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Cleansed!/The High Calling! By Pastor Bill Taylor A publication of My Father's House, inc. Volume 7/Issue 14 Prophecy: My truth is beautiful as it concerns My kingdom, as it concerns My holiness, as it concerns My true bride; for she is holy and she’s pure and she’s chaste and My truth shows her beauty and I will show her beauty before the nations. But I also tell you this; My truths can be ugly when My truths expose the wickedness, the ugliness, and the harlotries of those who claim to be Mine and are not. For the false church and the harlot church is an ugly church and she doesn’t want to hear My truth because My truth exposes her ugliness and she doesn’t want to see her ugliness. And because she doesn’t want to see her ugliness she does not want to see My beauty; For My beauty and My truth expose her ugliness when she is compared to My true church; the beauty of My true church shows and the ugliness of the false also is apparent. But I tell you because the false church has tried to suppress My truth in order that her ugliness should not be shown, I will bring forth My truth; I will fight against her with the sword of My mouth, I will strip her naked and I will show her for what she is and all the nations shall see the false church is an ugly harlot. She’s not Mine and never was. Her heart has never been towards Me. She’s loved the idea of My salvation but she’s not loved Me. She’s loved the ideas of My blessings but she’s not loved Me. She has loved to think she was special in My sight but she has not loved Me; she’s not come to Me; she’s not adored Me. She’s not made Me something special in her heart. She’s not tried to please Me. And I tell you; because she has not tried to please Me I will not please her. I will displease her grievously saith the Lord. I will displease her publicly saith the Lord; for she has displeased Me publicly and grievously, thus saith the Lord. Prophecy: I tell you My people, do not think of yourselves as just another voice for I am not just another way, for I am the way. I am the truth. And I am in you. And therefore because I am in you, you are the voice of the truth. You are those who will show My people the way. So don’t look at yourselves as just another way because you have died to yourself and you have taken hold of Me. And now that you have Me you have the way and you have the truth. And those who will hear you they also will know the truth. And don’t look at yourselves My people as just another voice; For you are not another voice, for I have given you My voice and I have given you My truth and I have given you My way. And stand up for what I have given you, says the Lord. For I am with you to do this. And I am a mighty and awesome God that will speak awesomely through you; the only way and the only truth that will save My people in this day and in this age, saith the Lord. For I do not have many ways – I have one way. And you will bring shame upon the false church when they see that what they thought was My way was their way and not My way. And what they thought was your way was indeed My way. For you are My children. I have molded you, formed you and raised you up to show the world My way. And indeed they will see that God is among you, saith the Lord. (Prophecies delivered at “My Father’s House”) Cleansed! He had no pleasure in sacrifice, burnt offerings and offerings for sin (Heb 10:8) – God had no pleasure in them. He does have a pleasure in Behold I come to do Your will O God. (vs 9) That’s what pleases God. It didn’t please Him that people were making sacrifices to be forgiven of sin because God hates sin and forgiveness of sin if it doesn’t cleanse people of sin, so they stop sinning. It doesn’t bring any pleasure to God and it shouldn’t bring any pleasure to you either. For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. (Heb 10:1) And when we look at the word “perfect” and that those sacrifices offered under the law did not make the worshippers perfect because had they been made perfect they would have been purified. This means they would not have that sin spirit working in them anymore. Now I think most churches read this with the idea that this is just pertaining to forgiveness. It is not pertaining to forgiveness. It is pertaining to cleansing and cleansing has forgiveness as a part of it but not the whole of it. For when He says, would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshippers, once purified, would have no more consciousness of sins... (vs 2) obviously once they had been made perfect they would not be sinning anymore. It is not reasonable to think that somebody who has been brought to a place that he has no consciousness of sins is still sinning. If he were sinning he would be conscious of it. Now he has no consciousness of past sin because it has been washed by the Blood and forgiven but he is not conscious of present sin because he has been cleansed of the sin spirit and in that sense “present sin” is not bugging him. Well the sacrifices obviously would make a man feel forgiven under the old covenant; he wasn’t still pining away because of his past guilt. If he brought the appropriate sacrifice, he would feel forgiven of the sin. And if he didn’t receive some measure of or feeling of forgiveness what would be the purpose in bringing a sacrifice? So it’s not talking about that, it’s not saying that that wouldn’t be happening. But the real problem is he’s forgiven of his sin but he’s still a sinner. Under the old covenant he was left a sinner; he was not delivered from being a sinner for the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin. (vs 4) and so he still had a consciousness of sins and had to keep repeating the sacrifices because he continued to sin. Whereas the new covenant is not “Let’s keep sinning and repeating the sacrifices” God now has something better. He never had pleasure in repetitious sacrifice and sin. It says in Galatians that God gave the law to be a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. For the hardness of your hearts this law was given. Moses, because of the hardness of men’s hearts gave a law so that people could divorce, not that God liked divorce. You can see in Malachi how much God hates divorce. But it grieved God when He saw people that had marriages that were not working and they didn’t have the love to be able to work things out. So rather than keep them in a place of suffering, He chose the lesser of two evils and said let them get a divorce so they don’t ruin each other’s lives. But divorce wasn’t pleasing to God. And so much of law is like that. It’s a terrible thing to have to choose a lesser of two evils. And, in a sense, that’s what the Old Covenant was about. So many laws were given because men’s hearts were so hard. And