CHAPTER NINE: THE COVENANT GOD HAS MADE WITH US THROUGH THE BLOOD OF HIS SON JESUS!
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Once we have obtained enough truth to repent, be born again, become dead to sin, become a new creature, have wisdom, become the righteousness of God, have peace with God, be sanctified, be justified, obtain mercy and grace, be glorified or honored, and begin to put on the preparation of peace so we can begin to fellowship with God, which enables us to take the shield of faith, so we can quench the fiery darts of the wicked with the Word of God and then we can take the Helmet of Salvation, Ephesians 6:17, "And take the Helmet of Salvation." Our most precious Heavenly Father has provided us with everything we need to become as Romans 8:37 says, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." The Living Bible says, "Overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us enough to die for us."
Everything we have learned to this point and will learn in the next eight chapters is necessary to have on the Helmet of Salvation. Once again the definition of born again, "gennao", means, "to procreate (properly of the father, but by extension of the mother); figuratively to regenerate:-bear, beget, be born, bring forth, conceive, be delivered of, gender, make, spring." Overcome, "nikao", to subdue (lit. or fig.) conquer, overcome, prevail, to get the victory. Salvation is the Greek words "soteria" and "soterion." The combination of the meanings is rescue or safety (physically or morally): deliver, health, salvation, save, saving. Defender or by implication defense: salvation.
I had to be born again to obtain wisdom to learn to overcome whatever obstacle the devil throws in my path and put on the Helmet of Salvation in that area. When I was going through the "fire" I needed to understand my covenant with God so that I could defend myself from the attack of the devil as to whether or not I was God’s child. I have met countless people that were God’s children but thought they had to earn the right to be God’s child by being "good" and when I am not being "good" I would certainly agree with them, but God has this wonderful system in place where we know we are His child and no matter what we can come to Him and be forgiven. [The one and only exception is lying about the Holy Ghost as we discussed in chapter two.] The devil is constantly fighting to convince Christians that they aren’t God’s children. I also have met people that were not God’s children and thought they were like the person in Matthew 7:21-23. God spent literally years convincing me I was His child and no matter what happened I would remain His child. I was born again and His Son had taken away my sins through baptism and just like Ephesians 1:13-14 says, I was sealed by the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit.
To be able to go through the fire we must be able to understand our covenant or new testament that our Lord Jesus established for us on the cross at Calvary, Matthew 27:50-51, "Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;" Hebrews 10:19-22, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,"
Hebrews 8:6-13, "But now hath He [Jesus] obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, He saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when 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 when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; 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: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 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."
Covenant is the Greek word "diatheke", a disposition, a contract, a devisory will, covenant, testament. Look at the old and new testament as the old and new covenant. The new was established to strengthen the old not replace it.
Matthew 5:17-18, Jesus speaking, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till Heaven and Earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."
Matthew 26:26-28, "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Hebrews 9:22, "and without shedding of blood is no remission."
John 19:33-34, "But when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water."
Hebrews 9:11-17, "But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
And for this cause He is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth."
Hebrews 9:24-26, "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."
Romans 4:6-8, "What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."
We have also inherited the covenant that God made with Abraham in the old testament or covenant. Genesis 12:1-3, "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Genesis 15:1-6, "After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward Heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness."
Galatians 3:6-9, 29, "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith [This is talking about us!] are blessed with faithful Abraham." "And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise."
We find God's covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17:1-14, God speaking, "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession: and I will be their God.
And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant."
Zacharias the father of John the Baptist prophesied at the circumcision of his son in Luke 1:68-75, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people. And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David. As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, [Jeremiah 23:5, Daniel 9:24] which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; [Leviticus 26:42] The oath which He sware to our father Abraham, [Genesis 12:3] That He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life."
Colossians 2:10-15, "And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances [The law] that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it."
Romans 2:28-29, "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter [of the law]; whose praise is not of men, but of God."
Galatians 5:6, "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love."
