2010-12-10
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week we examined some Scriptures and passages that showed us how covenant takes the veil off truth. We saw truth defined in HE 4: 12, how God cares for His people and never abandons them in PS 9: 9-10, God’s protection of our very lives in PS 16: 9-10, and another repetition of His refusal to abandon us in PS 94: 14. Once we know and believe in these truths about God’s will concerning us, we can now go on to how the word of God reveals our rich heritage as God’s people, people of a Covenant God.
God knows that He has to have a way to communicate with us, a way which is only really understood through the Holy Spirit. This statement can be said because of what we know from 1 COR 2: 14-16, “Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot recieve the gifts that come from God’s Spirit. Such a person really does not understand Him, because their value can be judged only on a spiritual basis. Whoever has the Spirit, however, is able to judge the value of everything, but no one is able to judge Him. As the Scripture [IS 40: 13] says, ‘Who knows the mind of the Lord? Who is able to give Him advice?’ We, however, have the mind of Christ.” Further emphasis on the importance of the Holy Spirit in this communication is given in JN 14: 16-17, “I [Christ] will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, Who will stay with you forever. He is the Spirit, Who reveals the truth about God. The world cannot receive Him. But you know Him, because he remains with you and is in you.” The importance to us of the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit Himself can’t be overestimated. The gift of Him reveals God’s love for us, the extent that He will give to us, so that we can truly be His children. The Spirit Himself is crucial to our being able to live according to Christ’s teaching and thus, gain eternal life when God feels the time is right. Without the healing powers, the direction, the encouragement, and the teaching of the Holy Spirit, we are sunk!
The word of God reveals our rich heritage as the people of a Covenant God, in the way that it functions for us. This can be seen in 2 TIM 3: 16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.” In my own experience, the Holy Spirit has led me to exactly the right Scripture or passage needed for a situation. Take for example the time when I first found out that my husband had been “downsized” along with others for monetary reasons from his job of 19 years. The rug had been yanked from under us, and neither of us had any experience in how to deal with it. The Holy Spirit led me to PS 127: 1, “If the Lord does not build the house the work of the builders is useless; if the Lord does not protect the city, it does no good for the sentries to stand guard.” We both knew that our very lives were forged together upon His workmanship, as we later discussed. That same day, a dear friend wrote, “You are exactly where the Lord means for you to be.” His message went on to say, “Trust in the Lord, as He will take care of you.” Our friend wrote this to me without even knowing what had just happened. It took 1 ½ years for us to sell the home we had been inhabiting for the last ten years, draining our resources outrageously. And yet, 1 PET 5: 7 came true. “Leave all your worries with Him, because He cares for you.” I should have never questioned it, because after all, He sacrificed His only Son on the cross, so that those who believe in Him can have salvation, justification, and yes, the gift of the Holy Spirit! As for the word of God, it does all that is promised in 2 TIM 3: 16-17. That very same week that our former home sold, the one we are now in became available. While not ideal, it is a safe roof over our heads, and our ability to get it was God’s way of letting us know, we would not be allowed to have our lives end in failure. PS 25: 14, “The Lord is the Friend of those who obey Him, and He affirms His covenant with them.” There are so many ways He does this through the Holy Spirit and His word. We have the kind of relationship with Him where He will tolerate us sometimes getting angry, questioning Him, slipping and backsliding temporarily, and begging Him for a response before He deems He is ready to give one. We can do all these things, as long as we don’t turn our backs on our faith in the Son and have willingness to eventually calm down and listen to Him. Our friend, David, led a life that was full of these things [2 SAM 11: 2-3,29; 12: 9-11; 24: 1]. Our friend Paul was at times a complainer [2 COR 11: 22-32]. And yet, neither man ever lost his faith in God or refused to listen to Him. Neither man committed the one unpardonable affront to the Holy Spirit, wallowing in unbelief [HE 4: 4-6]. Both men and all other believers have security in their covenant relationship with the Lord. This is not a license to abuse the privilege, only and an acknowledgement that every believer has this security. God knows that we are far from perfect, and that is why we can feel secure that His love for us extends to working with us in our sanctification, i.e. preparation for the time when He feels we are ready to be called to His side in heaven for an eternal life of bliss and fellowship with Him. We are called to cooperate with Him in His efforts to perfect us and to teach us to expunge even the most subtle of sins we are committing. It is His fondest hope that we will answer that call and eventually be with Him for eternity [JN 6: 39-40; EPH 1: 4-5].
PRAYER: O Lord, we are in Your throne room with our heads bowed in reverence to You. We acknowledge our need to thank and praise You, give You honor, glory, and highest respect. This is because You work in our mutual covenant relationship to teach us, through the Holy Spirit, Your will and Your desire to perfect us. We can look forward to the day, when You have brought us to the place where we are no longer sinning, separating ourselves from You. We could not approach Your throne as we do, had it not been for You giving us Your Spirit at the time of our adoption as Your children [RO 8: 14-16], justifying us [GN 15: 6; RO 4: 3, GA 3: 6], forgiving our sins and forgetting them [HE 8: 12], and supplying the perfect substitute Sacrifice for our sins in Christ’s Atonement [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25; HE 10: 10]. EPH 3: 12, “In union with Christ and through our faith in Him, we have the boldness to go into God’s presence with all confidence.” This confidence is another element in our security in the covenant relationship we have with You. You make it clear that our prayers matter to You, and that You want us to spend some time every day studying Your word. You are an approachable, loving, wise, and compassionate God. There are times when You take us to places that are uncomfortable for us or that don’t mesh well with our own timing. However, You never do this without righteous purposes, normally designed to forward our maturity. You never abandon us or break Your promises. You teach us patience, self-discipline, how to live piously, and how to rely on You. You teach us gentleness, faithfulness, to have joy in our life with You, and to be kind. Through Christ’s example, You teach us to be humble and good [GA 5: 22-23]. Once again, we dedicate our lives to serving You and to worshipping You, in the holy, mighty name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We will move on to the next segment of these “Our Covenant” messages called “Trust in Him.” Learning to trust in God is not easy. It’s part of that taking us to those uncomfortable places that I mentioned above. We must remember God’s solemn promise giving long ago in EX 2: 23-25 to the Jews groaning under the weight of their slavery in Egypt. “Their cry went up to God, Who heard their groaning and remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He saw the slavery of the Israelites and was concerned for them.” He holds nothing back from all of us who believe in the Lord Jesus. I’m reminded of GN 22: 16 and it’s relationship to RO 8: 31-32, “I made a vow by My own name-the Lord is speaking-that I will richly bless you. Because you [Abraham] did this [offered Isaac at the altar] and did not keep back your only son from Me, I promise that I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky or gains of sand along the seashore. Your descendants will conquer their enemies…In view of all this, what can we say? If God is for us, who can be against us? Certainly not God, Who did not even keep back His own Son, but offered Him for us all! He gave us His Son-will He not also freely give us all things?” These poignant and vital questions affect all who believe, not just Jewish people. That is because Gentile believers have been grafted on to the olive tree in the important metaphor of RO 11: 14-24. Once again, we can see crucial reasons why we who believe can feel the security of our covenant relationship with God. Praise, honor, glory, and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”