I want to mention one thing about taking down the Church: I know this from a first person conversation with the man who brought the lawsuit against the Worldwide Church of God and threw it into a receivership. His name was Timmons, and he told me that Robert Kuhn advised them how to bring the lawsuit.
 
There was a lot of treachery and a lot of evil that was going on. I suspect, since Herbert Armstrong was over in Tucson at that time with congestive heart failure, that they figured that this would be such a shock to Herbert Armstrong that he would die. Well, he didn’t!
 
So, Rader had to be the savior of the lawsuit. If he didn’t, he would have been convicted by his own actions. So, he politically worked it out and got a law passed in the legislature in California that churches are not charitable institutions as a charity, but a non-profit organization as a church to serve the congregants. Therefore, it could not come under the law that applies to charities. So, Rader was stuck, he had to do it.
 
Let’s go on and see about this with Jesus in the Old Testament.
 
Deuteronomy 18:15: “The LORD your God will raise up unto you a Prophet from the midst of you, of your brethren, One like me. To Him you shall hearken,”
 
“The LORD your God…” has to refer to the Father. But that was not to the people in general. Who was in charge of the coming of Jesus Christ? God the Father! So, this isn’t saying that He’s speaking to the people.
 
Verse 16: “According to all that you desired of the LORD your God… [the One Who became Christ] …in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, so that I do not die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They have spoken well what they have spoken’” (vs 16-17).
 
In other words, they were well-intentioned, but they were wrong!
 
Verse 18: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, One like you, and will put My words in His mouth. And He shall speak to them all that I shall command Him.”
 
That was God the Father, but He was not the Lord God of the Old Testament! This had to refer to the One Who would become Christ!
 
·         Are They both called the Lord God? Yes!
·         Are They both part of Elohim? Yes!
·         Are They both God? Yes!
 
Verse 19: “And it shall come to pass, whatever man will not hearken to My words, which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him.” Peter understood that this applied to Christ!
 
Acts 3:22: “For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you from among your brethren, like me; Him shall you hear in all things that He shall say to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people’” (vs 22-23).
 
There it is, they knew it applied to Christ! How did they know that it applied to Christ? Because right after they came to them on that Ascension Day He showed His hands in side and His feet and asked for something to eat and they gave Him honey and fish! Then what did He do? He opened their minds to the Scriptures concerning Himself in the Law, Prophets and Psalms!
 
Where would He start? Perfect place, Deut. 18! They understood it!
 
John 8:12: “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me shall never walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of Life.’ Therefore, the Pharisees said to Him, ‘You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true, because I know where I have come from and where I am going….” (vs 12-14). No human being could say that statement!
 
“…But you do not know where I come from and where I go You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet, if I do judge, My judgment is true, for I am not alone; but I and the Father Who sent Me” (vs 14-16).
 
Why? Because He had the Holy Spirit! The Father was with Him and everything. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus did all of the speaking? When there was the voice out of the heavens that said, ‘This is My Son in Whom I have great delight.’ It was a voice! It didn’t say the Father said, just a voice!
 
When the three of them were on the Mt. of Transfiguration—James, Peter and John—and the voice said, ‘This is My Son in Whom I delight, listen to Him,’ it was a voice!
 
Jesus said in Acts 5, ‘You have neither heard His voice, nor seen His shape at any time.’
 
Verse 19: “Then they said to Him, ‘Where is Your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would also have known My Father.’ Jesus spoke these words in the treasury while teaching in the temple; but no one arrested Him because His time had not yet come. Then Jesus said to them again, ‘I am going away; and you shall seek Me, but you shall die in your sin. Where I am going, you are not able to come’” (vs 19-21). It’s impossible for you to come!
 
How did Paul reaffirm that? Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God or see the Kingdom of God! It’s impossible for you to come.
 
Verse 22: “Therefore, the Jews said, ‘Will He kill Himself? Is that why He says, “Where I am going, you are not able to come”?’”
 
Listen carefully, because this tells you absolutely for sure that before Jesus was a human being He was in heaven!
 
Verse 23: “And He said to them, ‘You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world…. [couldn’t be clearer] …That is why I said to you that you shall die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I AM… [‘ego emi’] …you shall die in your sins’” (vs 23-24).
 
He was telling them Who He was. Remember when Moses asked the Lord, ‘When the children of Israel say who sent you tell them I AM that I AM has sent Me.’
 
Are there many other names of God? Yes! But I AM means that He exists as a Spirit being.’ How did He come to this earth?
 
If you think that you’ve had to do something that is humiliating, or humbling, think on this. We’ve read Philp. 2 many times, but let’s go over it and look at for what it’s really telling us. We know that:
 
·         God has form and shape
·         we’re made in His image
·         Jesus came from above
 
How did He come?
 
Philippians 2:5: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God” (vs 5-6)--meaning He was God! If you exist as God, you’re in the form of God!
 
Verse 7: “But emptied Himself…” What does that mean? He had to give up nearly all of His Divinity and be reduced down to a pinpoint of life to be impregnated into the womb of the virgin Mary!
 
That’s what He had to do to become a human being, Who was the Creator of human beings. He was the only One Who could be the sacrifice for the sins of human beings, because:
 
·         He was the One Who created them
·         He was the One Who judged them
·         He was the One Who gave them human nature and the law of sin and death
 
So, He “…emptied Himself…”! Exactly how that was done, we don’t know!
 
John 10:14: “I am the good Shepherd, and I know those who are Mine, and am known of those who are Mine. Just as the Father knows Me, I also know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep…. [willingly; think about what He had to give up to do that] …And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring those also, and they shall hear My voice; and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. On account of this, the Father loves Me: because I lay down My life, that I may receive it back again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have authority to lay it down and authority to receive it back again. This commandment I received from My Father” (vs 14-18).
 
This also implies that there was a covenant between the One Who became the Father and the One Who became the Son. In giving up His spirit when He died, and it going back to God, God the Father promised that He would be raised from the dead and not see corruption. That was the covenant between Them.
 
Hebrews 10:7: “Then said I, “Lo, I come (as it is written of Me in the Scroll of the Book)…” This was written down!
 
Remember the Scripture that talks about the Scripture of Truth that’s in heaven? Dan. 10:21! So, this was written down.
 
“…to do Your will, O God” (v 7). Jesus said, ‘All right, I will do it, I will do Your will, and I will die, give up My life and lay it down, and You will give it back to Me, IF I fulfill everything!’
 
Verse 9: “Then He said, ‘Lo, I come to do Your will, O God.’ He takes away the first covenant in order that He may establish the second covenant; by Whose will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (vs 9-10).
 
Philippians 2:6: “Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, and was made in the likeness of men, and took the form of a servant… [Greek: ‘doulous’--slave] …and being found in the manner of man…” (vs 6-8). Think about this!
 
God Who lives forever, didn’t give up living forever--still had life in Him—but reduced very, very small, way down to near nothing. He “…emptied Himself…” That means He divested Himself of His power as God, and willingly became a pinpoint of life! He was subject to receiving the genes of Mary into His physical flesh, which is where He got His human nature, from His mother.
 
His mother was the niece of Elizabeth, and Elizabeth was a daughter of Aaron, and she was the mother of John the Baptist. That means that Mary’s father had to be of the line of David, and Mary’s mother was of the line of Aaron. So, in that bloodline you have king and priest! What is Christ going to be? King and Priest! Even in the flesh He had to those genes that related to that.
 
