Episode 15- Responders Not Initiators Part 4

On this episode, I do something that could be considered radical. In alignment with the theme of being responders not initiators, I show you the dangers of applying everything Christ says in the Gospels without a New Testament lens. I take the time to give you practical ways to identify the audience Christ is talking to; by verifying who He is talking to, we can easily determine what we need to do with His statements in alignment with the New Testament. It's time to remove the weight that Christ died to remove from us. 

Transcript

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I am not forgiving so that I can become forgiven. I am forgiven, and because I am forgiven, I can't help but forgive others. I'd like to welcome you to the breakdown where we are pursuing practical steps for spiritual results. So over the last couple of episodes, we have started talking about what that we are in and that we are responders, not initiators. It's this possibly the last belief system that we will talk about that is essential, that I believe is essential in navigating the Christian life. And we've been talking about again that we are responders, not initiators. We're not trying to get God to move, we're not trying to get God to work on our behalf, but we are understanding who his character is, what his nature is, and what he has already done for us and what he is wanting to do through us. Once we figure that out, we are trying to learn how to partner with him in what he is doing so we can see what he is doing manifest in our everyday life. I believe that I believe this is essential because there are a lot of Christians out there that believe that if they do the good stuff, they will see the good stuff. And there's some truth to that, but if there's a sense of ownership, there's a sense of deserving, or if there's a sense of, hey, I did this, so God has to do this, we're missing the point. There's a lot of people that believe that if they do the good stuff, they will see the good stuff. And when they start, when they don't see the good stuff, they wonder why, why this isn't really taking place. So, all in all, we've been taking this pretty slow. We've been looking at the foundations, moving this accordingly, trying to lay this out so that when we get into the heart of this belief system, there's not going to be any confusion. Okay. So over the last, not the last episode, but the episode before, I believe it was episode 13. Yeah, episode 13, we talked about the old covenant. We talked about how the old covenant was a covenant of works, that in order for the good stuff to manifest, the children of Israel had to do the good stuff. And so to confirm this, read Deuteronomy chapter 28. And it was all about if you keep my commandments, if you keep my statutes, if you keep my rules, if you keep my commandments, then you will be blessed in the city, blessed in the field, blessed going in, blessed going out. The fruit of your loom will be blessed. Just read Deuteronomy chapter 28. It is literally saying, if the children of Israel did what they were supposed to do, keeping the commandments and the rules, then the blessing of the Lord will be upon them. But if they broke the rules, if they didn't follow the commandments, if they didn't follow the statutes, then they were cursed. And that's all recorded in Deuteronomy chapter 28. So we learned and we took away from that that the old covenant was a covenant of works. Now we're looking at that practically, how many times have you expected God to move on your behalf because you prayed enough? How many times have you expected God to move on your behalf because you tithed? Because you read the Bible enough, because you did this, because you did that. If that is your mindset, if you believe that God owes you a work, if you believe that God owes you a blessing in the format of that you purchased it with your good deeds, then this is not the new covenant that you live under. You are technically living under the old covenant. And the old covenant has already been accomplished, it's already been satisfied, it has already been successful. Jesus has already taken care of that. So if you're trying to live under the old covenant, God doesn't operate that way anymore. He operates under the accordance of the new covenant. Well, what's the new covenant? We talked about this in the last episode. The new covenant is a covenant of grace, it is not a covenant of works, it's all about what Jesus has done. And we are responding to what Jesus has done. That's the that's that's the main difference between the new covenant and the old covenant. In the old covenant, God was waiting on us, and then what we did determined if we were blessed or cursed. But in the New Testament, the curse no longer exists. For it says in Galatians chapter 3, looking at, let's start at verse 10. For it is written, Curses everyone that continues, not all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. So basically what that's saying is, if you don't follow the law in its entirety, you are cursed. Verse 11, but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. It is evident, for the just shall live by faith, and the law is not of faith, but the man that does them shall live in them. Verse 13. