A CHANGE OF HUSBANDS

How wonderful it is! - in our new slavery to Christ we are joyfully free to be producers of the fruit of the Spirit, and cannot come again under the control of our old sin-owner. In our new slavery we say from the heart what it says in that old Church of England prayer: " in whose service is perfect freedom." That is the fact; but how about our realization of it?

Let us face it: Though Paul has declared to us the totality of our new freedom as slaves to our new Owner, we often don't seem to have found this fixed level of new freedom working out in our lives, but are caught up again under that old sin-boss. Where does the answer lie? It is in our relationship to the law. We go back to this word of Paul's: "You are not under the law." But in fact we are under it and know a lot about the heavy bondage of the law on us with its "you ought" and "you ought not"! Then what does Paul mean when he says that we have full freedom from the law? We must look thoroughly into this and find the solution. For if Paul is saying, "Sin shall not have dominion over you, because you are not under the law but under grace," that evidently means sin will have dominion over us as long as the law does continue its hold over us. But how to be not only "dead to sin" (6:2) but "dead to the law" (7:4)? And how can that give us our liberty?

Paul explains it like this in Romans 7:1-6. In a marriage, law binds you to your mate. Now we humans started life mated to Satan, expressing his sin nature and producing his children, "the motions of sin in the flesh." But as we have already said, we came into the world blinded to the reality of our marriage and to the control of our sin-husband, and to the fact that it was his children which we were producing. We were duped into regarding ourselves as free persons living our own lives. If we had a relationship to sin, it was more as it having some "influence" on us, but by no means having control over us as husband over wife. We recognized Satan neither as husband nor slave-owner over us.

Therefore in our unsaved days, when blind to our true relationship to Satan, God in mercy sent us the law through Moses with its written list of "Thou shalts" and "Thou shalt nots" to shoot holes through our false independence and self-righteousness. We admitted the authority of God's law of right living, for we were still His offspring created in His image. But how husband sin laughed at us: "Fulfill God's law based on being a self-giving self, when you're mated to me, the enemy god of self-loving self? Ridiculous!" He was right. We couldn't and didn't want to fulfill God's law. So God's hidden purpose of grace in sending us the law was first fulfilled not in us humans keeping the law (which we couldn't) but in our consistently breaking the law, and thus being exposed by the law as guilty lawbreakers, as sinners.

So by the law we were ultimately driven to take that first great outward step of "coming honest" and acknowledging our guilt, repenting, and being delivered from the curse and condemnation of the law of God's own Son, "set forth" as the propitiation for our sins.

But then comes the further step. The total work of the law is not just to expose the fact of sins committed and the consequent judgment. It is that "by the law is the knowledge of sin" - not sins, but the sin principle which was dwelling in us when the father and originator of sin dwelt in us.

Paul, through analogy, explains how we are at first married to and totally controlled by our Satan-husband, but then by one stroke the marriage is broken up - Christ's death as our representative cutting us off from the marriage to Satan! Having died with Christ, we are now dead to our old husband. That means that the law can no longer point its finger at us as unable to keep its commands - unable because our husband (who expressed himself by us) would never let us - for death has put an end to that marriage; so the law has no further condemning claim in that respect. "Wherefore, my brethren, you became dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you should be married to another" (7:4).

He then uses the marriage illustration, just as he had used the owner-slave illustration, to bring home the same truth to us: that we humans are always under a deity management. So there's no such thing as we humans remaining unmarried, just the same as we couldn't remain free from slavery. Therefore the marvel of God's grace, says Paul, is that at the moment our old marriage was broken by the death of Christ our representative, immediately in His resurrection He became our new Husband in place of Satan. There's no such thing as a time period in which we are a kind of widow! We have immediately changed husbands and entered into our new marriage contract, in which "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death" (8:2).

When I inwardly know this and have got the facts in clear focus, I find that my new Husband has me, to my delight, in His total ownership; and I have nothing to do in our family life beyond producing the fruits of our marriage, the fruit of the Spirit. Then the law has disappeared from me, because my new Husband, who is the resurrected Christ, fulfills it by our union life. I thus have become dead to the law in its outer form - the form in which God first sent it, so as to expose me to the reality of my old Satan-husband.

What perfect joy for us who have come this whole way by grace into our new union and know, in its full reality, our marriage to our new Husband! But actually, the point of what Paul is now writing about, and bringing to its climax in Romans 7, is that we've not yet properly understood our relationship to our two husbands. Being all tangled up, our concepts need to be untangled. The tangle is caused by the false idea of myself as an independent person, about which I've been deceived from the Fall. Not knowing that as a sinner I lived under the total management of my old husband and solely expressed him and reproduced his children, but wrongly thinking I then had an independent life of my own, I started out living my new life thinking that now also, as a redeemed human, I have an ability of my own and so can fulfill the law. And so my former husband catches me unaware. When I think I ought to be "doing my own thing" for God (for now, being redeemed, I delight in the law of God) Satan cunningly re-exerts his control over me and causes me to fulfill his flesh will. How can this be? Because "doing my own thing" is Satan's principle, the very cause of his and Adam's fall. It is the sin principle. Here then is the value of the continuing law to my life. I needed to have one final radical exposure of the "nonsense" of my supposed independence. By this, at last, I can see I have never been independent: because the self- relying self was the sin-spirit in me. Until, however, I consciously know and enter into the reality of not only my cutoff from my old husband, but also my marriage to my new Husband, I will still be in an illusory condition of independence, and so actually under the remote control of my old husband. There is no in-between status. So the law completes its work by revealing the illusion of my independence, and grace reveals the reality of my new marriage. Once I move into that, the law ceases to exist as having an outer claim on me, since it is now being inwardly fulfilled in me. This is why Paul puts such strong emphasis upon the completion of God's purposes through the law for my freedom, exposing sin as well as sins, and the lie about a time of independence intervening between the old ownership and the new, the old husband and the new.

How wonderful to know that I am now married to Christ! To know that "I am my Beloved's, and His desire is toward me" (S. of S. 7:10).

No! NO! NO! There is NO possibility.

"Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are,… whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (6:16). Paul makes it plain that we humans do not have a freedom of our own - that we have no self-operating human nature. We are always servants ("slaves," in the Greek) to one deity or the other. And the deities are here named by their character and lifestyle: sin... or righteousness. Yes, here alone is our freedom: "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are?" That is our charter of freedom within slavery: our freedom to belong to one master only. And as believers, we have already changed our slavery - from sin to righteousness, from Satan to Christ (vss. 17-18)!

A slave does not change his owner every hour of the day, or even every month! That is the law of slavery, and of freedom within that slavery. Humans may not always seem so consistently under one or the other owner - we may slip and slither in our outer behavior - but at our spirit-center we're always in one of those two slaveries and freedoms (vss. 20-22), fixed and not interchangeable (except by God's grace!) This, then, is how total our transference is from the first Adam's family to the last Adam's, by the radicalness of Christ's once-for-all death to sin and aliveness to God.

