We are on a learning curve to acquire the true and accurate Knowledge of our LORD through Obedience and once more we will not stop nor settle for nothing more. Every thing else is nothing but second best and we with Him want the Best He has for us all. As He is our supreme commander, LORD, and we are His soldiers as the Most High GOD, "Is are El's" is what we are. This is not saying that we are Israel as it a race of special people. But rather because GOD "Is El" and we were all created by Him in His likeness and image we are His Family and as such we bear witness to all the His IS in us. With that said to day we are looking at the Promised Blessing of our own Obedience. But first Pastor Hoekstra's teaching on the Promised New Covenant. And as has become my norm I will make use of the ESV translation found in my E-Sword program.
"New Covenant Provided by the Blood of Christ"
"This cup is the New Covenant in My blood, which is shed for you . . . knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (Luke 22:20 and 1Peter 1:18-19)
"The well-known Lord's Supper words from Luke 22:20 remind us that the glorious riches of Grace founded the New Covenant are all purchased by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, as He died on the cross for us. "This cup is the New Covenant in My blood, which is shed for you." Customarily, believers in and those of Christ think of forgiveness of sins when they hear these words. Forgiveness is certainly included in the blessings secured by the death of our LORD. Notice, however, that Jesus did not say "this cup is forgiveness in My blood." He said, "This cup is the New Covenant in My blood."
The New Covenant is far more than forgiveness of sins. As previously indicated, the scriptures reveal that the New Covenant has three basic areas of blessings. First is the forgiveness of sins. "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more" (Hebrews 8:12). Second is an intimate Relationship with the LORD. "All shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them" (Hebrews 8:11). Third is an Internal work of GOD producing an increasingly Godly Life in and through us. "I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts" (Hebrews 8:10). The word of GOD further confirms that all of these grand blessings depend upon GOD's Provision, not our performance. "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from GOD" (2Corithians 3:5).
How can it be that such measureless Spiritual Abundance becomes ours through the New and Living Covenant of Grace? Well, consider the amazing and effective redemption price paid to establish this New Covenant. "Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ." This New Covenant was not purchased with limited earthly wealth, like silver and gold or even the lesser price as required by the Law of Moses. Rather, it was paid for by infinite heavenly treasure, the blood of Christ. Making it the Life Giving Blood of GOD Who was in Christ Jesus as His Father. No wonder the New Covenant Provides such amazing and effective resources for all who depend upon the One Who died for them.
One final reflection — realizing all that the cup of the New Covenant represents can turn the Lord's Supper from a "religious snack" into a "spiritual feast"!"
The Blessing Promised for our Obedience:
Exodus 19:3-6 and Deuteronomy 4:30 "Moses went up to GOD. The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed Obey My Voice and keep My Covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a Holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel."
Deuteronomy 4:25-31 "When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your GOD, so as to provoke Him to anger, for I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the LORD Will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD Will drive you. And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But from there you will seek the LORD your GOD and you will find Him, if you search after Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your GOD and Obey His Voice. For the LORD your GOD is a merciful GOD. He Will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that He Swore to them."
Deuteronomy 5:28-33, 7:12-16, 28:1-2 "The LORD heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the LORD said to me, 'I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear Me and to keep all My Commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever! Go and say to them, "Return to your tents." But you, stand here by Me, and I will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.' You shall be careful therefore to do as the LORD your GOD has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the Way that the LORD your GOD has Commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess."
Deuteronomy 7:12-16 "And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the LORD your GOD Will keep with you the Covenant and the Steadfast Love that He Swore to your fathers. He Will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He Will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that He Swore to your fathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. And the LORD Will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will He inflict on you, but He Will lay them on all who hate you. And you shall consume all the peoples that the LORD your GOD Will give over to you. Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you."
Deuteronomy 28:1-2 "And if you faithfully Obey the Voice of the LORD your GOD, being careful to do all His Commandments that I command you today, the LORD your GOD Will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you Obey the Voice of the LORD your GOD."
1Kings 3:10-14, Job 36:8-14, Zechariah 3:6-7 "It pleased the LORD that Solomon had asked this. And GOD said to him, "Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. And if you will walk in My Ways, keeping My Statutes and My Commandments, as your father David walked, then I Will lengthen your days."
Job 36:8-14 "If they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction, then He declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly. He opens their ears to instruction and commands that they return from iniquity. If they listen and serve Him, they complete their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasantness. But if they do not listen, they perish by the sword and die without knowledge. "The godless in heart cherish anger; they do not cry for help when he binds them. They die in youth, and their life ends among the cult prostitutes."
Zechariah 3:6-7 "The angel of (messenger) the LORD solemnly assured Joshua, "Thus says the LORD of Hosts: If you will walk in My Ways and keep My Charge, then you shall rule My house and have charge of My Courts, and I Will give you the right of access among those who are standing here."
James 1:19-25, 1John 3:13-22 "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of GOD. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the Perfect Law, the Law of Liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing."
1John 3:13-22 "Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into Life, because we Love the brothers. Whoever does not Love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has Eternal Life abiding in him. By this we know Love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does GOD's Love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, GOD is greater than our heart, and He knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before GOD; and whatever we ask we Receive from Him, because we keep His Commandments and do what pleases Him."
Revelation 22:14-15, 16 "Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the Tree of Life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
"I, Jesus, have sent My angel (messengers) to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star."
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