Christianity Oasis Forum

[saint701]

Hello All,


Blessings!

Just how well do we understand our rights in the New Covenant God has made with us in the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? It is written that the people of God perish from lack of knowledge. Shouldn't our knowledge of the New Covenant God has made with us have a place of powerful understanding in our hearts?

Please, share what you know of our rights with God based upon the New Covenant He has made with us.


Blessings!
Love, In Christ Jesus, Saint701.

[JCsmediator]

saintttttttttttttt... how u be

well i have to say wasnt to long ago i recently asked a friend that question but it wasnt just the covenant but how much of the old testament was written for us and to us ...

I understand that there were sharings as examples for us and things as well written to us ...

there is future bible prophecies in old testament ...

I would have to say after discussing with a friend on some topics and this one topic of the new covenant is one that not every one does know of and does understand ...

maybe cuz its so freely given right now ...

make it so hard to believe all we have to do is except Jesus Christ and thats it and allow Him to lead our lives by what He has done for us ...

and follow what the Word of God says Vs having to keep all the laws and cut a chickens head off or giving of gifts for our sins to be forgiven ...

well what eva they sacraficed back then ...

Jesus didnt come to do away wit da Law ...

Laws aka Commandments too back in the day was only for da jews in that time but God saw His people struggling cuz it was hard to keep so God sent Jesus ...

and not just for the jews now but all God has grafted us (all) in thru Jesus Christ ...amen

Jesus came not to do away wit the law but to fullfill it matthew 5:17 17Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

He was God Himself who come back as a lil baby born ina stable to bring us back eternal life and remissions for all sin...

He has now become our Ultimate Sacrifice and no more sacrificing of animals just excepting Him into our lives ...

what He did for us stretched his arms gave His life died so that we may live...

ty Father God you have covered us all in Jesus Name for all who want it!
have a few scripts I will add after others share ...

ty GB saint and great topic ... Saved by His Grace ,...JCs

[saint701]

Hello JCSM, All,


Blessings!

Thanks for your insightful comments. Unfortunately, we do not as yet seem to have many takers where comments are concerned. But, we remain hopeful, as I doubt anyone of us could single handedly bring all the needed light to bear on the subject, so we seek comments, comments, comments!

I will point out here that much has been written on our Everlasting Covenant with the Father, and much can be found on line. We just pray our Lord bless our understanding by the Holy Spirit through many comments here.

The Old Testament gives us several looks at our Heavenly Dad's working in and through us as He has promised by the Word of His New and Everlasting Covenant that He has made with us in the Blood of Christ.

Our first glimpses of our Father's working in us come from the Old Testament, where, speaking of Israel, the Lord makes statements about Him doing something on our behalf.

*Note: The Promises made of Israel in these scriptures are ours.

Verse 6:

[6] And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

Romans 2:

[29] But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Jeremiah 31:

[31] 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:
[32] 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:
[33] 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.
[34] And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Ezekial 11:

[17] Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
[18] And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
[19] And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
[20] That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

Ezekial 37:

[12] Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
[13] And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
[14] And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

Ezekial 37:

[21] And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
[22] And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
[23] Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
[24] And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
[25] And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
[26] Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.

Comments????


Blessings!
Love, In Christ Jesus, Saint701.

[saint701]

Hello All,


Blessings!

Have been searching online for the eloquent words needed to describe our New Covenant rights. I believe that I have found them. The presentation is rather long, but well worth the reading, as is rich in love. References to the authors are given in the text, and the material is not under copyright.


Blessings!
Love, In Christ Jesus, Saint701.

The New Covenant Defined



People define the New Covenant in different ways. In first hearing Ray Stedman talk about the New Covenant, he used to summarize the meaning of the New Covenant as "everything coming from God, nothing coming from me." However, even Elaine Stedman used to suggest to Ray that he continue to re-state the New Covenant as she was concerned that the phrase "everything coming from God, nothing from me," even though true, could become a kind of meaningless mantra, or an excuse for irresponsible behavior, if interpreted incorrectly. In asking other leaders around Peninsula Bible Church to explain the New Covenant, I received a variety of answers. These different answers and in an attempt to better understand this summary statement by Ray prompted me to take a closer look at how the New Covenant is defined.