He “…emptied Himself, and was made in the likeness of men…”--everything that human beings do! He had to eat, sleep, elimination of the processes of the body, perfectly human in every way. But He had to have the Spirit of God and use the Spirit of God constantly. That’s why He was taught every morning by the Father (Isa. 50).
 
·         He wasn’t taught by the lying rabbis
·         He wasn’t taught the traditions of the Jews
·         He was taught by the Father
 
So intelligent was He that when He was 12-years-old and stayed back after the Feast of Unleavened Bread, He was in the temple with all of the high ‘mucky-mucks’—the chief priests and all of them—questioning them and answering questions. They were amazed at His understanding at the age of 12. Why? Because the Father was the One Who taught Him! The Father woke Him up every morning!
 
I don’t know how it worked, but the closest thing that I can think of is that you have this smart phone or tablet and you can see someone on it, that He saw the Father. But He had to have human nature from his mother. Otherwise:
 
·         Why come and be perfect and could not sin?
·         What good would that do?
·         How would He overcome sin? Condemn it in the flesh!
 
“…He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God has also highly exalted Him and bestowed upon Him a name, which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow took the form of a servant, of beings in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father” (vs 8-11).
 
Hebrews 5:5: “In this same manner also, Christ did not glorify Himself to become a High Priest…” He could not be a High Priest in the flesh; that was of the house of Aaron!
 
“…but He Who said to Him, ‘You are My Son; today I have begotten You.’ Even as He also says in another place, ‘You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchisedec’” (vs 5-6).
 
But that’s not going to be re-instituted until Christ returns. In a sense, the New Testament ministry is under the Priesthood of Christ, but we’re not priests.
 
Verse 7: “Who, in the days of His flesh, offered up both prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears to Him Who was able to save Him from death…”
 
If He would have sinned, He would have died for His own sin. So, He had all of humanity on His person, being made in the flesh.
 
“…and was heard because He feared God. Although He was a Son, yet, He learned obedience from the things that He suffered; and having been perfected… [by never sinning, and overcoming] …He became the Author of eternal salvation to all those who obey Him” (vs 7-9)
 
All of these things are necessary to understand precisely what God did. What a tremendous thing that it is. This is important in coming to the Passover.
 
Rom. 7 talks about that as long as you have the law of sin and death in you, you’re still going to sin and you’re going to expire and die in Adam. The only ones not subject to that will be the few who are still alive when Christ actually returns.
 
Romans 8:1: “Consequently, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who are not walking according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
 
How do you walk when you find that you sin when you have the spirit of God? The Spirit of God brings to your mind that sin, so you can repent! When you repent there’s no condemnation, because you’re walking in the Spirit! That means that you’re leading your life according the leading of the Holy Spirit of God!
 
Verse 2: “Because the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has delivered me from the law of sin and death.”
 
The King James says ‘freed me.’ That means it would have to have been cut out of your genes in order to be free from it. Delivered is from the point of view that with the Spirit of God you can overcome sin by the exercising of the Spirit of God, repenting, living God’s way and keeping His commandments! That’s why we have the commandments of God written in our heart and mind!
 
Why? Because why you have in your mind is how you think and live! This is what needs to be converted; this is the whole thing of the Feast of Unleavened Bread: get out the sin and put in the righteousness of Christ! This is what it’s talking about.
 
Verse 3: “For what was impossible for the Law to do…”
 
Remember that the Law… we have it written, abbreviated, and hanging on the wall. If someone walks in here and is thinking lustful thoughts, that plaque doesn’t come off the wall and knock them on the head and tell him he’s sinning. The Law has no power to make you do anything!
 
You look at society and how many criminals are there? How many laws are there against everything that they’re doing? But they still do it!
 
“…in that it was weak through the flesh, God having sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh… [the same sinful flesh that we have; that’s how great it was for Christ] …and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (v 3).
 
That had to be! That had to be done! And that was done with His perfect sacrifice! Here’s the result of it once we receive the Holy Spirit:
 
Verse 4: “In order that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us… [I wonder how many Protestants read that] …who are not walking according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”
 
This is what Jesus had to do. It wasn’t just a simple, little operation that was easy to do. He had to pray, put down temptation. Satan was after Him and people were after Him. Even His disciples didn’t believe. He had to say, ‘O hard of heart, when will you believe?’ This is what He had to go through!
 
How anyone can say that Jesus was not the Lord God of the Old Testament before He came Jesus Christ of the New Testament, really doesn’t believe the Bible!
 
·         What happens when you have that?
·         When you begin making doctrine by not believing the Bible and claim that it comes from the Bible?
 
You’re bringing the veil back over your eyes! That’s exactly what it will do! We always have to be on guard against false doctrine! It’s something!
 
Acts 20—this is what we all need to do, and what all elders need to do especially. We have been given the responsibility to remain faithful:
 
·         to Christ
·         to God the Father
·         to the Word of God
 
and not have our own will! That doesn’t mean that we’re ‘namby-pamby’! We need to stay strong for the Lord!
 
Paul was going to Jerusalem and they knew that he was headed for trouble, so he called for the elders in Ephesus.
 
Acts 20:17: “Now, from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the Church…. [they had a huge church there] …And when they had come to him, he said to them, ‘You know how, from the first day I came to Asia, and all the time I was with you, I served the Lord with all humility and with many tears and temptations, which came upon me through the plots of the Jews; and how I did not keep back anything that was profitable, but preached to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, earnestly testifying, both to the Jews and the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ’” (vs 17-21)--just a summary of the Gospel!
 
After Paul was converted, he had to suffer a lot because of what he did to the Church before he was converted. That’s what God told him, and he did! He always remembered where he came from and what he needed to do.
 
Verse 22: “And now behold, I am bound in the spirit, and am going to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall happen to me there; except that the Holy Spirit fully testifies in every city, saying that bonds and tribulations await me…. [and that’s exactly what happened] …But I myself do not take any of these things into account, nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to fully testify the Gospel of the Grace of God” (vs 22-24). So, there are two aspects of the Gospel:

1. the Gospel of the Grace of God
2. the Gospel of the Kingdom of God

 
And Paul mentions both of them here!
 
Verse 25: “And now behold, I know that you all, among whom I have gone about proclaiming the Kingdom of God, will see my face no more; wherefore, I testify to you on this day… [this was quite a day] …that I am pure from the blood of all, for I have not held back from preaching to you all the counsel of God” (vs 25-27).
 
Notice this warning, because we see how this happens. When people look to a man, follow a man and have good conduct—because they see the man has good conduct—when the man is removed, what happens? Look what happened to the Church, because they didn’t do:
 
Verse 28: “Take heed, therefore, to yourselves…” Everyone who is a teacher has got to:
 
·         take heed to himself
·         to the doctrine
·         to the Word of God
·         to the condition of the flock
·         to the things that he goes through
 
That he does not start establishing super-spiritual things that don’t come from the Bible! That don’t come from the Word of God!
 
“…and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers…” (v 28).
 
