What is a covenant relationship

Part four

In 1 John 2:1-6 John tells us. “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father (Our advocate) in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice (Propitiation) for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

True obedience to God’s word is believing our sanctified state and walking in it. Therefore, our behavior will fall into line. This obedience that God is talking about is not us trying to correct our behavior only the Holy Ghost can do that. John was talking to new born again believers and trying to get them to understand their eternal security in Jesus one act of dying on the cross to deliver us from our sin based nature that we were born with. We must come to understand that,

For most people, their behavior is controlled by them trying to obey God’s laws, not because of its intended purpose, but because of the fear of the consequences if they don’t.

Let’s talk about the two words that I have parenthesized in 1 John 1-6. These two words are advocate and propitiation. The Greek word for advocate is Parakletos: meaning one who pleads to somebody in authority on behalf of somebody else, especially somebody who is to be punished for something they were guilty of and we are comforted by the advocator when He tells us that our debt has been paid which brings us comfort. The word propitiate means, to be brought back into God’s favor. Do you realize that we were heading for hell for eternity unless God the Father sent His Son to die an excruciating death by being nailed to a tree and shedding His blood which is the cleansing power that turns us into this new creature in Christ?

Jesus being our advocator is a finished experience and we must realize that there is no more sacrificing for any sins. Sin was abolished at the cross and John was trying to tell these people to stop living with a sin conscience mentality. When we become sin conscience; we need to be reminded by the Holy Ghost that we have forgotten what Jesus our advocator has done at the cross and that we are eternally righteous in God’s eyes.

Again we are talking about a miracle encounter we must have with the Holy Ghost to become changed and saved from an eternity in hell. We must stop preaching doctrines of men and adding to Jesus Christ’s finished work at the cross. We are totally covered by this one act and we must allow the Holy Ghost to have a continual dialogue daily telling us how secure we are and our roots in God must become deep because of the spirit of anti- christ that is at work to stop God’s kids from their appointed task of balancing their lives between peace and purpose.

There must be created in you a deep passion for a Godly involvement between you and the Holy Ghost. With out this; you can not have a sure witness of who you are and what your purpose is from God while you are on the earth. The Holy Ghost is called the Paraklete in scripture and the one that navigates our lives in our sanctified state in Jesus Christ and acts as a mediator between us and God the Father.

The reason why the Holy Ghost is the source of our empowerment to live the Christian life is because of what Jesus said in John 14:26. But the Comforter Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf, He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall, will remind you of, and bring to your remembrance everything I have told you.”

It is the responsibility of the Holy Ghost to restore and mature the body of Christ, for He was the one that created the universe and made man in God’s image in the first place. There is no way to function in your covenant with out the wisdom from the Holy Ghost. Now all of God’s children; who are only those who have been born again and have been adopted into the family; are in different stages of understanding their covenant agreement with our Heavenly Father.

The real point is, are we being influenced and being taught by the Holy Ghost or are we being influenced and submitting our mind and heart to false doctrine which is keeping us closed off from His leadings? We are already tied to God permanently through our born again experience however, we must stay spiritually umbilicaled to the Holy Ghost in relationship and be living in a symbiotic relationship of us reasoning with God and having Him confirm to us our privileges as being His child.

These stages of growth and awareness are seen in the lives of the disciples of the Lord. The more we function in our covenant; the deeper becomes our commitment to us dying to self and following Jesus example when He walked the earth. Jesus worst trial was when He was hanging on the cross. There were only three people that; threw care to the wind for their own safety and were there for the Lord and heard Him say that He felt that God His Father had forsaken Him.

Jesus who the bible said never sinned, healed the sick, delivered people from demonic possession, raised Lazarus from the dead and as He was fulfilling His destiny to die on the cross; He felt that He was abandoned by God our Father. Do we see here the humanity of Jesus our born again brother of what he went through and see how he got inner strength from the Holy Ghost as we all have to do. All of the disciples scattered and became self conscience by abandoning Jesus when He had His greatest need. It is obvious that they were in a shallow understanding of what covenant meant and could not keep their commitment.

I personally believe that these last three that stood their ground represent something that we can use as an example of what a healthy covenant with God represents. People who really covenant with God; live and die by it because; it is not a covenant of convenience. We must truly function with the heart of God and look out after each other; that none of us fall out of living in the shadow of God’s grace. God is a continual supplier of every thing we need, He is a loving Father who knows our ins and outs and it is His good pleasure to supply us with our individual needs and enough for all the others He has called us to help; whether it’s a dollar or a meal or a hug or a wise word of encouragement.

We start with Mary Magdalene as being one of the three at the cross of Jesus. She was a prostitute and prostitutes in that day if they were caught were stoned to death. I believe she must have been watching Jesus from a little way off in the early days of his ministry and would listen to him preach as He went from place to place healing and loving all those who heard his words. I believe she hated the condition that her life was in; and that she was in bondage to a life style that had plagued her most of life. In John chapter 8 we have the account where she was caught in adultery and she ran to Jesus for protection and the Pharisees and Scribes wanted to put Jesus to the test telling Him that the law stated she was to be stoned to death. Jesus looked at them and said “You that are with out sin can cast the first stone” and her accusers all went away. Jesus asked her “where are those that were condemning you” She said “they have all gone away” He said neither do I condemn you and go and sin no more.”

Again we have the religious crowd living with a sin conscience attitude of punishing people who are living a life style in bondage to a addiction of shame and separated from a loving God who’s only intension was to come out of heaven; and put His divine position of safety aside so He could enter mankind and show them what a loving God we have who created the universe and wants to share his wealth and love to all that life represents. This is the only way Jesus can have a fellow feeling like us because; He walked the earth as we do today and understands our difficulties and trials and needs and wants. This was Mary Magdalene’s first encounter with God in Jesus and she had become enslaved by searching for love in all the wrong places through the men she was having affairs with. As she began to follow Jesus every where He went and listened and saw the miracles He did; we have another encounter which is found in Luke 7: 36-50.

“One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to dine with him, and He went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. And behold, a woman of the town who was an especially wicked sinner, when she learned that He was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment perfume. And standing behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears; and she wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed His feet affectionately and anointed them with the ointment perfume. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw it, he said to himself, If this Man were a prophet, He would surely know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching Him for she is a notorious sinner (a social outcast, devoted to sin). And Jesus, replying, said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. And he answered, Teacher, say it.

It is my hope and prayer that you who are reading this are sensing the love and holding power of the Lord in your life. You will notice that she did not use some cheap perfume and ordinary oil and a towel but her own hair to wash and anoint Jesus feet. She was unashamed and publicly proclaimed and showed her faith and trust in Jesus in spite of all the criticism and rejection that she had to deal with. This is what a covenant Christian does in operating in their given arena of life.

There can be no trusting, loving and forgiving unless you are walking in covenant with the Holy Ghost. These are all God’s characters. When we talk about born again believers, who are permanently God’s children, they are already in the kingdom of God however, knowing our covenant is what empowers us to operate in the kingdom. Enter is a action word of thought and movement and any mingled seed that has been sown in our heart and mind contrary to the true meaning of covenant is a poison in allowing our soul to prosper. That is why Jesus was so emphatic when He stated the consequences of teaching false doctrine and how we had to watch that we do not offend or damage the heart of a child because of the sensitivity a born again believer must have in living the abundant life.