Kenneth Copeland - Life Without Christ Is Life Without Covenant
Kenneth: Hello everybody, I'm Kenneth Copeland. Welcome to the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast. Let's have a word of prayer together. Father, we thank you today as we come before the throne of grace with our faith and we uplift our hearts and minds to you. And we open our beings. Hallelujah. To receive revelation from heaven, ideas and concepts and insights into the life of faith and what causes faith to grow, and become fully persuaded that you are who you say you are and you're fully capable of doing everything that you promised. We thank you. We praise it in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen. Welcome studio audience. Praise God. We're glad you're here today. Amen. And would all of you in radio and television and all of you in the audience here welcome Greg Stephens to the broadcast today, praise God. Greg, Gweg. Hi Gweg.
Greg: How are you?
Kenneth: Greg wears two very important hats in this ministry. He's associate pastor in EMIC. And you know, somebody told me the other day, the kids call it EMIC.
Greg: They do.
Kenneth: Where do you go to church? EMIC. But you're not only associate pastor at EMIC, he is professor of first covenant teachings or old covenant. I like first covenant better cause there's two, one and two. And um, he instructs in Hebrew in Kenneth Copeland Bible college. So welcome to this broadcast. So being a student of covenant and having studied the Hebrew language, customs, ideas, particularly, now we're going to get into some real good stuff today. Well it's all good. But this is better good. Everything in this book. I mean, I think even the indexes is anointed and um, we know, we know that everything in the first covenant is Jesus. Types, shadows, truths, um, concepts, but not knowing and, well let me read today's golden text.
Let's go to the book of Ephesians. And this would give you further insight and to our biggest problem as Christians. Absolute the most massive problem. Why do we not have any more miracles than we do? Why do so many people go without their healings? Particularly in the Western world. And then why is it you go to Africa and everybody gets it? I mean, you know? Well not everybody, but way more of them do than do here. What? What's going on here? What's the problem? You can nail it down to two verses of scripture.
Ethiopians chapter two look at verse 11, wherefore remember that you being in time past Gentile, now what does Gentile mean? That somebody without God that doesn't know God. That's the easy explanation. It's about to show us the true explanation of what it means to be Gentile. That you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision. Remember what we got into last week, huh? When God, God said to Abram, I am almighty God, the almighty God, I am El Shaddai. I am the more than enough God. All covenants up to that time, beginning in the garden of Eden had shed the blood of animals, but now the blood of a human being is to be shed and it was through circumcision. You were called uncircumcision.
Let me remind you of something here. How did David defeat Goliath? Over and over and over again, he told King Saul, he said he ain't no different than the lion and the bear. That uncircumcised Philistine, I'll kill him. I will kill him. He didn't say, I'm going to try. He said, I'm going to kill him. What does that faith in that covenant faith in it, above all else, he was fully persuaded before he ever hit the field of battle. He's going to kill him because he's uncircumcised, he has no covenant with God. At that time, here it is, folks, at that time when you were Gentiles, at that time, you were without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants, both of them, of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.
Anybody that has no covenant with God, it was just lost. He has no covenant rights, but Hey, that's easiest thing ever did in your life. The apostle Paul, one word Lord, he called him Lord. Hallelujah. So this is where, Oh, we got to read verse 13, but now. Say now. Now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood you're made nigh by the blood, by the blood, by the blood. Glory to God. Now that doesn't mean much to many Christians. Oh, they, Oh, they love it and they believe in the blood but have no revelation of what'd you say when you said, I plead the blood? Well, what'd you say? What did you really say? You said to the devil, I bring the full force of the covenant against you.
Greg: That's it.
Kenneth: I have authority by covenant to use his name. Now you get on your knees in my presence. Amen.
Greg: It's the redemptive power of that name, that blood. Cause of that life is in the blood and when he shed his blood by now using that name in that blood, that's that's my redemption. That's what washes that's what cleanses. It's what it says right there.
Kenneth: Yeah. That's what it said.
Greg: Having no hope without God in the world and made nigh. Now I have access by that blood that's been applied to me.
Kenneth: Oh glory to God.
Greg: Changes everything.