You’re overseeing the Truth of God for the flock of God! You’re not an overlord to rule them! If you don’t teach the brethren to rule their own lives, your rule can’t substitute for them! That’s what happened with too many ministers and elders. Then when there was no one there to supervise them, they didn’t let the Holy Spirit of God and the Word of God—through study and prayer—supervise them into doing the Truth!
 
So, you end up with all of this nonsense that goes on! No wonder Jesus said that when He comes ‘will the Son of man find true faith in the earth?’ even in the Churches of God! Paul warned them!
 
“…to feed the Church of God, which He purchased with His own blood” (v 28).
 
All the brethren belong to Christ, and we are only stewards to teach them the Word of God! That’s what it is.
 
·         we have no authority to rule over them
·         we have no authority to live their lives
 
We need to teach them to live their lives under Christ and before God independently with the Spirit of God. When we all come together, then we’re all brethren together! God will take care of it!
 
Verse 29: “For I know this: that after my departure grievous wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves… [looking them right in the eye] …men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves” (vs 29-30).
 
We have seen that happen! We’re again looking at the possibility that it’s going to happen.
 
Verse 31: “Watch, therefore, remembering… [we’re remembering] …that for three years I ceased not to admonish each one night and day with tears. And now I commit you, brethren, to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (vs 31-32).
 
That brings us full circle back to the ministers and what needs to be done. I hope that they don’t go down this course, but I suspect that it’s too late. I suspect that when they have elders who receive paychecks, that if they don’t go along with the hierarchy that they will lose their paychecks, and at their age they don’t know what to do or where to go.
 
When you stand for the Truth alone, it does get lonely! It’s gets desperate and you don’t know where anything is coming from, and you’re going to have to trust God!

Scriptural References From A New English Translation (A Faithful Version)
 
1)      John 1:1-3, 14
2)      Romans 5:12
3)      John 8:41-58
4)      2 Corinthians 3:5-17
5)      Proverbs 30:5-6
6)      Deuteronomy 18:15-19
7)      Acts 3:22-23
8)      John 8:12-16, 19-24
9)      Philippians 2:5-7
10)  John 10:14-18
11)  Hebrews 10:7, 9
12)  Philippians 2:6-11
13)  Hebrews 5:5-9
14)  Romans 8:1-4
15)  Acts 20:17-32
 
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
 
·         Genesis 1:1
·         Ezekiel 36
·         Romans 7
·         Genesis 3
·         Exodus 21-23
·         Ephesians 6
·         John 20
·         Acts 5
·         Daniel 10:21
·         Isaiah 50
 
Also referenced:
 
 
Transcript Books and CDs:
·         The Nature of God (study pkg. #6)
·         God the Father was Not the God of the Old Testament
·         Who Is Jesus?
 
Book: A Harmony of the Gospels by Fred R. Coulter

​Who Was Jesus? - First Half
IF you’re not searching for the Truth,
the veil of blindness is going to come over you again!
Fred R. Coulter—February 15, 2020
*(First Half Video)
*(Second Half Video)
*(Second Half Transcript) 

​Rom. 10:4 is one that ‘Christians’ of this world use over and over again, because it says in the KJV that Christ is the end of the Law. That’s what it says!
 
However, the Greek translation says that Christ is the end of law. What does that mean?
 
Romans 10:4: “For Christ is the end of works of law…”
 
Romans 9:30: “What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not follow after righteousness, have attained righteousness, even the righteousness that is by faith.”
 
This righteousness is right standing with God through repentance and baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit.
 
Verse 31: “But Israel… [includes the Jews] …although they followed after a law of righteousness…” The KJV says “…the law of righteousness.” That’s incorrect! There’s no definite article in the Greek! This is where the King James Version messes people up all the time. They insert the definite article when it is not there.
 
If you insert any word that is not in the Greek, it must be in italic. That way the reader knows that it’s not in the original and we will see that that is also proper for clarification, which is the meaning of Rom. 10:4.
 
Verse 32: “Why?…. [did they not attain to a law of righteousness?] …Because they did not seek it by faith, but by works of law…”
 
The KJV says, “…the works of the law…” But that’s not true! The Greek is: “…by works of law…
 
That’s very important, because that means the traditional laws of Judaism!
 
“…for they stumbled at the Stone of Stumbling, exactly as it is written: ‘Behold, I place in Sion a Stone of Stumbling and a Rock of offense, but everyone who believes in Him shall not be ashamed’” (vs 32-33).
 
Romans 10:1: “Brethren, the earnest desire of my heart and my supplication to God for Israel is for salvation. For I testify of them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (vs 1-2).
 
That is not according to the knowledge of God, but according to their own traditions!
 
Verse 3: “For they, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own righteousness… [through their works; this is their oral law] …have not submitted to the righteousness of God.”
 
·         What happens with the oral law?
·         What did Jesus say?
 
Mark 7 will help us to understand what Paul is talking about with justification and so forth.
 
Mark 7:6: “And He answered and said to them…”--the scribes and Pharisees:
 
Verse 5: “For this reason, the Pharisees and the scribes questioned Him, saying, ‘Why don’t Your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?’”
 
Verse 6: “…‘Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you hypocrites, as it is written, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from Me.”’”
 
So, if you have an oral tradition and claim that it’s as good as God’s, you’re trying to establish a righteousness that is equal to God and you can’t do that! Nothing that a man can do would be equal to what God has said that we are to do.
 
Verse 7: “‘But in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.’ For leaving the commandment of God, you hold fast the tradition of men…”
 
·         Isn’t that the way that it is?
·         What does that do for the Jews even to this day?
 
Listen carefully to how they explain everything. You can start with
 
·         the Holocaust
·         the destruction of the temple in 70A.D.
·         the Roman invasion leading up to that and later in 135A.D.
 
§  Why did all of these things come upon them?
§  Why did it come from God?
 
Remember the parable of the wedding feast! The word went out that everything is ready. They sent out the messengers to invite them and come. This one had this to do and another had that to do and they didn’t come. They sent out to get more to come to the wedding feast.
 
Those who were invited did not come. So, finally the result of it was that those who did not come, God was going to destroy their city. In that parable, it was a prophecy of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.
 
·         How often do you hear the Jews say, ‘We’ve been scattered abroad in the world because of our sins’? Never!  It’s always ‘the enemy coming to get us’!
·         Why is the enemy coming to get them? Because of their traditions!
 
What’s one of the worst sins that anybody can do, Jew or Gentile? Reject Christ! It’s the same way today. They’re going to fight off all of their enemies, they’re going to build their temple and it’s going to bring the world peace. NO! It’s going to bring the worst catastrophe in the world!
 
Verse 8: “For leaving the commandment of God, you hold fast the tradition of men…”--the righteousness of works that’s talked about in Rom. 9!
 
Verse 9: “Then He said to them, ‘Full well do you reject the commandment of God, so that you may observe your own tradition. For Moses said…’” (vs 9-10). So, they’re rejecting Moses while claiming Moses!
 
What’s a counterpart of that today? Catholicism and Christianity claiming Christ, but are rejecting Christ! Exactly the same thing! It begins with Sunday-keeping, which is a Roman institution. Cardinal Gibbon wrote about that in Rome’s Challenge to the Protestants, his diatribe against the Protestants.
 
Verse 10: “For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say, ‘If a man shall say to his father or mother, “Whatever benefit you might receive from me is corban”’…” (vs 10-11).
 