This slave-illustration strongly confirms us in knowing in which family and whose service we are - and that our salvation is for keeps, despite any deviations. It equally confirms us into not being hastily judgmental of others in their apparent deviations. See through to the center, where spirit is joined to Spirit! Always contribute faith, not negative downgrading judgment, to any deviators.

Our freedom, Paul says, is total freedom from any other claimant. We can never serve two masters, even if we delude ourselves into thinking we can. We were free from God's way of self-giving living while we "enjoyed" the freedom of self-loving living as slaves to sin. But now, through our obedience in believing the gospel truth brought to us (6:17), our service to sin has been severed and replaced by our service to righteousness - which is being servants of God (6:18,22). We have exchanged freedoms and cannot return, and are in the enjoyment of our new slavery!

Then Paul asks, Did you really enjoy that former freedom with its "Dead Sea fruits" of conscious guilt, and the hard labors involved in sinful living? (vs. 21). We had to work for a despot in our inwardly chaotic state of fallen selfhood, and our wages were eternal death! What a freedom! -and how rightly we are now ashamed of it! But our new freedom, a free gift, spontaneously produces not works, but the rich fruits of holy living; and the end, everlasting life. Owner "sin" pays wages in eternal death; owner "grace" gives the free gift of eternal life.

So here is the royal and wonderful answer to the fear of license some may have because of their new freedom from the law. Is there not danger that, if we're free to do what we like, we'll then choose to indulge ourselves in all kinds of sinning? But the miraculous difference in this new freedom lies in the law of the Spirit replacing the old law. When this truth really dawns, we see it is not that it's easier to sin and harder to live rightly.. but the other way round! It is easy to walk God's way and hard to go back to the devil's ways! It is absurd even to think of being the devil's dupes again! What a boldness it gives us when we know that we are totally controlled by the One who owns us, and that we have nothing to do with keeping ourselves. Our Owner is also our Keeper.

How bold it was of Paul - and what a word of revelation - to affirm these two absolute freedoms: If we are slaves of Satan and sin, we are so freed from Christ and righteousness that we cannot change from one to the other.

A slave can't free himself. Emancipation can only be accomplished by one who pays the price - by one who buys us back from our captor. So now, freed from that sin- slavery which totally controlled us, we are so totally free as slaves to Christ that sin and Satan cannot get us back again.

What confidence that gives us in our own new freedom and the like freedom of our brethren. Paul is going to lead us in chapters 7 and 8 of Romans into the full focus of this truth, so that we shall know with a fixed inner certainty that we humans have no nature of our own by which we might direct our own lives. Rather, we are directed… and we are kept... however much, under temptation, we may temporarily wriggle or squirm against our new "bondage" which is our freedom.

So having got that clear once for all - that we are total slaves, eternally fixed to our new owner - Paul can now turn his attention to the one remaining problem which can block our entry into the full freedom that is ours in Christ (and indeed does so until fully and finally cleared away): the control of the law on our deluded independent selves, and the means of freedom from it.

NO!

A saved person CAN NOT loose their salvation.

What a boldness it gives us when we know that we are totally controlled by the One who owns us, and that we have nothing to do with keeping ourselves. Our Owner is also our Keeper.

"A saved person CAN NOT loose their salvation."

As brother Zac Poonen states, "No one can ever snatch me from Christs hand, but I can choose to jump out of His hand".

That is the balance isn't it? That we are not robots without a free will. A created being with free will can choose to walk away and deny Christ, just as the angels with free will also chose to rebel against God.

Also, and as a separate point. From a practical standpoint, MANY who believe they stand...actually do not. They think they are saved but they are not. To them, from their perspective, when they discover that they are not standing it appears to them that they have "lost" their salvation.

And some of them very well might have...who really knows?

Half of Christendom believe that a saved person can lose their salvation and the other half believes that it is impossible.

So we will continue kicking this subject around for millennium:-)

Yes, I agree with Zac Poonen on the subject of eternal security. I think there is a video/audio sermon of his about this on SI somewhere if you care to google it?

Here is a short clip where brother Zac shares his view on the doctrine of "once saved always save"d.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wsUwGXLLCVc

Here is a more in depth teaching from brother Zac on Eternal Security.
http://www.cfcindia.com/article/eternal-security

There are two sides to every coin. In Christian thought we consistently see either/or contrasts of ideas and thoughts just like the coin that has two sides, (when flipped) results in an either/or of choices. Jesus used paradoxes and dichotomies of ideas in all of His teachings. The problem with the either/or of Christian thought is that the solution is not always as clear cut as flipping a coin with the obvious outcome being "heads or tails".

One Christian will adamantly contend that the side of the coin they called is the only valid "truth" while the other Christian contends that the reverse side is the only acceptable position. Both, unwilling to consider the other side may express some truths that are acceptable and Biblical.

How we all wish arriving at truth were as simple as tossing a coin. It's just not that simple when it comes to Christian thought.

Look at the duality of our world. Hot and cold, light and dark, up and down, left and right, bitter and sweet. Even in physics the earth would fly across the universe and never stop if two forces were not pulling particles of matter in opposite directions at the same time. The air we breath is mostly made up of oxygen (21%) and nitrogen (78%). These two gases of opposite qualities put together sustain life on earth. If we breathed one of them alone we would die. Sodium and Clorine are the two substances that make up salt, each one alone would destroy us.

Thus it is, oftentimes with Truth. Calvinism and Arminianism are extremes, both of which contain truth but alone distort the truth of God. Somewhere in the middle is always the balance.

The accusation against extreme Arminianism is that it places all responsibility on man and makes him completely independent of God. God's foreknowledge and omnipotence takes a back seat to man's independence.

And Calvinism, taken to the extreme completely immerses the responsibility of man into passivity which often fosters spiritual paralysis and verges on making God the author of sin.

Are these "two sides of the coin" our only choices? If we can't reconcile these two thoughts we are free to pick whichever one we desire? Does this not result in unbelief? Do both contain aspects of truth, and like salt, and the air we breath sustain life and conversely one taken over the other, result in death?

In physics every action has its counter action. The same is true in matters of spirituality. Good and evil, life and death, blessing and cursing, obedience and disobedience, love and selfishness, heaven and hell, etc., etc.

Without the positive and negative electrical fields we would be walking in the dark.

We see all of these things immediately in Genesis. Order out of disorder, God separates light and darkness, creates male and female, shows us two contrasting trees (tree of life and tree of the knowledge of good and evil). Gives Adam a choice between obedience and rebellion, life or death, blessing or curses. You could say the Bible in the very beginning teaches us the law of opposites. The opposites taken together teach us the whole truth.

Is Christianity, pure objectivity or is there a necessary ingredient of subjectivity? We have been declared righteous. Are we not also to experience righteousness in our lives? Is righteousness merely a legal statement or are we to experience the change of heart attitudes and conformity to the character of Jesus Christ? Is Jesus Christ just a Jesus of history or is He also the indwelling Christ (in us) of experience? Is salvation a legal standing that makes us safe from hell, or is salvation to be experienced in our lives as the saving life of Christ indwelling us to overcome the power of sin and addictions? So, you see we need both the objective and subjective thought of Christianity. Both sides of the coin, not just one side.

