament, because in one sentence it encapsulates our reality. This is a sentence that Paul uses to describe how the law is not a way to be justified before God. Rather faith is a way to be justified before God. If you’ve been crucified and you no longer live, you’re dead. And as Paul unpacked in the letter to the Romans, a person who’s dead, is not bound by any laws anymore and he used marriage as…as the illustration in the letter to the Romans. If a woman is married and she is bound by covenant by the law to her husband, if her husband dies, she is no longer bound by that covenant or law because her husband is no longer living. She is free from the law and her freedom allows her to fall in love and remarry if that’s what she should chooses to do and there will be nothing wrong with that, that wouldn’t be adultery in any sort of way. She is no longer bound to the law, her husband’s died. Paul is saying, I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, it’s Christ who lives in me, right. So, Paul can’t live up to the law, but Paul died and is no longer bound by the law, Paul has been resurrected in a spiritual sense, and it is no longer Paul who is alive, it is Christ animating that life, and Christ has fulfilled the law. And so, that is a theological understanding, but the implications are astounding. Like, we could really spend the day or the rest of our lives thinking about the fact that, who we were, actually ended and who we are is a new creature, Christ animates our lives. So, Paul concludes that he died to the law so that he could actually live for God. Or to put it back in Paul’s own words in its context “for through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.” 2000 years later with believers in Jesus all over the world, this doesn’t seem controversy or subversive or anything like that. But when Paul is saying these things, they are definitely provocative at minimum and in the view of many of Paul’s fellow Pharisees heretical and worthy of death because Paul isn’t saying that the law has no purpose, and it should be burned and done away with. But he is saying that the law will not get you justified before God. This is fundamental and foundational in the Hebrew context. So, Paul is saying provocative things, at minimum, Paul invites the Galatians just to think this through. Think about it, and I quote Paul here, “I’d like to learn just one thing from you, did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard.” Right, so, Paul’s saying like, here’s the theological framework, but let me just ask you about your experience. He’s trying to tell them like, look, the Holy Spirit is upon you, did that that happen because you perfectly obeyed the law, or because you believed in Jesus? And this becomes important to us, actually, because even though we have freedom in Christ, and that would be understood throughout the church. We have all kinds of rules, all kinds of things that we’re trying to adhere to, and we think that if we do it well, we set ourselves up for blessing from God. That maybe our good efforts can’t save us, but there’s all kinds of stuff we should do to do this right and that’s true, like there’s nothing wrong with obeying what the Bible tells us the posture of our heart should be. But if we look into our own heart and if we just take a gander scrolling through social media, we have a lot of opinions about who’s doing it wrong, and we attach all kinds of labels to that sort of thing. When in fact we have nothing to say about anyone else. We don’t have any authority over that person’s soul, only Jesus can save them and only Jesus can save us and only the Holy Spirit can lead us into all truth. Our job is to remember who we are. We have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer we who live, it is Christ who lives with us, and we submit and humble ourselves to that reality by recognizing that we live each day as a living sacrifice to God, holy and acceptable. So, in many ways, as we read through Galatians, we’re covering territory that Paul has covered in Romans but we’re gonna continue through the letters of Paul and many of these things can be review, but there is no harm in us reviewing the fundamentals of the reality that we believe in, because if we examine our lives, we can know this to be true theologically or even intellectually, but are we living this truth? Is this how we live because it’s our reality or is it a bit of information that we agree with, but we live a totally different way? Some good things to think about today.
Prayer:
And so, Holy Spirit, we invite You into that, are we trying to obey an unwritten law, are we trying to create a law that will govern our culture, are we trying to live up to something that we could never live up to in the first place, or are we recognizing that every day we live is a day of faith and the reality that we have been made new? Are we really living like we’ve been made new? Or like the ancient Hebrew people, are we living on the law that we can never live up to? So, we will never be made new, and we will never be righteous, because really the way that we view we are, changes everything about how we live. May this sink deep, deep into our hearts, may this sink down right to where our identity lives. We are Your people. We have faith in what You are telling us. This changes our identity; may we live like it. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here, tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
Good morning, DAB family. This is Joyous Janice here. It’s been a long while since I’ve called in. Thank you all who have prayed for me over the last two years since I lost my husband. I had asked prayers, that the Lord would restore my joy. And I have a praise report. He is doing it as I speak. I was praying Jeremiah 31:3-4 over myself. I have loved you with an everlasting love. Crowned you with unfailing kindness. I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt. Again, you will take up your tambourines and go out and dance with the joyful. Most recently He has restored my joy indeed and He did stick by me the whole, through all of this time. I can feel the joy of the Lord bursting from my heart. And I am finally able to pick up my ukulele and not my timbrels and sing joyful songs. I just love all of you who prayed for you, for me and I just praise the Lord for the work He continues to do in my life. And I pray for those of you out there who are going through that valley. That he will rebuild you and help you to go out and dance with the joyful. Praise God.
