Restoration Ministries International
Restoring the Hebraic Foundations of the Earliest
Church
Preparing the Family of Jesus to Be Light in Darkness
The Gospel of the Covenant
Introduction
As you go through this study guide on the
Gospel of the Covenant, you’ll come to understand that
salvation is a pilgrimage, much like a marriage. Those who are
welcomed at the Judgment Throne by the Lord will be His “called,
chosen and faithful followers” (Revelation 17:14).
Jesus warned, “For
many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:
14). We are addressing in this article the chosen. The chosen,
through the encouragement and support of others in the family
of Jesus, still need to be found faithful when they reach the Judgment Throne. May each
of us be found welcomed by our Lord.
When you hear the word
“gospel”, what does it mean to you? In other words,
if you consider yourself a Christian, can you articulate the gospel you embraced?
• Describe the biblical basis that
substantiates why you believe you are saved.
Let’s discern now if the gospel you
wrote down matches the true Gospel our Father established in
Jesus. The reason we’re putting you on the spot right
away is that there are so many false gospels. One of the
difficulties surrounding “faith” is a resistance to
consider that you might be wrong or may have believed a lie.
Nobody really wants to find out that any of their faith
practices are in error.
In recent years studies have been
conducted that indicate the bitter fruit of the false gospels
so pervasive in the world today.
• Ray Comfort, an international
evangelist, reports that he has found less than 10% of those
who go forward at evangelistic crusades continue to follow
Jesus afterward.
• A recognized evangelistic
association in the US found that less than 4% of the people who
go forward at their crusades continue to follow Jesus
afterward.
• A well-known and widely respected
campus ministry found less than 5% of the students who had been
active in their ministry are following Jesus 5 years later.
• The divorce rate in the
“Bible Belt” is 50% higher than among
non-Christians in the US. This sad statistic may seem unrelated
to the Gospel, but, as we shall show later, the true Gospel and
God’s purpose for marriage are intricately connected. We
contend that the gospel of much of the Bible Belt is in error,
and contributes to the epidemic divorce rate among people who
call themselves “Christian”.
Because of their concern that they may
have embraced one of the false gospels so popular today, a
number of people have asked us to write about the Gospel that
the earliest Church embraced. In order to accomplish this, we
have developed this study guide.
Before we begin looking at the Covenant
foundations of the true Gospel, ponder two key points:
1. Embracing the true Gospel that is
offered by our Father starts you on a pilgrimage that will
transform you into increasing Christ-likeness, and ultimately
finds you welcomed at the Judgment Throne.
2. Embracing a false gospel sets you on a
counterfeit path that completely misses the salvation our
Father offers, resulting in your demise in hell.
We encourage you to take your time as you
go through this study. The Gospel which the earliest Church
embraced requires far more than your mental agreement with the
“gospel idea”. As you will see, to embrace the
Gospel our Father offers demands everything you are and have.
Never Assume That Either You or Someone Else Is A Christian!
When people who call themselves
“Christian” first encounter each other, they often
assume that the other person is a “Christian”
because he/she claims to be. Of all the areas in which you need
discernment, this is THE area in which you should assume
nothing! Every person is either the Father’s child or
Satan’s. There is no middle ground in the Bible. As the
apostle John clarifies, apart from true followers of Jesus, “the whole world lies in the power of the
Evil One” (1 John 5:19).
The Bible warned that “wolves in sheep’s clothing” would attempt to infiltrate and destroy our
families and faith communities. Satan, the deceiver, enjoys
creating false gospels and penetrating faith communities with
individuals he has under his controlling influence. Therefore
we must choose to appropriate the weaponry with which Jesus has
armed His own: “We know that
the Son of God has come and has given
us discernment, so that we may know
who is genuine” (1 John 5:
20a).
We wrote in one of our newsletters about
satanists in Connecticut who had infiltrated certain
congregations. In one of the largest Baptist churches in the
state, a woman satanist became superintendent of the Sunday
school. She’d been sent to “water down” the
curriculum. If it hadn’t been for the spirit of
discernment in the pastor’s wife, this woman would have
gotten away with her insidious assignment.
