Receiving God's Covenant Love
FOUNDATION
STATEMENT: The hesed/agape covenant love of the Father must be received
by believers and it’s received by faith.-Deuteronomy 7:8
I.
The character of God is
Hesed covenant love
A. “Love” is in the verb
form and it is the Greek word Agapeo
1. Agapao – to totally
give yourself to
a. It’s what we bind
ourselves with and become one with (1 Corinthians 6:17)
b. It’s total commitment and
consumption
c. It is in every sense of
the word fanaticism
d. It’s what we put first in
our lives
e. It’s a commitment love
2. Hebrews 13:5 – I
will never leave you nor forsake you
B. Psalm 86:15 – Full
of compassion
1. Every molecule of his
make up is full of compassion
C. Exodus 34:5-7 – God
is describing Himself is to Moses
1. Merciful (Rahum) –
compassionate, full of compassion
2. Gracious (Hannun) –
compassionate
3. Longsuffering (Arek)
– slow to anger, patient
4. Abundant (Rab) –
Great, enough, plenteous, suffice, too much, abundantly, exceedingly,
increased, full, great multitude
5. Goodness (Hesed) –
Hesed/Agape, loving-kindness, goodness, tender-mercy
6. Truth (Met) –
faithfulness, reliability, trustworthiness, the book of truth is a reliable
book
II.
The Hesed Love of God in
action (Isaiah 54:7-17)
A. When Jesus died on the
cross and God turned his back on Jesus that’s when God turned his face (7)
1. The wrath of the curse of
the covenant came down and there was only one sacrifice to bear it and it was
Jesus
B. The moment it was over
with he said this is as the waters of Noah with me, my wrath will never come
again (9)
1. Genesis 8:21- And the
mark of the covenant was the rainbow that went 360 degrees around the throne of
God
2. Wroth (qasap) –
provoked to wrath, enraged, angry
3. Rebuked –
reprimand, scolding
C. God corrects us teaches
us and trains us with covenant hesed/agape
1. Hebrews 12:5 – The
chastisement of the Lord
a. Isaiah 53:5 – The
price for my peace was upon him
1)
Chastisement
(musar) – instruction, correction, discipline, rebuker, check, bond,
chasten
2. My hesed/agape,
loving-kindness, and goodness shall not depart from you (10)
a. Shall not –
Covenant talk – there isn’t anything else that is going to happen here
besides what I have said
3. The three tools God uses
to instruct the New Testament Believer
a. His Spirit is for our
instruction, training (John 14:26)
b. His word is for our
instruction and training (2 Tim 3:16-17)
1)
The
word is what perfects me and equips me (John 15:3)
c. His called and anointed
people were given to the body to instruct and train (Ephesians 4:12-15)
D. 10-Covenant of Peace This
is a covenant that promises you everything
1. 14-You’re right with me
because Jesus is right with me and when you came into covenant with him through
faith you were made right with his righteousness
a. In right-standing with me
you are established
b. You go talking covenant
and you won’t have any fear
2. 15-The terror, fear, and
the oppression are not coming from him
3. 17-No weapon-That’s
covenant talk brother There’s no hesitation
a. Romans 8:37 – We
are more than conquerors through him that hesed/agapes me
E. 17- You get your
inheritance because you were born into the right family
1. Do you have to earn your
inheritance?
III.
Through
hesed/loving-kindness/tender-mercy I will not be moved (Psalm 21:7)
A. The Most High (Elyon)
– Name of God that focuses on supremacy and power – It is a name
that says there is no existing thing or god that is higher than the Most High
– It is a name that is untouchable in quality, and incomprehensible in
dominion and might
1. Through the hesed/agape,
loving-kindness, and tender-mercies or El Elyon, the Most High God, who has
incomprehensible dominion and might towards me I will not be moved
2. Moved (mot) – fall,
be shaken, toppled, stagger
B. 8-The psalmist calls them
your enemies
1. Whoever comes against me
is your enemy
C. 9-12-The back side of
hesed/agape, loving-kindness, goodness, tender-mercies has some serious teeth
D. Psalm 63:3 – Your
hesed/agape is better than life
IV.