We have liberty in Christ, but not to cause others to stumble. The "Son has set us free", but not to disrespect others. Freedom has context. We are free in Christ, but not to cause others to sin or give offense to a brother.

You are "in Christ", yet "Christ is in you". We have been brought into union with the living Lord Jesus as He enters the spirit of the believer. Yet, He only enters if we receive Him (John 1:12).

We are joined in one-spirit with the Spirit of Christ, yet Jesus Christ and the Christian remain as distinct, individual personalities. He does not obliterate our personality.

I Cor. 6:17 - he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
Rom. 8:16 - Spirit bears witness with our spirit, that we’re children of God

Gal. 2:20 - "no longer I live, but CHRIST LIVES IN ME..."
Gal. 2:20 - "Christ lives in me ... the life I NOW LIVE IN THE FLESH I LIVE BY FAITH..."

Jesus has perfected us yet we are sinful.
Heb 10:14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
yet
I John 1:8 - If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us

I Cor. 1:30 - Christ became to us rightousness
yet
Gal. 5:17 - flesh sets its desires against Spirit

Notice the extremes? Perfectionism on one side, perpetual sinful depravity on the other side. Christ is the new man in me and cannot sin, "thus I cannot sin" is another extreme. The polar opposite is the false religious idea of self generated righteous behavior. Do your best and God will take care of the rest or God helps those who help themselves.

We must see the balance of truth in the scriptures. Living in either extreme will eventually make us shipwreck on the rocks of extremity.

II Cor 4:10,11 says the "life of Jesus manifested in us", yet Phil 2:12 tells says to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling".

Many try to "be like Jesus", while others say that man must just get out of the way and let God express Himself through man. "Just go with the flow". We are commanded to "walk by the Spirit" (Gal 5:25) even though our "adequacy is of God". (II Cor 3:5). I Thess 5:24 says, "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it", yet we have Romans 1:5, "obedience to the faith".

Gal. 5:17 - "the flesh sets its desires against the Spirit”
and yet
Gal. 5:17 - "the Spirit sets its desires against the flesh”

So, we cannot live the Christian life by self-effort and neither can we say "I can't help but sin, I am only human". Of course the other extreme is to take the position that since the Spirit of Christ lives in me, and He cannot sin, I don’t have to worry about sinning. "Whatever I do is Christ working in me."

On one hand, we are the light and salt of the world, yet on another, Jesus Christ tells us not to be bound together with unbelievers and to come out from their midst and be separate. Every issue in Christian thought has more than one perspective and there is a balance of both sides of the coin. Only the Holy Spirit can divide the Word correctly for us to walk out His Word in proper context in our lives.

One side of the coin:
John 6:37 - "one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out."
John 10:28,29 - "no one shall snatch them out of My hand."
Rom. 11:29 - "gifts and calling of God are without change of mind"
Heb. 13:5 - "I will never desert you, nor will I forsake you."
I Cor. 1:8 - "Jesus Christ shall confirm you to the end"
Phil. 1:6 - "He will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ."
Heb. 12:2 - "Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith"
I Pet. 1:5 - "protected by the power of God."

The other side of the coin:
I Tim. 4:1 - "some will fall away from the faith"
Heb. 3:12 - "falling away from the living God"
Heb. 6:4-6 - "tasted of heavenly gift and then fallen away"
John 15:6 - "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away.."
I Cor. 9:27 - "lest I should be disqualified"
Gal. 5:4 - "you have been severed from Christ..fallen from grace"
II Pet. 2:20,21 - "last state is worst than the first"

Salvation is not a one-time commodity or event that we come to own as our own because we have executed certain procedures (prayed a prayer, walked the aisle, baptism, follow rules and regulations, adhere to certain belief systems, etc., etc.). Salvation is a Person that we continually abide in and be receptive to His divine life and activity in ours. In order for the Savior to be active in us, we must choose to walk in harmony with Him and His word, everyday (obedience, submission, fellowship). Salvation is never a static event.

Even a slave can run away from his owner no matter how benevolent and kind his owner is.

"is there any possibility of a marriage ever being dissolved, or is it indissoluble?"

I am helping a dear brother right now whose wife committed adultery and walked away from him and demanded a divorce. Yet a few years ago she was giddy and head over heels in love. What happened? Free will. Nobody is a robot. God allows us to freely receive Him and to also freely walk away and reject Him.

There is a tensioned balance with all truth. Two opposing sides of every coin. As I indicated in my previous post, the Word shows two sides to everything, with the truth being somewhere in the middle (combination of both sides). There is a tensioned balance in relationships, too. One partner in a marriage cannot keep the marriage healthy all by themselves. It is no marriage if only one is participating. Restoration, reconciliation and commitment from one side, needs commitment from the other side.

Revelation 19:6-9 talks about the "The Marriage Supper of the Lamb" which is yet to come.
Question: "What is the marriage supper of the Lamb?"
Answer: In his vision in Revelation 19:7”“10, John saw and heard the heavenly multitudes praising God because the wedding feast of the Lamb””literally, the "marriage supper”””was about to begin (from gotquestion.org )

The word ‘believes’, is also in the present continuous tense, John 3:16 could just as well be understood to say, For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, so that whosoever goes on believing in Him, might not perish but have everlasting life. (from the net)

Hundreds of years before Christ came, God foretold that He would do it all. Through Ezekiel, He explained the New Covenant to the Jews:

"Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances" (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

Who is the only one who can perform this heart transplant? God. Notice all of the "I wills" in this passage.

"I will give you a new heart."
"I will put a new spirit within you."
"I will remove the heart of stone."
"I will give you a heart of flesh."
"I will put My Spirit within you."
"I will cause you to walk in My statutes."

People often worry, "Can I keep the law? Can I live up to what God wants me to be?"

Of course, as Paul wrote, we have died to the law (Romans 7:4-6). We no longer have any relationship to it, nor do we look to it in an effort to fulfill it. But the law does reveal the character of God, and God's intent is to manifest His life through us. As He does that, He will Himself fulfill the law through us. Or, in other words, He will reflect His own character. So He says to us, "I will cause you to walk in them. After all, I'm the Lawgiver and the Lawkeeper, so I can cause you to walk in them."

Nothing of God has its point of origin with you. But everything of God will be manifested as you in your world. On the outside, it's going to look like you. But nothing is going to have its point of origin with you. The point of origin is God's "I will" in you.

Jeremiah was the first to record the New Covenant "I wills":

"Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah"I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (31:31,33-34).

Aren't the "I wills" in Ezekiel and Jeremiah tremendous? God says, "I will do it." We are the benefactors of those "I wills." As those "I wills" are worked into us and become the reality of our lives, then we do walk in them. That's always been the desire of our hearts, to walk in the ways of the Lord.