How many other faith communities are now
being infiltrated because Christians assume too much? And how
many “Christians” have been duped into embracing a
satanically-inspired false gospel, totally missing the
Father’s Good News and the promises it brings?
• How about you? When someone tells
you that he or she is a Christian, do you accept them as such
just because they say so? Why?
• What discerning questions could you
ask to determine if that’s really the case? Why is it
important to ask?
• Before beginning Part 1, can you
define the biblical definition of “covenant”?
Part 1
The Covenant Basis to the True Gospel
Our Father — A Covenant-giver
The early Jewish followers of Jesus
— and most of the earliest followers were Jewish! —
clearly understood the significance of biblical covenants. Today
these are understood dimly at best. God had established
covenants with His people through Noah, Abraham, Moses, and
David. Jeremiah had prophesied that the Jews could expect yet
another covenant, one in which Torah, the teachings of God’s way of life,
would be written in their hearts.
In terms of covenants, God is the initiator between
Himself and His people. Each covenant comprises distinct
parameters:
• Our Father’s stipulations in
order for man to accept the covenant.
• His promises of blessing for
obedience.
• His judgment for breaking the covenant.
*** Read Deuteronomy, chapter 28, to
deepen your understanding that alongside God’s promise of
blessing stands His judgment for refusing to obey.
 Paul reminded the Gentiles (the non-Jews)
about covenants as part of the heritage they’d received
from the Jewish people: “Theirs
is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the
receiving of the law, the temple worship and the
promises” (Romans 9:4). The
writer to the Hebrews builds the foundation of the Messiahship
of Jesus on the institution of a new covenant: “To Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and
to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of
Abel” (Hebrews 12:24). This phraseology may sound strange
to us in the postmodern West. But what a thundering impact
Jesus’ words must have had on the Jewish ears which first
heard them: “This is my blood of the
covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). Suddenly in that upper room
that evening, it was a new ball game on earth — a new
covenant was transcending the old!
This is the Gospel that was proclaimed to
Abraham, foretelling that Gentiles were part of God’s
plan for redemption:
[Abraham] trusted
in God and was faithful to him, and that
was credited to his account as righteousness. Be assured, then,
that it is those who live by
trusting and being faithful who are
really children of Abraham. Also the Hebrew Scriptures,
foreseeing that God would consider
the Gentiles righteous when they
live by trusting and being faithful, told the Good News
to Abraham in advance by saying,
“In connection with you, all the Gentiles will be
blessed.” So then, those who rely
on trusting and being faithful are
blessed along with Abraham, who trusted and was faithful (Galatians 3:6-9, JNT).
Today, we can’t adequately
appreciate the new Covenant offered to us through Jesus unless
we have a heart-knowledge of the old covenants as the early
Jewish followers did. The sacrifice
of Jesus inaugurated a new covenant, but the Gospel — the full meaning of that covenant Good News — is found in the
Hebrew Bible, the Older Testament.
• When you decided to follow Jesus,
did you have any concept of the covenant relationship into
which you were entering?
• What did the “blood of
Jesus” mean to you at that time? How has your
understanding of the significance of His blood changed since
then?
Our Father — A Covenant-keeper
As we discuss the facets of biblical
covenants, you may wonder why they are so important. Anchor for
yourself that embracing the Gospel of the Covenant is similar
to entering into marriage and staying married. Our Father intended for the
marriage covenant to be the physical representation of the
spiritual Covenant He offers us through Jesus.
God refers to Himself in a
“matrimonial” context with his people. In the Older
Testament our Father describes Himself as the
“Husband” of Israel: “For
your Maker is your husband — the Lord Almighty is his name —
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God
of all the earth” (Isaiah 54:
5).
The followers of Jesus are His bride, and
He awaits her at the wedding banquet: “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself
ready” (Revelation 19:
7). As you read, continue to remind yourself that the covenants
of salvation and marriage are intricately linked.
Like marriage, our relationship with our
Lord is a heart issue. Jesus is our heart
circumciser, so that our minds may
then yield to His purposes. The Gospel calls for loving trust in Jesus
in order to enter a Covenant relationship with our heavenly
Father. Although covenants permeate the Bible, most of us have
an ambiguous understanding, if any, of their significance.