Webster's dictionary's definition of immutable is "never changing or varying; unchangeable." Hebrews 6:13-20. "For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself. Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is an end of all strife. [This is speaking of a covenant between two men] Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise [that's us] the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things [His promise and His oath], in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."
We have a one-sided covenant with God once we have obeyed Acts 2:38, because we don’t have to do anything to obtain the blessings God has provided for us through His Son Christ Jesus. We don't have to be striped like He was striped and crucified like He was crucified and to shed blood for the remission of our sins and we don't have to die, be buried and rise from the dead after three days and we don't have to, or neither can we, take our blood into the Holiest. We need to look at our covenant with God as an anchor for our souls, but most of us look to our being "good" as the anchor for our souls. Once we repent and let Him takeover all we have to do is obey Acts 2:38 and automatically receive God’s Starter Kit by Jesus and let Him takeover and He will make us as good as we so desire.
I just looked up immutable in the thesaurus on my computer and here is a list of words I could replace immutable with: abiding, changeless, consistent, constant, enduring, eternal, fixed, immortal, incorruptible, invariable, lasting, perennial, permanent, stable, unalterable, unchanging, undying, unwavering covenant with God.
Philippians 4:19, "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
Romans 8:31-39, "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Exodus 24:3,7 & 8, "And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: And all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said we will do.,,,,,And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words." Moses taught the people of Israel the law that God gave him. The Ten Commandments are found in chapter five of Exodus and in chapter 20 of the book of Deuteronomy, but there is much more to the law than the Ten Commandments. As you read the book of Deuteronomy and throughout the Old Testament you will see how difficult it was to keep the law. This was 400 years after God's covenant with Abraham and God had a plan whereby we could keep the law and His ultimate goal was to open the door to the Holiest so we can fellowship with Him, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,"
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Hebrews 7:18-10:23 18 For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. 19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. 20 And inasmuch as not without an oath He was made priest: 21 (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by Him that said unto Him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:) [Psalm 110:4] 22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. 23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: 24 But this man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. 26 For such an High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for His own sins, and then for the people's: for this He did once, when He offered up Himself. 28 For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore. CHAPTER 8 1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. 3 For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this Man have somewhat also to offer. 4 For if He were on earth, He should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: 5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. 6 But now hath He obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. 8 For finding fault with them, He saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; 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: 11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 13 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. CHAPTER 9 1 Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. 2 For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. 3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; 4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; 5 And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly. 6 Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. 7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: 8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: 9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; 10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. 11 But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
15 And for this cause He is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator. 17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the Testator liveth. 18 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. 19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, 20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. 21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. 22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 25 Nor yet that He should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; 26 For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. CHAPTER 10 1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 5 Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. [Psalm 40:7] 8 Above when He said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9 Then said He, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13 From henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that He had said before, 16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.[Jeremiah 31:33-34] 18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. 19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; 21 And having an High Priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised;) |
