When we live a Christian life without fulfilling what the covenant demands, YAHSHUA said, I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me an I in him bears much fruit. However, apart from Me you can do nothing. If a person does not dwell in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire and they are burned; (John 15:5-6). When we enter into covenant with YAHSHUA and remain in it, by the reading of His Word daily, and in relationship with Him, our salvation will be secure and certain. At the end, when we face Him, He will say, Well done, faithful servant enter into the kingdom of heaven. Yes, my friend, to do our part of the covenant it is not easy. It’s to forget ourselves to carry our cross in order to follow Him. And that’s what the covenant requires of us. He bore our cross, but we have one to bear as well that is the commitment to the covenant. Just think of YAHSHUA, Who endured from sinners such grievous opposition and bitter hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds, you have not yet struggled and fought agonizingly against sin, not have you yet resisted and withstood to the point of pouring our your [own] blood. (Heb.12:3-4).
YAHSHUA said, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd risks and lays down His life for the sheep; the sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me; And I give them eternal life, and they shall never lose it or perish throughout the ages; and no one is able to snatch them out of My hand (John 10). That’s His promise to those who are into covenant with Him. That’s their identity with YAHSHUA. How do you identify with Him? Who is He to you, Savior, Lord, friend, Shepherd? What is your relationship with Him? Have you signed the covenant with Him? If so, have you opened it to know your part of the covenant? Many so-called Christians are ignorant of the fact that they have a contract with Him, by the life style they adopt; by the moral choices they make, by the language they use, by the lack of spiritual sensitivity and by lack of respect to His name. They find shelter in churches, but they are empty shells in relationship to Whom God is, His holiness and what is expected of them. They will be surprised to hear the words, at the time when they will have to face the Judge YAHSHUA, the eternal God. “I never knew you; depart from Me.”
Paul appealed to the Roman brethren, saying, do not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. Paul tried to bring those Roman Christians into relationship with God. A necessary thing to get to know Him. Undress ourselves of the world and dress with the Holy Spirit. As one in Him and He in them, there would be a perfect unity in covenanting with Him. Having shared in His crucifixion, we live, not us, but Christ lives in us and the life we now live in the body we live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved us and gave Himself up for us (Gal.2:20) That was the life of Paul, who left an example for us to follow. He said, For my determined purpose is that I may know Him and that I may in same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection; and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even to His death… I press on toward the goal to win the prize to which God in Messiah YAHSHUA is calling us upward (Phil. 3:10,14). The most rewarding words from our Savior at the time when we see Him will be, “Well done faithful servant.” Meanwhile, we must clothe ourselves with the new [spiritual self], which is [ever in the process of being] renewed and remolded into [fuller and more perfect knowledge upon] knowledge after the image of Him Who created it; and let the word [spoken by] Christ have its home [in your hearts and minds] and dwell in your in richness, as you teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom [in spiritual things, and as you sing] psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with grace in your hearts (Col.3)
A life filled with the Holy Spirit, is a life that shines His love and His fruit. We have a duty before Him to obey and serve Him as our part of the covenant, so to please Him and not to quench His work in us. A life dedicated to God will be hated by the world. Persecuted and killed, Stephen, one of the early martyrs of the New Testament, had a beautiful testimony in his death. As they were stoning him, he said, Look! I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at God’s right hand! And while they were stoning him, he prayed, Lord YAHSHUA, receive and accept my spirit. And falling on His knees, he cried out loudly, Lord, fix not this sin upon them and when he had said this, he fell asleep [in death] (Acts 7). Stephen, servant of the Lord, remained faithful to the covenant of blood to the point of death; not only him, but many after him. Loving and practicing God’s word is the key that will open heaven to a faithful servant of the Lord. One who will not measure sacrifice to obey God till death him part.
Light from the Word 