Under which circumstances have you found
it hardest to really trust your Father in heaven? What were the
consequences of your doubt?
How would you differentiate between a season of worry and
a habitual distrust of God? How might you find yourself trying to get
around His plans and will for you? Have you? When?
4. Your Salvation Pilgrimage both Begins and Continues with
Your Forceful Conviction and Steadfast Determination
Do you recall the intensity with which David
and Jonathan entered into covenant with each other? And, how
Jonathan even risked his life to go to David so they could
renew their covenant?
When you embrace the stipulations of our
Father’s Covenant, you’re entering into the most
important relationship of your life!
If you were the Father, what determination
of heart would you be looking
for in your potential Covenant child of the Spirit?
Answering the call of our Father to
repent, to love and to trust calls for a vigorous response from
which no earthly power can hold you back! As Jesus proclaimed,
following Him is an intense heart issue that in no way
nullifies the love and obedience requirements of the Hebrew
Scriptures:
Up to the time of John there were the Torah and the Prophets. Since then the Good News of the Kingdom of God has
been proclaimed, and everyone is forcing
his way into it (Luke 16:16).
This passage can best be understood by
considering the walls that surround Jerusalem:
Around a military fortification such as
the walls of Jerusalem, “killing
zones” are established to
concentrate weapon fire for maximum killing effectiveness.
Those who attack the fort must first courageously battle their
way through the killing zone. Because of the strong likelihood
that they’ll be killed in the attack, these soldiers have
to “be dead” to everything beforehand so they can
fully focus on their objective.
That kind of forceful determination was
the standard in the earliest Church for those who embraced our
Father’s Covenant. This essence of pursuit that
can’t be stopped is captured in Matthew 13:44-46:
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure
hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and
then in his joy went and sold all
he had and bought that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for
fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and
bought it.
It takes tremendous certainty to give up
everything about yourself and your way of life in order to lay
hold of that which our Father is offering you. Genuine repentance, agape love and your complete
trust produce the type of
conviction and determination our Lord requires to be in
Covenant union with you.
Do you believe forceful conviction and
steadfast determination are required to enter the Covenant our
Father offers? Why or why not?
If you consider yourself to be a Christian
already, how strong is your conviction and determination to
follow our Father and His Son, Jesus?
weak half-hearted
intense
0----10----20----30----40----50----60----70----80---90----100
[Put an X on the number that best
describes you.]
Explain why you answered as you did.
5. Your Salvation Pilgrimage Both Begins and Continues with
You Forgiving Others
The Hebraic stream of Judaism had
inherited a vital example about the importance of forgiving
others—their ancestor, Joseph. His brothers despised him,
sold him into slavery, and lied to his beloved father that he
was dead. He was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and
thrown into prison.
But, Joseph was able through all of this
to live with a forgiving heart because he saw the sovereign hand of his
God, even in His sufferings. You can recognize that he was
willing to not demand a pound of flesh from either God or his
adversaries through the names he gave his two sons. This was a
forgiving man!
Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and
said, ‘It is because God has
made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s
household.’ The second son he
named Ephraim and said, ‘It
is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering’ (Genesis
41:51,52).
When Joseph revealed himself to his
brothers he affirmed again his unshakable trust in the
sovereignty of his Lord
And now, do
not be distressed and do not be
angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of
you (Genesis 45:5).
Because of his forgiving heart he
lived in certainty of God’s larger purpose.
After their father Jacob died, the
brothers of Joseph feared he might finally take revenge for
their mistreatment of him. Realizing what was going through
their minds, Jacob prepared a message asking forgiveness for
his errant sons.
This is what you are to say to Joseph:
‘I ask you to forgive your
brothers the sins and the wrongs
they committed in treating you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sins of
the servants of the God of your father (Genesis 50:17).
What a contrast to the arrogance with
which these men had treated him so many years earlier! Notice
as well the emotional impact this message had on Joseph. He had
already forgiven them in his heart before they even approached him!
When their message came to him, Joseph wept. His
brothers then came and threw
themselves down before him.
‘We are your slaves,’ they said. But Joseph said to
them, ‘Don’t be afraid.
Am I in the place of God?’ (Genesis 50:17-19).
• To hold unforgiveness is to place
yourself on par with God.
• Refusal to forgive refutes
God’s sovereignty over the events in your life and the
people who hurt you.
• Unforgiveness creates spiritual
blindness that evidences distrust in Him as Lord.
• Holding on to unforgiveness keeps
you from receiving our Father’s Covenant of forgiveness
in His Son’s blood.
Jesus warned soundly against the evil of
unforgiveness and the barrier it raises against being forgiven
by our Father. Many who spread false gospels are startled by
the stark words of Jesus.
If you do not
forgive men their sins,
your Father will
not forgive your sins (Matthew 6:15).
The key question for you is, Can you be
forgiven of anything by our heavenly Father if you do not forgive those
who have violated you? According to Jesus, NO!