As long as these things are just concepts to us, though, truths that seem separate from us, we try to make them happen ourselves. We are programmed to try to do it, but we don't know the inner life, so we are programmed for failure. We do have a new heart, and we want so desperately to do what God wants us to do, but we don't have the power to bring to pass what only God can do.

There isn't any way that we can make life succeed on any other basis than faith in God's "I wills." He will do it. That's the way it works. But it takes time for God to work His "I wills" into us and supplant our own "I wills."

Part of what God said He would do in Ezekiel is completed. He has given us a new heart. He has put a new spirit within us. He has removed our old heart and given us a new one, in which He has also placed His Spirit. That work, already finished, can't be touched. "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him" (1 Corinthians 6:17, NKJV). God can't do any more for us in the spirit realm than join His Spirit life to our human receiver spirit, and there be united with us in oneness.

The other part of God's work is ongoing. "I will cause you to walk in My statutes." That work of His proceeds in our soul and body. God is lining up our outer being with Himself. But until we see this unseen and eternal truth, we will try to line it up for Him. We will get hold of a new passage of Scripture, a new book, or a new concept, and say, "That's what I want to look like." And we will try to make it happen. I bought just about every how-to book ever written. I never did bother to ask if the authors could actually do it, but I quickly discovered I couldn't. God is the one who does it.

What role does the human being play in this divine encounter? Only one: to be willing. The only thing you can do is be willing and cooperate with the Person in you that can cause it to happen. God doesn't cause anything to happen internally that we don't want to happen. God never stomps on our will. He loves it, caresses it, enfolds it, and draws it to Himself, but He never overrides it.

It's a terrible blow to the ego to see that the only part you have to play in God's plan is willingness. A long time ago our foreparents bought a lie. In the Garden, they bought the lie of independent self and independent self-sufficiency. They believed that a real person was self-sufficient.

There are popular movements today built entirely on that premise. They're building up the self. You know what you get? More self. If you're successful, you get more vain. If you're not, you get self-condemnation. It's a dead end.

God does it all. Our part is to be willing. If we're willing and cooperate, "I will cause you to walk in My statutes and you will be careful to observe My ordinances." That's when it comes back to you - not as the point of origin but as the willing outward expresser of His life.

In Galatians 2:20, after saying, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me," Paul then talks of "the life which I now live in the flesh [the physical body]."

We do live, but Christ lives through us. "I will cause you to walk in them, but you will do it. I will cause it, but you will do it." That's the exciting part of this life, seeing God work out through us what He has worked into us. We see Him work out Whom He has worked in. And we are inwardly involved with all that He is doing.

God used the most disappointing chapter in my Christian life to begin to show me this. That episode became the necessary prerequisite for my greatest blessing. The Holy Spirit told me, "Look, you're trying to live a life you were never meant to live. But I can live the life in you, as you, that you're now trying to live on your own."

That's good news, isn't it? There is Someone who can live the life. He can live the life perfectly acceptable to the Father. Our primary role is to cooperate and be willing for Him to do it. He is willing, you are willing - that's the secret. He will live the life.

The Son has taken up His residence in us. His purpose is the same as it was during His earthly walk: to do the will of the Father. What the Holy Spirit does in us (not out through us in activity but in us as Teacher) is continually line us up with the true Person in us. That's why ongoing revelation is needed. The more understanding of His nature that He gives us, the more we fall in line with it, because that's the true desire of our new heart.

Previously, we were trying to produce this ourselves. Now, we're watching Him do it. We're being changed into His image from glory to glory by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18). More and more, without any kind of striving or effort, our whole will, indwelt by His Spirit's will, is just flowing with Him. We have always wanted to do His will. The Holy Spirit just brings that true desire to the surface, out from our spirit. Ultimately, we get to a place within where we don't know if something is our voice or His, because they become so one. So, like Jesus, we say, "My will is to do His will." Our will has been captured by God.

Dear Savannah (are you a brother or sister?)

I don't know how to answer a question about marriage (a human) thing, as it pertains to Gods relationship with man, without bringing up other related human ideas. Such as adultery and divorce.

And at the root of these questions is, "how can we, if we are indeed married to Christ, ever become "unmarried"?

Which is almost the same as asking, "if we are saved, can we ever lose our salvation"? I think that has already been addressed in this thread by several people, but if you or others believe in the basic Calvinist tenats of TULIP, we will go around and around infinitum on this. No fruit will come of it.

So yes, to your direct question, I do believe that we can be "married" to Christ but then choose to walk away from Him and ask for a divorce, or in essence become "unmarried" to Him.

I have people who are very close to me who have done this very thing.

Regarding Zac Poonen, he may be wrong on many things but he has never tortured and had killed anyone who disagrees with him, so he's still okay in my book:-)

Hi brother Dave,
I agree with what you have written, very helpful thank you!

"Shall we believe you or God? "

I am not asking you to believe me, you asked me a question and I answered it. This is my opinion and you are entitled to yours. I am happy that my opinion agrees with (imho) one of the worlds most godly and anointed teachers I have ever encountered...Zac Poonen. Who to my knowledge has never lifted a single finger to hurt anyone, far less those who opposed him.

On the other side you have the opposite opinion - which agrees with John Calvin who, being a murderer - tortured and killed those who disagreed with his doctrines.

We do not even have to debate their doctrines...just compare the fruit of their lives. Jesus gave us this very good advice in Matthew 7...something that has saved me from a lot of heart ache to this day.

Personally I have no desire to argue over doctrine, or anything for that matter. These doctrinal arguments never change the other persons viewpoint, but they often reveal what is in our heart...what "spirit we are of". I stepped into this thread, to help protect new christians and the unlearned who lurk in these halls from being tainted by the false doctrine of OSAS.

I agree 100% with Zac Poonen that,"the doctrine of OSAS is responsible for sending more people to hell than any other doctrine that man has preached".

Please note that I have never been a Calvinist.
I am not now a Calvinist and I do not plan on becoming one in the future.

I do believe God's word where He says, "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." Jeremiah 32:40

And

"Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances" (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

Because Paul says that many WILL DEPART FROM THE FAITH, we have too inquire as to what the Lord meant in Jeremiah 32:40? Why the seeming contradiction? Yet, we know there are no contradictions in God. There are always two sides to the coin. This is a case where we could take one scripture if we wanted and make a doctrine out of it. But, what does the full counsel of God communicate to us?

1Tim 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

Agree brother Tuc,
As you pointed out, God says, "...they shall not depart from me." And again, "...I will cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances"

False teachers go on to make these things mean what they do not mean, which is to say that man has no free will and cannot reject Gods hand on them or His Spirit within them. They twist the scriptures to teach that man no longer has a free will and is a robot who is literally controlled by the Holy Spirit and has no part to play in this relationship with the indwelling Christ.