Many see covenants as some form of
contract, but nothing could be further from the truth. When
Jesus stresses, “This is the
blood of the covenant,” He is not
focusing on the cup of wine. Rather, He is directing our
attention to the goal of our
Father, that all who put their
trust in the atoning blood of Jesus may live in intimate
relationship with Him. The emphasis is on the relationship with Him. For instance, when a couple marries, which is more
important: the ceremony, or the loving relationship which the
ceremony makes possible? Of course, the ongoing relationship!
The word “covenant” can mean
“to come into union with”, particularly as it
pertains to a marital relationship. The covenant our Father
offers invites you to live in union
with Him. Union implies a oneness,
and an ongoing pilgrimage with Him on earth until the time when
your name is read aloud before the host of heaven.
Our goal in keeping the Covenant is to
live in a way that brings glory to our Father. In fact, any goal or purpose that doesn’t incorporate glorifying our Father will ultimately prove
idolatrous. Your heart’s desire for anything but His glory will
lead you down the wrong path of self-focus and
self-gratification to ask, “What blesses me in this
relationship?”
Our Father is a Covenant-keeper. That is, He doesn’t
break the covenants He makes with men. But to their own
detriment, men do. As we shall see, even in the Covenant of
precious blood offered to us, we can break this covenant with
dire consequences.
• If you are married, how could a
deeper understanding of your marriage covenant change your
relationship with your spouse?
• If you are married, how does the
word “union” display itself in your marriage?
• If you are single, how does your
understanding of your “marriage relationship” with
Jesus affect your walk with Him?
Covenants Must be Both Ratified and Consummated
Every covenant requires both ratification and consummation to
confirm that the conditions of the covenant have been accepted
by both parties. In the wedding ceremony the couple ratifies the intent
of the marriage. A couple ratifies their marriage as they
pledge from their hearts their vows, such as, “For better, for worse, for richer, for
poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us
part.”
Pure motive is crucial in order for a
biblical covenant to come into existence. Consider
Jonathan’s motive when he established a covenant with
David: “And Jonathan made a
covenant with David because he loved
him as himself” (1 Samuel 18:3). Isn’t this the purity of
devotion required of a prospective husband? “In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself” (Ephesians 5:28).
Our Father scrutinizes our motives before
entering into a Covenant with us — a relationship which
He initiates. As Jesus confirmed, no one can come to Him unless
the Father draws him or her (John 6:44). Hopefully, a
prospective groom and bride have already demonstrated that they
want each other with pure motives to fulfill their covenant
responsibilities to each other. If the groom was marrying the
bride only for her money, the covenant framework could be
nullified. Or if the woman wanted to get married only to escape
a difficult home situation, her motives could be judged as
corrupt.
Although ratified at the ceremony, the
covenant of marriage is not consummated, however, until the couple shares
their first intercourse. The ceremony ratifies the
couple’s intent to enter into the covenant of marriage,
but consummation is the critical part that seals the covenant. The seal
is the physical sign that the covenant has been consummated.
This applies to all of the covenants our Father has offered
mankind. Each covenant evidences a seal of consummation:
Covenant >>>> Sign of Consummation
Noah >>>>>>> rainbow in the sky
Abraham >>>> circumcision
Moses >>>>>> sprinkling of blood
Jesus >>>>>> receiving the Holy Spirit in spiritual union
Marriage >>>> breaking the hymen in physical union
It’s a sign of our sinful times that
the sign of marital consummation, breaking the hymen, occurs so
often before the wedding ratification. Sadly, so many who
become Christians after marriage fail to grasp the seriousness of
either their Covenant with the Father or their marriage
covenant.
These two covenants are inseparably
linked. Embracing the Covenant our Father offers and the
marriage covenant are the two most important relationships
people will ever embrace. Nothing should compete with either. The marriage covenant is intended to be the
physical representation of our spiritual Covenant with our
Father.
Through the myriad of counterfeit gospels
and rampant sexual promiscuity even within the church, current
understanding of these covenants disregards
the holiness our Father
intended. It is Sue’s and my intent to help restore an
understanding of covenant relationships that our Father
prescribes for the generations to come.