Let's look at where the term "new covenant" appears in scripture for the first time in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

"Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.

"But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

Here in these verses we see that God is the husband of Israel, whom He had chosen to be His bride. However, Israel could not keep this covenant, which is really a covenant of marriage therefore God is forced to make a new covenant. To understand why God is making these covenants, it is important to understand the language of covenant that is at its foundations.

First, is the meaning of the Hebrew word "ahavah," which means God's love that makes a choice for no particular reason. Starting with calling Abraham out of Ur and saying in Gen 17:7 that He would be God to Abraham and his descendants ­ "I will be your God, you will be my people," God just made a choice. God chose Israel, not because Israel was special. God could have chosen anyone. In Deut. 9, God says to Israel that they were not great; they were a small nation and the most stiff necked people on earth. Yet God chose them, just because He set His love on them. It is this kind of love that results in a covenant, a marriage and commitment to each other. God made a covenant to Israel to be their God and they His people.

Once this covenant is in place the new word to describe this marriage relationship is the Hebrew word "hesed" which means "loyal love." This is the most important theological word in the Old Testament. "Loyal love" is the anchor of our souls. This means once there is a covenant in place and commitment to each other, both parties are to have a keen ardent desire to cultivate loyalty toward each other. God loves Israel because He made a choice, a marriage oath and committed Himself to Israel. This "loyal love" is manifested in different ways and the term to describe the external manifestation of loyal love is "righteousness." "Loyal love" is the attitude, the ardent desire to cultivate the relationship once there is a covenant in place, "righteousness" is the outworking of that love; loyalty and commitment in action.

We know God is "righteous," but is Israel? Has Israel fulfilled "loyal love?" Has she kept the law and the commandments? Has she given God her whole heart? If the answer is yes, then she, too, is "righteous" in this relationship. However, from these verses in Jeremiah and throughout scripture the answer is no. We see in the book of Micah that there is actually a divorce court going on and Israel wants out of this relationship. The Lord is pleading saying "I saved you. I brought you out of Egypt. I led you in the wilderness. I fed you.." However, Israel cannot keep her end of the bargain of "loyal love" and acting "righteous" in this marriage relationship. In fact she is worse than the Canaanites and commits total apostasy, filling out the sins of Adam far more than Adam ever did.

The big theological question therefore presents itself. What is God going to do? He has taken an oath in this marriage/covenant relationship to be "hesed or loyal loving." If He wipes out Israel then He will no longer be seen in history as "hesed." How can God solve this problem? What do you do when your wife/people cannot love you in return?

This is the point of the New Covenant. In the New Covenant, God becomes a man in Jesus. And Jesus, the man, gives God his whole heart and fulfills all the requirements of the law. God not only plays His part of the husband, but Jesus also takes the place of Israel and as Israel's representative loves God fully in return, thus fulfilling the covenant requirements.

So God in heaven, He loves man and Jesus, the man, he loves God and both sides of the covenant equation are fulfilled. This is how faithful God is to fulfill His covenant. The Old Covenant is not legalism. God did not desire a legalistic relationship, He only asked for Israel's love. He wanted the whole heart and Israel could not pull it off. She could not love God in return. Therefore Jesus did it for them.

