I am Loved
I am Accepted
I am Cherished, by my Heavenly Father, through the name of Jesus!
I am Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, so
I am Not My Own, for I’ve been
Bought with a price, therefore
I will Not do the things that I please, but I will Live to please Him, and
I will Obey Him completely, with
All of My heart, and
I will Seek Him diligently, and
I will Fill my lamp with Him – the Oil
of the Holy Spirit Daily, and
I will seek to Do His will First every day
I will Seek out the Lost, and
Show the Light of His Love every where and
In all I Do, every Day, every Hour
***************
“When once a Covenant has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it”
The Covenant, New and Old, is built with Promises. These promises are based on Conditions, which must be fulfilled by both parties. To not fulfill these conditions is to set the Covenant aside, dismissing it, and so the Promises for good are rejected, and all that remains for us from this Covenant is the promise of severe judgment as we have then made ourselves enemies of the Anointing, enemies of Christ.
Hebrews 10:26-31
For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES.
Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.”
It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
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By God’s mercy we come to Him. When we come to Him repenting from our sin. We come to Him based on His mercy that comes through His grace.
He then gives us Salvation.
To us who have received Mercy, He then gives us Life. He gives us His Life Power to live new lives. He has the “Look of Favor” toward us who come to Him as servants, we who have humbled ourselves as servants and so have taken upon ourselves the purpose of serving God and not ourselves. And through His Grace, His Look of favor, comes to us the Life Power of the Holy Spirit, empowering us to Live righteous lives.
Let me say that Grace is not the mercy of God. Rather it is the Favor of God. And it is through this Favor, that the Power and Authority of God flows to us. It is this look of favor, God’s Grace, that God pours His Love power out to us, and comes into us through our faith. And it is this Power that enables us to live Godly lives.
God looks at us with favor. We look to Him with faith. As these two connect, we are then filled with His Power, His Spirit.
It’s like connecting to garden hoses together. His reaches out to us from His vast supply of the Fullness of His Love. Our hose reaches toward Him coming from our emptiness love. For our love, is actually an empty desire. It’s a desire “to be” loved. That desire “to be” loved is our empty temple, our God shaped vacuum. Our wanting, desiring Love, is our hope. It’s the hope “to be” Loved.
When we humble ourselves and admit our love is not really an agape Love, we then point our hope hose up to Him. This is the beauty of humility He’s been waiting for. This is what looks good to Him, and He connects His Favor to our faith, and He turns on the faucet, and floods us with His Love, His Spirit, His Life. Three words for the same thing.
God out of His kind Mercy, forgives us of our sin by washing us clean and casting our sin as far as the east is from the west. What God has cleansed, let no man call unclean. Are we, who have been cleansed by God; then by God’s mercy not made deserving of good? Or was Christ’s sacrifice not really sufficient to make us actually worthy of God’s Grace? Is Christ’s Blood which now flows through our veins, of which we partake of while drinking the wine of the New Covenant, is this His blood, that flows in our very own veins not worthy to be filled by the Life of the Fathers Spirit? As we breathe Him in daily our spiritual lungs “oxygenate” our spiritual blood with His Spirit, and this is enables us to Live by the Power of God’s Spirit.
Not only is the Holy Spirit new Life to us, but He also shows us, convicts us of sin, so we can repent of it. For where ever sin dwells in us, that place in our heart is unregenerate and is a place our old man of sin prompts us to corruption. The Holy Spirit then, shows us, bit by bit, area’s of our heart where we were unaware the enemy of our New Life Spirit man has a stronghold. If we will arm ourselves with faith in God’s power, and are willing to admit our weaknesses before God and man, we then can overwhelmingly conquer, as did David with Goliath, and also Samson the Philistines. Especially Samson’s last victory where he brought the house down on himself, crucifying his own flesh, making a habitation fit for a Holy God to Live and reign in and from.
It is this Baptism by the Spirit of God, whereby as the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin that we were unaware we were doing, that we then thank Him for showing us another area that we can, By His Grace, reject living under this sins power.
Power and Authority is granted to us by His Favor toward us, as we commit ourselves to live Holy Lives subject to Him! We are crucifying our fleshly ways under this Holy Spirit Baptism, as we willingly drown our old man under the water of the truth of scripture that the Holy Spirit brings to life in our hearts, minds and deeds.