because the means wasn’t yet available to deliver them from being sinners, they were given sacrifices in order to cover their sins. But you see, those sacrifices had to keep repeating because the worshippers still have a consciousness of being sinners. And those sacrifices are a reminder of their sins every year. And so above all here he’s talking about the year of atonement sacrifice, that the people are conscious that they are sinners; and every year the high priest has to go in and make an acceptable offering because the people all know they are sinners and if God doesn’t accept the offering they will die in their sins. And in so much of Christianity today, the people are still sinners; they know they’re sinners; they feel like they’re sinners; they keep on being sinners and they keep coming to church saying forgive me and yet they don’t walk out cleansed. But under the New Covenant If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1John 1:9) To be cleansed from unrighteousness is not merely to be forgiven of sin. To be cleansed of unrighteousness is to have the unrighteousness that caused you to sin to be washed out of you. In Acts 15, it says the believer’s hearts are purified by faith. And when James talks about “purify your hearts you double minded,” it takes a cleansing to purify the heart. For the worshippers, once purified would have had no more consciousness of sins. Now that’s the state you want to be in; to be purified and not to be conscious of sins because the Blood has cleansed the guilt of past sins away, but it’s done something more than that. It’s cleansed me from all unrighteousness. I’m not a sinner anymore. The Blood has also taken the sin spirit out of me. The Blood has also, in the work of God and the power of God and the cleansing of the word and all the things that pertain to this, has cleansed me from the unrighteous influences of sin and the power that would cause me to sin in the first place. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” (John 15:3) Now here’s something you know first hand is true; even if God has forgiven your sin, if there is a lust or there’s something in you that you know is a sin and it keeps rising up, you are not in agreement with what this says, ...For the worshippers once purified would have had no more consciousness of sins. If lust is still bothering you, you are very conscious of that sin. Even if you are not giving in to the temptation you are still very conscious of that sin trying to take you over; trying to make you sin again. In cases like this there’s a very strong consciousness that there is still sin in you. And I’m saying that most Christians today are living in that place where they’re highly conscious of the sin in them For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom 7:19-20,24) These are Romans 7 “Christians” and they are not real Christians and it’s because they haven’t been purified. They haven’t been purified by faith to enter into There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (Rom 8:1) So their form of Christianity is very similar to the Old Covenant. It’s like saying “forgive me I’m a sinner” while not taking hold of Christ by faith to be purified so as to enter into the walk in the Spirit where there is no condemnation. And when there is no condemnation there is no consciousness of sin. And that is what this passage is talking about. And this connects very much to If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1John 1:9) If we confess our sins in a way that God can accept that means we have a true Godly sorrow over our sins. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world produces death. (2Cor 7:10) So if a godly sorrow produces a repentance not to be repented of, that means what? It means the sin is done away with! You’re never going back to it. You’ve been cleansed of it. When you have a Godly sorrow that produces a repentance not to be repented of, there is no more consciousness of sin because you know the Blood of Jesus covers it; you know that God is not going to hold it against you; you know that all those things are taken care of, but you also are no longer plagued by the temptation to sin or do it again because it’s been dealt with – the sin has been crucified – it’s been cleansed out of you. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1John 1:9) Now most people think this means merely saying, “I’m sorry God that I sinned.” But if you walk away after you say I’m sorry I sinned, and you commit that sin again, you were not cleansed and you were not really sorry with a Godly sorrow. You may think you were forgiven but you were not cleansed of all unrighteousness if you are repeating that sin again. So the process that John is talking about to his church when he says if we confess our sins, really means that a true confession of our sins will manifest in a repentance that brings God not only to forgive but also to do something that is very much along the line of Psalm 51. The repentance of David in Psalm 51 was not just, “Forgive me” it was, “Don’t take your Spirit away from me.” (vs 11) It was, “Purge me with hyssop.” (vs 7) It was, “Cleanse me.” (vs 2) And so the Psalm 51 confession of sin is the kind of confession that produces a cleansing from all unrighteousness and that has to be the kind of confession John is talking about when he says if we confess our sins. He doesn’t mean to merely admit them. There are a lot of problems in the churches with people repeating their sins. And much of what this problem comes from is when a sin is shown to you and you make a quick little prayer and you say “I repent” but in reality you don’t think that this sin is very important; it does not grieve you. In reality you don’t see it as a danger to yourself. In reality you may admit that you’ve been caught in it; somebody else has seen it and pointed it out to you but it doesn’t seem to be very serious and it doesn’t seem to bother you and so you just make a what we will call a kind of legal “going through the motions of” repentance, but it isn’t from your heart; it doesn’t come from a heart broken over sin. And God doesn’t hear such a repentance. You’re really not sorry for the sin. You don’t really want to be delivered from the sin. You don’t really see how that sin is hurting you, and hurting others. You are just going through a ritualistic, token repentance and then you go right back to the sin because you haven’t hated the sin. You haven’t feared the sin. You haven’t been grieved over the sin. You haven’t examined the sin and seen what danger it poses to you and God and the kingdom and the church. So you just flip off a confession to God thinking you are fulfilling the scriptures. Well, 1st Corinthians 13 says “without love it profits you nothing.” A flippant confession doesn’t