Hebrews 7:18-10:23, 18 Yes, the old system of priesthood based on family lines was cancelled because it didn't work. It was weak and useless for saving people. 19 It never really made anyone right with God. But now we have a far better hope, for Christ makes us acceptable to God, and now we may draw near to Him. 20 God took an oath that Christ would always be a priest, 21 although He never said that of other priests. Only to Christ He said, "The Lord has sworn and will never change His mind: You are a priest forever with the rank of Melchizedek." [Psalm 110:4] 22 Because of God's oath, Christ can guarantee forever the success of this new and better arrangement. 23 Under the old arrangement there had to be many priests, so that when the older ones died off, the system could still be carried on by others who took their places. 24 But Jesus lives forever and continues to be a Priest so that no one else is needed. 25 He is able to save completely all who come to God through Him. Since He will live forever, He will always be there to remind God that He has paid for their sins with His blood. 26 He is, therefore, exactly the kind of High Priest we need; for He is holy and blameless, unstained by sin, undefiled by sinners, and to Him has been given the place of honour in Heaven. 27 He never needs the daily blood of daily sacrifices, as other priests did, to cover over first their own sins and then the sins of the people; for He finished all sacrifices, once and for all, when He sacrificed Himself on the cross. 28 Under the old system, even the high priests were weak and sinful men who could not keep from doing wrong, but later God appointed by His oath His Son who is perfect forever. CHAPTER 8 1 What we are saying is this: Christ, whose priesthood we have just described, is our High Priest, and is in Heaven at the place of greatest honor next to God Himself. 2 He ministers in the temple in Heaven, the true place of worship built by the Lord and not by human hands. 3 And since every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, Christ must make an offering too. 4 The sacrifice He offers is far better than those offered by the earthly priests (But even so, if He were here on Earth He wouldn't even be permitted to be a priest, because down here the priests still follow the old Jewish system of sacrifices.) 5 Their work is connected with a mere earthly model of the real tabernacle in Heaven; for when Moses was getting ready to build the tabernacle, God warned Him to follow exactly the pattern of the heavenly tabernacle as shown him on Mount Sinai. 6 But Christ, as a minister in Heaven, has been rewarded with a far more important work than those who serve under the old laws, because the new agreement [covenant] which He passes on to us from God contains far more wonderful promises. 7 The old agreement didn't even work. If it had, there would have been no need for another to replace it. 8 But God Himself found fault with the old one, for He said, "The day will come when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and the people of Judah. 9 This new agreement will not be like the old one I gave to their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; they did not keep their part in that agreement, so I had to cancel it. 10 But this is the new agreement I will make with the people of Israel, says the Lord: I will write my laws in their minds so they will know what I want them to do without my even telling them, and these laws will be in their hearts so that they will want to obey them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. 11 And no one then will need to speak to his friend or neighbor or brother, saying, 'you, too, should know the Lord,' because everyone, great and small, will know me already. 12 And I will be merciful to them in their wrongdoings, and I will remember their sins no more. [Jeremiah 31:31-34] 13 God speaks of these new promises, of this new agreement, as taking the place of the old one; for the old one is out of date now and has been put aside forever. CHAPTER 9 1 Now in that first agreement between God and His people there were rules for worship and there was a sacred tent down here on Earth. 2 Inside this place of worship there were two rooms. The first one contained the golden candlestick and a table with special loaves of holy bread upon it; this part was called the Holy Place. 3 Then there was a curtain and behind the curtain was a room called the Holy of Holies. 4 In that room there were a golden incense-altar and the golden chest, called the ark of the covenant, completely covered on all sides with pure gold. Inside the ark were the tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments written on them, and a golden jar with some manna in it, and Aaron's wooden cane that budded. 5 Above the golden chest were statues of angels called the cherubim-the guardians of God's glory-with their wings stretched out over the ark's golden cover, called the mercy seat. But enough of such details. 6 Well, when all was ready the priests went in and out of the first room whenever they wanted to, doing their work. 7 But only the high priests went into the inner room, and then only once a year, all alone, and always with blood which he sprinkled on the mercy seat as an offering to God to cover his own mistakes and sins, and the mistakes and sins of all the people. 