But what really happens with born again believers? Do they never depart from God and do they always walk in His statutes? Of course not, which is why we must consider the whole counsel of Gods Word if we hope to understand the new covenant/new birth. There are few teachers that I know, better at teaching these things than Tozer, Reidhead and Poonen.

God's faithfulness is not in question here.

Nothing shall separate us from the love of God; that is true. The only thing not mentioned in Romans 8:35-39, is you and I.

WE can separate ourselves from the love of God.

This passage in Romans is talking about things and powers outside of us. In other words, no third party can separate us from the love of God towards us. And God Himself says that he will never leave us or forsake us. (Deut 31:8, Heb 13:5).

But sin has always and will continue to separate us from God.

Paul, in writing to brothers says, "If you are living according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you are putting to deaths the deeds of the flesh you will live" (Rom 8:12,13)

What happened in heaven when Lucifer rebelled, will never happen again. God will not allow anyone that is rebellious into heaven.

The grace of God is amazing, no question about it. But, He will not give carte blanche to unrepented rebelliousness.

Jesus said, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 1 John 3:15

God is able to make all grace abound to those who endure until the end, for only those who endure to the end shall be saved. (Mt 10:22)

"We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." (2 Cor 6:1).

Why did Paul fight so hard to rescue Christians (Peter) that were believing a false gospel. Because they would frustrate the grace of God supplanting Christ with the law and thus no longer trusting in Christ for salvation.

"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." Gal 2:21

"For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a TRANSGRESSOR." (Gal 2:18).

CAN WE FALL FROM GRACE?

Paul speaking to brothers, again. "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; YE ARE FALLEN FROM GRACE." (Gal 5:4)

"I marvel that ye are so soon REMOVED FROM HIM that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel" (Gal 1:6)

"And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work."(Rom 11:6)

"Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." (Heb 10:38)

Remember, I said nothing shall separate you and I from the love of God, except you and I? All these verses I have given show that you and I bear responsibility for keeping ourselves in the love of God. The verse below, encapsulates the fact that God does not fail, but man does. Man can fail the grace of God, by refusing to repent and thereby hardening his heart and falling into unbelief. The grace is there, but we must continually be receptive to the Person of Jesus Christ, who is the grace of God.

"Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;" (Heb 12:15)

Who did God make the New Covenant with?

Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.

Heb 8:8 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:

Heb 8:10 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;

Gentiles are grafted in by the same operation of faith and become heirs to the same inheritance which is Christ.

Taking Hold of the New Covenant
David Wilkerson

My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips" (Psalm 89:34). The term "covenant" plays an integral part in the Christian faith. Yet in all my years I have never heard a preacher or teacher adequately describe the significance of "covenant" in a Christian’s life. The Bible itself is divided into two Covenants (or Testaments), Old and New. Throughout the Old Testament, God makes one covenant after another with humankind. What are all these covenants about? More importantly, what do they have to do with us today?

A covenant is an agreement or pledge between two or more parties, like a contract. It contains terms or duties each party must perform to fulfill the agreement. Such covenants are legally binding, and once they’re finalized each party can be penalized for not fulfilling its respective terms.

In creating the New Covenant, God puts his amazing love for humankind on full display. Yet the church has been blind to this incredible doctrine for decades. As a young Christian I was taught that "covenant theology," focusing on the New Covenant, was a licentious doctrine. The prevailing thought was that the New Covenant is so marvelously freeing that people might misuse it, indulging in permissive lifestyles.

Yet the more I understand the New Covenant, the more I’m convinced we need its assurance in these perilous last days. Its pledge has the power to release in God’s church all the overcoming strength we need to be more than conquerors in any situation.

Who are the parties in the New Covenant?

The New Covenant is a formal contract between Father and Son. And today we, the seed of a spiritual Israel, are brought into this covenant by faith. "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" (Hebrews 8:6).

God formed this "better covenant" with his Son, agreeing on its terms before the world’s creation: "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised [covenanted] before the world began" (Titus 1:2).

The heavenly Father wasn’t willing to lose his beloved creatures to the powers of hell. So he formed a rescue plan for us: "Thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people" (Psalm 89:19). The Father said to his Son, "Humankind is going to grow weak and miserable because of their sin, helpless to find their way back to me. I appoint you as my holy one to help them and bring them back into my favor."

Next we hear the Son’s own covenant words: "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart" (Psalm 40:8). Everything Jesus did on earth was in fulfillment of his terms of the covenant: "I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak" (John 12:49).

The Bible states these terms clearly. Jesus was to divest himself of all heavenly glory, taking on a human body: "(He) made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:7). He was to endure reproaches and suffering, "a man of sorrows" acquainted with grief. He was to grow up undesirable to the world: "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him" (Isaiah 53:2). After all this, he was to submit himself into the hands of wicked men, and in great agony lay down his life as an offering for humankind’s sin. In making atonement he would have to endure God’s wrath for a season.

God then laid out the type of ministry his Son would undertake to redeem humankind. He told Jesus, "Your ministry is going to be that of a priest. I’ve known all my children from the foundation of the world, and now I give them as a flock for you to shepherd." Jesus testified on earth, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).

Finally, the Father instructed his Son, "If you choose to go, these works will be required of you: You must preach good tidings to the meek, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, open prison doors to those in bondage, bear with the weaknesses of the frail, bear tenderly with the ignorant, supply their shortcomings with your strength, feed the flock, carry them in your bosom, gently lead the young, lend your strength to the weak, guide them all with your counsel, promise to send them the Holy Spirit to carry on the work of their freedom, and bring them home to glory with you."

In return, the Father gave his Son everlasting promises. He would give him the Holy Spirit without measure: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me" (Isaiah 61:1). He would always be present with him, watching over him to preserve him: "I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles" (Isaiah 42:6). In addition, the Father would counteract every discouragement from the enemy: "He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law" (Isaiah 42:4). And he would display his glory in his Son: "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow" (Philippians 2:9-10). Once Jesus’ work was finished, the Father would bring him back to glory: "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" (Luke 24:26).

These are all the terms of the covenant, laid out in black and white for the world to know. They are not hidden from us because we are to be encouraged by them all!
Jesus met every term of the covenant.

As we reread the gospels now, we see that everything Jesus did on earth was to fulfill the terms of agreement he’d made with the Father. He went after lost sheep, opened the eyes of the blind, raised the dead, opened the prison doors of death, spoke words of eternal life, performed miraculous works, cast out devils and healed all manner of infirmities. In every verse of the gospels, Jesus was fulfilling the things the Father had sent him to do.

Through it all, Jesus appropriated his Father’s covenant promises to him: "My God shall be my strength" (Isaiah 49:5). "I will put my trust in him" (Hebrews 2:13). The Father’s faithful words kept Jesus through his agonizing death: "I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting" (Isaiah 50:5-6).

When Jesus uttered his final prayer, we see once more the open-covenant dealings between Father and Son: "Now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was" (John 17:5). And before he returned to glory, Jesus reminded the Father of his part in the covenant: "Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee... I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do" (verses 1, 4).