Kenneth: God is a covenant making, covenant keeping God. Amen. Now, let's go to Leviticus. No, no, no, no, no. First of all, I want to go to James chapter 2. I want to introduce something here. We talked about it some last week, but I want you to see it in your Bibles. In James chapter 2 verse 23, and the scripture was fulfilled, which says, Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. And you notice...
Greg: The capital.
Kenneth: Is capitalized. I'm very sad to say, you just go look at even the new King James and it's no longer capitalized because it didn't mean anything to the people that did the translation. But the King James goes back far enough, goes, listen, it goes back far enough to where covenants where being kept.
Greg: That's goes to the point of God saw him as a friend capital F. Lot was called righteous and Lot is 24 hours away from destruction doesn't have a clue what's about to happen. And God said, can we do this thing and not tell my friend Abraham?
Kenneth: Yes.
Greg: And Abraham negotiated with him if there'd be this, if there'd be this, how many. So God takes this thing seriously.
Kenneth: He absolutely takes it seriously. And that's where that phrase came from, a friend that sticks closer than a brother.
Greg: Yes sir.
Kenneth: And we use friend just, you know, very loosely, but a covenant friend is someone that there's blood between them, blood in that, that brought the families together. And so when we got into that some last week, but I wanted to point it out to you so you could put your eyes on it and actually see it in print that he was called the friend of God. Now, Lord, you want me to go... I'll do it now. Matthew chapter 26. And um, now you know that, uh, at the last supper, that's covenant meal. It's being practiced as Jesus, the rabbi. He's no longer the rabbi, He's high priests.
Greg: Yes sir.
Kenneth: He is the Lord advocate general of the church. Glory to God.
Greg: Yes, he is.
Kenneth: And he is not only our blood brother. He is our friend. Amen. Now. I want you to notice this now in Matthew 26:47 let's go there. Now, this you, you know where this is. Verse 47, while he yet spake lo Judas, one of the 12 came with him, a great multitude with swords and staves from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him, gave them a sign saying, whomsoever I shall kiss that same as he hold him fast. Forthwith he came to Jesus and said, hail master, and kissed him. And Jesus said unto him, friend, wherefore art thou gone? And it's capitalized. My Jesus never broke covenant with him. He broke the covenant, but Jesus never did. He still loved him and still called him Friend.
Greg: You know, Brother Copeland, a few hours prior to that, Jesus knelt and washed his feet knowing who he was, exactly what he was about to do and washed his feet.
Kenneth: But Greg, you know, you and I were talking about this earlier, but it just struck me right then. Uh, he couldn't do anything else. Judas, Jesus was still in covenant with him. And he washed his feet.
Greg: Knelt in front of him.
Kenneth: Now very, Oh, ultra significant. And Western people don't have a clue. Eastern people do. They ate from the same plate.
Greg: Yes they did. Yes he did.
Kenneth: He sought and gave him to eat out of his plate. That's covenant. Jesus never broke the covenant. He still kept it...
Greg: Even in the garden.
Kenneth: Even in the garden.
Greg: Wow.
Kenneth: He kept it till the last. Had he broken covenant that sin.
Greg: And now he's my covenant friend.
Kenneth: Yes He is.
Greg: And he's never going to break it. Glory to God.
Kenneth: Oh, now that don't catch you on fire, your wood's wet. Praise God. Now, Leviticus 17, and uh, we will of course, as the week goes along, we'll reiterate some of these things, but I want you to see in 17:10. And whatsoever, man, there be of the house of Israel or of the strangers that Sojourn among you that eats any manner of blood. I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that make an atonement for the soul. Now that, those few verses alone give us insight to the sacredness of blood. As far as God is concerned, I don't care if it's blood of an animal or blood of human being, to God is sacred.
Greg: Yes sir.
Kenneth: Because the life is in that blood.
Greg: Yes sir.