have any love in it, not for anybody. And it doesn’t profit you anything if it doesn’t come out of your heart. If it doesn’t have the reality of a Godly sorrow in it; if you’re not paying serious attention to overcoming the sin, God does not cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” “But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins” – He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go your way to your house.” (Mark 2:4-5,10-11) “Your sins are forgiven” but we can’t see when somebody’s sins are forgiven can we? So how do we know that there was any reality to what Jesus said? Jesus Himself knew that if people were to believe the man’s sins were forgiven He would have to show them a proof. Now it’s a similar thing when He is talking in John 11 and He said, “Father, I know You always hear Me but for the sakes of those around Me, I’m saying this.” So Jesus is speaking aloud so the people around Him will know what’s really going on between Him and the Father. And it’s a similar thing when Jesus heals this man as a proof that God has given man the power to forgive sins. So Jesus says, “Rise and take up your bed and walk.” Then in the miracle of the healing there is a confirmation from God that forgiveness has also taken place, since God would not heal somebody He hasn’t forgiven. So in the miracle of the visible healing, the forgiveness that we can’t see is proven. And this is a similar thing when we connect 1st John 1:9 with Hebrews 10, if you have been cleansed from all unrighteousness then there is no longer a consciousness of sin. Now the fact that you’ve been delivered from the consciousness of sin is a thing that is perceptible. You can know that you’ve walked away from the prayer altar clean; not only am I forgiven of the sin; I’ve been delivered from that sin. Thus in the fact that you know this sin is not bugging you anymore you can also know you’ve been forgiven. In the fact that God has delivered you from the pressure and temptation and influence that used to keep you in bondage, you know that the bondage has been broken so then it’s absolutely certain you’ve been forgiven because God wouldn’t have broken the bondage if He didn’t forgive you also. So Hebrews 10 is talking about the New Covenant believer being in a state of perfection; where God through the sacrifice of Christ has perfected you and you know you’re perfected because you’ve been delivered from the consciousness of sin; the consciousness that you are a sinner; the consciousness that sin has a dominion over you, the consciousness that you are continually regaining the guilt that you are trying to expiate by repeated sacrifices. Like when you try to get rid of your sin by saying, “Please forgive me God” and then two days later you’re back into the sin again. You look at these pathetic Catholics going to confession and mass every week; repeating their sins over and over and over; “but now I’ve taken mass so I’m cleansed. Two days later I’m guilty again. I can’t wait to get back to confession and take mass again.” This is a ridiculous system of sacrifice repeated over and over, which never accomplishes a real cleansing of the people. That’s why it isn’t Christianity. It doesn’t accomplish what Hebrews 10 says real Christianity does. When you have a real Christianity you can come to Jesus, confess your sin from the heart, and the blood of Jesus, the single sacrifice of Christ, covers the forgiveness of your sins and also the power of Christ when you come boldly to the throne of grace, delivers you from the bondage to those sins. How do I know I’m forgiven? It is because I know I’m clean. How do I know I’m clean? It’s because I know the sin doesn’t have dominion over me anymore, the power of the sin is broken. So I walk away knowing I’m forgiven because I know I’m cleansed; I have a victory over that sin. I’m not a captive anymore. I have been healed in a sense. The healing proves the forgiveness. And that produces what is described here as the New Covenant the Behold I have come to do your will, O’ God.... He takes away the first that he may establish the second. (Heb 10:9) Now understand this, as long as a person is still a sinner and feels the dominion of sin over him he is of little value to do the will of God and what God is looking for is a people who can do His will. Now we hear these “sinner Christian” people say no one can stop being a sinner, but the Spirit is saying how can you possibly be a sinner and serve the Lord? Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” (John 8:34) Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? (Rom 6:16) If I’m all the time feeling my sin, feeling the power of sin; the dominion of sin, and the guilt and temptation of sin is pushing me around all day long, how can I serve God effectually? If sin always has dominion over me then what happens is in my prayers I will end up praying for forgiveness for myself and not much else. And we’ve gone through that here. We see how many people we have had to rebuke because every time they pray they are praying selfishly, only for themselves. And do you know what’s the problem – they haven’t gotten into love yet where they are conscious of the needs of the people around them; they are still conscious only of their own needs. So they are no good as intercessors for others. And they are conscious of their own needs because they are still much conscious of their own sin and they haven’t taken hold by faith of the fact that through Christ they can be cleansed of that sin and the consciousness that they are a sinner can be broken. And I’m telling you, if the consciousness that you are a sinner is broken you’ve stopped sinning or the other side of it is some people’s consciences are so seared they don’t care. Well a person who is so seared that he doesn’t feel the effects of sin is not in a real church. If he’s so seared that he can’t feel the effects of sin he’s out there pleasing his flesh; that’s what he is doing. A person who has some sense of wanting to be around God or wanting to do something for God, you see, when he gets to the place that he can see that his sins are forgiven and that he knows that God has cleansed him from all unrighteousness, now he doesn’t have to be distracted by sin anymore. To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. (Luke 1:74-75) Now he can focus completely on the will of God, which is what God is after. He’s after a people who are so focused on doing His will, “I’ve come to do Your will, my complete intention is to do Your will, God. And now I am focused on the will of God.” And we can do that and be like that through the New Covenant of Christ. And I have testified here many times, that I have no consciousness of sin; I don’t even know when I could have time to sin. I’m so full of the will