This is the Holy Spirit Baptism that lifts us up out of the waters of the curse of death that is in the Word of God, to a New Life now empowered by the same Holy Spirit. There we are saved from the curse of death that is in the Law, that is a curse for those who don’t obey the Law of Life. And we are Made Alive by the Spirit and we then receive all of the Blessings that the Law Promises to those, who Live out the requirements of the Law by walking by the Spirit of Power, thereby we are blessed by the same Law – Rom 8:4. This same Law that brought a curse on all those who disobey it’s commands, yes this same Law, the Holy Spirit has turned into a source of Blessing to us who believe by the faith that walks by the Spirit.
The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is more than receiving the miraculous gifts promised to those who believe. It is the power given us to overcome the deeds of the flesh by choosing to live lives empowered by the same Holy Spirit. For there is One Baptism, One Spirit, One Hope, all received by Faith that Jesus is the Only Begotten Son of God, through which we are reconciled to The Father, whereby we who believe are then all made into One New Man, the Body of Christ, who is our head.
But if we reject this putting to death of our flesh, we also reject the infilling of the Spirit, and while knowing the truth, but rejecting it, we then have no excuse for our sin. While then being without excuse, we are also without hope of escaping it and we will receive of the severer punishment for trampling under foot the Son of God, through whom we Were sanctified, and we have then insulted the Spirit of Grace, thereby rejecting the promises for good.
That is the New Covenant!
Thank you for the invitation to read and reflect on what you have posted here. You have done some deep pondering with some difficult passages in scripture. I appreciate the effort that goes into such reflection, and the courage to bring scripture and matters of faith into public conversation.
I will comment on three things in your post: covenant, promise, efficacy. First, Covenant: I am not sure which covenant you are referring to. There are several covenants in the Bible. Some are conditional, others are unconditional. On this link is a brief outline of several of the covenants in the Bible. https://bible.org/question/how-many-types-covenants-are-recorded-bible
I am not sure of the theological persuasion of the site, because what they call “New Covenant” is referenced in the book of Jeremiah 31; and to me as a Christian of the Lutheran expression, the list is incomplete because Jesus, in what is commonly called “the Last Supper” (Matthew 26; Mark 14; Luke 22; John 13) established “A new covenant in my blood”. Perhaps this is the covenant you are writing about? ( I find it both interesting, and challenging, that the gospels disagree about this blood, – shed for you and for all people , or for many for the forgiveness of sin (some interpret many to suggest some will be left out because many is fewer than all). This has been a matter of debate throughout the history of the church, so mine will not be the final say about this. And that is ok. It is even good. )
Second, on Promises: Yes, covenants are built with promises. However, I disagree that promises are based on conditions, because there are (at least in the broadest terms) two kinds of covenant: conditional and unconditional. Both kinds of covenant are built with promises. Since both kinds of covenants of are built on promises, the promises that build the covenant cannot be based on promises made with conditions. (An unconditional covenant cannot be built out of conditional promises.) In scripture, the promises made in a covenant are based in relationship. A relationship must exist before two parties can enter into a covenant. For example the Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7) arises out of the relationship God had already established with David (I Samuel 16). Relationship is a prior requirement, unless it is a sovereign covenant in which it is God who promises to be in relationship with human beings, without condition, and limits his participation in it. (Genesis 3 – Adam and Eve did not die as promised after eating from the forbidden tree, but were shown mercy – God limited sovereign power – and released from the garden into the broader creation)
Which leads to the third comment about Efficacy, or the power of the covenant to deliver on the promises. As a Christian of the Lutheran expression, Christ’s life, death, resurrection and ascension have power in and of themselves, without my knowledge or obedience to them. To make these promises conditional, that is effective only by my or any human knowledge, obedience or anything else or to require any human contribution is theologically problematic. Problematic because to do so is to make me or any human more powerful than the promise, more powerful than God. This would limit God’s sovereign power to human agreement and participation. God alone limits God’s power. God can be persuaded by human on some occasions to limit sovereign power. (Exodus 32, Jonah and two examples of this.) The power of Christ’s resurrection is not nullified or weakened by our ignorance, disobedience or anything else we do or do not do. Rather, by human choice and activity, whether ignorance or disobedience we simply do not avail ourselves to the grace, the promises, that are present for us from God. Yes, I have a will to choose, but like Paul, I cannot – neither always nor perfectly – choose the good or do the good I choose to do (Romans 7). Therefore, Paul concludes, we are saved by grace alone. (Ephesians 2). Hebrews makes its own counter point to the fury of fire of judgement. Christ died once and for all (Hebrews 9, Romans 6, 1 Peter 3). No conditions about obedience or agreement. About judgment, I take my cues from Jesus words about such things. Yes judgement will mean separation of wheat from chaff (Matthew 3, Luke 3) but the seed does not need the chaff. What will be burned off in judgement – if it is actually a fire – will be that which I do not need for life, although I may perceive it as part of who I am, it, the chaff, does not promote growth in the seed, nor in me. These reflections are shared in good will and with hope you find them helpful and interesting.