• If you are married, did you
consummate your relationship prior to the covenant ceremony? Do
you think this hurt your relationship after you were married?
• Have you asked forgiveness from our
Lord in order that you might undergo change in your hearts
toward each other as covenant partners?
Intense Devotion and Desire Needed To Enter Into a Covenant
Visualize our Father’s view of the
covenant He offers through His Son by studying the covenant
young David made with Jonathan, Saul’s son:
After David had finished talking with
Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself...And
Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David,
along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt (1 Samuel 18:1-4).
What a demonstration of intimate devotion!
The intensity of David’s loyalty to Jonathan pours forth
in David’s lament after Jonathan’s death: “I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother;
you were very dear to me. Your love for
me was wonderful, more wonderful
than that of women” (2 Samuel
1:26). As we discuss how the covenant was enacted and
consummated, notice that the ceremony is not as important as
the deep yearning to enter into a covenant relationship.
Don’t get hung up on form here. The ceremonial form only ratifies the intense desire that
is already present in the heart.
David compares the love relationship in
his covenant with Jonathan as greater than that found with a
woman. A millennium later, Jesus voices from the Hebrew
Scriptures the intense love that is required to embrace our
Father’s covenant: “Love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).
The intensity of commitment our Father
requires in the “Greatest Command-ment” is a
condition for ratifying the Cove-nant. The same intensity of
relationship is enjoined in Matthew 10:37: “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not
worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me.” Here
Jesus affirms the surpassing devotion that’s required in
the Covenant our Father offers to those who follow His Son.
• A noted writer admitted that until
he had cancer, he’d always thought Jesus was #1 in his
life. After confronting his disease, however, he realized that
Jesus had been #4. On a scale of 1 to 10, what is your level of
love for our Lord?
• Whom do you love more than you love
Him? Your parents? Spouse? Children? (Now, be honest. Your
Father knows your heart anyway.)
Devotion to Your Covenant-Partner
At our wedding 34 years ago, the ceremony
only ratified my heart’s desire for Sue to be my wife:
• I wanted her.
• I wanted no other.
• I was in covenant with her in
my heart first, before the ceremony took place.
This is the same process in the Covenant
offered by our Father through Jesus. Do you really want Him? Do you
want with all your heart to live as our Father’s child? Are you willing to forsake all
other goals or values that compete with your devotion to Him?
Reviewing a Covenant Ceremony
Research into ancient customs illustrates
the type of ceremony that David and Jonathan enacted to ratify
and consummate their covenant. They would have cut an animal in
two and placed the halves between them as they faced each
other, half on one side and half on the other. Then both men
would have walked through the middle of the two pieces doing a
figure “8” around each other. The blood of the
animal would drench their feet. The figure “8”
signifies infinity. The covenant was to last forever, and was
ratified by the blood of the sacrifice.
Their exchange of valued possessions would
be the physical sign evidencing to others that a covenant
existed between them. There must be
a sign that a covenant exists. This
is a vital point for later discussion of the Covenant with our
Father that is made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus.
Sometime later, at great personal danger,
Jonathan sought out David as he was hiding from Saul at Horesh
(see 1 Samuel 23:18). There the two renewed their covenant to
confirm that the conditions under which the covenant had been
established were still viable; nothing had changed.
When a man has intercourse with his wife,
they are renewing the covenant. The normal place of covenant renewal is their
bed. Therefore the writer of Hebrews could admonish, “Marriage should be honored by all, and
the marriage bed kept pure
[undefiled], for God will judge the adulterer
and all the sexually immoral” (13:
4).
When you receive the body and blood of
Jesus, you are renewing your
covenant with our Father. Covenant
renewal isn’t to be taken lightly. The Corinthian
believers were taking the body and blood without discernment,
and Paul warned them, “That
is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you
have fallen asleep [died]” (1
Corinthians 11:30). Communion is much more than bread and wine
consumption, or spiritual commemorance. It is the precious covenant renewal with
our Father, remembering that which Jesus has accomplished on
our behalf until He comes back for us.
• How seriously do you take renewing
your covenant with our Father in Jesus when you share in
communion?