The Apostle John warns us about
unforgiveness, an expression of refusal
to love as our Lord has
commanded those who say they love God:
We love because He first loved us. If
anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar.
For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God,
whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever
loves God must also love his
brother (1 John 4:19-21).
The early Church understood that our
Father will not enter into Covenant with an unforgiving person. Why? Because in light of the supreme sacrifice
of His own Son, our Father refuses to walk through that
precious blood with someone who refuses to forgive. If our God
is willing to forgive at the cost of His Son, who among mankind
can justify unforgiveness toward anyone?
To the earliest followers of Jesus,
bitterness and pride were nearly synonymous. Both lack the
humility needed to approach our Holy God. And bitterness is the
arrogant manifestation of the pride which our Father resists.
We discovered during the years of holding
seminars on the Hebraic foundations that 97 out of every 100
attendees knew they didn’t have a consummated relationship
with our Father. Unforgiveness, that is, unresolved bitterness, was the most
common factor that hindered them.
A bitter person is like a bride on the day
of her wedding who tells her groom, “Honey, I’m a
prostitute and I’m going to continue my profession. I
refuse to give it up. Will you still marry me?” The spiritual adultery that is manifested by clinging to bitterness is just as vile!
A bitter, unforgiving person shows no
evidence of the Holy Spirit operating as a “stream of living water.” And, our Father doesn’t need “streams of bitter water” representing Him in this world.
How can a bitter person ever live in
loving union with the Father? A person who clings to
unforgiveness has failed to appreciate how much he or she needed to be forgiven through the blood of Jesus shed to pay the penalty
their sins deserved.
That’s a relational fact, something
obvious to the early followers of Jesus but not so obvious to
those who have garmented themselves with false, man-centered
gospels that allow people to stay “just as they are.”
Your decision to forgive opens the way for
the Holy Spirit to take up His residence in you. It is He Who heals your
heart and emotions; you can never heal yourself.
Richard Wurmbrand teaches a profound and
accurate interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer. He states
that “forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors” should be translated, “forgive
us our debts as we have already forgiven others their debts.”
Only by fully understanding forgiveness
could martyrs throughout history have responded with grace
toward their persecutors. Those suffering for their trust in
Jesus have already forgiven their tormentors. It all begins with the loving
words of Jesus, repeated by Stephen, “Father, forgive them...”
Don’t be deceived by popular
teaching that you don’t have to forgive a person unless they ask you to. We are to walk in the steps of our Master, and
neither the religious authorities nor the Roman soldiers asked
Him for forgiveness! You are to forgive from your heart,
regardless of whether that relationship changes, extending that
which the heart of our Father has extended to you.
“Forgive us our sins, for we too
have forgiven everyone who has wronged us” (Luke 11:4).
Our Lord is well aware that we’ll be
hurt and betrayed, even by those within the Body. A wise
friend, Bert Schlossberg, told us years ago:
“You can never walk in
the fullness of Jesus until you can
wash the feet of Judas.”
Rarely can human effort or strength ever
wipe away the hurt you feel from what others have done to you
in the past. Only through loving trust in Jesus and the power
of His grace can you forgive the ‘Judases’ in your
life.
To the ancient Hebrews God was Yahweh-Rapha, the
Lord our Healer. Your trust and reliance in Jesus releases His
power to remove the sting of those painful memories. Then you can
come alongside those who are suffering pain similar to that of
your healed past so they can find hope for healing.
Bert’s words impacted our hearts. On
February 21, 1994, we celebrated our twenty-fourth wedding
anniversary with him and his wife Exie during our stay with
them in Israel. We gathered for dinner at the Biblical
Resources Center south of Jerusalem to participate in a
reenactment of the Last Supper.
We were seated around a triclinium
(three-sided) table eating what would have been a traditional
Passover meal at the time of Christ. Jesus and His disciples
would have reclined on their left side around the three outside
edges of the foot-high table, facing it.
This diagram depicts the likeliest seating
arrangement of Jesus and His disciples at the Last Supper:
The second position on the left was
traditionally the host of the meal. That would have been Jesus. The
first position on the left was the “go for” person
who assisted the host. John 13:23,25, “One of them, the disciple
whom Jesus loved, was reclining
next to Him...Leaning back against Jesus, he asked Him,
‘Lord, who is it?’” indicates this to be John.
The first position on the right
represented the lowest place at the table. In John 13:24, Peter
motions to John. Speculating that he was embarrassed as a
result of the argument over “which
of them was to be considered greatest” (see Luke 22:24-32), Peter possibly took this position across from
John and Jesus.
Remember that Jesus had responded to His
betrayer, Judas, by washing his feet. The third position on the
left was reserved for the person whom the host wanted to honor
or for special guests outside the family. When Jesus was asked
who would betray Him, He responded, “‘It is the one to whom I will give this
piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ Then,
dipping the piece of bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, son
of Simon” (John 13:26).