In other words, I’m not going to take care of you, but I’m going to dedicate it to the temple, because I’ll get a blessing for dedicating it to the temple. Yes, and all the rabbis will say, ‘Look, that was a wonderful gift that you gave.
 
“…(that is, set aside as a gift to God), ‘he is not obligated to help his parents’” (v 11). Isn’t that the way the traditions of the Jews are?
 
Have you ever read what the Jew is to do in the morning when he gets up? He is immediately to wash his hands! He is to take and hold the pitcher of water in his left hand and pour it on his right hand, and alternate it three times. He must do this before he even goes to where he needs to go when he gets up in the morning.
 
I’m going to have to get Code of Jewish Law and read some of those. {Note book: Judaism: Revelation of Moses, or Religion of Men? by Philip Neal} There are many of the Jewish laws written there. There are many such things. There are special prayers when you see something:
 
·         if you see a midget
·         if you see a giant
·         if you see a giraffe
 
Everything like that!
 
They also have two sets of plates, because they are not to mix meat and milk products together. So, they have a set of dishes that they eat things that have meat and a set for the things that have milk.
 
They also have a law that if you have a Gentile who is a servant, and he works in the kitchen, that if a Jew watches the Gentile make the bread—because Gentile hands are supposed to be so unclean—then it’s permissible to eat as ‘common’ food. But it cannot be used for making unleavened bread for ‘Pascha’ because it’s unclean. If a Jew is not there to supervise it, the bread is unclean.
 
Well, that’s not a Law of God! Christ said that they have many such things to do. That is a law of righteousness that’s contrary to the Laws of God!
 
Remember that every time that one of these laws was kept, that was a work of law. They have many works of law.
 
Romans 10:3: “For they… [the Jews] …being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of works of law for righteousness…” (vs 3-4). Not the end of all law forever! How do we know that that is not true?
 
Hebrews 10:16: “…I will give My Laws into their hearts, and I will inscribe them in their minds.”
 
Is that doing away with law? No! That’s making it permanently inscribed in your mind, so that’s how you automatically live your life! Not an exterior law of righteousness; Christ ends all of that! Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Buddhism, Mohammadism, Hinduism; they all have their works of law. Christ is the end of that!
 
Romans 10:4: “For Christ is the end of works of law for righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses wrote concerning the righteousness that comes through the Law, ‘The man who has practiced those things shall live by them’” (vs 4-5)--that’s the letter of the Law! That’s what they should have done, but they weren’t following Moses.
 
Verse 6: “But the righteousness that comes through faith speaks after this manner: ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who shall ascend up to heaven?”’….” Then he brings out about believing and faith after that!
 
I mentioned last time about Peter going to Cornelius’ house. When he first met Cornelius he said, ‘You know that it’s an unlawful thing for a man who is a Jew to keep company with a Gentile.’ They could not even go in. ‘But God has shown to me that I should call no man common or unclean!’
 
Think about this: None of the Italians were circumcised. God sent Peter there because God wanted him to understand that He was calling Gentiles, and going to give the Holy Spirit to them without circumcision of the flesh. This was a revolutionary thing. So, Peter having done this, knew exactly what God wanted.
 
When we come to Acts 15 and the conference that they had there, Peter said, ‘You know that God, at first, had me go to the Gentiles.’ That was to Cornelius. Look what happens when different ones come, because Peter had a streak of politics in him.
 
Galatians 2:12: “For, before certain ones came from James…”--the brother of the Lord and was in charge of things in Jerusalem!
 
As long as the temple was standing, it was perfectly all right to pay a vow, or make a vow. But they were telling those in Jerusalem that Paul out with the Gentiles is saying ‘don’t circumcise your children, don’t do any of these things.’ But that’s not what was happening!
 
Verse 11: “But when Peter came to Antioch, I withstood him to his face because he was to be condemned.”
 
How important is Truth and doctrine? Very important! I had a man tell me to take him off our mailing list because he didn’t ‘like the way I bash those other ministers of God with their different doctrines.’
 
·         What did Paul do to Peter and preserve it in the Bible?
·         How important is doctrine? Very important!
 
Verse 12: “For, before certain ones came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles. However, when they came, he drew back and separated himself from the Gentiles, being afraid of those of the circumcision party.” He didn’t want James to get a bad report!
 
Verse 13: “And the rest of the Jews joined him in this hypocritical act, insomuch that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy…. [publicly] …But when I saw that they did not walk uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter in the presence of them all, ‘If you, being a Jew, are living like the Gentiles,,, [eating with the Gentiles, mingling among them without any traditional laws to separate themselves] …and not according to Judaism… [that’s what Judaism is] …why do you compel the Gentiles to Judaize?”
 
In other words, make them separate from the rest of the Jews.
 
Verse 15: “We who are Jews by nature—and not sinners of the Gentiles—knowing that a man is not justified by works of law…” (vs 15-16).
 
The King James has the works of the law, which is false! Is there a work of a Law of God that says that you shall not eat with a Gentile? NO! That’s a work of law of Judaism! They were seeking their own righteousness through it.
 
·         the separation was hard
·         the separation was difficult
 
Verse 14: “But when I saw that they did not walk uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter in the presence of them all, ‘If you, being a Jew, are living like the Gentiles, and not according to Judaism, why do you compel the Gentiles to Judaize? We who are Jews by nature—and not sinners of the Gentiles—knowing that a man is not justified by works of law, but through the faith of Jesus Christ…’” (vs 14-16).
 
Your standing is the standing with God in heaven above through Christ, not your standing among groups of people that you go by their traditions that are contrary to the Word of God and think you’re doing well in the name of Christ. Never work!
 
What are the biggest ones they have today? Not the Jews, but Christianity! Sunday and Christmas! They have great hymn and services! Same thing as this.
 
Verse 16: “Knowing that a man is not justified by works of law, we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order that we might be justified by the faith of Christ… [with God the Father in heaven above] …and not by works of law… [by men, to impress men] …because by works of law shall no flesh be justified”--to God! That’s the whole meaning of it here!
 
Verse 17: “Now then, if we are seeking to be justified in Christ, and we ourselves are found to be sinners… [which Peter was in doing what he did] …is Christ then the minister of sin? MAY IT NEVER BE!”--because Christ never recognized that! That’s the important thing to understand.
 
Verse 18: “For if I build again… [speaking of his experience in Judaism] …those things that I destroyed, I am making myself a transgressor.” Works of laws of men end up transgressing the Laws of God, and making you a sinner before God!
 
Verse 19: “For I, through law, died to works of law, in order that I may live to God.” How do you live to God?
 
·         by loving Him
·         by obeying Him
·         by keeping His commandments
·         by trusting in His mercy and forgiveness
·         by having your sins forgiven when you repent
 
Verse 20: “I have been crucified with Christ…” why does he say that? You are co-crucified with Christ (Rom. 6)!
 
He wasn’t on the same cross with Christ, not literally, but when you’re baptized you’re conjoined to His death! So, you are crucified with Christ!
 
“…yet, I live. Indeed, it is no longer I; but Christ lives in me….” (v 20). That’s what is to lead us and guide us!
 
“…For the life that I am now living in the flesh, I live by faith—that very faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me” (v 20).
 
Notice what happens when it gets into human traditions vs God:
 
Verse 21: “I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness is through works of law, then Christ died in vain.”
 