• Have you ever experienced
consequences from partaking of communion lightly or with known
sin in your heart?
Breaking a Covenant Means Death
What wonderful promises are showered on
those who embrace the Covenant our Father offers through Jesus!
Thank Him again as you breathe in the joy of a right
relationship with our Lord!
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter
the Most Holy Place by the blood of
Jesus, by a new and living way opened
for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we
have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to
cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies
washed with pure water. Let us hold
unswervingly to the hope we
profess, for he who promised is
faithful (Hebrews 10:19-23)
Continuing on in the same passage is the
warning against those who break the Covenant: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that
will consume the enemies of God” (Hebrews 10:26,27).
Entering into a covenant in ancient times
was so serious that if a man broke a covenant, one of his own
family members were obligated to kill him. Covenant-breakers
didn’t deserve to live. Each of the covenants our Father
establishes offers promises of blessing for those who keep
their part of the covenant. However, covenants also contain
judgment or curses for those who break the covenant.
The Older Testament is a great source for
understanding our Father’s dealings with
covenant-breakers. Paul urged the Corinthian believers (and us
as well) to pay heed to God’s relationship with Israel: “These things happened to them as examples and were
written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has
come” (1 Corinthians 10:
11).
The examples and accounts in the Hebrew
Scriptures encourage us that God keeps His promises. They also
warn us that God does not change, and that dire consequences
await covenant violators! For example, Solomon reiterated that
people have an ongoing obligation when they enter into Covenant with their Lord: “You keep
covenant with your servants and
show them grace, provided they live
in your presence with all their heart” (1 Kings 8:
23).
Tragically, time and again the kingdoms of
both Israel and Judah roused the anger of God by breaking their
part of the covenant, paying the penalty of famine, plague, and
banishment from the Land He’d set apart for them: “This happened because they did not heed the
voice of the Lord their God, but violated
his covenant, everything that Moses
the servant of God had ordered them to do, and would neither hear it nor do it” (2 Kings 18:
12).
The Older Testament ends with Malachi
pronouncing the judgment of God to those who broke marriage
covenants through divorce. We today need to pay particular
attention to the intensity of our Father’s regard for the
marriage covenant.
The LORD is acting as the witness between you
and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her,
though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not
the LORD made them one [to live in union]? In flesh and spirit they are his. And
why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. ‘I hate divorce,’
says the LORD God of Israel, ‘and I hate a man's covering
himself with violence as well as with his garment,’ says
the LORD Almighty. So guard
yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith’” (Malachi 2:14-16).
Notice our Father’s purpose for the
marriage covenant: “Because
he was seeking godly offspring.” Every covenant initiated by our Father entails
purposes for the person who embraces the covenant to fulfill.
In the Covenant offered to us through Jesus, His purpose is
emphasized in Ephesians 2:8-10: “For
it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and
this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by
works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which
God prepared in advance for us to do.”
In the Covenant with our Father through
Jesus, the blessings as well as the warning of curses apply.
The covenant is offered through Jesus. But, we can break this
covenant with terrible consequences, just as our disobedient
spiritual ancestors experienced.
Pay attention to the interconnection
between the covenant-breakers of Moses’ time and those
who insult the Holy Spirit by forsaking the Covenant with Jesus:
Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more
severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted
the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said,
‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ and again, ‘The Lord
will judge his people.’ It is a dreadful
thing to fall into the hands of the
living God (Hebrews 10:28-31).
Settle this in your mind if you are going
to be found called, chosen, and most importantly, faithful: You are capable of
breaking the Covenant with your Father. Our Father’s part
of the Covenant will never be broken, but we, as the Older
Testament has shown, are not always that faithful. Consider
these passages of Scripture offered by Newer Testament writers
as a warning to those who are
believers:
Watch out, brothers, so that there will not be in any one of you an evil heart lacking trust, which could lead you to apostatize from the living God! Instead, keep exhorting
each other every day [keep working out your salvation together], as
long as it is called Today, so that none of you will become hardened by the deceit of sin. For we have become sharers in the Messiah, provided, however, that we hold firmly to the conviction we began with, right through until the goal is reached” (Hebrews 3:
12-14, JNT).