of God, so filled with doing the will of God I don’t even have time to think about sinning, let alone getting into it. God keeps us so immersed in Him and His work that there is no consciousness of sin. Idle hands make sinners. People in the Spirit of Christ are occupied; and they can be so occupied with good things, that there is no space for the bad to come in? And yet people who are under dominion of these evil thoughts and stuff like that, where is the space for God to get in? You see, the one has to be broken that the other can be established. And that is exactly what Hebrews 10 is talking about, that through the work of Christ, By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. Now hook the word perfected up with verse 1 “Those sacrifices which they offer continually can not make those who approach perfect, for had they been made perfect the sacrifices would have ceased to be offered. For the worshippers would not have any more consciousness of sins.” Now I can translate that into modern day language by saying that if I don’t have a consciousness of sin then I don’t have to say every time I pray, “Lord, forgive my sins.” So if I know I am sinning I ask God to forgive me because I am convinced that I’ve sinned but if I am not conscious that I’m sinning – then I can pray freely about other things, intercessions and such instead of always praying, “Lord forgive me of my sins.” But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. (1Pet 5:10) So God promises He will perfect you. And when you reach the place that there is no consciousness of sins why would you ask God to forgive them when you are not conscious that you’re doing any sin – it wouldn’t occur to you to ask for forgiveness. That most of the time a person who’s in that place that he is not conscious of sin because he is not sinning, he’s been cleansed and he’s working for the Lord and he’s doing the will of God, it doesn’t really occur to him to pray “Father forgive me for my sins” because he’s been perfected; he’s not sinning and there is nothing to ask to be forgiven of. Why does he keep repeating the “forgive me” sacrifice if he’s not sinning? Hebrews 10 is quite a lesson, isn’t it? So what kind of church is teaching you to pray everyday, “Forgive us. We’re just sinners?” Mature Christians can go for days without praying, “Forgive me” because they’re not conscious of anything to be forgiven of. We can pray for hours interceding for the things of God, for the things of the church, for the people around us without being conscious that we need any forgiveness. We have been forgiven of past sin and we are not presently sinning so why would we ask for more forgiveness? The past is already covered and the present is righteousness. And is there something wrong with that? How can we be “sinning” if we are immersed in prayer and the will of God and walking in the Spirit? And so we have been purified and have no more consciousness of sins. This doesn’t mean that we’re infallible; we are not speaking of infallibility here. We are saying that the Lord is able to keep us from falling but we have to cooperate. We have to stay in faith. We have to continue to be led by His Spirit at all times. This is not infallibility, it is diligence that keeps us but this diligence can produce a person who doesn’t fall. A person who is diligent can stay in a place of not falling even though he’s not infallible. He can stay in a place where he doesn’t fall because the Lord can keep him that well if he’s diligent. And when we’re in a place where we are diligent and faithful about the Lord’s business we are in a place where we are not conscious of sin and furthermore if there were any consciousness of sin it would immediately separate us from God and it would immediately get in the way of any work we’re doing for God. And the fact that we have fellowship with God is an indication that anytime you’re really having a fellowship with the Spirit you’re not in sin and you are not conscious of sin. You’re conscious of God. You’re conscious of the fellowship you have with Him and you’re not conscious that you’re a sinner. Because the people who feel they are sinners in the presence of God, they are feeling conviction and they are very, very much pushed to repent by the presence of God. Where as the people who are not conscious of sins can really feel the love; they can feel the guidance, the power, the instruction and really feel the joy of the Lord; they can really take hold of the affections of God. So even our perceptions of God are different because of whether we are conscious of being a sinner or whether we have been cleansed and have no more consciousness of sins. “Behold I come to do Your will O’ God, He takes away the first, He takes away the actual system of religion that makes us conscious of sin which requires a continual sacrifice. Now notice what the effect of it is: the system of repeated sacrifice makes them conscious they are sinners. Under the Old Covenant God was making the people so aware they were sinners that they could never forget it. And that is what the Baptist-type Christians are doing to the people today. And such churches are going back to the Old Covenant form of making people continually aware they are sinners. You’re just going to be a sinner forever and that’s what you are. You have to keep bringing that sacrifice for sin, keep coming to church and bring that sacrifice, keep confessing your sin as though God could not really forgive it. And under the Old Covenant He couldn’t do away with sin. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. (Heb 10:4) And God didn’t like that system. He instituted it only as a temporary expedience to keep things under control until Christ came. The law was just a tutor. It was to keep us in check and keep us from running loose and letting sin run wild; be wildfire – like when the fullness of the Amorites comes in, and the iniquities of the Amorites becomes full because nothing is restraining their sin. Their sin would grow and grow and become something like Sodom and Gomorrah; until you had to destroy them. Well, in order not to do that God instituted this Mosaic legal system with the Jews. And you know what? He still had to almost destroy them a couple of times. But if they had paid attention to the law He could have kept sin in check. And the whole purpose was to get them to Christ without them becoming Sodomites and Amorites. But it wasn’t that He liked the Old Covenant way of sin and sacrifice. No. What He liked was “I’ve come to do Your will” and that’s what He’s given us in the New Covenant. For it is possible for the blood of Jesus to take away sins. He has given us one sacrifice that has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. (vs 14) How glorious that verse is. What a wonderful verse