Hey beautiful DAB family, this is Coffee Bean. I used to call in as Missy from the Midwest but I’m now adopting the name Coffee Bean. And the reason for that is a dear prayer warrior friend of mine, sent me something that I just fell in love with, via text, last week. She said, we have three responses that we can have when difficulties come, and if we liken that to boiling water our response can be like that of a carrot where we become soft, and the world affects us and gets inside. The other is we can be like an egg, become hard, hard towards other in the world, others in the world. And our response is just hardness. Or we can be like a Coffee Bean when hot water, boiling water is poured over it, where we make everything better. We enhance that around us. We bring flavor, we bring life, we bring energy. So, I love that, so I’m Coffee Bean and I also love coffee, so it’s very fitting. The reason, the main reason for my call today is to lift up my dear friend Heather. Heather has a 23-year-old son, Henry, who just discovered purely, kind of by accident, that he has testicular cancer. He had surgery and their waiting on pathology reports and what treatment will be from there. But tumor markers look high so, she’s extremely concerned. Please lift up this wonderful Christian family. And that the correct procedures would be done, and they would be directed to the correct doctors. Thanks, love you all.
Hi family, this is Maurice from Florida. And I’m calling to request prayers from each and every one of you, if possible. I have recently taken myself to the Lord cause it seems as if everything is just, I’m in and out of the hospital with high blood pressure. On top of flu, influenza, this COVID, it’s one thing after the other and I can’t get the Lord’s help. Pray, I’m living in society and just need prayers. I’m praying every day that I could show you all the prayers I can get. Thank you, family, I bless each and every one of you and I pray for all of you all the time. God bless, each and every one of you.
Dear DAB family, this is your sister Ashley from California. And I am so grateful for this community. When others call in reaching out for help, there are times when it fits right for my heart too. And I am so grateful for the fact that the word is the lamp unto my feet and that God promises to lead the way. And I’m calling today because like Paul, in Romans 7 said, the other day I did something I hate towards my sister. And I didn’t do what I wanted to. And right now, I need the Holy Spirit, I’m in desperate need for the Lord to super naturally step in and help. Because it’s only through Him that things can be made right. Please pray for that reconciliation but I would be put to apologize and that there would be forgiveness but also like, understanding of wisdom to rebuild trust and that we could, we could work on that. And I could just use some encouragement family. Alright, I hope you guys have a great day. Thank you, this is your sister Ashley from California. Thank you, guys, bye.
Hello DAB family, this is Bubba D back in Tennessee, praying today, August 13th for the lady who shared about her ex-husband and two kids. Lord God, we ask that You would bless this woman, give her wisdom, give her strength to see what’s the best decision, how to do right by her kids. Give her your revelation Father. We pray that the enemy would not have dominion over her mind and the blame that it’s all her fault or the kids taking the blame that it’s their fault. We know that’s not the truth. And yet Lord, that’s what the enemy does with our heart and our soul, and they conflict with any separation, there’s this guilt and shame and hopelessness that the enemy’s trying to get set in to distort God’s image. Father, I pray for this lady and the kids, her ex-husband. Lord God, would you deal with that? Would you give them Your encouragement? For all the prayers on this podcast and all the friends that she has in her life, Father. Bless them, help them see that they’re loved, that they’re cherished by You and that You’re right there with them. Thank You Abbah, in Your precious son Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. God bless everyone and thanks Brian for the podcast. I’ve been listening for about three years now. It’s been an amazing blessing in my life. Peace.