What does all of this have to do with you and me? It’s a picture of God’s love for his beloved creation! He formed this covenant because he was unwilling to lose a single child to destruction. Jesus is saying here, "Father, I’ve fulfilled my part of the covenant. I have brought about the redemption of humankind, and I’ve made your body one. Now let’s talk about what’s going to happen to my seed, all who believe in me."

In short, God gives his Son, the Son gives his life, and we get all the benefits. "His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven... My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips" (Psalm 89:29,34). At this point, Jesus tells the Father, "We agreed I could bring into our covenant everyone who trusts in me. I ask you to bring these beloved ones under the same covenant promises you made to me." "Now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are" (John 17:11).

Was the Father true to his terms of the covenant? Did he lead and guide Jesus as promised? Did his Spirit hover over his Son giving him encouragement and consolation? Did he bring him through all of his trials and usher him home to glory victorious? Yes, absolutely! And the Father has pledged an eternal oath to do the same for us.

Jesus said, "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil" (verse 15). "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world" (verse 16). Christ was saying, in essence, "Father, sanctify them through your truth. Make them holy and pure and keep them from the wicked one. Be with them through all their temptations. Let the promises you gave me be theirs as well."

By keeping the word of his covenant in love, the Father’s glory was displayed to the world: "The glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me" (John 17:22-23).

The next time you struggle with a besetting sin, you may hear an accusing voice: "You’ve gone too far and sinned too often. God has turned you over to a reprobate mind. You’re unclean, unholy, no good, a disgrace to the gospel. You’ve driven the Holy Spirit from your life completely." When this happens, remind God, the devil and yourself: "I am one in covenant with the Father and Son. Jesus co-signed the covenant with his own blood, and the Father promised to keep me through all my trials. He’ll hold my hand no matter what comes and will never remove his love from me. He’ll lead me to victory!"

By revealing his covenant to us, God wants to remove any doubts we have about his ability to keep us. It’s as if he’s saying, "I’m going to treat you as if you have no faith at all. I’ll make such a strong oath to you, you’ll have no choice but to believe in me." We are to stay in Christ””abide in him, trust him, depend on him. If we do, we will surely see his glory!

A covenant is an agreement or pledge between two or more parties, like a contract. It contains terms or duties each party must perform to fulfill the agreement. Such covenants are legally binding, and once they’re finalized each party can be penalized for not fulfilling its respective terms.

You are right that the New Testament does contain terms/duties of both sides.

On God's side, it is impossible for Him to lie and we do have full assurance of what He has promised, IF we keep our end of the terms.

We fulfill our end of the terms/agreement when we "endure unto the end and not draw back in unbelief".

Mar 13:13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Heb 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

In creating the New Covenant, God puts his amazing love for humankind on full display. Yet the church has been blind to this incredible doctrine for decades. As a young Christian I was taught that "covenant theology," focusing on the New Covenant, was a licentious doctrine. The prevailing thought was that the New Covenant is so marvelously freeing that people might misuse it, indulging in permissive lifestyles.

The one who understands the scriptures understand that they cannot take advantage of God and His grace as exemplified in Christ Jesus. There is no provision in the New Testament written in Christ's blood for taking advantage of the Lord's grace.

Yet the more I understand the New Covenant, the more I’m convinced we need its assurance in these perilous last days. Its pledge has the power to release in God’s church all the overcoming strength we need to be more than conquerors in any situation.

It is not God's assurance or commitment that is in question. We always have His assurance. He is not the one that will commit spiritual adultery and go after other suitors (gods).

"We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." (2 Cor 6:1)

Many people do not realize that salvation is conditional. Everyone says it is unconditional, but what is unconditional is God's love for the sinner in that the sinner does not have to fix himself, or clean himself up before coming to God. Jesus says, that "whoever comes to Him he will in no wise cast out". Once you become a son, there are responsibilities.

"And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62)

"For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning." (2 Pet 2:20)

http://sermons.worldchallenge.org/content/taking-hold-new-covenant

"My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips" (Psalm 89:34).

What is God talking about, exactly, when He speaks of covenant? Covenant is "an agreement or pledge between two or more parties." Today we would use the word contract to describe a covenant. And like any contract, a covenant contains terms or duties that each party has to perform in order to fulfill the agreement. Such covenants are legally binding and once they have been finalized, the parties can be penalized for not fulfilling their respective terms.

The term covenant plays an integral part in the Christian faith. The Holy Scriptures themselves are divided into an Old Covenant (or Testament) and a New Covenant. I believe it is vitally important for the Church of Jesus Christ to comprehend the New Covenant as we face the coming perilous times. The Bible tells us that in the last days Satan is going to pour out his wrath on the earth because he knows his time is short. As that happens, God's people are going to need the full assurance of this covenant. This ironclad pledge has the power to release in all of us the overcoming strength we need to be more than conquerors in any situation.

When I was a young Christian, I was led to believe that covenant theology was a licentious doctrine taught by a few dying religious groups. The thinking then seemed to be that the New Covenant is so marvelously freeing, people could take advantage of it and misuse it. It was seen as a teaching that could lead to a permissive, compromising lifestyle.

Others have wrongly taught that the New Covenant is God's pledge to baptize His people with financial bonanzas - expensive cars, grand houses, material wealth, immunity to sorrow and sickness. These teachers have completely perverted God's glorious covenant and reduced it to that which ministers only to man's greed.

In spite of all this, the more I understand about the New Covenant, the more I am convinced that it is meant for us today. More importantly, I believe it is the one truth that can release in us God's supernatural power to overcome in these last days.

Unclaimed Promises

The book of Hebrews, which refers to the New Covenant at length, provides this description:

"Behold, the days are coming, says 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 did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the LORD.

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Hebrews 8:8-13

"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."

Hebrews 10:16-17

This summary details the eternal promises of God's incredible New Covenant. So, why is this wonderful truth unsought or ignored by Christians today?

I believe the passage itself provides a key to this oversight. It describes "a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah" (Hebrews 8:8). Many Christian groups have mistaken this verse to mean that the New Covenant applies only to natural Jews, rather than to the spiritual Jews who make up Christ's Body. Modern dispensationalists, for example, interpret this verse as a promise meant only for literal Israel. So they assign its meaning to a coming millennial age.

It is no wonder the New Covenant has remained unclaimed for so long. Yet the truth is, all these promises of the New Covenant are yours and mine, right now. They are for all believing Jews and Gentiles. How do I know this? It is clear from the context of the above passage that the house of Israel refers to spiritual Israel, meaning all who are in Jesus Christ.

"Natural" Israel and "Spiritual" Israel

The word Israel itself, as first used in Genesis 32:28, is filled with spiritual meaning: "And He said, 'Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.'" Israel was Jacob's regenerate name. It was given to him by God after his carnal spirit was broken and his nature was changed.