that is. By that one sacrifice of Jesus, He has perfected those who receive that sacrifice so that they can be cleansed of all unrighteousness, cleansed of the consciousness of being sinners and the power of sin taken away so they can do the will of God. This doesn’t mean we’re not growing in holiness. You see, he says He’s perfected those who are being. Perfected is a past tense, being is a present tense. We are being sanctified. We are being made more and more holy but we are conscious, not of sin, we’re conscious of Christ. We are conscious of His work in us. Even when we find out “oh there’s a sin that hasn’t been dealt with,” we probably were not conscious of it until God showed it to us but as soon as He shows it to us, when we repent properly, confess our sin, and have a Godly sorrow and bring it up before the Lord, He cleanses us of it and we return to a place where we are not conscious of sin anymore. And we should be in a place where there is nothing against us, as Paul says, “I know nothing against myself, but that doesn’t justify me, the Lord is my justification.” (1Cor 4:4) There may be something down in there that hasn’t been dealt with that would come out in a certain circumstance but I’m not seeing it, I’m not in that circumstance and I’m not conscious of it because everything that has been out in the open has been dealt with; it’s been cleansed. But now if I get into a circumstance where something pops out that I didn’t know was there, I wasn’t conscious of it before I got into that circumstance. I only become conscious of it when it flares up. And then when it flares up and I’m very grieved and sorry and I take it to the Lord, it is covered by the past tense “perfected” of Hebrews 10:14, that sacrifice Jesus made takes care of this too. And when I properly bring it to God, I’m cleansed of it and I walk away with no more consciousness of sin, back to – “I can do Your will O’ God” because that one sacrifice has cleansed forever, perfected forever, those who are being sanctified. Whatever pertains to my perfection, just take it back to the cross. I take that sin back to the cross and I don’t walk away a sinner! And that’s the point God is teaching us here. I walk away cleansed of that sin because if you are confessing that sin and walking away still a dirty sinner you haven’t gone to the cross with it. You haven’t taken it to Jesus properly. You have not come to Christ and said, “If You are willing, You can make me clean” – where Jesus says, “I’m willing.” Because if you are conscious of a sin in you, you are a leper and you need to come to Jesus and you need to get clean. And if you walk away still feeling like a sinner, still carrying that temptation with you, still carrying that flaw in your character (whatever you want to call it), you never got to Jesus because you see, He would have cleansed you if you would have come to Him. So you have to get to Christ and the work of His cross. You must get back to that purifying work of Christ that heals, and cleanses you of sin so that you can function under the New Covenant without a consciousness of sin and you can do the will of God. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. (Heb 10:15-18) Now you contrast that with the Old Covenant where they have to offer sacrifices year after year. And why are they offering year after year? Because they have a consciousness of being sinners – For then would they not have ceased to be offered? (Heb 10:2) Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. And here is the beauty and the Good News of the New Covenant – If you will confess your sin in the right way, from the heart, doing everything possible to correct the wrong you’ve done – bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance, Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham;” (Luke 19:8-9) If you’ll confess your sin with a love for God in your heart and a love for your brethren; “this is the love of the brethren that you keep the commandments,” (2John 6) if you will confess your sin recognizing that your sin has been a danger to the brethren, it’s hurt them, it’s hurt you and it’s hurt God, truly being sorry, and if you have a heart that wants to please God and be able to do God’s will; then He’s faithful and just to forgive your sin, to forgive it and forget it. And you’ll never have to make another sacrifice for that sin again and you’ll never do that sin again because there is a remission. That’s the beauty of the covenant we have with God. That’s the glory of it. That’s the power of it. Now what I am asking is are you in this covenant? Because this is the way it works in real Christianity. You get cleansed so that you are not even conscious anymore of being a sinner or letting any sin have dominion over you. You are cleansed. There is no more “Forgive me, forgive me” everyday. The only time you have to say “Forgive me” is when you fall into an accidental sin that you weren’t aware was there and for some reason it showed up; God set it up to get it out of you or something like that but the fact of the matter is any sin that has already popped up in you, you’ve taken it to the cross. It’s been demolished by the Blood and the word. It has been covered. It is gone. Its power has been broken. You walk away clean. You walk away without guilt. You walk away a new creation. You walk away without any consciousness of sin. God doesn’t remember it and you don’t need to be concerned with it because you have been cleansed. It doesn’t come back on you, it doesn’t keep bugging you, it doesn’t keep trying to make you sin again. Where this covenant is working it sets you free. Not just from guilt. In fact the reason why you know you’re forgiven and you know you don’t need to be guilty is because the power of the sin has been broken. Sin shall not have dominion over you. (Rom 6:14) The real New Covenant sets you free from the power of the sin. You’ve been healed. Now you know your sin is forgiven. The sin power has been broken, and you know by that the sin is forgiven. You’re not a sinner anymore. “Christians Aren’t Sinners.” Why aren’t they sinners? It is because their sins have been remitted and the power of sin has been broken and they don’t have a consciousness of the temptation anymore. They don’t have a consciousness of the guilt anymore. They don’t have to keep running around saying, “Forgive me” because they are not doing anything that needs to be forgiven because the New Covenant changes us from a bunch of people who are continually conscious of not doing the will of God and having to say “Forgive me, Forgive me, Forgive me” It changes us into a people who have “come to do Your will” and we are doing the will of God and we are so connected to God’s will that we shouldn’t even have time to be thinking about other things; sin