If you do by works of law then you’re breaking loving your neighbor as yourself and loving the brethren as Christ has loved us. That’s actually happened in the Church of God.
 
There are ministers who would set themselves up and separate from the brethren. Tell the deacons at the potlucks to ‘bring us the best food.’ I was even invited to go up on the stage and I refuse. I was a ‘bad, bad boy’ and got a bad report for that. There were those who had their works of law.
 
What was one of the works of law? That the minister is above the people! NO! The minister is below the people, to serve the people! They would have the deacons go down and get the best of everything and bring it to the elder up on the stage. Parking also!
 
It’s the same way with some Churches of God that they say that if your family is not in the Church you cannot associate with them, you cannot talk to them or go see them. That’s exactly the condemnation of the works of law that Paul is talking about right here.
 
·         Of course you should see them!
·         Of course you should help them!
 
In that Church I know of three suicides because those who were so emotionally distraught that they couldn’t see their fathers and mothers, or grandfathers and grandmothers, that they killed themselves. That blood lies right at the feet of the minister. That church is called the Philadelphia Church of God. They are the exact opposite of brotherly love.
 
When we get into Gal. 3 we are going to find a very interesting translation that proves that they were writing the New Testament early.

​Scriptural References:
 
1)      Galatians 1:13-14
2)      Acts 7:51-60
3)      Acts 8:1-3
4)      Acts 9:1-9, 17-18, 20
5)      Acts 26:15-18
6)      Acts 13:38-44
7)      Romans 2:13-15, 17-29
8)      Romans 10:4
9)      Romans 9:30-33
10)  Romans 10:1-3
11)  Mark 7:6, 5, 6-11
12)  Romans 10:3-4
13)  Hebrews 10:16
14)  Romans 10:4-6
15)  Galatians 2:12, 11-16, 14-20
 
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
 
·         Galatians 1
·         Leviticus 23
·         Philippians 3
·         Acts 15
·         Romans 6
·         Galatians 3
 
Also referenced:
 
Books:
·         The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter
·         A Harmony of the Gospels by Fred R. Coulter
·         Judaism: Revelation of Moses, or Religion of Men? by Philip Neal
·          Code of Jewish Law by Ganzfried and Goldin
 
Church At Home (churchathome.org) series:
·         Was Peter Ever in Rome?
·         Was Peter the First Pope?
 
Booklet: Rome’s Challenge to the Protestants by Cardinal Gibbon

One of the things that’s important, notice David’s attitude; notice his approach to God. I don’t find any Psalm where David fell asleep while praying.
 
Psalm 62:1: “Only for God does my soul wait in silence; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my Rock and my salvation; He is my fortress; I shall not be greatly moved” (vs 1-2).
 
That’s how firm he was in believing God. Then the rest of the Psalm is about how worthless politicians are.
 
Psa. 63 is quite something because David had a little tent/tabernacle in his house. When they brought the Ark of the Covenant back from Kirjath-jearim, they brought it to David’s house because there was no temple. He didn’t take it to the tabernacle up in Gibeon, but put it in his house. Then he had some of the Levites and priests who would tend to it. When he would come to pray, many times he would come right before this little tent. We will see that he was able to see a figure of God in there from time to time. I’m sure that inspired him an awful lot.
 
Psalm 63:1: “O God, You are my God, earnestly I will seek You!…. [the same as wholeheartedly] …My soul thirsts for You. My flesh longs for You, as in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see Your power and Your glory as I have seen You in the sanctuary” (vs 1-2).
 
I wonder if it was much like when Christ gave the vision to Peter, James and John on the Mt. of Transfiguration, if it was something like that?
 
Verse 3: “Because Your loving kindness is better than life… [wholly committed his whole life to God] …my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips” (vs 3-5). Marrow and fatness means good health, because the marrow produces the blood in the body.
 
Verse 6: “When I remember You upon my bed and meditate on You in the night watches.” Many times you can’t sleep and you’ll think about God and different things, and you’ll be actually praying to Him while you’re lying there in bed.
 
Verse 7: “Because You have been my help, therefore, in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice”--God’s protection!
 
You can’t see a shadow when you look at a shadow being cast to the ground. In this room with the lights on we can see a shadow on the floor, but you can’t see the shadow itself. Isn’t that amazing? Sometimes you can see it if the sun is really bright, but this means that it is invisible protection for you. How does that come about? With angels, and comes from God directly!
 
Verse 8: “My soul follows hard after You…” Talk about single-minded, single-purposed, undeterred except for Bathsheba!
 
“…Your right hand upholds me. But those who seek my life to destroy it shall go into the depths of the earth…. [a prophecy of Christ] …They shall fall by the sword; they shall be a serving for jackals…. [destruction of Jerusalem] …But the king shall rejoice in God; everyone who swears by Him shall glory, but the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped” (vs 8-11).
 
This is why the Psalms are so good for us. Not every Psalm is going to help you out of the difficulties that you’re in, but many of them will.
 
Psalm 103:1: “Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His Holy name.” Think about Matt. 6:9[transcriber’s correction]! What’s the first thing we say in prayer? We honor God’s Holy name!
 
Verse 2: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” When you’re in the midst of a trail it’s easy to forget His benefits!
 
You don’t look upon a trial as a benefit until after you’ve gone through it and you have hindsight and you understand why you have gone through it.
 
Verse 3: “Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases.” The ultimate healing is eternal life, the resurrection!
 
Verse 4: “Who redeems your life from destruction…” How many times has God saved you? Have you had close calls in your life? Yes, indeed!
 
I remember when Delores was driving a car and she put the breaks on and it was upside down. It was on a freeway in L.A. All the traffic was stopped and she didn’t see it until the last minute. The car was upside down, but God must have been with her. She had her seatbelt on and was just fine.
 
It could have been totally different. She wasn’t thrown out of the car. You talk about a car going upside down. Think of all the different things that could happen. There were probably some angels there bringing it back down.
 
I remember one time I fell and all of a sudden while I was falling, I felt my body and the only thing I could conclude was there must have been an angel who helped me get to the ground without breaking a rib or something. God is there!
 
“…Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your desires with good things; your youth is renewed like the eagle’s…. [even David didn’t get through that] …The LORD executes righteousness and judgment for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel” (vs 4-7). What do we have?

• we’ve got all the Law that Moses wrote
• all the things that the Prophets have written
• everything in the New Testament

 
Think about what God has given us today that we need to really draw close to God and be thankful for!
 
Verse 8: “The LORD is merciful and gracious… [the sure mercies of David] …slow to anger, and abundant in mercy. He will not always chasten, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities” (vs 8-10). That’s quite a thing, because ‘the wages of sin is death’!
 
Verse 11: “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so is His mercy toward those who fear Him.”
 
We need to love God, but we also need to fear God! Think of all the awesome things that God has created that really are fearful things, indeed! Just think about what it is for volcano blowing off with all the lava coming. You’d better fear God! That’s quite a thing!
 
Verse 12: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
 
·         How do we stand before God if we are continuous every day in prayer, study and yielding to God? There it is right there!
·         What will He do? He will lead us, give us understanding and all of those things will come!
 
For those who are halfhearted instead of wholehearted it’s not going to come that way. It will come a little differently and there will be a lot of correction that will come (Rev. 3).
 