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. So that is literally the backbone of the New Testament, that there's no longer a curse, and all that's left are the blessings. And we access those blessings through the faith of Jesus Christ by responding to not only what he has done on the cross, what he has established on the cross, and what he has perfected on the cross, but by responding to what he is currently doing in the New Testament. So there's no more of this. I gotta pray enough, I gotta read the Bible enough, I gotta tithe enough, I gotta I gotta do this enough, I gotta I gotta I I gotta serve in the church enough. Okay, if that is your mindset, if that is your perception, then when is enough enough? When is it when is the the bar gonna be satisfied? When is the standard of our activity gonna be satisfied in order for you to be blessed? When it when is it? If you're saying that I I if you read the Bible for about 10 minutes a day, or maybe you just read it 10 minutes a week, and if this is your mindset, then you're gonna put yourself in a loop, okay, that's not enough. So I gotta read for 15 hours a week, and even then, if that's even possible, even then you will it won't be enough. So the point is that in the New Testament, we are not trying to get God to do something, we are He has already done everything, we are just learning to respond to what He has already done. Okay, so what I want to do today in this episode is I kind of hinted at it at the end of the last episode, was that well, what I showed you over the last two episodes was the beginning and the end of each covenant. I showed you that that the Old Testament, it began and it began in uh Exodus chapter 32, and in verse 28, it shows that 3,000 men were slain because of their disobedience to God. And it continues on until the beginning of the new covenant, which is found in Acts chapter 2, which began with 3,000 men being born again in verse 41. So my point is that the old covenant takes place from Exodus 32 all the way through all the books of the Bible, all the way through Acts chapter 2. That includes the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And you might be asking, okay, why are you pointing that out? Because you need to we need to understand that Jesus was a prophet, apostle, uh pastor, teacher, and evangelist. He was all five and one operating under the old covenant. And so the reason we need to understand that is because there's a lot of things that Jesus said, he was speaking in in submission to the government, to the governmental institution of the old law in that time period. There were things that he said he was required to say because he had to obey the law, right? Because he was a Jew. Jews obeyed the law. So there were things that he said, there were things that he talked about, there were things that he explained according to the dispensation in which they lived. But there were some things that, especially when he was talking to his disciples, there were some things that he wasn't really saying, this is what you do under the law, but there is a new covenant that is coming, and that is going to be the lifestyle in which you are living. Now it's important to properly navigate this because there are many times that if we do not understand that not everything that Jesus says is for the New Testament believer, if we do not understand this, it is a possibility that you could actually take upon yourself a weight that Jesus actually died for you to be liberated from. And I've seen this, I've seen this happen multiple times throughout my life as a Christian and my time in ministry. I have seen many people, I've seen messages that teach what sounds to be biblical, and it technically is, but they're taking truths in the old testament and they're bringing it into the new testament. And I've and I've had to actually minister to people. And because they have just received a message that was old covenant in nature, I had to literally reteach some things, wash off the weight, get the weight off them so that I could actually minister healing and deliverance. Because there were things that they were holding on to that was actually hindering them from receiving, right? I mean, this is a this is a good picture. If your hands are full of something, you can't receive anything else. And so if your hands are full of the law, you will not be able to receive anything that the Lord has for you in this dispensation. And so, what I want to do, and I kind of hinted at this at the end of the last episode, is I want to use an example of this. I want to go in detail of when Jesus was talking about a specific biblical concept, and I want to explain what he is saying, why he is saying, what are the implications of what he is saying under the Old Testament. And I believe that if you if you pay attention to what I'm saying, you will actually start to see that, hey, maybe I might have heard this verse wrong. And my prayer is that after explaining this and showing you this is how it was under the Old Testament, but let me show you what Paul says under the New Testament. If I show you those and I show you how they are different, you will learn, you will start to say, okay, I've been living under the law, but I need to start changing my living under the new covenant of grace. Okay. Okay, go with me to Matthew chapter six. Go to Matthew chapter six, and we're going to look at verse 14. Now, to give you the context of this, because context is important, this is taking place right after what is known as the Lord's Prayer, uh, where it says, pray this, that the kingdom come, that will be done on all earth as is in heaven, give this day our daily bread. That verse, that prayer. Uh, it's important for you to understand that it's it's it's called the Lord's Prayer, but it's not necessarily the Lord's prayer. Jesus is not praying in these verses, he's teaching on how to pray specifically under the old covenant. So again, it's remember, remember, this is under the law. This is not New Testament, this is Old Testament, it's the book of Matthew. Jesus has not died yet, he has not resurrected yet. Pentecost has not happened, the church does not exist yet. We still have the Jews, we still have the nation of Israel in bondage under Rome. Okay, that's what's still going on here. So again, I'm I'm emphasizing this. Okay, the old covenant is still in effect. So there are things that Jesus says we don't take to heart because we don't live under the law anymore. Okay, so look, let's look at verse 14. Okay, once he finished this statement, let's just start in verse 13, because that's the end of his explanation of prayer. In verse 13, he says, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, amen. Verse 14. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. Stop there. Notice what Jesus says. He says, If you forgive, your father in heaven will forgive you. Again, sounds like the pattern of the Old Testament. What was the pattern of the Old Testament? What you did determined what God did. In other words, so according to this verse, if you forgive, in order for you to receive forgiveness, you had to forgive. Let's look at verse 15. But if you forgive not, so if you forgive, God forgives you. But in verse 15, but if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. So let me make this make me let me make this obvious and make this concrete. If you forgive, God forgives you. If you don't forgive, God does not forgive you. Again, this is the pattern, this is the theme of the Old Testament. Are you doing what you're supposed to be doing? If you do, if you follow the law, this will be the blessings will come, will come to you. If you break the law, the curses will. Okay, so this is the same thing. In verse 14, God tell Jesus says, If you forgive, God will forgive you. If you don't, you will not be forgiven. Okay? Now, I have heard this taught many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many times. Okay, in my in my entire life as a Christian. I have heard this taught many, many, many times. And every single time that this is taught, there has always been a weight that has been established. Because now we all know, especially Christians, we know forgiveness is the foundation of the gospel, which is why this is so confusing. Because the forgiveness is the foundation, it is the backbone of the gospel. The very fact that you get to go to heaven is because your sins have been forgiven. But according to this verse, if you don't forgive, God will not forgive you. And if that and if you're believing this under the New Testament, then your salvation is in jeopardy. Because you have to forgive every single time someone wrongs you. And if you mess up even once, you're going to hell. Can you imagine the weight that someone lives under with that belief system? That, okay, someone just harmed me, someone just was rude to me, I have to forgive them because if I don't forgive them, my father in heaven is not going to forgive me, and if he doesn't forgive me, then when I die, I'm going to hell. What we're basically saying is that our imperfections are more powerful than the blood of Jesus Christ. This is a dangerous thought to have. We were called up for prayer to deal with this, to deal with forgiveness. And there was a man that came up to me, and I could instantly see the weight that was on his shoulders. Because he was saying, I want to be forgiven, I want to be forgiven, I want to be forgiven. And me who understands the the truth, understands the truth, I my heart went out to him because I because what was just taught was giving him such a weight he couldn't receive anything from the Lord if he tried. Now Jesus said, if you don't forgive, your father will not forgive you. Jesus was talking under the law. Because that was true under the law, because they were required to do things before God did things. But let's look at what Paul says in the book of Ephesians under the New Testament. This is at this is after Acts. Look at Ephesians chapter 4, verse 32. Paul says this be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Notice the past tense. In other words, he already has forgiven you. Okay? Look at Colossians 3 13. Forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man has a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also you do. So again, this is the same thing. We are responders, not initiators. We're not trying to, I'm not going to forgive you so that God will forgive me. That is me forgiving to initiate my forgiveness. That's not how this works in the New Testament. I am not forgiving so that I can become forgiven. I am forgiven, and because I am forgiven, I can't help but forgive others. This is the whole point of the New Testament. Jesus is the blueprint, Jesus is the roadmap, Jesus is the example. And Paul is saying, as Jesus has forgiven you, that liberates you to go forgive others. Not because you're being forced to, not because there is a weight saying that if I don't do it, I don't get to go to heaven. No, you're going to heaven. Hell is no longer an option. What you what we are doing is I have received this love of forgiveness, this measure of forgiveness to such a degree that I can't help. Hey, I screwed up, I'm not perfect, and my father in heaven forgave me. Why am why am I ever going to hold the trespasses against you? It says in I I think it's in Psalms, I think. This is coming off the top of my head. I think in Psalms where it says David says, Blessed are those where the where the iniquities are not held against the people. Right? Another word for sin. So this is literally the foundation of the gospel is forgiveness. And we have these instructions, these teachings saying, if you don't forgive, God's not gonna forgive you. That's not how this works. We don't do anything to get God to do something. We respond to what he has already done. And in this context, Paul is saying, God has already forgiven you. So what do we do? Look at what he has forgiven you of. Look at the mistakes you've made. Look at the people that you've wronged. And yet God knew you were going to do that and went and do that, and he has already forgiven you. When you sit down and you realize, you know what? Without Christ, I'm a piece of crap. Without Christ, I have done so much junk, I have done so much horrible things, but he has forgiven me anyway. There is such a peace that comes with that. It says, For we have been justified by faith, and we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have access by faith into this grace where we now stay stand. And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God, as in Romans chapter 5, verse 1 and 2. We have peace with God because He's because of what Jesus has done. Sin is no longer an issue. I I want to say that. Sin is no longer an issue. Okay? And so if you're struggling to forgive somebody, keep at it. Now there now we are supposed to still forgive because there is a consequence on the end. Not heaven, not losing our salvation. I might pick this up next week to kind of to kind of fix this. Because God still commands us, he still instructs us to forgive. Paul just said it in Ephesians. You need to forgive. You need to get to the point to forgive. But you're not forgiving so that you can get so you can get something in return. You're forgiving, you're forgiving because God has forgiven