8 And the Holy Spirit uses all this to point out to us that under the old system the common people could not go into the Holy of Holies as long as the outer room and the entire system it represents were still in use. 9 This has an important lesson for us today. For under the old system, gifts and sacrifices were offered, but these failed to cleanse the hearts of the people who brought them. 10 For the old system dealt only with certain rituals-what foods to eat and drink, rules for washing themselves, and rules about this and that. The people had to keep these rules to tide them over until Christ came with God’s new and better way. 11 He came as High Priest of this better system which we now have. He went into that greater, perfect tabernacle in Heaven, not made by men or part of this world, 12 and once for all took blood into that inner room, the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled it on the mercy seat; but it was not the blood of goats and calves. No, He took His own blood, and with it He, by Himself made sure of our eternal salvation. 13 And if under the old system the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of young cows could cleanse men's bodies from sin, 14 just think how much more surely the blood of Christ will transform our lives and hearts. His sacrifice frees us from the worry of having to obey the old rules, and makes us want to serve the living God. For by the help of the eternal Holy Spirit, Christ willingly gave Himself to God to die for our sins-He being perfect, without a single sin or fault. 15 Christ came with this new agreement so that all who are invited may come and have forever all the wonders God has promised them. For Christ died to rescue them from the penalty of the sins they had committed while still under that old system. 16 Now, if someone dies and leaves a will-a list of things to be given away to certain people when He dies-no one gets anything until it is proven that the person who wrote the will is dead. 17 The will goes into effect only after the death of the person who wrote it. While He is still alive no one can use it to get any of those things He has promised them. 18 That is why blood was sprinkled(as proof of Christ's death) before even the first agreement could go into effect. 19 For after Moses had given the people all of God's laws, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, and sprinkled the blood over the book of God's laws and over all the people, using branches of hyssop bushes and scarlet wool to sprinkle with. 20 Then He said, "This is the blood that marks the beginning of the agreement between you and God, the agreement God commanded me to make with you." 21 And in the same way He sprinkled blood on the scarlet tent and on whatever instruments were used for worship. 22 In fact we can say that under the old agreement almost everything was cleansed by sprinkling it with blood, and without the shedding of blood is no forgiveness [remission] of sins. 23 That is why the sacred tent down here on Earth, and everything in it-all copied from things in Heaven-all had to be made pure by Moses in this way, by being sprinkled with the blood of animals. But the real things in Heaven, of which these down here are copies, were made with far more precious offerings. 24 For Christ has entered into Heaven itself, to appear before God now as our friend. It was not in the earthly place of worship that He did this, for that was merely a copy of the real temple in Heaven. 25 Nor has He offered Himself again and again, as the high priest down here on Earth offers animal blood in the Holy of Holies each year. 26 If that had been necessary, then He would have to die again and again, ever since the world began. But no! He came once for all, at the end of the age, to put away the power of sin forever by dying for us. 27 And just as it is destined that men die only once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so also Christ died only once as an offering for the sins of many people; and He will come again, but not to deal again with our sins. This time He will come bringing salvation to all those who are eagerly and patiently waiting for Him. CHAPTER 10 1 The old system of Jewish laws gave only a dim foretaste of the good things Christ would do for us. The sacrifices under the old system were repeated again and again, year after year, but even so they could never save those that lived under their rules. 2 If they could have, one offering would have been enough; the worshippers would have been cleansed once for all, and their feeling of guilt would have been gone. 3 But just the opposite happened; those yearly sacrifices reminded them of their disobedience and guilt instead of relieving their minds. 4 For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to really take away sins. 5 That is why Christ said, as He came into the world, "O God, the blood of bulls and goats cannot satisfy you, so you have made ready this body of mine for me to lay as a sacrifice upon your altar. 