Verse 13: “As a father has compassion upon his children, so the LORD has compassion upon those who fear Him.”
 
We are called the children of God! Think about that! The most important thing that God is doing on the earth right now is with all of those who have His Spirit. That’s more important than
 
·         all the politics
·         all the wars
·         all the wealth
 
because He’s developing the spiritual character in us! Those are the ones He’s dealing with directly for eternal life.
 
Those who are in society, those who are ‘half Christians,’ they’re going to be surprised when they’re raised in the second resurrection. He deals with them, because it says that even if someone gives a drink of cold water to someone in the name of a Prophet, he will receive a Prophet’s reward. So, God even deals with those people though they’re not called to salvation.
 
Verse 14: “For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” Dust you are and from dust you shall return!
 
Verse 15: “As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes, for the wind passes over it, and it is gone; and its place shall know it no more” (vs 15-16).
 
Think about that every time you go by a graveyard. You see all of those stones out there, or all the Vet cemeteries that they have with all the crosses and stars and everything and ask yourself, ‘Do I even know any of them?’ That’s quite a thing! Yet, God has their spirit stored somewhere for the resurrection! Three areas:
 
·         eternal life
·         second resurrection to physical life
·         second resurrection to the Lake of Fire
 
God keeps track of it all! He doesn’t lose one! That’s an amazing thing!
 
Verse 17: “But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting…”
 
·         His love
·         His grace
·         His mercy
·         His Truth
 
“…upon those who fear Him, and His righteousness is unto children’s children” (v 17).
 
In other words, even children benefit from the blessings of God, but unfortunately too many of them don’t even realize it.
 
Verse 18: “To those who keep His covenant, and to those who remember His precepts to do them. The LORD has established His throne in the heavens…” (vs 18-19). Remember that when we pray that’s where our prayers go!
 
“…and His kingdom rules over all…. [every single thing that there is because He made it] …Bless the LORD, O you His angels, mighty in strength, who do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His Word. Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, ministers of His who do His pleasure. Bless the LORD, all His works in all places of His dominion. Bless the LORD, O my soul!” (vs 19-22).
 
There you have the tremendous attitude exemplified by David. All of this tells us that when you get down, get discouraged or you have a problem or trial that you’re looking at and you need to overcome it, God will be there to help you! God will be there to answer your prayers and give you a way out or lift it from you!
 
Psalm 143:1: “Hear my prayer O LORD; give ear unto my supplications; in Your faithfulness and in Your righteousness answer me. And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight no one living is righteous” (vs 1-2). All the righteousness that we have comes from Christ!
 
Verse 6: “I stretch forth my hands unto You; my soul thirsts after You like a parched land. Selah. Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails; do not hide Your face from me, lest I be like those who go down into the pit” (vs 6-7). That’s the grave! So, David must have been sick at this point.
 
Verse 8: “Cause me to hear Your loving kindness in the morning, for I do trust in You; cause me to know the way in which I should walk… [he found himself not walking in the way that he should] …for I lift up my soul unto You. Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies; I flee to You to hide me” (vs 8-9). That’s quite an attitude!
 
How many more people would be able to come to God in greater faith with this kind of thing: the sure mercies of David!
 
Verse 10: “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground of uprightness.”
 
Psa. 119 is one of the most tremendous Psalms in the Bible. If anyone really studies this and thinks about it, there’s no way that you’ll ever believe that the Law has been done away. Jesus made it clear that it will never be done away; ‘heaven and earth is a verification of it.
 
This is the only Psalm, or the only part of the Bible, where the word I is not in vain, not self-centered. One hundred and thirty-five times I, but what is it doing? Coming to God!
 
Psalm 119:1: “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the Law of the LORD.”
 
What Scripture can you think of in Hebrews that adds to this? Heb. 10:16; write God’s laws and commandments in our heart and mind! A blessing!
 
Verse 2: “Blessed are they who keep His testimonies and who seek Him with the whole heart.” So, you are spiritually involved with your prayer and study every day with God!
 
Verse 3: “They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways. You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently” (vs 3-4).
 
Remember how Deut. 28 starts out; everyone wants the blessings! If you will diligently keep these commandments then you will be:
 
·         blessed in your cities
·         blessed in your country
·         blessed in your store
·         blessed in what you’re doing
 
and your enemies will not come against you! Maybe that tells you how sinful we are today. Notice that David saw a weakness, the drag of human nature:
 
Verse 5: “O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes! Then I shall not be ashamed when I have respect unto all Your commandments” (vs 5-6).
 
Look at how much we’ve covered in just six verses; that’s an amazing thing, indeed!
 
Verse 7: “I will praise You with uprightness of heart when I have learned Your righteous judgments.” That’s why we study the statutes, the judgments, the ordinances, and all the things of God!
 
Verse 8: “I will keep Your statutes; O forsake me not utterly.”

• How do you get out of the doldrums?
• What do you do when you have sinned? You stop sinning and repent!
• How do you overcome the negativity of the sin?

 
Verse 9: “With what shall a young man… [can be an old man as well] …cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your Word.”
 
Not wondering why you did it. You did it because you still have the law of sin and death!
 
·         Are you perfect? No!
·         Are you spiritual? No!
·         What are we striving for? For a right relationship with God!
 
We just read how He will forgive all of our sins, iniquities and transgressions! When He does that:
 
Verse 10: “With all my heart I have sought You; O let me not wander from Your commandments. Your Word I have laid up in my heart, so that I might not sin against You” (vs 10-11).
 
That tells us a whole lot! All of these things are great instructions for us, and all reflect on the sure mercies, or the faithful mercies of God toward David! This is what He promised us. That’s what Paul told them in the synagogue. Then he went on to say that through Christ and His death and resurrection, you’re justified from the things that the Law of Moses could not justify! That made them mad. How are you justified? By the blood of Christ!
 
Sidebar: Someone wrote me having a little difficulty with understanding the resurrections. She brought up the just and the unjust.
 
Who are the just? Those who are in right standing with God! Those who have been justified through the sacrifice of Christ, they are the just!
 
Who are the unjust? All the rest of the people in the world that are just living normally in the world! They’re not justified to Christ. There are varying degrees of good and bad, and varying degrees of sin.
 
What about the incorrigible wicked? So, the unjust are not the incorrigible wicked! The incorrigible wicked are worse than the unjust.
 
In the prison of Pelican Bay are some of the most hardened criminals in the world. They even run gangs from that highly secured prison. They sneak drugs in there, though everything is inspected. They finally figured out how they were doing it. They would buy two identical postcards and they would strip off the front because that would be generally a plastic overlay on cardboard. Then they would iron on heroin to the cardboard and seal up the card.
 
It’s so thin that unless you really looked at it, you would never know that that card coming in had heroin in it. Talk about people who are just dedicated to evil! Some of the worst killers that are there. One killer said that ‘if you let me out I’ll do it again.’
 
What’s going to happen when they’re resurrected? Don’t know! That’s why all that judgment has to rest with God, because He alone knows the mind!
 
Psalm 119:14: “I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies as much as in all riches.”
 
Think about that the next time you watch that ad that you’re going to be given $5,000 a week for life and you choose someone else to be given $5,000 a week for life. Which would you rather have? The riches of God? By all means!
 