We, as brothers and sisters in Jesus, need
relational encouragement and diligent daily alertness.
Deceitful teachings and temptations could harden our hearts
against the truth of the Living God.
Therefore, let us be terrified of the
possibility that, even though the promise of entering his rest
remains, any one of you might be judged to have fallen short of it; for
Good News has been proclaimed to us, just as it was to them.
But the message they heard didn’t do them any good,
because those who heard it did not
combine it with trust (Hebrews
4:1,2, JNT).
Sobering words, aren’t they?
Especially when considered in contrast with the “easy
believism” of so many counterfeit gospels that excuse sin
under the guise of “grace”. And if those warnings
aren’t enough, then seriously consider this truth:
It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who
have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in
the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of
God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace (Hebrews 6:4-6).
How diligent each of us must be in a walk
of obedient trust that is grounded in love so that we can
withstand the temptations of the world, our own fleshly
desires, and demonic assaults!
If they have escaped the corruption of the
world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for
them not to have known the way of
righteousness, than to have known
it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them (2 Peter 2:20,21).
Speaking to fellow Christians, Paul warns, “If you live according to your old nature, you will certainly die [spiritually, since everyone dies physically];
but if, by the Spirit, you keep putting
to death the practices of the body,
you will live” (Romans 8:
13).
It’s not the actions that we do that
count with our Lord, but our hearts being filled with His Spirit so
that our lives bring Him glory:
“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we
not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons
and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them
plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:22,23). Here Jesus is turning away
people who had walked in the prophetic, cast out demons, and
even performed miracles — yet they failed to do what His Father in heaven wanted (Matthew 3:2). They were known by Him as evildoers.
Another word for “evildoer” is “worker of lawlessness” — someone who has no regard
for keeping His commands. Richard Wurmbrand, a Jewish Christian
who suffered for his faith for fourteen years in a Rumanian
prison, wrote several years ago, “We live in the last
days. Morality, laws, and the standards break down. The heresy
of antinomianism [belief that God’s laws are invalid for
today], of lawlessness united with
religiosity, is very dangerous
today. Let us beware of it.”
Yes, let’s beware so that we can be
found faithful when our time comes! (See 2 Timothy 3:1-5.)
• Do you believe a person can break
the Covenant? Explain.
• After reviewing the passages that
deal with covenant breaking, what changes do you think God is
calling you to make so you can walk diligently in obedient
trust with Him?
Our Father’s Covenant Ceremony
Perhaps now you can grasp the seriousness
that surrounds embracing the Gospel our Father offers as a new
Covenant. When you are baptized, you are making a vow to our
Father through your immersion: “[T]he
water of immersion, which is not the removal of dirt from the
body, but one’s pledge to
keep a good conscience toward God,
through the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah” (1 Peter 3:21, JNT). Baptism is an active
response that confirms your heart’s desire.
Followers of Jesus serve a covenant-giving
Father. And, He lovingly accepts covenant-keeping children. So
when Jesus says, “This is my
blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mark 14:24), He is confirming far more than
the self-serving motives of today’s so-called
“gospels.” This Cove-nant calls for entering into
THE most important intimate relationship because it involves
eternal consequences. The goal is to live in covenant relationship with
our Father, that is, to lovingly obey our part of the Covenant
since He is so faithful to fulfill His part.
Picture yourself spiritually ratifying and
consummating the conditions of our Father’s Covenant. Father
God stands opposite you. You agree in your heart to the
stipulations of the Covenant. When He sees the desire of your
heart to want this relationship above all things, He walks
through the blood of the sacrifice with you. And Who is the
sacrifice? Jesus. You and our Father both do a figure
“8” in the blood of Jesus. This ratifies the Covenant
through the blood of the Lamb. What consummates the Covenant?
Our Father seals you with the Holy Spirit, guaranteeing that if you do not break the Covenant, you will have redemption on the Last Day.
This Covenant is no small matter! You no
longer belong to Satan. You have been adopted into our
Father’s family: “Because
you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the
Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir” (Galatians 4:6,7). No longer being a slave to sin frees
you to walk in obedient trust!