In many Bible passages, of course, the word Israel refers to Jacob's natural descendants. In others it points to God's spiritual seed. One example of the latter is Psalm 73:1: "Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart." Here the psalmist is speaking prophetically, distinguishing Israel as people whose hearts have been cleansed - which is possible only through the blood of Christ. The Old Covenant sacrificial system could not cleanse the conscience:

It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience - concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances.

Hebrews 9:9-10

The apostle Paul also speaks of Israel as God's spiritual seed. Throughout the New Testament, he distinguishes between two kinds of Israel, one natural and one spiritual. Paul emphasizes that it is not the natural Jew but the person who puts his faith in Jesus Christ who becomes Abraham's spiritual seed:

"They are not all Israel who are of Israel" (Romans 9:6).

"Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham" (Galatians 3:7).

"Those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed" (Romans 9:8).

"He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God" (Romans 2:28-29).

"This Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children - but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all" (Galatians 4:25-26).

It is clear from these passages that there is a spiritual Israel as well as a natural Israel. Moreover, Scripture reveals that God, through Christ, made His New Covenant with spiritual Israel. The writer of Hebrews says, "Now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises" (Hebrews 8:6).

Am I saying the Lord is finished with natural Israel? God forbid. Many Christians today do not wish to see God's hand moving on natural Israel to fulfill her prophetic role. Yet it was the Jewish people who received the promises and covenants of the Old Testament. In the past sixty generations, we have seen storms arise against this people. Time after time, conquerors have sought to annihilate them. Mobs have set in for the kill. Dictators incarnated by Satan have attempted to wipe out the very history of the Jews. But all these enemies have risen up against them to no avail.

I believe that the national revival of the state of Israel, and the many supernatural deliverances of that nation, point to an infinitely deep mystery revealing the very hand of God. God still loves the Jews. One day the veil will be removed from Israel, and a remnant, a part of her people, will acknowledge Christ as Lord.

I stand with Paul, who wrote, "They are beloved for the sake of the fathers" (Romans 11:28). "Has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite.... Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace" (Romans 11:1, 5). The Church has not replaced Israel. It includes both Gentiles and believing Jews.

This New Covenant, however, was not meant for natural Israel - not then, not now, nor in some millennial period. It is meant for spiritual Israel, meaning every Jew and Gentile who is born again in Jesus. It is for repentant believers in Christ alone.

The Terms of the New Covenant

With whom did God make this covenant? And what are its terms?

God cut it with His Son, Jesus - and they agreed to its terms before the very foundation of the world. Paul spoke of "eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised [covenanted] before time [the world, KJV] began" (Titus 1:2). Paul also said that God "saved us and called us... according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began" (2Timothy 1:9).

This covenant was a formal agreement between Father and Son. And today we, the seed of spiritual Israel, are brought into this covenant by faith. In other words, since we are one with Christ through faith, the covenant was cut with us also.

Amazingly, this heavenly contract work was not done in secret. The Bible openly records the terms. As we examine these covenant arrangements, it becomes clear that God wants us to be encouraged by such a detailed revelation.

The Father's Purpose in the Covenant

Psalm 89:19 gives us a snapshot of the discourse between Father and Son: "You spoke in a vision to Your holy one, and said: 'I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people.'"

The Father was saying to His Son, "This is a mysterious word I am about to give You. Humankind is going to grow weak and miserable because of their sin. They will become overwhelmed, helpless to find their way back to Me. So I am appointing You as My Holy One to help them. I am sending You to them as one mightier than they, to bring them back into My favor."

Here, in simple terms, is God's primary purpose in formulating the New Covenant. It was to recover a lost humanity from the devil's power. The heavenly Father was not willing to lose His beloved creation to the powers of hell, so He formed a redemption plan - one that came completely from His heart of love, before the world was created.

Jesus Accepts the Terms

Next, we hear the Son's covenant agreements: "Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart" (Psalm 40:7-8).

Jesus answered the Father this way: "You have shown Me that Your help to humanity is going to be laid upon My shoulders. You are sending Me to rescue the imprisoned, heal the hurting, break satanic strongholds and reconcile creation back to You. Father, I accept this charge to take on the redemption of the lost, and I accept the might and power You will give Me to accomplish the task."

God then laid out before His Son the type of ministry He would have to undertake in order to redeem humankind. He told Jesus, "Your ministry is going to be that of a priest and shepherd to My children. They will be Your flock, and You will be a shepherd to them. You will lead them beside still waters and into green pastures. You will walk with them through every shadow of death. And if any one of them ever goes astray, You will take him in Your arms and bring him back to My love. You will restore his soul and bring him great comfort."

We know from the Bible that Jesus kept all of these terms of the covenant. And He continues to give special attention to every single sheep in His care: "He calls his own sheep by name" (John 10:3). Further, He says, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me" (John 6:37-38).

Finally, the Father gave His Son these instructions: "As You go to earth for Me - since You have agreed to seek out My lost ones - these works will be required of You:

"You must preach good tidings to the meek... bind up the brokenhearted... proclaim liberty to the captives... open prison doors to all who are bound...bear with the weaknesses of the frail...break not a bruised reed...quench not a smoking flame...bear tenderly with the ignorant...feed the flock... supply their shortcomings with Your strength...gather all the lambs into Your arms and carry them in Your bosom... gently lead the young... lend Your strength to the weak... guide them with Your counsel... promise to send them the Holy Spirit to carry on the work of freedom... cherish them, perfect them and bring them home to glory with You."

Later, when Jesus lived on earth, He testified, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work" (John 4:34). Everything Christ did on earth was in fulfillment of the covenant terms He had made with His Father. His every word and deed reflected what they had agreed upon before the world came into being. And their agreement included this incredible term: "This command I have received from my Father... [to] lay down My life" (John 10:18, 17).

What the Father Gave in Return

God gave His Son these everlasting covenant promises:

"You will have the Holy Spirit upon You without measure." Jesus testified, "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me" (Isaiah 61:1). Christ did not have just a small portion of the Spirit, coming to Him in little drops. He had the Father's Spirit in fullness, without measure: "For God does not give the Spirit by measure" (John 3:34).

"You will never be out of My sight. My presence will always be with You." According to the author of Hebrews, God gave this promise to Jesus: "I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son" (Hebrews 1:5). This meant Christ would constantly be under His Father's watchful eye. He would always have the Father's help available to Him.

"I will lift You up in all times of opposition and discouragement." Isaiah wrote: "He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands shall wait for His law" (Isaiah 42:4). God is saying, "Every time the enemy brings discouragement upon You, I will be there to counteract it. I'm going to encourage You by My Spirit every time You need it."

"I will highly exalt You and give You a name above all other names." Paul wrote, "God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow" (Philippians 2:9-10).

"After Your work is finished, I will bring You back to glory." Jesus said, "Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" (Luke 24:26). He knew the Father had promised, "Son, after You have fulfilled all the terms of the covenant, I will bring You back to glory - in victory, power and anointing."