Verse 15: “I will meditate upon Your precepts and have respect to Your ways.” When you do that, you’re thinking about how good God’s way is! It’s fantastic; can’t be any better, because it’s from God!
 
Verse 16: I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your Word.”
 
Notice how it’s constantly going toward God in everything!
 
Verse 17: “Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your Word.” The very reason we have life is so that we can:
 
·         keep the Word of God
·         learn the Word of God
·         be converted
·         be changed
 
Then David says, this is a wonderful verse: 18: “Open my eyes so that I may behold wondrous things out of Your Law.”
 
Apply that to the whole Bible! Look at all the things that God has given and has revealed! It’s amazing! Absolutely amazing! So, what does all of this do?
 
·         this gives us a direction!
·         this gives us a conviction
·         this gives us faith
·         this gives us confidence
·         this gives us humility
 
Humility is not something that you can just put on and say, ‘Okay, today I’m going to be humble.’ Humility comes because you understand the greatness of God!
 
Psalm 108:1 “O God, my heart is fixed… [it is set, not movable, and God will add more, give more] …I will sing and I will give praise, even with my glory.”
 
In Psa. 57 we see the same thing, and there are other Psalms that say, ‘My heart is established,’ fixed! That’s quite a thing! Notice how we come to God, and look to God for everything. We don’t come to God like the Pharisee in Luke 18. You understand about the Pharisees this way: They were an exclusive group. You couldn’t be a Pharisee unless you took a long course to become one. You would be given a Pharisaical master and you had to obey him. All of the things that they had with not keeping company with Gentiles and all of this sort of thing, you had to obey all of those laws of the Pharisees.
 
The Pharisee would come to God and pray to himself. He wasn’t praying to God, he was praying to himself and saying,
 
God, I thank You that I’m not like other men. I’m not an adulterer, I don’t extort and I give tithes of everything that I have. I’m not like this tax collector down here. They hated tax collectors, hate everybody that’s not a Pharisee.
 
So, there’s this poor tax collector down there and he starts out his prayer: O God, be merciful to me a sinner! What did Jesus say? I tell you that he went down to his house justified, rather than the Pharisee, because the Pharisee was looking down on other people and exalting himself through his own religion rather than looking to God. That’s why he prayed to himself.
 
Psalm 57:1: “Be gracious unto me, O God, be gracious unto me; for my soul trusts in You; yea, in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge until these great troubles pass by. I will cry to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me” (vs 1-2)--apply that to yourself!
 
God has a purpose for everyone that He has called. It’s going to be so great that everybody is going to be equally happy with what they get.
 
Verse 3: “He shall send from heaven and save me; He rebukes him who would swallow me up….”
 
Delores and I could tell you about things that we went through in the ministry where they were wanting to swallow us up! It was terrible! We went out to dinner with one of the ‘mafia’ ones that was there to enforce. He told us, ‘I want to tell you one thing, Fred, I’m going to tell you what Dr. Zimmerman told me one time. I may be wrong what I’m telling you, but you’re not to open your mouth, you got that?’
 
I didn’t open my mouth. That was on a Wednesday, and guess what? Friday he left the Church! His boss was fired! That’s delivering us from those who are ‘greater’ than us. Swallow us up!
 
“…Selah. God shall send forth His mercy and His Truth” (v 3). You can’t have mercy without Truth, because the Truth shows you why you need the mercy!
 
Verse 5: Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be above all the earth…. [one day we’re going to see that] …They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down; they have dug a pit before me; into the midst of it they have fallen themselves. Selah” (vs 5-6).
 
Because of all of that we experience and go through, v 7: “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed…”
 
·         that’s what all of this is about
·         this is why we have the Psalms
·         this is why every part of the Bible is necessary for us
*  for spiritual growth
*  understanding
*  developing
 
All of it together! It’s the Word of God that’s so fantastic and wonderful, and with His Spirit makes it come alive for us!
 
These are the faithful mercies of David that God has given to us!
​

​Fred R. Coulter—October 31, 2015 Part #2
Transcript First Half
Aren’t you glad that you are not struck dead the instant you sin? Why doesn’t God do that? 
​(First Half of Video)
(Second Half of Video)

Full Video@CBCG.orgAren’t you glad that you are not struck dead the instant you sin? Yes! Why doesn’t God do that? Because you already have the law of death within you and perhaps as you exercise your choices, you may repent! Sometimes it may take you a while to come to repentance. Let’s see how God has done it
through Christ.
 
Paul talks about all the sins. You can read the first part of it.  
Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God…”—everyone; no
one is exempt.
 
I’m not going to get into a detailed discussion of the difficult things to understand in Rom. 3, but the righteousness of God means His justification. Justification comes upon repentance, which God leads you to do, and the sacrifice of Christ and His shed blood applied to you individually. 
Verse 23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; but are being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God has openly manifested to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, [justification] in respect to the remission of sins that are past” (vs 2325). All sin is past, because the instant you commit
it, it becomes a past sin.
 
Paul shows that it’s not by works and he shows that God is a God of the Jews and the Gentiles and you’re not abolishing Law.
 
Rom. 6 is about baptism. That’s why Jesus came and said, ‘Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.’ He was the Representative of the Kingdom of God. That’s why Peter preached, ‘Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins and you shall received the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ Receiving the Holy Spirit is the key for how we overcome sin.    
Romans 6 1: “What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound? MAY IT NEVER BE!….” Paul said, ‘No! No!’      
When you’re baptized, you are “…baptized into His death” (v 3). God applies the death of Christ to your life as payment for your sins. We are buried with Him through baptism. This is a symbolic death. You die! You’re telling God, ‘Yes, I’m going to die in this watery grave.’ For what purpose? Now your life is  going to change! 
You’re going to come up out of that grave, and we’re to “…walk in newness of life” (v 4).
That’s what it’s all about.           
Verse 8: “…we died together… [v 9]: …knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has any dominion over Him. For when He died, He died unto sin once for all; but in that He lives, He lives unto God. In the same way…” (vs 8-11). Here is how we are to live after we are baptized. God forgives all your sins, then we will see that He gives you His Spirit to give you enough strength to begin to overcome the sin within. Here’s how we are to look at our lives. 
Verse 11: “In the same way also, you should indeed reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God through Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal body by obeying it in the lusts thereof” (vs 11 -12). 
What does this tell us? You still have the law of sin and death within you! How have you been delivered from it? Not by removing it, but by having
been given the Holy Spirit to overcome it!
 
Verse 12: “Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal body by obeying it in the lusts thereof.”
{note James. 1, how all that comes about}
 
Verse 13: “Likewise, do not yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin…” Don’t be giving in to sin. Sin will come easy. God still does not come and destroy you, but He will convict you in your mind and heart so that you will repent! God wants you actively involved in overcoming sin within your life, within and without.
 