Keep in mind that receiving the Holy Spirit as a sign of the consummation is vital to your ability to keep
the Covenant. Paul repeats several times that the seal of the
Holy Spirit consummates the Covenant. “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ.
He anointed us, set his seal of
ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (2 Corinthians 1:21,22).
The presence of the Spirit in our lives
guarantees our Father’s faithfulness to set His children
apart for His purposes. “And
you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit ...And
do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for
the day of redemption” (Ephesians 1:13, 4:30).
Our Father is for those He has marked with His seal! But He
extends to us the same warning He gave to His people through
the apostle Peter. Believers of the first century were
bombarded with entangling temptations and distortions of the
truth just as we are today: “Dear
friends, since you know this in advance, guard yourselves so that
you will not be led away by the
errors of the wicked and fall from your own
secure position” (2
Peter 3:17, JNT).
Noticeable signs are evident when you are
indwelt by the Spirit. As much as the rainbow, circumcision, or
David wearing Jonathan’s robe are recognizable, the Bible
makes plain the signs that reveal that our Father’s
Covenant has been both ratified and consummated in you.
• What went through your mind as you
pictured yourself and our Father walking through the blood of
Jesus to ratify your covenant?
• How would you articulate the
assurance God gives those who trust in Jesus by being
“marked” by His seal?
Part 2 Discerning the True Gospel from False Ones
Signs of False Gospels
No matter what size faith community you
are in, Satan will send as many people as he can who have embraced a false gospel. Since the Holy Spirit does not dwell in these
individuals, leaders have to use “prop up” programs
to keep them coming:
• If people can’t worship in “Spirit and truth,” they’ll seek worship that entertains
them. Worship leaders will try to conjure a
“spiritual” mood. Success is measured by the
numbers who attend your services rather than on their impact in
the world.
• Without the Spirit Who gives life
to God’s Word, reading the Bible is a chore. People
devoid of the Spirit look to someone
else to teach them, someone not
relationally close enough to confront them to live its truth.
• In order to attract more people,
you rely more and more on programs and services that cater to
the carnal nature. You enable husbands to neglect their
spiritual responsibilities at home. They
“outsource” their wives and children to others for
spiritual development, such as Sunday schools and youth
programs.
Religious systems that cater to false
gospels operate through administrative busyness — keeping
all the programs running efficiently. Leaders in the system may
be called “pastor” or “elder”, but they
are in reality administrators in
charge of programs —
functioning more as managers than as spiritual role models and
leaders.
If you’re a person who has embraced
a false gospel, you’ll seek out faith communities that
can fulfill any of the above-mentioned needs. When you have
embraced the true Gospel, none of the above will be your
motivation.
Mission agencies that are still sending
missionaries to the same places generation after generation
because they failed to raise up spiritual leadership from among the
indigenous people should question the gospel they share.
Without the Holy Spirit, mission agencies will have to
“prop up” the people they serve for generations.
A few years ago we visited a school for
Native American children. The missionary principal was proud
that he had quadrupled enrollment during his relatively short
tenure. I asked him how many Native people had ever taught at
the school during its 75 years of existence.
“None,” he replied. I asked, “Don’t you
see a problem with that?” He didn’t.
Satan is a deceiver. Wherever our Father
has shed the light of His love and established Covenant with
His chosen, the Adversary will counterfeit that truth with his
own false gospels. In the 10 years we have shared the Gospel
embraced by the earliest Church at our seminars around the
country, we have found that only 3 out of every 100 people have
a ratified-consummated relationship with our Father. Most admit themselves that
there is no sign of the Spirit’s presence in their lives.
They were deemed “saved” by someone when they
agreed with a few Bible verses and “went forward.”
Tragically, the majority shared one issue
in common that kept our Father from ratifying and consummating
the Covenant: bitterness. We’ll deal with this issue shortly.
Always be on guard against counterfeit
“Good News.” Even the first-century Galatians were
warned to beware of a perverted gospel: “Even if we or an angel from heaven should
preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:8). Any so-called
“gospel” of today that differs materially from the
Gospel understood by the earliest followers of Jesus is a path
to hell.
