New Covenant- the First Body of Christ -Part 7 — Zac Poonen

Righteousness in Joseph’s Protection of Mary

Earth. And then I want to say one more thing that we see in Matthew chapter 1 and chapter 2. You know, some of the things at the beginning of the New Covenant, that's what we've been looking at. Notice the number of ways in which supernaturally God guides.

When Joseph was concerned about Mary being pregnant and didn't know the real reason. And it says here, Joseph was a righteous man. Verse 19, and he did not want to disgrace her. Verse 19, righteousness is the main message of the New Covenant.

Refusing to Expose Suspected Sin

And I want you to notice one thing, that the first mention of righteousness in the pages of the New Testament is about a man who would not expose the sin of another person, which he thought was sin. If you are a righteous man or a woman, you will not disgrace others.

The Danger of Gossip and Backbiting

You may know something evil about somebody, you let it bury inside you. You won't even tell your wife or husband about it. Why should they know? Look at the amount of gossiping, backbiting going on. No wonder such Christians will never see the New Covenant in a hundred years.

Joseph’s Example of Restraining Evil Speech

Joseph was a righteous man. You know, very often the people we criticize, we may discover later that we were wrong. Have you seen that sometimes? I've noticed that. I made mistakes like that in my younger days, where I thought something was wrong with somebody.

Afterwards, I discovered it was not true. Don't be so quick to speak evil about somebody. Imagine if Joseph had gone around Nazareth and said, this woman, this Mary, I thought she was holy, but she is pregnant.

I don't know which Roman soldier she went after. And then he discovers later on, it was not a Roman soldier, it was the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine what remorse would have come into him if he had spread that story to one person, because he would have gone all around Nazareth.

How could he have stopped it then? Some of the stories we spread don't stop with the one person we tell them. Follow Joseph's example. How they were led by God. Take her. And how the wise men were led to bring these gifts.

Supernatural Guidance of the Wise Men and Joseph

And later on the wise men were told by God, don't go this way, go back another way. In Matthew chapter 2 verse 12. Go another way. Supernatural leading. They obeyed. And then the angel of the Lord appears in verse 13 to Joseph and said, take the child and go.

Again, supernatural leading. And he goes off to Egypt. And then after some time, he appears to him in Egypt and says, okay, now you can come back. And that also we read in verse 19 and 20 of chapter 2.

God’s Leading for the Protection of the Body of Christ

So you see this supernatural leading of God for the protection of the body of Christ. There, go this way, go that way. That's a very simple principle. In the body of Christ, to build the body of Christ, we need to listen to the way God is leading us.

Hearing and Obeying God’s Direction

Lean not to your own understanding. That's what we see. All those supernatural examples, that's how the body of Christ was protected. And if we have ears to listen, we'll be able to hear what God is saying to us.

It's such an exciting life. I'm amazed that more Christians are not interested in living this life. They live such a boring Christian life and there's this exciting new covenant life offered to all of them.

Prayer for New Covenant Obedience and Christ’s Return

I hope all of you will enter in and not just understand it in your heads. Let's pray. We thank you, Lord, that the mysteries of God are revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. We thank you. Thank you, Heavenly Father, help us to walk this new covenant life, to build the body of Christ on earth in these days, and to prepare ourselves for your second coming, as those people were ready for your first coming.

We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.