This brings us to the heart of the gospel. The righteousness of God has been made manifest (Rom 1:17-18) and it is available now not only to the Jews, but the Gentiles as well. God has demonstrated His righteousness as He has remained loyal to the covenant. God shows how "hesed" He is, as He plays the part of unfaithful Israel, and fulfills both sides of the covenant equation. No longer does man have to keep the law to be righteous, but it is now by faith in the work of another, Jesus Christ. Through faith in Jesus' life and work on cross, our past, present and future sins are forgiven and God places us "in Christ" where we are made a new creation (2 Cor 5:17) with a new heart that loves like Jesus Christ loves. Through this New Covenant, God has made it possible for me and you to be righteous (1 Cor 11:25) as the requirement of the law is now fulfilled in me by Jesus Christ, not by me (Rom 8:4). Thus God has done everything and all we bring is our faith ­ where even the ability to have faith actually comes from Him, too.

Now that we have been saved by faith, how then does this New Covenant work itself out in our daily walk and Christian experience? Again in Romans 1:17, Paul states that the righteousness of God is revealed "from faith to faith" This means that not only do we come by faith to Jesus Christ to be saved, but our new life in Christ is also one of continual faith ­ faith in the life of our resurrected and living savior, Jesus Christ.

Many people start their Christian life by faith, but then revert back to old attitudes, habits and resources to live life, instead of living by faith in Jesus who lives within us by the Holy Spirit (Col 1:27, Col 3:4). We see a vivid picture of this in the Old Testament where Israel crosses the Red Sea to escape the bondage of Pharaoh. Soon after, when given the chance to enter the Promised Land they shrunk away through lack of faith and ended up spending 40 years in the wilderness of fleshly self effort, dryness and death. Again this is a candid portrayal for many of us who accept Jesus' work on the cross to cut us off from this life of bondage to sin, Satan and death, but stop there and never fully enter into this "promised land" of our life in Christ. We remain in the wilderness of life. This results in a lot of religious activity that eventually evidences itself in burnout, "rest-lessness" and lack of fruit. Bob Roe, one of the early Elders at Peninsula Bible Church has estimated that over 70% of all Christian work is done in the flesh ­ our own best efforts to serve God.

How then do we enter into the "promised land" and live this Christian life? The answer is that we cannot. This realization is the beginning of an understanding of the secret to New Covenant living. Only one person has ever lived the Christian life and that is Jesus himself!!! The glorious truth, however, is that the living Jesus desires to live this life again through you and me as we allow Him to. Jesus himself modeled this lifestyle for us as He said that everything He did was the work of the Father who lived in him and worked through him (John 5:19). God's desire is for us to enter into this same lifestyle of "rest" in Jesus, where Jesus says himself in John 15:5 that "apart from me you can do nothing." In John 14, Jesus states this truth again to us where He says that "you are in me, and I am in you." As we delve deeper into this truth we find that man is actually made to be the dwelling place of God. Literally, the Lord of the universe comes to live in us and entwine His life with us, where it is impossible to tell the two apart.

How do we allow Christ's life within to possess us? Bob Roe sums this up so well in his statement, "Christ died that I might live, I must die that Christ might live in me." The first part of Bob's statement describes my "position" in Christ where Christ's sacrifice on the cross has freed me from my past and given me a new life. The second half of his statement is "experiential" and is the outworking of Christ's life in me and is best summed up in Romans 12:1-2 where we are asked to present our bodies as living sacrifices so that Jesus Christ who lives within us can make Himself visible through us. Our only job description is to make the invisible Jesus visible - like Jesus made the Father visible as He chose to allow the Father to work through Him. As a living sacrifice we have a choice of whether to get off the altar or not. If we choose to get off the altar and do things ourselves, the results will be only what we see in front of us, if that. Our only reward will be that little hand of pride that comes up and pat ourselves on the back or the applause of people around us. However, if we choose to remain on the altar (and be a "hunk of dead meat" as Bob Roe so bluntly puts it) allowing Jesus Christ who resides in us by His Holy Spirit to transform and use us, the results will be eternal, beyond our expectations, where only God can be glorified. Bob Roe's daily prayer is "Be my guest, Lord. I want you to live through me, love through me, listen through me, speak through me, take me out of the act, thank you, Lord!" Only God can do God's work, and He is willing to use us in the process if we allow Him.