Satan is shrewd. He doesn’t care how you don’t
get to heaven, as long as you don’t get there! Some people mistakenly assume
that God will excuse them at the judgment throne for not
knowing the true Gospel. The Bible states otherwise.
Entering into Covenant with our Father is
first and foremost a heart issue. It’s a step of yearning
to live in union with Him, as much a heart issue as a faith
issue. Covenanting with our Father is never a mere cognitive
act. You don’t enter our
Father’s Covenant through your mind’s analysis.
Many of the false gospels ask you to agree
with a few Bible verses. Then someone ratifies you as
“saved.” Generally these verses are lifted solely
from the Newer Testa-ment. No covenant relationship is
established, and definitely no consummation. All you end up
with is human ratification.
Most likely there was no requirement for repentance, a
determination to turn from the sins that needed to be forgiven and come to the Father
through Jesus for reconciliation. Thus, the Holy Spirit did not
enter to consummate the Covenant because no covenant
relationship existed. Yet, others will assume you’re a
“Christian.” Deluded, you’ll never be
welcomed into heaven without the
Spirit.
Human ratification is occurring in this country in epidemic
proportions. The false gospels of today banner “getting
you saved” or proffer “fire” insurance. How
far short of our Father’s goal of intimate relational
union they fall!
Put in the context of a marriage analogy,
a cognitive gospel would be if someone shared with Sue and me
before we ever met a list of personality characteristics about
each other. Both of us liked what we read and, as a result of
our positive response to the character qualities, we’re
told, “You and Sue are married!” Still, we
haven’t met, we have no viable relationship, and have
definitely experienced no consummation. But we are assured by
others, “You’re married!” I know about her and she
knows about me, but sadly, we don’t
know each other. It’s
impossible to live in covenant union this way.
This is the same foolishness of the false
gospels. They require nothing more than cognitive assent to
Bible facts but bypass the intimacy and devotion of a covenant
union with our Father.
• How would you differentiate
between a cognitive “getting saved” gospel and a
“covenant union with our Lord” Gospel?
• Having read thus far, what type of
gospel depicts the one you currently believe? Does a change
need to be made?
Many False Gospels / One True Gospel
Salvation was understood by the earliest
Church to occur at the end of the pilgrimage. For those who endure to the
end our Lord promises, “He who overcomes will,
like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name
from the book of life, but will
acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels” (Revelation
3:5). This is the moment of salvation!
To keep your name in the Lamb’s Book
of Life calls for two essential elements.
Justification —
placing your trust in, and continuing to trust in, the shed blood of Jesus for
the forgiveness of your sins
Sanctification — the lifelong purifying process of the Holy
Spirit that enables you to be conformed to the image of Jesus
Christ so that you can endure to the end
The pilgrimage of a Jesus follower:
• Begins with Justification, your Spiritual
Rebirth;
• Continues a lifelong process of Sanctification;
• Culminates ultimately in Salvation before the Throne.
True Gospel:
Justification + Sanctification = Salvation
The true Gospel is a pilgrimage to the
moment of salvation when you appear before the Lord.
Let’s relate this concept to marriage. Justification is
the day you get married, and sanctification is living out your
marriage. Marriage must be worked out together until the
covenant ends when death parts the couple.
Justification frees us from the penalty of
our sins: “Since we have now
been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!” (Romans 5:9).
Jesus paid the price. Accepting the atoning work of His death
alone justifies us before our Father and reconciles us to Him.
Sadly, many false gospels contend that justification is salvation. But
these gospels leave out other verses pertinent to our salvation pilgrimage,
the aspect of our faith that is sanctification.
In its fullest sense, sanctification may
be described as:
A lifelong process by which the Holy
Spirit changes our character, that is, our motivation and
behavior, into conformity to Jesus.
“All men will hate you because of me,
but he who stands firm to the end
will be saved” (Matthew 10:22). Our brothers and sisters
who are being persecuted around the world for Jesus understand
this truth far better than we in the West do. Keeping your
focus on living in obedient trust in our Lord Jesus produces
evidence of His grace in your life. And by focusing on Him as
He reveals Himself through His Spirit and His Word, you can
discern error and avoid deception.
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