you and you're releasing what you have already received. But if you're not releasing what you've already received, you're actually hindering yourself to receive what the Lord wants you to have. Okay? I will go, I I promise. I will go into detail about that next episode. Okay? But the point is it is essential that we understand that whatever Jesus says in the Old Testament, that does not necessarily mean that it's for us in the New Testament. We and so what's my counsel? What's my my my my caution? You need to get well versed in the New Testament. I'm not saying ignore the Old Testament. This is not me. I am not saying, hey, the Old Testament is old, it's forgot, it's long ago, we don't need to listen to it anymore. No, bull bull hockey. If you hear a minister say that, run away as fast as you can. The Old Testament is valuable. There is there is perceptions that we need to have in the New Testament, but we need to learn look learn to look at it with New Testament lenses. We need to learn to see Jesus in the stories of David. We need to learn to see Jesus in the stories of Moses. We need to learn to see Jesus in the era of the judges. We need to see Jesus while Esther is prep is approaching the king. We need to see these things. But we can't see that if we don't know Jesus' character and nature in the New Testament. Not in the Gospels. Now, I'm not saying get rid of the Gospels because it's still the story of Jesus in his ministry. But you need to be be careful on what he is saying. So let me give you some tips. If Jesus is talking to a Pharisee or a religious leader, the Sadducees. If he's talking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees or a religious leader, or if he's talking to a Jew, chances are he's talking about the law. 100% usually he's talking about the law. How do I know this? Because the Jews had the law. If you remember when we talk About the old covenant, the mandate of the old covenant was mercy. The mandate of the new covenant is grace. It says in the book of Hebrews, I think it's chapter 10. We come boldly unto the throne of grace to obtain, to find mercy, to find, to obtain grace. Okay? Mercy must come first before grace. So it's the same concept. Jesus had to get them through the law before he could get them to the grace piece. If he is talking to a Roman, a Gentile or an or or Greek, if he's talking to a Roman or a Greek or any other Gentile, usually he is talking grace. He is talking New Testament. Usually. Because he does not have to talk about the law to them because the law was not given to the Romans. The law was not given to the Greeks. It was not given to the Gentiles. All they know is Jesus. Perfect example of this is that there's this guy who gets healed of his blindness. The Pharisees, the Jews, they're criticizing the man because you they're criticizing Jesus to this man because Jesus worked on the Sabbath because that was according to the law. You can't do anything on the Sabbath because it's supposed to be holy. And look what the man says. He says, I don't know anything about your law. All I know is that Jesus healed me. That is literally a good separation of the two covenants. The law is going to say you didn't follow the rules, but grace is going to say, look what Jesus did to me. Look what the love he's lavished upon me. Look at the miracles he's done in my presence. You see my point? So I will I'll give you those that that list again. If Jesus look at who Jesus is talking to. If he's talking to a Jew, Jew, or a religious leader, he's chances are he's talking about the law. If he's talking to a Gentile or a Roman, including a Roman and a Greek, someone who's not a Jew, he's usually talking grace. He's usually talking about the New Testament because they didn't have the law. Okay? And another thing I want you to look at is that if Jesus is talking to a Jew, or if he's talking to a Gentile, and you don't know who he's talking to, look at what the questions asking being asked. Jesus answered a lot of questions. He was a teacher, and teachers ask teachers answer a lot of questions. It's our job. And so you had a whole bunch of people coming up to Jesus, ask him questions. If you don't know who Jesus is talking to, if you're unsure if this guy is if this person is a Jew or a Roman, if you don't know, look at what the question is asked. If the person asks, what must I do to inherit the kingdom of God? Notice the terms, notice the words. What must I do? In other words, what is the works? What is the deeds? What are the rules that I have to follow to accomplish this? And then Jesus will always say, You need to follow the law. But if you go, but if you but if you see someone who's asking a question, say asking a question, and it has nothing to do with what they need to do, but they're asking questions about Jesus and they're asking questions about what is coming, Jesus is usually talking about the New Testament. Okay? So I hope this was enjoyable to you. I hope this was, I hope this was liberating to you that I'm actually giving you permission to actually look at what Jesus is saying in the Gospels. And I'm giving you permission, not all of it is for you. All of it is beneficial, all of it is essential, but we have to learn to look at it through the eyes of the New Testament and put it into put it in alignment to how we're supposed to be living today. I'm not saying ignore Jesus, heck no, Lord and Savior, sacrilege, don't do that, do not ignore him, okay? Because everything that he says, everything that he says is important, but we have to look at it through New Testament lenses. Okay, so I promise I'm gonna go into greater detail about what I mentioned earlier about the importance of forgiveness. That yeah, we don't forgive to be to be forgiven, but there's still a consequence or there's still a repercussion if you don't forgive. I will go into that because even though we don't follow the law, there's still some consequences if we don't do what the law is requiring. Okay, see that's this deep statement to begin with. But again, I will talk about that uh next episode. So, all in all, I hope this has been a blessing to you, and I hope that you have the rest of your day or the rest of your night.