The Father made this covenant pledge to His Son: "I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles" (Isaiah 42:6). God was saying, "My hand will always be holding on to Yours. You will never be away from My keeping power. I pledge to keep You safe from all the schemes of the devil."

And Christ appropriated this promise of help from His Father: "My God shall be My strength" (Isaiah 49:5), and "I will put My trust in Him" (Hebrews 2:13). He was saying in these verses, "My Father made a covenant with Me, and it's settled. It is good for eternity, because He cannot lie. He said He would be My strength - and now I appropriate all of that promised power."

Here are all the terms of the covenant, laid out in black and white for every believer to see. The Father and Son have hidden none of them from us. They want us to be encouraged by them all. The Father is showing us His faithfulness to His Son, to prove to us He will be just as faithful to us, Christ's seed.

Jesus Completes His Mission

As we reread the gospels now, we see that everything Jesus did while on earth was in fulfillment of the terms of the New Covenant agreement He had made with the Father. We see Him going after lost sheep, opening the eyes of the blind, raising the dead, flinging back the prison doors of death, speaking words of eternal life, doing good works, casting out devils and healing all manner of infirmities. In every verse of the gospels, Jesus fulfills the covenant. And He did none of these things on His own. Each one was what the Father had sent Him to do. Jesus was "keeping covenant" with the Father.

At the end of His life on earth, when Jesus prayed for His disciples at the Passover supper, we see once more the open-covenant dealings between Father and Son: "Now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was" (John 17:5). "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You.... I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do" (John 17:1,4).

With the cross before Him Jesus was about to fulfill all the covenant terms required of Him. And now, before He returned to glory, He brought before the Father the final terms of the covenant: "Father, You pledged in Our covenant to bring Me back to glory when I accomplished all You sent Me to do. Now I have fulfilled My part of the covenant - I have brought about the redemption of humankind, and I have made Your Body one. Let's talk now about what's going to happen to My seed - all those who believe in Me."

Jesus was speaking as co-signer of the covenant. He said, "Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are" (John 17:11). He was saying to the Father, "We agreed that I could bring into our covenant everyone who trusts in Me. Now, Father, I ask You to bring these beloved ones under the same covenant promises You made to Me."

Jesus then said, "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world" (John 17:15-16). Christ was saying, in essence, "You promised Me that You would be faithful to My seed. Now, Lord, sanctify them through Your truth. Make them holy and pure and keep them from the wicked one. Be with them in all their temptations. Let all the promises You gave Me be 'yea and amen' to them as well. Cause them to endure as You caused Me to endure."

The psalmist described this portion of the contract agreement like this:

"He shall cry to Me, 'You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.' Also I will make him My firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, and My covenant shall stand firm with him. His seed also I will make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

"If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments, if they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me."

Psalm 89:26-36

The Son's sacrifice on the cross brought us into covenant agreement. Thus, this pledge of safety by the Father is made available to us as part of the covenant. The Father promised Jesus: "If You will go, I will keep and preserve every one of Your seed, just as I have kept and preserved You. I will never remove My faithfulness from You, nor from Your children. Your seed will endure to the end."

The covenant, cut before the world was formed, has in it the sworn oath of almighty God to save and deliver His people from the power and dominion of Satan. Faith in Christ brings us into God's covenant oath to keep us as faithfully as He kept His own Son.

We Are Kept Safe

So what does this covenant between Father and Son have to do with you and me? It is a picture of God's love for His beloved creation. He cut this covenant because He was unwilling to lose a single child to Satan. It is all about His undying love for His people.

The Father gave His Son, the Son gave His life, and we receive all the benefits. By mutual consent, the Father and Son made this covenant to keep and preserve the seed of Christ. It ensures that we will endure to the end.

The Evidence Speaks

The promise to save and deliver us, then, and our confidence that God will keep it, has a precedent in the relationship between Father and Son.

I could be free! I didn't have to resign myself to fighting the same battles day after day.

I was raised in a godly home and had a true and even passionate love for Jesus at a young age. As I got older I struggled through the rebellious attitude common among adolescents but never got mixed up in any kind of "bad sin." Despite not being in deep bondage, I still knew how it felt to be stuck. With all my heart I wanted to live for God and do what was right in His eyes, but almost daily I was frustrated by not being able to stop sinning.

As a result of my personal struggles, I eventually came to believe that fighting sin was what Christians do. We fight sin, hope we win, fail, repent, repeat. It was a sort of Darwinian Christianity where only the strong survive. Everything was about "resisting the devil" and "striving against sin." But none of it helped me overcome the exhaustion of continually fighting a battle I could never seem to win.

I first heard New Covenant teaching at Summit International School of Ministry (then Mount Zion). During those precious days as a student I heard a truth that filled me with hope and joy: I could be free! I did not have to resign myself to fighting the same battles day after day. The Christian can come to a place where his besetting sins are overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit, never to trouble him again. I was finally beginning to see that "He took captive those who had captured [me]" (Ephesians 4:8, GW), and that "having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" (Colossians 2:15, NIV).

I had it all backward! I had thought victory over sin was only for the strong, but I came to understand that my being a victorious Christian has nothing to do with the greatness of my efforts. It all rests on the greatness of the One who lives in me.

Nik

Did the Father lead and guide Jesus, as He pledged He would? Did His Spirit empower the Son, giving Him encouragement and consolation? Did He bring Him through all of His temptations and trials? Did He keep Him from powers of darkness? Did He usher Him home to glory victorious? Was God true to His part of the covenant terms?

Yes, absolutely! And the Father who kept His covenant promises to His Son has pledged an eternal oath to do the same for us. Jesus affirmed this part of the covenant when He said,

"The glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."

John 17:22-23

Christ secured us in the covenant made between the Father and Himself. In this prayer He was saying, "Father, look at Me and My seed as one person - I in them and they in Me. We are one person in covenant with You." Scripture promises that He "is able to keep [us] from stumbling, and to present [us] faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24).

God is not looking for people who have everything theologically straight. He wants those whose hearts are full of confidence in Him. By revealing to us His covenant with His Son, He wants to remove any doubts we may have about His ability to keep us. It is as if He is saying, "I'm going to make such a strong oath to you, you will have no other choice but to believe in Me."

We are to stay in Christ - abide in Him and trust Him. If we do this, we will surely see His glory. The words of promise are everlasting: "I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: 'Your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations'" (Psalm 89:3-4).

What is God talking about when He speaks of covenant? (Page13)

What are common words still in use today that describe the meaning of covenant as it is used in Scripture? (Page13)

What two key Scriptures in the book of Hebrews describe the eternal promises of the New Covenant? (Page15)

Who is the "spiritual Israel" referred to in the apostle Paul's teaching? (Page16)

For which Israel did God prepare the New Covenant? (Page17)

In every covenant the agreement is between two primary parties. Who are the primary parties of the New Covenant? (Page19)

What was God's principal purpose in making the New Covenant? (Page19)

Read Isaiah 42:6. God made a covenant pledge to His Son. How is this pledge now made available to us? (Page 25)