Kenneth: Without blood die. Amen. So once we see this, once we have an understanding of it, and we're going to go over and over these things, I want to impress all of us today and know those on the network, especially, particularly if you're, ah, yeah. Thank you, Lord. If you've never made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, you're still a Gentile. Easiest thing you ever did in your life. Well, you don't know what all I've done. No, I don't and don't care. But I know what Jesus has done. And he entered into covenant with the heavenly father. And one of the articles of the covenant is who so ever shall invoke the name of Jesus shall be saved. And that word saved means just means heal. I'm talking about in the Greek text, means healed just as much as it means saved or made sound, made whole. Amen. So right now just say, Lord, I receive you.
Greg: I receive you.
Kenneth: As my Lord and savior.
Greg: As my Lord and savior.
Kenneth: Take my life.
Greg: Take my life.
Kenneth: And do something with it.
Greg: And do something with.
Kenneth: I give it to you.
Greg: I give it to you.
Kenneth: And I receive you as my Lord and savior.
Greg: I receive you as my Lord and savior.
Kenneth: I thank you for it.
Greg: I thank you for it.
Kenneth: I receive my filling of the Holy Spirit.
Greg: I receive my filling of the Holy Spirit.
Kenneth: And you promised it.
Greg: And you promised.
Kenneth: And it's a blood back promise.
Greg: It's a blood back promise.
Kenneth: And that's good enough for me.
Greg: And that's good enough for me.
Kenneth: Because it's your word.
Greg: Cause it's your word.
Kenneth: And I know when you give your word, you keep it.
Greg: And I know when you give your word, you keep it.
Kenneth: In Jesus name, amen.
Greg: In Jesus name, amen.
Kenneth: Now that brings me to this point, people in the Americas don't know use this, but British people do. And, and other people in parts of the world, uh, they, it's profanity. They use the word blood. And it's, it's, it's profane.
Greg: It is.
Kenneth: Yeah.
Greg: And we're not exempt from that. When you read that in Leviticus, this jumped out at me. Whosoever man there be of the house of Israel, covenant, or of you the strangers. He lumped everybody into this.
Kenneth: Yes he did.
Greg: Right there.
Kenneth: Yes, he did.
Greg: Because we just read that early.
Kenneth: We were the strangers.
Greg: We were the strangers. So you're not exempt from it.
Kenneth: No, you're not exempt from it, and people use the blood as a curse word. Well, it's as bad as using the word that the name of Jesus or blaspheming his name. Well, my goodness blood. To me, blood is worse.
Greg: It's a life. Life of the blood.
Kenneth: And you know, they, somebody say something, well I guess I bloody well will, and that kind of thing. Huh. But if you're strangers from the covenant, it doesn't mean anything.
Greg: Right.
Kenneth: Oh that, that's the very depth of curse. Now I want to get into E.W. Kenyon's writings here and we've got a couple of minutes, maybe three minutes left and I want to introduce this. We talked about it some last week. Now E.W. Kenyon being a very scholarly man and, his study and he said, he just really had trouble with taking communion cause he couldn't figure out, the Spirit of God was really bothering him about it. What does this mean? What am I doing? It doesn't seem like it does anything. You just go through this. It's more ritual than anything else. And you just kinda go through it and, and well, you know, we'd do it this, uh, the second Sunday of the month, each month. You could do it every day if you'd like.
Greg: As often as you take this.
Kenneth: As often. Yeah. As often as you do it, you do it remembering me, remembering him where? In the covenant meal.
Greg: Yes.
Kenneth: As often as you do it. Amen. Now, here's what something E.W. Kenyon said, he said, the root word for covenant is to cut suggesting an incision where blood flows. Now, the reason for cutting covenant, three reasons. If a strong tribe by the side of a weaker tribe lives by the side and there is danger of the weaker tribe being destroyed, the weaker tribe will seek to cut the covenant with the stronger tribe that they may be preserved. Or two business men entering into a partnership might cut the covenant to ensure that neither one would take advantage of the other.
Third, if two men loved each other devotedly as David and Jonathan, they would cut the covenant for that Love's sake. The method two men wished to cut the covenant. They come together with their friends and a priest. First they exchange gifts by the exchange of gifts. They indicate that all one has the other owns if necessary. That is huge. Now, particularly for the benefit of the television audience, this covenant in the 17th chapter of Genesis was the beginning and the foundation that spread all over the world and all other blood covenants came out of that. And we're out of time.