I'm not sure when this happened. Perhaps from the foundation of the world. But at some point in history, God and Jesus made a covenant with each other. In that covenant God asked His Son to come to earth in human flesh and fulfill the law culminating in the sacrifice of His own life to satisfy the wrath of God on sin. God promised that He would hold Jesus's hand and lead him through every second. He promised that the Devil would not be able to get to him and destroy him.
In agreeing with this, Jesus made one stipulation. He told the Father He would do what God was asking as long as what He would accomplish in human flesh, by the Spirit of God, would also apply to His seed, i.e. His spiritual seed. That's you and me and every person that puts their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.
This revelation was received by the Apostle Paul and is what he fought so strenuously for his entire ministry because the revelation of the New Covenant is the source of victorious living for every believer and the devil has and is working hard to dilute and twist it. He understands that if believers truly understood this, they would be unstoppable.
Paul listed all the things he had accomplished in his flesh. He was "circumcised the eighty day...a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. We all know people who do the same thing today. In fact, I'm sure we all have done this at one time in our Christian walk. I know I have. And yet, in all of my perceived spirituality, I was giving myself some of the credit, which is flesh. Flesh will always fail, no matter how strong the resolve may be.
Paul dismissed all of this as "putting confidence in the flesh." BUT whatever things were gain to me, these things I have counted as loss because of Christ." He told the Corinthians "for I have determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." He understood that there is NOTHING of our flesh that pleases God, but if we are IN Christ, then we also receive the benefits and promises established by the covenant Jesus made with the Father. Not because of anything about us, not because of anything we did or are doing, but simply because we are found IN Christ.
So, believer, if you struggle with a sin or addiction of some kind, if you think that every time you sin, God erases your name out of the Book of Life and that He's done it so many times, there is a hole in the space where your name used to be, listen up! Just as God held the hand of Jesus and led Him through His life in human flesh, He will do the same for you! When your flesh tries to lead you into sin, reach out and grab God's hand and see yourself IN Christ and remember that God, through the Holy Spirit is making you into the kind of person that you need to be. There is nothing you can do but yield, trust and believe. Then rest in His love for you.
Religious activity will not benefit you if it is not first birthed in you by the Holy Spirit. Therefore it remains an outworking of what the Spirit has wrought on the inside of you. Too many Christians have this backwards. They think that reading the Bible and praying, along with community service and evangelism will change them on the inside but it won't. I'm not advocating not doing these things. I read my Bible and pray every day. What I'm getting at is that your efforts do nothing to change you. That is the Spirit's job. Your only responsibility is to yield in faith to Christ. It's so simple, it's almost too hard to believe. It takes the Spirit to reveal it to you.
Every evening, my husband and I pile into bed and find a good sermon on YouTube to listen to. This sermon by David Wilkerson presents this so clearly and is something every believer should hear. This message is something I desperately needed and it has been revolutionary to my spiritual life. It has brought my knowledge into reality living. I've spent the last year or so growing in my understanding and it just keeps getting better and better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GS6EGiFOkk
Today I am thankful for the New Covenant.
In agreeing with this, Jesus made one stipulation. He told the Father He would do what God was asking as long as what He would accomplish in human flesh, by the Spirit of God, would also apply to His seed, i.e. His spiritual seed. That's you and me and every person that puts their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.
This revelation was received by the Apostle Paul and is what he fought so strenuously for his entire ministry because the revelation of the New Covenant is the source of victorious living for every believer and the devil has and is working hard to dilute and twist it. He understands that if believers truly understood this, they would be unstoppable.
Paul listed all the things he had accomplished in his flesh. He was "circumcised the eighty day...a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. We all know people who do the same thing today. In fact, I'm sure we all have done this at one time in our Christian walk. I know I have. And yet, in all of my perceived spirituality, I was giving myself some of the credit, which is flesh. Flesh will always fail, no matter how strong the resolve may be.
Paul dismissed all of this as "putting confidence in the flesh." BUT whatever things were gain to me, these things I have counted as loss because of Christ." He told the Corinthians "for I have determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." He understood that there is NOTHING of our flesh that pleases God, but if we are IN Christ, then we also receive the benefits and promises established by the covenant Jesus made with the Father. Not because of anything about us, not because of anything we did or are doing, but simply because we are found IN Christ.
So, believer, if you struggle with a sin or addiction of some kind, if you think that every time you sin, God erases your name out of the Book of Life and that He's done it so many times, there is a hole in the space where your name used to be, listen up! Just as God held the hand of Jesus and led Him through His life in human flesh, He will do the same for you! When your flesh tries to lead you into sin, reach out and grab God's hand and see yourself IN Christ and remember that God, through the Holy Spirit is making you into the kind of person that you need to be. There is nothing you can do but yield, trust and believe. Then rest in His love for you.
Religious activity will not benefit you if it is not first birthed in you by the Holy Spirit. Therefore it remains an outworking of what the Spirit has wrought on the inside of you. Too many Christians have this backwards. They think that reading the Bible and praying, along with community service and evangelism will change them on the inside but it won't. I'm not advocating not doing these things. I read my Bible and pray every day. What I'm getting at is that your efforts do nothing to change you. That is the Spirit's job. Your only responsibility is to yield in faith to Christ. It's so simple, it's almost too hard to believe. It takes the Spirit to reveal it to you.
Every evening, my husband and I pile into bed and find a good sermon on YouTube to listen to. This sermon by David Wilkerson presents this so clearly and is something every believer should hear. This message is something I desperately needed and it has been revolutionary to my spiritual life. It has brought my knowledge into reality living. I've spent the last year or so growing in my understanding and it just keeps getting better and better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GS6EGiFOkk
Today I am thankful for the New Covenant.
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