6 You were not satisfied with the animal sacrifices, slain and burnt before you as offerings for sin, 7 Then I said, 'See, I have come to do your will, to lay down my life, just as the scriptures said I would.'" [Psalms 40:7] 8 After Christ said this, about not being satisfied with the various sacrifices and offerings required under the old system, 9 He then added, "Here I am. I have come to give my life." He cancels the first system in favor of a far better one. 10 Under this new plan we have been forgiven and made clean by Christ's dying for us once and for all. 11 Under the old agreement the priest stood before the altar day after day offering sacrifices that could never take away our sins. 12 But Christ gave Himself to God for our sins as one sacrifice for all time, and then sat down in the place of highest honor at God's right hand, 13 waiting for his enemies to be placed under His feet. 14 For by that one offering He made forever perfect in the sight of God all those whom He is making holy. 15 And the Holy Spirit testifies that this is so, for He has said, 16 "This is the agreement I will make with the people of Israel, though they broke their first agreement; I will write my laws into their minds so that they will always know my will, and I will put my laws into their hearts so they will want to obey them." 17 And then He adds, "I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds." [Jeremiah 31:33-34] 18 Now, when sins have once been forever forgiven and forgotten, there is no need to offer more sacrifices to get rid of them. 19 And so, dear brothers, now we may walk right into the very Holy of Holies where God is, because of the blood of Jesus. 20 This is the fresh, new life giving way which Christ has opened up for us by tearing the curtain-His human body-to let us into the holy presence of God. 21 And since this great High Priest of ours rules over God's household, 22 let us go right in, to God Himself, with true hearts fully trusting Him to receive us, because we have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and because our bodies have been washed with pure water. 23 Now we can look forward to the salvation God has promised us. There is no longer any room for doubt, and we can tell others that salvation is ours, for there is no question that He will do what He says." |
Our battle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places and the fiery darts of the wicked are to keep us from entering the Holiest with full assurance of faith. We must learn to take the Shield of Faith and defeat the fiery darts and hold fast the profession of our faith in Jesus-The Word of God-so that we won’t be thinking satan’s negative thoughts when we enter into the very presence of God Himself when we enter the Holiest. Ephesians 6:16, "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." We must not let satan come between us and God because we will feel as if our covenant with God has been broken. It will never be broken, but through the wiles of the devil he will make us feel like it is broken. satan will do anything to keep us from having a productive prayer life as we discussed throughly in chapter six. The wiles of the wicked are designed to get us into a position where we are waiting for judgment and fiery indignation, but just remember the list of words for immutable:
Abiding, changeless, consistent, constant, enduring, eternal, fixed, immortal, incorruptible, invariable, lasting, perennial, permanent, stable, unalterable, unchanging, undying, unwavering.
Whenever I am trying to do what God wants me doing the battle intensifies and as I re-write this on September 14, 2004, I have been going through a battle for almost three years. I really have no one that I am associated with that believes exactly as I do and consequently it is difficult to obtain prayer partners that will help you through a spiritual battle that they don’t realize the magnitude of and don’t even realize that the battle is their’s and the Lord’s because they think it is only God’s battle and whatever happens is God’s will. Some are busy promoting church doctrine instead of Bible doctrine or are too concerned about working their way to Heaven or too busy with the cares of this world to be effective prayer partners. Unbelievably some of them think that God orchestrated 911 for some reason and then there are the people that don’t even believe satan exist and if he does ultimately whatever happens is our doing and we are exercising our free will. Do you think that the 17 year old young man that was shot and killed in the school parking lot or people on hijacked airplanes by demon possessed individuals and the people working in the buildings that are killed at satan’s direction were exercising their free will? We must learn to take authority over the devil everyday in every situation and quit fighting people.
Whenever I yield to the attack of the enemy, other than having to battle to have an effective prayer life, the two most negative results are wasting time and spending money that could ultimately be used to spread the gospel. All you can do when you yield to the attack is just keep on fighting and the other choice is to quit and let the devil win and that is not what God intended when He sent His Son to die for our sins. First John 3:8, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." God inspired Paul to write in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." I will never quit in the Name of Jesus, but the most important thing to remember is that He will never give up. First Corinthians 1:8-9, "Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord."
Let’s go back and read Romans 8:31-39 again, "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Galatians 3:8-14, "And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God [We are all under the law until we are born again and, unfortunately, we can exercise our free will and continue to live under the law and be cursed even though we are born again instead of being set free by the redemptive powers of the Cross and God’s Word] it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit [Acts 2:33] through faith." The new covenant that Jesus orchestrated for us on the cross took us out from under the curse of not being able to do what the law told us to do and God took away our sins so that we could become dead to sin-an aversion to sin and we also have the blessings of Abraham, Genesis 12:1-3, "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."