We know that it wasn’t John in front
of him, so could Judas have been seated in the seat of honor? We
were deeply affected by the possibility that Jesus would have
honored His betrayer. In our hearts we knew that it was within
the character of Jesus to do such a thing.
Certainly all of us at that meal left with
a deeper conviction of how far we who follow in the steps of
Jesus must go to forgive those who
hurt us.
One of the most common reasons we found for
our Father not consummating His Covenant is bitterness. Does
anyone come to mind who raises up negative feelings in your
heart? What did that person do to you?
Do you purpose to forgive from your heart those who have hurt you? Do you purpose to ask their forgiveness when
you’re next in contact for even holding onto
unforgiveness against another human made in God’s image
and for whom Jesus died?
The Father And Jesus
Part 3. The True Gospel of the Covenant:
Summary Of The Covenant Issues
“Show me your trust without deeds,
and I will show you my trust
by what I do... You see that
[Abraham’s] trust and his actions
were working together,
and his trust was made complete
by what he did...
As the body without the spirit is dead, so
trust without deeds is dead”
(James 2:18,22,26).
Fulfilling our Father’s purposes in
obedience to the impulse of the Spirit is the only way we can
understand the intent of the apostle James as he teaches the
connection between trust and deeds in chapter 2:14-26. The deeds James speaks of refer to
walking in the will of our Father to His glory. This is no more or no less
than Jesus did.
Let’s review once more the biblical
stipulations for you to enter into our Father’s Covenant.
Your Salvation Pilgrimage begins and continues with your:
1. Repentance.
2. Agape (ahav) Love.
3. Obedient
Trust.
4. Forceful
Conviction and Steadfast
Determination.
5. Forgiving
Others.
We had reservations about listing these
criteria out of concern that people might take a
“by-the-numbers” approach to this. But these need
to be displayed in one place so that you can understand the
biblical stipulations for our Father to ratify and consummate
the Covenant with you.
Our Father designed marriage to be the physical representation of the spiritual Covenant we have with Him. In other
words, if you want to know the depth of a man’s
relationship with our Father, then watch it in the love he has
for his wife. The agape of a man for his wife is the same kind of agape that he must
have for his Lord, “For in
Christ Jesus...the only thing that counts is trust expressing itself through [agape] love” (Galatians
5:6).
This is vital! Just as in a marriage,
your heart determination to want to live in Covenant with our Father is
that which brings about your union in Jesus through His Spirit.
As you weigh these criteria for embracing
the Covenant our Father is offering you, can you see how the
five apply to your own marriage covenant (or to the marriage
analogy if you’re single)?
1. Can it exist without Repentance?
2. Can it bloom without your agape Love?
3. Can there be peace without your mutual Trust?
4. Can it flourish without Forceful Conviction and Steadfast Determination to make it succeed?
5. Can love grow without Forgiveness?
As with God’s design for the marriage
covenant to produce godly offspring, keepers of the Covenant
with our Father are also expected to bear fruit:
Every branch which is part of me but fails to bear fruit,
he cuts off; and every branch that does
bear fruit, he prunes, so that it may bear more fruit... I
am the vine and you are the branches. Those who stay united with me,
and I with them, are the ones who bear
much fruit; because apart from me
you can’t do a thing...This is how my Father is glorified—in
your bearing much fruit; this is how you will prove to be my disciples (John 15: 2,5,8, JNT).
In deference to His Father’s will,
Jesus fulfilled His purposes. As our Father’s children,
we, too, have specific, God-given
purposes to carry out as His
beloved children. Yet, without the indwelling Spirit, we would
neither be able nor expected to fulfill these on our own.
He enjoys our dependence on Him. To be “born again” is to become His child. There’s no better relationship you could
have!
In our next lesson we’ll discuss the
consummation of the Covenant and the role of the indwelling
Holy Spirit. But now we want to end this lesson by asking you
to prayerfully reflect on the questions below.
Review your spiritual journey to this
point.
• Have you repented of known sin
according to His Word? Yes or No?
• Do you love Jesus with gratefulness
that your despicable sin nature no longer has rule over you,
and you can commune intimately with our Father as His child?
Yes or No?
• Do you fully trust in the shed blood
of Jesus as payment for the punishment your sins deserve? Are
you walking with hope in obedient trust in your Father, alert
for opportunities to fulfill His purposes? Yes or No?
• Are you forceful in your heart to
keep pressing on toward your salvation despite circumstances
that try to deter your walk of trust? Yes or No?
• Have you forgiven in your heart all
who have violated you in any way? Yes or No?
If your heart’s answers to the above
questions are “yes”, then your Father is prepared
to enter into Covenant union with you. Kneel down and speak to
Him affirming your heart’s agreement with His
stipulations.
Also, we encourage you to be baptized
— pledging to your Father that you will keep a clear
conscience on your pilgrimage to salvation (1 Peter 3:21).
[The Gospel of
the Covenant is available as video
and audio segments in our Jesus In
Your Home series on our website.]
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John the Baptist, Jesus, and Peter at
Pentecost all affirmed