the least of them. And we know and can testify that this New Covenant power works – we have the testimony of not being conscious of being sinners anymore. I’m so conscious of doing the work of the Lord, of the things I’m doing for God; I’m so filled with joy in the work of the Lord that there is no place left for any consciousness of sin. So true New Covenant Christians are too busy doing God’s will to be messing around with anything that is sin. And we thank You God for making such a wonderful way of salvation for us. And we praise You and thank You Lord that Your word is going forth and it’s even now setting people free from these wicked false forms of Christianity that in most cases are nothing but a “new” form, or a replay of the Old Covenant. These are the churches where people are continually conscious of being sinners and they never come to the place where they can say, “I’m doing God’s will” because they haven’t come out of the Old Covenant and into the New. But like a dog returns to his vomit they keep returning to their sin. (2Pet 2:22) They’re doing the thing God hates; sacrificing again and again for the same sins. God hates the Old Covenant – He loves the New Covenant. And they’re still doing the thing that displeases Him instead of coming into what pleases Him. then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the second. (Heb 10:9) We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. (1John 5:18) Prophecy: Thus saith the Lord, because I have called you forth in this wicked age therefore My Spirit is with you abundantly. I have given you much grace. And I tell you my children; I am with you to accomplish all that I have called you to do. For I have called you to do great and awesome things and everything you need I have given to you. For I tell you My children that I have called you forth for a specific purpose to show others the way and you are the ones who are blazing the trail. You are the ones who have set forth My word in this age where My true word is hard to find. For I tell you, many will come and many will see that I have given you all and that I have given you much that you can be the ones to raise the standard high and you can be the ones to bring home the children of God. And thus saith the Lord, these things are a sure thing, these things are already written. For I have called you forth and I am fulfilling all My word in you, saith the Lord. Prophecy: I speak to you now on the subject of faith; for I have heard your many prayers asking for Me to increase your faith. And you know as I have taught you that without faith it’s impossible to please Me and that every victory that you will receive from My hand will come to you by faith. And even now you are beginning to taste of the deeper levels of My faith, beginning to experience the realities of that kind of faith and power that Stephen knew, that Paul knew, that the Apostles received from My Son, which faith is above all the recognition of My presence in you and with you and the acknowledgment that I will do My will through you and the understanding of that will so that nothing can cause you to doubt that it will be done. And that as you acknowledge My presence in you and recognize My presence in you and as you recognize My Spirit in you, guiding you into My will, you will do My will and you will do My will to the uttermost. And as you have and use the faith that I’m giving to you more will be given until you ascend into the highest levels of the operations of My Spirit and My power, until men will marvel and fear and tremble before the mighty works that I do through a people who know that I am in them and with them and working through them, saith the Lord. (Prophecies delivered at “My Father’s House”) The High Calling of God! Prophecy: Thus saith the Lord, My children I tell you that all around there are people who have a floating Christianity. I tell you that they have no idea what the battles are. They could not even begin to relate to you and what you are fighting for. For to them they think that the battles are whether I’m going to pay their bills or whether I’m going to do for them in the things that are temporal. But I tell you that you through Me have found what truly matters. You know that I have shown you that keeping My commandments is what matters. And that is what you have been fighting for and that is what you have stood for because I am in you and I am working through you. And thus saith the Lord, there are a people who will be able to relate to what you are doing and what you are fighting for. And I tell you My people, it is the poor and the needy; the ones that are hungering for Me, the ones that desire to know Me and are being tried and the enemy is trying to stop them and keep them from knowing Me. They will see you fight; they are seeing you fight even now and they are beginning to see for I am showing them what the battle is, what is important to Me, what is worth fighting for in this temporal life. For it is My word that stands – it is keeping My word that stands. And I have raised you up not only to obey it but to fight to keep it and to fight against the enemy, to bring those in, the poor and the needy who desire to know how to obey My word. Those are the ones that are going to relate to what you are doing. But those out there that have no idea what real battle is they cannot relate, but thus saith the Lord, be of good courage. I am in you. I am fighting through you. And the poor and the needy who I through My tender mercies am going to save, they will see what you are doing and they are going to rejoice and they will know what a righteous warfare is, what fighting for God is, what standing up for My word is and what it is to obey My word, saith the Lord. (Prophecy delivered at "My Father's House") I press toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:14) Now in Genesis 6 it says God is going to destroy man from the face of the earth for He is sorry that He made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. (Gen 6:8) For Noah was a just man perfect in his generations. (vs 9) Righteous before Me in this generation. (Gen 7:1) And the idea that Noah was perfect in his generations is an indication that he lived up to the highest standard that God could set for man in that day. And God will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. (Gen 18:25) And because Noah was found righteous in his generation, God will not destroy him and He has mercy upon him. Now an interesting fact to consider here is that God could have taken Noah’s family up out of the world and destroyed the earth and started over with a recreation of the earth and the animals. He has the power to do that. But you know what? God rested on the seventh day and He wasn’t willing to recreate the earth and the animals. He created them once and now He’s resting and now He’s going to save them by letting Noah work. So the way God saved them is by telling Noah what to do and Noah did the work and God rested. And there’s a revelation here that God has done His part of the work but now He’s telling us what to do so that we can do our part in His work and we can enter into His rest. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. (Heb 4:10-11) And so you see in the salvation that God gives to Noah, the mercy is that He tells him what to do, not that God does it for him. And the fact that Noah believes God and obeys God and does the work God tells him to do is called “faith.” By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. (Heb 11:7) And that is a picture of salvation in which the Lord gives Noah the instruction and the grace to obey and complete the work after which Noah can enter into God’s rest. And this very much connects with “it’s the Lord who works in you to will and do of His good pleasure” (Phil 2:13) that in this sense God does work in you but it isn’t Him working apart from you; He’s working through you. And so in one of our first and most important scriptural pictures of salvation the idea is completely defeated that you might think you’re just going to sit back and God is going to save you with you doing nothing. How “saved” would Noah have been if he had done nothing? So, any church that is trying to tell you salvation is composed of you doing nothing, just believing, is heretical because the fact that Noah “believed” the flood was coming and the fact that Noah “believed” the way to escape the flood was to obey God and build an ark and the fact that Noah went to work in obedience to God is what saved him. And faith without works is dead. (James 2:20) And it is because Noah had the faith to obey God and do the work God instructed him to do – that Noah was “saved.” And after he completed his part in the work, he was able to enter into God’s rest. “For we who have believed do enter that rest…” (Heb 4:3) And that’s real faith and that’s Hebrews 11 faith and by the faith that worked and built something, Noah condemned the world. (Heb 11:7) And today we people of faith are building something too. We are building our ark, which is the true church; which is our safety from the flood of ungodliness around us, and we are doing it the way God is telling us to do it; following His plan. And as we do it, we are condemning those around us who are not doing it. They like to think that you can’t really obey God and that you can’t have church the way the Bible says, and they use that as their excuse but by the very fact that we can do it and have done it, we are proving them wrong and because of our obedience they are being condemned that they don’t do it. And so Noah lived up to the highest standard of God that was available in his time. Noah was righteous in his generation. And what does Jesus say about John the Baptist? “There is none greater born of woman,” there’s no greater prophet than John the Baptist. John the Baptist has lived up to the highest standard of righteousness in his generation. He’s the example of the most righteous man you will ever see that’s born of woman. But he that is born of God is greater. (Luke 7:28) Now, the highest standard of righteousness in our generation is to be born of God through Christ Jesus and have Jesus in us. So lets say it this way, Noah demonstrated the highest righteousness then available until the time of Abraham. And then Abraham did something that demonstrated a greater righteousness. The righteousness demonstrated by Abraham was higher than what was available in Noah’s day. And then there was a righteousness that was demonstrated by Moses that brought in the righteousness of the law. And under the righteousness that came in through Moses, there is an advancement in righteousness beyond what was previously available. It’s a higher righteousness. And John the Baptist was as righteous as a man could be under that righteousness. And each of these patriarchs lived up to the highest righteousness available to them in their generations and so they were found righteous before God. But now we have a higher righteousness. And the righteousness, which we are looking at today, is found in the faith to have Christ live His life in us which John the Baptist couldn’t attain to. And Noah couldn’t do it. And even Abraham couldn’t do it because in his generation it wasn’t available. But Noah found mercy because he lived up to the highest righteousness in his generation. Today, you will not find mercy if you’re only as righteous as Noah. Today, you will not find mercy if you are only as righteous as John the Baptist. Today, the righteousness we have to live up to is the righteousness that is available in our generation and it’s Christ in you; it’s a righteousness that is far higher than what you can have in the Mosaic. It’s far higher than what John the Baptist could have. And unfortunately what we have going on around us today is in most of the churches they are not anywhere near to attaining to that righteousness of truly having Christ live in them. (Gal 2:20) Meaning, “as He is so are we in this world.” (1John 4:17) He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. (1John 2:6) And if you are not living up to the righteousness that’s available in this generation which is to have Christ formed in you, you do not qualify for the mercy that Noah received or the blessings that Abraham received. Because unless Christ is in you – the hope of glory – you are not going to be receiving the true grace of God, as in Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. “Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants-- everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant-- Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isa 56:6-7) Now what we have here is a promise that God will be the God of the Gentiles not just the God of the Jews. Any Gentile who will come to My house, join themselves to Me, hold to My covenant, their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar. Now let’s look at Romans, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. (Rom 15:16) In other words Paul’s ministry is to fulfill this prophecy in Isaiah 56:6-7. I’m bringing the Gentiles to the house of God and I am teaching them how to make an acceptable offering. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Rom 12:1-2) And the acceptable offering in Hebrews is, Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. (Heb 10:8-9) So “I’ve come to do Your will O’ God,” is the acceptable while “sacrifice and offering” is not what God is looking for, nor will He accept them anymore. Now in Zechariah, when the people sent Sherezer, with Regem-Melech and his men, to the house of God, to pray before the LORD, and to ask the priests who were in the house of the LORD of hosts, and the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years?” (Zech 7:2-3) The fast they are speaking about has to do with their remembering the destructions of Jerusalem, and the temple, and the people’s captivity and the captives lamenting over these things before the Lord. But now the captives have returned and they are rebuilding the temple, so should they stop fasting seems to be a good question. Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me-- for Me? When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? Should you not have obeyed the words which the LORD proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and the South and the Lowland were inhabited?’” (Zech 7:4-7) So what is God saying here? Is He asking for fastings and sacrifices? No! If you don’t give Him your obedience first then your sacrifices and fastings mean nothing. (Isa 1:13,17) God keeps asking for obedience, you keep giving sacrifices. “You come in here asking Me if you should continue to fast in the fifth month,” God says, “I’ve never asked you to do that. What I wanted you to do is obey!” Obedience is what God is looking for. Then the word of the LORD came to Zechariah, saying, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.’” (Zech 7:8-10) “Do that and your sacrifices will be acceptable. Don’t do that and you can’t make Me listen to you, I don’t care what kind of sacrifice you bring.” And this is what has been so hard to get across to the churches today. In order to make the Gentile’s offering acceptable, (Isa 56:7, Rom 15:16) you have to teach the Gentiles to: “Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother, do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor.” You must teach the believers how to obey God because if they obey God from the heart and they truly do good, God will accept their sacrifices. But if they don’t obey God – Forget it – their religion is nothing. If it doesn’t start with obedience, then, “And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matt 15:9) and Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. (1Cor 7:19) “Your rituals and religious activities mean nothing to Me,” God says. “What is important is that you keep My commandments and Obey Me!” So Paul’s ministry is to make the offering of the gentiles acceptable to God. So what is Paul teaching them? How to bring a nice lamb to the altar? No, he’s teaching them how to obey God from the heart. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. (Ps 51:6) He’s teaching them how to have faith for Jesus the Truth to live in them so they can listen to His voice and follow His Spirit and be truly living up to the righteousness that’s available to us in our generations. In which case our prayers will be heard. Our praises will be received. Our thanksgivings will be a delight to God because our hearts are right and we are obedient to Him. And in that Isaiah 56:6-7 will be fulfilled. So Paul has stepped into the stream of the power and the grace and the mercy of God; a stream of God’s Spirit that has to and will fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 56 because the scripture must be fulfilled. (Mark 14:49) And God has spoken in His word that He will bring the Gentiles into His house and He will make their offerings acceptable. So Paul has entered into God’s ministry to fulfill that. I press toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:14) Now is there any wonder why there is so much power in Paul’s ministry? Paul is walking in the highest righteousness available in his generation. And the way we get into that stream of God’s righteousness and power is to do the same as Paul. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil 3:8-10,12-14) And this means we must find out what God is doing in our day, what He has ordained that He will do, and what He has prophesied that applies to right now. So if by the Spirit we can look into the word and see this is what God wants to do and now is the time to do it, and we call upon the Lord to help us to do what He has prophesied He wants to do and will do, then we step into that mighty river of the stream of God’s Spirit (Ezek 47:1-12) and righteous grace that cannot be stopped and God will empower us to do all that He has prophesied. And so we enter into the righteousness of faith, the highest righteousness and the highest calling of God in our generation. And the stream we at My Father’s House are stepping into is the Spirit that will bring Christ’s church into perfection; (Eph 5:27) she will be the Glory of God in this earth. And we are in the stream that is causing that to come to pass. So we’re in the stream that Paul was in – the river of God’s Spirit bringing to pass His prophetic word. Most of the “churches” and “believers” around us are absolutely ignorant of this; they are outside of God’s river because they have not sought the Lord or His word to see what He is doing. And they are doing their own works and not His. But the Lord has graciously led us into His true works as He did Paul, as He did the true saints before us in their time; as John the Baptist lived up to the highest calling in his time; as Noah lived up to the highest calling in his time; Abraham the highest calling in his time; Moses the highest calling in his time; David the highest calling in his time and God grant us all grace that we may be living up to the highest calling of God in our time that we may also be found righteous in our generations. In Jesus name, Amen! Prophecy: I have made you fellow citizens with the prophets and the saints. For even as you are fighting now for My word to go forth, you are now relating and can relate to how Paul fought so bravely to establish My word in his day. And he can relate to you and know that you are a brother to him as you can relate to him. For you are the true saints who are following in the footsteps of the fathers, who have the faith of Abraham and who are doing the works of David and Paul and Christ. And there are so many who claim to be My people who can not relate to what you are doing because they have never even fought the battle to bring My word to their own children in their own homes. How can they know how to fight to bring it to strangers? And I tell you they are not fellow citizens with the saints and the prophets. I tell you, they cannot relate to you and they cannot relate to Me and I cannot relate to them; for they are not My people. But you, the very idea that you understand the battle because you are in it makes you Mine – through and through Mine – sons of God – a family – a citizenship – a nation of My people, saith the Lord. (Prophecies delivered at My Father’s House)
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