We receive the Holy Ghost so that He can be our Teacher, Comforter, Prompter, Intercessor, Edifier, Justifier, Washer, Sanctifier by renewing our minds, Communicator to Jesus, source of our Power and don’t forget, our Sealer. Any other communication with the spiritual realm than through the Holy Ghost is satanic. I had a man admonish me one time because I talked about "we" when I was telling him about something I had done in obedience to the urging of the Holy Ghost, but he needed to read about the Holy Ghost in the book of Acts and see how they had learned to depend on the Holy Ghost. Acts 13:2, "As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." Acts 13:4, "So they [Barnabas and Saul], being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus." Acts 15:28, says that it seemed good to the Holy Ghost. Acts 16:6, says that Paul and Timotheus were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. Acts 20:23, Paul tells us that the Holy Ghost tells him that bonds and afflictions are waiting for him. Acts 20:28, tells us that the Holy Ghost has made some believers overseers of a flock of believers.
We are in a covenant relationship with God and the Holy Ghost seals that covenant. The Greek word for sealed is "sphragizo" and it means to stamp (with a signet of private mark) for security or preservation and is from the word "sphragis", a signet (as fencing in or protecting from misappropriation); By implication the stamp impressed (as a mark of privacy, or genuineness), literally or figuratively:-seal. From my experience I can do things that, in my point of view, break my covenant with God, but the Holy Ghost is always there when I finally come back to God and confess my sin and ask for forgiveness and be cleansed from all unrighteousness.
First Corinthians 1:30, "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." Let's review redemption. This redemption is the Greek word "apolutrosis" which is (the act) ransom in full, i.e. (figuratively) riddance, or (specifically) Christian salvation; -deliverance, redemption and is what Jesus did on the cross. Ephesians 1:7 is another scripture that illustrates the redemption Jesus obtained for us on the cross, "In whom [Jesus] we have redemption [Ransom in full] through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace."
The other redemption is the same word, "apolutrosis" which is deliverance. Ephesians 1:13-14, "In whom [Jesus] ye also trusted, after that ye heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Which is the earnest [like earnest money-a guarantee] of our inheritance until the redemption [deliverance] of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory." We are redeemed by the works of the cross, sealed by the Holy Spirit and then our redemption is completed as we yield to the works of the Holy Ghost. People think that we are fully redeemed when we are dead and Jesus takes us to Heaven, but that is not what God intended, He wants us worthy for the Master’s use now.
Ephesians 1:1-14, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption [Ransom in full] through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace; Wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence [insight];
Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him:
In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated [determine before, ordain-God has a plan for those that put their trust in Him] according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will: That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ.
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption [deliverance] of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory."
See why God had to be sure that we knew that we had received the Holy Ghost by speaking in tongues instead of just assuming that we received the Holy Ghost. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of realizing that you are sealed by the Holy Ghost so God can help you become what God predetermined what we would be and what we want to become. And now can you see why we didn't put on the Helmet of Salvation first and that God put His armor in that order for a reason. We must be born again to put on the armor and obtain salvation in any area. We can't put on any of the armor until we understand that piece of armor and when satan would fire his fiery dart of "Your really not born again" God would remind me of October the eighteenth, nineteen eighty-three at three pm. satan knew if he could keep me from understanding the truth of God’s plan of redemption he could keep me from putting on the Helmet of Salvation in the area of being a born again child of God that is sealed by God’s Holy Spirit of promise. I needed to understand the "Starter Kit" that God gave me through His Son and to know that being born again and being saved were two different things. I wonder why satan never told me I wasn't born again before I was born again?
I would finally begin to believe down in my spirit that I was born again and then I would go to a church or run in to somebody that would tell me that you really aren't saved until you get to Heaven. You mean on October 18, 1983 at 3 pm I gave my heart to God and He might give it back? I certainly wouldn't have blamed Him, because I would have. I know people that are born again but they still need to be saved and I pray that you have been enlightened a whole lot in that area already.