Wow, you’ve said a lot here and thank you for taking the time to comment. I feel valued by that!
I hope to be able to give you a reply to some of your arguments soon. I usually like to ponder and hold before the Lord what I hear others saying to help me to not lean on my own understanding, including my own understanding of God’s Word. As I have found I’ve made errors in the past, if I said I didn’t I would either be lying or self deceived. So I will take your advisement’s to God and ask Him to show me where I am wrong. Or if by chance I might have heard correctly from Him as I waited for Him to show me what He has. As it would be just my own pride for me to think that I, or any one on earth, is able to correctly “interpret” (actually judge is more accurate) His word correctly without waiting for Him, His anointing – John 14 and 1 John 2:27, and 2 Pet 1:20-21, whereas vs 21 tells us who we should not exclude when we go about interpreting God’s Word – not other men, but not private so as to leave out the author, for, “no one knows the thoughts of man but the spirit within the man – so no one knows the thoughts of God, but the Spirit of God”. As the hymn states – God is His own interpreter.
Oh, I guess I started to get carried away here. And my mom say’s I’m supposed to get to bed right now…
So good nite for now 🙂
Hi Gretchen, as I talked with you in person, here is a beginning to my attempt at the unraveling of the confussion of some key words which have taken over our brains as Christianeeze. This New Language, which we believe elelvates our ability to sort through the complexities of scripture by simplifying them, by taking words out of the context of their true full, rich meaning. But we actually devalue such words and cut off much of their beauty and full, rich meaning. So, we take these words, displace them from their rich soil and take but a piece of there meaning, doing so we have terminated them, killed them – ruining them. All for the purpose of being able to make sense of scripture with our own finite, feeble brains. The reason or reasons, we do this is quite evident; ignorance, pride, fear, unbelief. These I will not elaborate on now. However, when we take rich words and make terms of them, we then terminate the words, and, dumb down our understanding in that process. And we are left with an inferior understanding of the words, and so scripture, resulting in a misunderstanding of God, and His dealings with men. To study words, is to study God Himself, for He gave us words, but when He out of His infinite wisdom, hid their true meaning by bringing confusion on mankind, He hid Himself, and is why he taught in pictures, dreams and parables. This He did so man could not take the building components of life, “words” and build a system of thought to capture the resources of heaven itself to be used for his own prideful, selfesh purposes. God hid truthes from us in this way, so the only way we could attain them is through complete subjection to Him. Heart, soul and mind. We must listen to God’s word and believe His word. Before the Spirit fell at Pentecost, they were not supposed to wait for the “Bread”, Word to rise before they obeyed it’s “type, symbolic” meaning. But after the Spirit fell, we are supposed to wait for the Spirit to give life to the word, make the bread, “word” rise in our hearts and brains by the author, God Himself, revealing it’s meaning to us by the anointing of His Spirit 1st Jn 2:27. “Only the Spirit of God knows the thoughts of God.” The Water and the Spirit. Oil and water. Wine and Bread. It was The Anointed One, The Christ, The Oil that floats “on” walks on the water, the word. The flesh will drown in it. Baptism of the word. But when we subject ouselves to, wait for the Holy Spirit to give God’s word life in us, we are throwing what we have formerly trusted in and leaned on under the New Covenant of the Baptism done by the Spirit, where He corrects us and we willingly lie down under His, “now inSpired” word in us, whereby we bury our flesh and our trusting in our abilities, by subjecting ourselves under His Lordship.
Well I was not intending to go on like this, but here is where I have begun the piece on a few words http://lightofthe.world/?p=821