This reminds us that God does not need our best shot or effort. This is the world's way and is the way we lived in our old life controlled by the old man. Before I was dead in my trespasses and sin, and had no choice and could only choose one way, by default, that what was natural to the old man ­ with its resulting fruit of sin and self effort. Now that the old man is dead and I am new creation in Christ, though the attitudes and habits of the old fleshly life that I used to live are still present, this is no longer who I am. I now have a choice and can choose what is natural to my new nature - the new man. I must still remember though, that I do not have the power to do, I only have the power to choose; my choice is whether to allow the old attitudes and habits of the flesh to produce the withered fruit of self effort, or to allow Jesus Christ, who is now my life (Col 3:4) to produce the fruit of the Spirit ­ love, joy, peace.

It is now no longer so much the fight against the old and what I can't do, as it is the freedom in the new and what I now can do, that I was never able to do before - being free not to sin. We are now free to bear fruit for the Kingdom. With a "mind set" of being a "new creation," (Rom 8:5) the old being dead, and all things being new ( II Cor 5:17 ) this gives me a perspective on the Christian life that is full of power, hope and joy as it is Christ in me who is always victorious.

Elaine Stedman in her message entitled "Body Language," given to the congregation to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Peninsula Bible Church in 1998 summarizes these truths so well.


"The body of Christ receives its nurture from the indwelling life of Christ, from communion with him so intimate that Jesus described it as eating his body and drinking his blood. We cannot edify one another unless we first partake of him. Then from that resource we can impart to one another the essence of his life. The issue is character. The source is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. This is New Covenant living at its core. This is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27), his character expressed through his people, a shared glory. The energy of that indwelling life of Christ will propel us into serving others as acts of worship and gratitude to him for his gracious provision of life and truth and love. Metabolizing his unconditional love, we have resource for loving others. Freed by his forgiving grace and mercy, we are motivated and empowered to forgive others.

Secure in the knowledge that we are not our own, but bought with an incalculable price, we know whose we are, who we are, and why we are here. It is that secure identity, that source of unquenchable joy, that makes all of life sacramental. His body was broken, his blood poured out for us. Now in him, through him, to him we "offer [our] bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God" (Romans 12:1), a poured-out doxology of praise and worship to Christ Jesus, "in [whom] we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). Let me quote from Ray Stedman's book Authentic Christianity:

"The authentic Christian life is essentially and radically different from the natural life lived by a man or woman of the world. Outwardly, it can be very much the same: involved with making a living, going to school, getting married, raising children, mowing lawns, buying groceries, getting along with neighbors. But inwardly, the basis of living is dramatically different. Christ is a part of all these things! He is the motivator of every wholesome action, the corrector of every wrong deed or thought. He is the giver of every joy and the healer of every hurt. He is no longer merely on the edges of life, acknowledged on Sunday but absent through the week. Christ is the center of everything. Life revolves around him. As a consequence, life comes into proper focus, a deep peace possesses the heart, strength grips the spirit despite outward trials, and kindness and joy radiate abroad. This is really living!"


What a privilege! To think that we are the dwelling place of the Living God and He desires us to be His visibility ­ His mouthpiece, His voice, His touch, His presence, as ministers of this glorious New Covenant to a dying world around us. What an honor!

"Everything coming from God, nothing coming from me," Ray Stedman's statement summarizing the New Covenant that is so simple, yet so profound; may it be our prayer that we might grasp the depth of meaning behind these words so that we, too, might experience, in this present life, the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Amen

[Guest]

we have the right to Love God, after that everything else is grace, if it was something due to us because who we are or what we have done then it would not be called GRACE

1 Corinthians 15:10

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
KJV

[saint701]

Hello Thadeus, All,


Blessings!

Great addition to the message!


Blessings!
L,ICJ, Den.