Receiving Hesed
A. 8-God is a covenant
keeping God
B. 9-The Lord who you’re in
covenant with is God
1. He is God – Elohim
– describes God’s greatness and glory; it displays God’s power, total
power and might and complete creativity
a. The almighty God, creator
of Heaven and Earth who is faithful and keeps His covenant is showing
hesed/agape, loving-kindness, goodness, tender-mercies to those that keep the
covenant
C. 12-You have to exercise
your covenant by standing on it and doing it
1. It didn’t say that God’s
covenant hesed might show up if you do what he said to do – It said, “It
shall, it will come to pass”
2. There’s no other outcome
in “It will”. This isn’t leaving any room for anything else to happen, but what
it says is going to happen. This is covenant talk, this is guaranteed, fully
persuaded, beyond a doubt that if I do this, then this will happen
D. 12-15-Hesed in motion
1. If you want to see hesed
in motion then keep the terms of the covenant by doing what I tell you to do
2. “IF YE” – that
didn’t say “IF GOD”, that said “IF YOU”
a. Who’s determining whether
or not the hesed covenant shows up?
Not God…We are
3. If you hearken – If
you hear my words and do them
a. You have to do what the
word of the covenant says to do if you want to see the hesed/agape,
loving-kindness, goodness and tender mercy of the covenant show up in your life
4. How much hesed you’re
experiencing in your life right now is based on how diligently you’re
exercising in your covenant?
a. In every situation the
question is, “What did God tell me to do?”
Then the answer is do it
5. There’s no other thing
that can come to pass if I do what he told me to do
a. Hesed is looking for a
people that will hold onto his word and hear it and do it and refuse to do
anything else but what he said.
Hesed is just waiting on you to grab hold of that word and refuse to do
or say or think or compromise on one inch of it so that it can come to pass in
the area of your life that you need
E. 15-19-Hesed/agape, loving-kindness,
tender-mercy, goodness is a parental type of love that has teeth if you mess
with its children
F. Psalm 32:10 – Faith
is the bridge that hesed crosses to come into and overflow your life
1. When you refuse to doubt
and waver and compromise the flood gates of hesed will open up and flood your
life totally overwhelming you from every angle
a. Hesed/agape,
loving-kindness, goodness, tender-mercies will go before you, stand behind you,
rest above you and settle under you, it will be to your right and left
G. Psalm 147:11 God gets
pleasure when He sees His children standing on the covenant trusting in his
hesed/agape, loving-kindness, tender-mercy
1. Pleasure (rasa) –
delight, enjoy, pleased
2. Hope (yachal) –
trust, stay, hope, wait
V.
When Hesed, Remember, and
I’ll never leave you nor forsake you burns down in your guts until you begin to
smell the covenant blood, you don’t have to make faith happen when you know
about the covenant of blood
A. Psalm 26:1-3
1. 3-I am ever conscious of
your marvelous hesed/agape, loving-kindness, tender-mercies, goodness
B. Psalm 27 – This
attitude come because he kept God’s covenant hesed before his eyes
1. 1,3,5 6 – There’s a
full persuasion, no hesitation, convinced beyond doubt, faith in what he says
in these verses
2. Where is this attitude
coming from?
a. This only comes from
understanding hesed/agape, covenant, love and being conscious of it at all
times
b. God’s hesed was ever
before his eyes
VI.
Standing in covenant
faith (Hebrews 10:16)
A. We enter into the
presence of God boldly like sin never existed
1. If He has the ability to
remember the smallest detail then what makes you think that He doesn’t have the
ability to forget every detail
2. Sin has been removed out
of God’s sight and remembrance forever
a. In Heaven’s eyes, you’re
not a forgiven sinner. In Heaven’s
eyes you never sinned!
b. Remission – send
away
3. Romans 1:17 –Ro 1:17 For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is
revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed through the
way of faith that arouses to more faith]. As it is written, The
man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall
live by faith.
a. The righteousness of God
come from faith, but then arouses & leads to more faith
1)
Matthew
9
B. The way of the blood
1. We enter into his
presence through the blood of Jesus
2. We walk down that path of
blood
C. True heart-Soft,
unwavering, faith-believing (22)
1. I come from the heart not
the head (mental ascent)
2. You come to God in FULL
ASSURANCE of faith (22)
a. Not in full assurance of
reasoning, feeling, and natural knowledge
D. 23-Covenant standing
faith
1. Hebrews 4:14-16 –
Hold Fast (Katecho) - Keep in memory, posses, retain, seize
2. Without wavering –
Fully persuaded, with no flinching or blinking
3. I stand ankle deep in the
blood of Jesus holding fast to my confession of faith – I don’t care what
has to happen here for this to happen.
Whatever has to happen, has to happen because I got a blood covenant
with God (Eph 6 – Having done all to stand)
4. I can come in fully
assurance of faith without wavering because He is faithful that promised and to
prove to me how faithful He is He swore by Himself standing in blood