Romans 5:8-11, "But God commandeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." Definition of atonement from my computer program, "‘katallage’, to reconcile. Reconciliation, restoration, exchange. A change or reconciliation from a state of enmity between persons to one of friendship. Between God and man it is the result of the redemption, the divine act of salvation, the ceasing of God’s wrath. In the new testament it means reconciliation, i.e., restoration to divine favor by bringing about a change in man, conversion, the means or occasion of reconciling the world to God."
Romans 8:28-39, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate [determine before, ordain-God had a plan for those that put their trust in Him] to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified."
We are called! We didn't call Him! He called us! He had been calling me all my life and He is calling to every lost sinner on the face of the Earth, Second Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." He called me until I finally repented, never to have to repent of my old life again.
Whenever you have the "your not really born again" fiery dart enter your mind the Holy Spirit will always point you back to your born again date. If you don't remember your born again date, just remember that you are born again, dead to sin because your sins were taken away by Jesus on the cross, the righteousness of God, and have peace with God through Christ Jesus, enabling you to take the shield of faith to quench the fiery dart that you aren't born again and put on your Helmet of Salvation of being born again, never to remove it again, so that you can take the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and win each and every encounter with the devil just like Jesus did and have an effective prayer life.
Someone can teach or tell someone something that is in the Bible, but until they are taught the truth by the Holy Ghost it will never become a part of them that can't be forgotten. There is no greater way to learn than to read scripture and let the Holy Ghost teach you as you yield yourself to Him. Search the scriptures for yourself and don't be afraid to feel convicted when you read something in the Word of God and remember your Father loves you and you are called, chosen, born again and on your way to becoming an overcomer so that you can be saved, "soteria" and "soterion" and the combination of the meanings is rescue or safety (physically or morally):-deliver, health, salvation, save, saving, defender or by implication defense:-salvation and then you can begin to help others to put on their defense and be saved.
One day I was reading my Bible and got to what I heard one pastor describe as those horrible scriptures in Hebrews six and as I read them and the fiery darts about "you aren't really born again" started flying and I asked God to show me some "good news" in these scriptures. Hebrews 6:1-6, "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permit. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame."
How many of you have sinned since you were born again? I have and so have you. When we were baptized for the remission of our sins that gave us a clear conscience from our past sins and now when we sin we essentially separate ourselves from God and then we must battle to purge ourselves from all iniquity just like Second Timothy 2:21 says so we can get back into fellowship as soon as possible and since it is impossible to crucify Christ again we now do this through First John 1:8-10, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us." and I also love to take communion and be reminded that Jesus shed Hid blood for the remission of my sins.
Matthew 26:26-28, "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
First Corinthians 11:23-26, Paul speaking, "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread: And when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come."
Hebrews 6:13-20. "For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself. Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is an end of all strife. [This is speaking of a covenant between two men] Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise [that's us] the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."
The word hope in verse nineteen and the word faith in Hebrews 10:23, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for He is faithful that promised;" are the same word. It is number 1680 in my concordance and is the Greek word "elpis" from a primary "elpo" (to anticipate, usually with pleasure); expectation (abstract or concrete) or confidence:-faith, hope.
We can have confidence that God is going to keep His promises. Hebrews 10:35-36, "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise." First John 5:14-15, "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him." Romans 15:13, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Amen, amen, amen.
When we sin, instead of just asking God to forgive us and go on with our lives, we try to make excuses or justify what we have done, but we need to realize that we have been redeemed and received the atonement and have been freed from our sins and that we are not to use that freedom as an excuse to sin. Liberty is freedom from sin, not liberty to sin. Galatians 5:1 and 13, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." and "For, Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty as an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." and Romans 6:1-2, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"
And then there are God's people who are bound up with guilt and shame over their past or something they have done who need to just simply go to God, confess their sin, He knows all about it anyway, and become a productive saint of God by being freed from our sins. Thinking that God is going to "fire" us after we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise is exactly what the devil wants us to think. I have wasted a tremendous amount of God's time feeling guilty about something I did by yielding to the wiles of the devil.
