Covenant Privileges! Pt. 2 By James L Lantz
We enter into covenant with Almighty God through the blood of Jesus that cleansed us from sin and granted us eternal life. Our part required that we give ourselves to Jesus naming Him the Lord of our life. The very moment we confess Jesus as the Lord of our life we are removed from the kingdom of darkness and baptized by the Holy Spirit into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. At that very moment we were counted righteous with Jesus righteousness guaranteeing us the privilege to access every additional benefit in the kingdom of God. There are no varying degrees of righteousness, either you are righteous or you are not. God keeps it simple, he that believeth and is baptized will be saved. He who is not for Me is against Me. Matthew 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Those who honor Me, I will honor and he that believes has! We could not earn righteousness but we thank God for the gift of righteousness that has become ours through our Lord Jesus Christ. Col. 1:12 AMPC Giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the inheritance of the saints (God’s holy people) in the Light. David, the psalmist, praised and thanked the Lord for the many covenant benefits that were given to him. Psalms 103:1-2 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: The Spirit of God through David begins to name covenant benefits beginning with forgiveness from all sin and then healing from every disease. Being at peace with and having fellowship with God is wonderful! Add having confidence that God will heal you from every evil disease, redeem your life from destruction, crown you with loving kindness and tender mercies, and satisfy your mouth with good so that your youth is renewed.
God’s covenant blessings are much greater than we could have asked for or even thought of! The all sufficient God, the ancient of days has wrought so great a salvation for His beloved man who had betrayed Him. God desires for all man kind to respond to His extravagant offer of redemption through repentance and faith towards Him. It is our covenant privilege to be freed from all condemnation and the law of sin and death. Rom. 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Redemption through Christ is for the whole man, spirit, soul (mind, will, and emotions), and body. Our sins were placed on Jesus and He suffered in hell for three days and three nights until God’s justice was satisfied. Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Jesus body was beaten, bruised and cut with those stripes He bore for our healing. 1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. Jesus soul was pressed more than any other man evidenced by how He agonized in prayer in the garden and how He cried out from the cross, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me? Isaiah 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Christ resurrection is our resurrection! Eph. 2:6 AMPC And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One). We are not just forgiven sinners, but we are made new creatures in Christ, positioned with Christ, and made joint heirs with Him in the Royal Family!
The Holy Spirit is God’s guarantee of the inheritance that has become ours through Christ death and resurrection. Eph. 1:13 ESV In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, Let’s recap some of our most precious covenant privileges mentioned. Forgiveness from sin and freed from the power of death, removed from the kingdom of darkness and given the life and nature of God, healing, peace of mind, and abundant provision from a loving heavenly Father with full access to the family inheritance!
God’s greatest gift to the church (believers) is the baptism in the Holy Spirit! God’s greatest gift to the world is Jesus through which we received eternal life. Every child of God received the Holy Spirit when they were born of the Spirit and brought into the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit instantly, upon our confession of faith, removed us from the kingdom of darkness and baptized us into the body of Christ! There is no born again experience without the Holy Spirit. John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Jesus likened hearing His words and receiving eternal life to one having his thirst quenched from a well of water and later referred to being filled with the Holy Spirit as having rivers of living water flow from within. John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. The Father sent the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost to empower believers to do the works that Jesus did.Acts 1:8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
The Lord wants those of us who believe that He is the Christ, the Anointed One, The Messiah, The Word of God, The First and The Last, The One who made all things, The One whom all things were made for, The King of kings, and our soon to appear Master from heaven, to use our covenant privileges! Jesus told the one who had revelation of who He was that He would give him the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever he would bind on the earth would be backed up by heaven and whatever he loosed on the earth would be loosed in heaven. Mt. 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and what so ever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and what so ever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. God shows favoritism to no man, what He does for one He will do for everyone. Peter, in his second epistle, tells us that grace and peace will be multiplied to us through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, since He’s already given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. The privilege to use Christ authority to bind and to loose is repeated in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew. Jesus then declares that two of you on the earth can come into agreement, asking in faith for anything and the Father will do it. Mt. 18:19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. God is so delighted when His children love one another, forgive one another, and agree together in faith! Accessing our covenant privileges requires humility and child like faith. Jesus called a little child unto Him and set him in the midst of the disciples. Apparently this little one yielded himself completely and came gladly and sat where Jesus placed him. The opposite of humility would be pride which God will resist. Humility says yes to Jesus, I will come right now, I don’t have anything more important than what you have for me, your agenda is my agenda, whatever I have is yours, my life belongs to you Jesus. The Lord Jesus spoke to me and said, Men in these days ought to heed the words of My servants, Zechariah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah. Zechariah 8:9 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built.