Grace! The slack God gives us until we catch on or so we can catch on. Always remember that grace teaches! Titus 2:11-12, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Teaching us that," Most of what God has taught me has been after I have made a mistake and if I thought for one minute that God would give up on me, or "fire" me and let the devil win, there would be no way He could teach me and there would be no way I could write this on September 14, 2004 if I didn’t know that God’s covenant was immutable. In retrospect, one of the reasons it took me so long to get to where I am is because I didn't understand my covenant with God. Hebrews 13:5, "for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
We must always remember when and if we are going through the "fire" that we were made dead to sin by Jesus taking away our sins when we were born again and spiritually crucified through Jesus, our atoning victim, who was spilling His blood to make a covenant with God for us and we can't crucify Christ again so we just simply go to God and confess our sin and ask Him to forgive us and He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness according to First John 1:9 and grow to have liberty from our sins. Jesus is not going to let us be stolen away by the devil and his band of renegade angels, John 17:12, "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled." Remember that Jesus is the one that is going to baptize us with the Holy Ghost and fire.
There are some people that take Hebrews 6:1-6 as meaning that a person can lose their salvation. They think God is in the abortion business and will actually reverse the born again experience of Acts 2:38, "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." What God is trying to get His people to do in Hebrews 6:1-6 is to go on past repentance, faith, baptism, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment to perfection, maturity. He is telling us that we can't crucify Christ again every time we do something to separate ourselves from God or grieve the Holy Ghost since we have already been enlightened, tasted of salvation, filled with the Holy Ghost, know the Word, and know about Heaven and God wants us to quit worrying about being saved after you have been born again and if you find yourself in sin go to First John 1:9 and thank God for cleansing you from all unrighteousness. You need to go back and start at page one and read the message over again if you think this means you can die and go to Hell after you have been sealed by the Holy Ghost of promise. God doesn't have plans for failure, only plans for failures. You are either going through the fire or under an attack from the wicked, Ephesians 6:11, "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." and remember that Galatians 5:13-26 was written to Christians.
First John 5:10-15, "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the Name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the Name of the Son of God.
And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him." Ephesians 2:1-10, "And you hath He quickened [Made alive], who were dead in trespasses and sins, Wherein in time past you walked according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved,) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us, through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God before ordained that we should walk in them."
Now let’s read Hebrews 6:1-6 again and add 5:11-14 and see if it doesn’t sound different, "Of whom [Jesus] we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time when ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are have become as such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness [justification]: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permit. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame."
One more time, Hebrews 6:13-20. "For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself. Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."
John 6:35-40, "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from Heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day."
Luke 4:18-19, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." How do we fulfill this scripture for Jesus when we ourselves are concerned about being taken captive or we are captive? God does not want us worrying about losing our salvation, but to go on past repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment unto perfection and fulfill Galatians 5:1, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." If we spend all our time trying to save us we can't help anybody else be saved. We must understand that we have an everlasting covenant with God that is sealed by the Holy Ghost when we speak in tongues to receive the Holy Ghost and if we don’t understand this we will not have the faith to exercise our authority in the spiritual realm and begin to change our circumstances and the circumstances of others and set the captives free. John 8:32, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free."
Remember the list of words we could replace immutable with: abiding, changeless, consistent, constant, enduring, eternal, fixed, immortal, incorruptible, invariable, lasting, perennial, permanent, stable, unalterable, unchanging, undying, unwavering.
God has taught me my authority in the spirit world by using a teaching from tape three of a four tape series by Kenneth Hagin titled "Authority of the Believer" as the basis for His teachings. Now that we know we have an immutable covenant with God through His Son Jesus let’s learn about our authority in the spiritual realm as a born again child of God .
CHAPTER TEN-THE AUTHORITY OF THE BORN AGAIN BELIEVER