“…rather, yield yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not rule over you because you are not under law, but under grace” (vs 13-14). You are under grace because you receive the Holy Spirit of God.  
Romans 7:1: “Are you ignorant, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know law), that the law rules over a man for as long a time as he may live?” Everybody in the world is under law. Law judges automatically all the time. Whether known or unknown, it judges you--interior in your mind, exterior to the world —but under grace.
Grace means that you now have access to God so that you can repent if and when you sin. You have a direct relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. The rest of the world does not; they don’t know anything about it. There may be some people trying to quit this, that and the other, but they’re not trying to overcome the sin within through the Spirit of God so that they can develop the character of God and the mind of Christ. So, don’t let it rule over you.    
Romans 6:15: “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? MAY IT NEVER BE! Don’t you realize that to whom you yield yourselves as servants to obey, you are servants of the one you obey, whether it is of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (vs 15-16). There’s still that law of sin and death working within us, but having the Spirit of God we have the circumcision of the heart       . 
Verse 17: “But thanks be to God, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you.” We are not to get all involved in sin again.          
Verse 14: “For sin shall not rule over you…” It doesn’t say you won’t sin.            
Romans 7:9: “For I was once alive without law… [the knowledge of the Law] …but after the commandment came… [came to its understanding] …sin revived, and I died.” How did he die? He died in baptism! After he received the Holy Spirit of God,
what happened?
 
Verse 10: “And the commandment, which was meant to result in life, was found to be unto death for me; because sin, having taken opportunity by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore, the Law is indeed Holy, and the commandment Holy and righteous and good. Now then… [you find out about the Law and the commandments] …did that which is good become death to me? MAY IT NEVER BE! But sin…” (vs 10-13). This is why you have the law of sin and death within you. So, when the knowledge of the Truth comes:
 
“…in order that it might truly be exposed as sin in me by that which is good, was working out death; so that, by means of the commandment, sin might become exceedingly sinful” (v 13)—lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, idolatry, taking God’s name in vain, all of the Ten Commandments. We are not under law as the world is. We are within law. Now, to give us the strength to overcome sin and to recognize it when it comes within, God has done this: 
Hebrews 10:14: “For by one offering He has obtained eternal perfection for those who are sanctified.” Perfection         is          a           process,            not instantaneous, for those who are sanctified. We’ve been sanctified because we’ve received the Holy
Spirit.
 
Verse 15: “And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after He had previously said, ‘This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days,’ says the Lord: ‘I will give My laws into their hearts, and I will inscribe them in their minds’” (vs 15-16). That is an amazing thing! How is it
written there? 

• by study
• by prayer
• by repentance
• by God’s Spirit

 
That’s why when you sin, you recognize it as sin. Whereas, before you knew God—repented, were baptized, and received the Spirit of God—you didn’t know it was sin. You may have thought it’s bad and shouldn’t do it. Just like a thief. When he first starts stealing, the first time he steals it’s probably, ‘Whoa, but I got away with that.’ The next time he steals, got away with it, and the next time he
steals, gets away with it.
 
I like that program on American Heroes Channel, I (Almost) Got Away With It. What happens? When Satan gives you a benefit stealing and you have all this loot, you got a benefit. You steal $10,000 you got $10,000 to spend. You think that’s a benefit and you succeeded in that. What happens when you spend it all and you’re still not caught? You’re either going to go apply for a job and put on your application: What you have done: ‘I just robbed a bank for $10,000.’ They’re not going to give you a job. 
What do you have to do? Since you haven’t repented, you haven’t forsaken it, you go steal again. This time you really hit the jackpot; you come up with $27,000, and you think that you’re really getting away with this. But all time the police are working and catching up with you. I remember watching the one where there were off-duty policemen who were robbing banks and they finally got them. There’s one Scripture that says very clearly, ‘Be sure your sins will find you out.’ That
means that they will be exposed!
 
That’s why you need the commandments written in your heart and your mind, so you know what is right, you know what is wrong. God has given you now the ‘spiritual standard’ required to keep those laws and has given you the Holy Spirit. Let’s talk about receiving the Holy Spirit.      
Colossians 2:10: “And you are complete in Him [Christ], Who is the Head of all principality and power in Whom you have also been circumcised with the circumcision not made by hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ” (vs 10 -11).
That is the circumcision of the heart! That is not a heart transplant; there’s a difference. If you understand about the physical circumcision with men, it doesn’t remove everything, just part of it. What this does, this takes away part of your human nature and you are to grow in grace and knowledge to have it replaced with love, truth, character and the laws and commandments of God!            
Verse 12: “Having been buried with Him in baptism… [Rom. 6]…” That’s how you receive the circumcision of the heart: baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit!  
“…by which you have also been raised with Him through the inner working of God, Who raised Him from the dead. For you, who were once dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has now made alive with Him, having forgiven all your trespasses. He has blotted out the note of debt against us with the decrees of our sins, which was contrary to us; and He has taken it away, having nailed it to the cross” (vs 12-14). That’s forgiveness, circumcision of the heart and receiving of the Holy Spirit of God. 
When we receive the Sprit of God it is a begettal. It is not a transformation to make you a spirit being instantly, because God wants us to overcome the sin within. That’s why, with the circumcision of the heart and the mind, you’re going to remember some of the things in the past, not that God has failed to forgive you. He has forgiven you, but that’s like a history lesson written within: how stupid was that; I’m not going to do that.             
You won’t think of it all the time, but there will be times when that will come. That is so you can use the Spirit of God to overcome: the washing, the cleansing within! Just like David prayed, ‘Wash
me thoroughly from my sin.’ It’s a process.
 
Ephesians         1:13—concerning         Christ   “In Whom you also trusted after hearing the Word of the Truth, the Gospel of your salvation; in Whom also, after believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” That is the circumcision of the heart and mind!             
Verse 14: “Which is the earnest…” The earnest is the down payment very much likened unto this: When a new life is begotten in the womb of the mother by the father, it’s not ready for birth for nine months. It’s got to grow; It’s got to develop; everything has to be in place. Just like with us. Once we receive the begettal of the Holy Spirit:            

• we are to grow in knowledge
• we are to grow in grace
• we are go grow in repentance        

We can look back and see the things we repented of maybe a long time ago and we’ve had a flash back to that and we think, how rotten and terrible that really was. Then you grow in deeper repentance. That’s why we repent every day. As you go along you will be able to, in fighting the battle against the carnal mind within, repent when it first comes up as a thought.  That’s what God wants us to do.
Just like the Sabbath. If one Sabbath made you perfect, let’s go to Sabbath services. Yep! It’s going to be quite an experience. You’re going to be changed from flesh to spirit. You’re going to rise up
in the air. You’re going to be perfect. No!

• we need the Sabbath
• we need the Bible
• we need the Word of God
• we need the Spirit of God
• we need to see how sinful sin really is        

Exactly as Paul said, ’When the commandment came…’ That means that when he was baptized, received the Holy Spirit of God and God began writing the commandments within his heart and in his mind, he began to see how awful his life really was, especially persecuting the Christians. He was forgiven of that, but he never forgot it.    
Just like us. There are certain sins that you have forgotten completely. There are other sins that come back and haunt you. Why is that? Because you only have the earnest! A circumcision is the
beginning, not the perfection! Perfection comes dayby-day—some cases, hour-by-hour, minute-byminute, depending on what your circumstances are. You grow in grace and knowledge, and you overcome. You’re able to focus on what God wants. That’s why thoughts will come into your mind that you don’t want. The law of sin is still there. What do you do?  Repent of it and ask God to help you!
Have you ever had an obsessive thought come? like a stupid song? You’ve had that happen, especially from a commercial! All the commercials are the most deceptive of all. Everybody’s happy, everybody’s doing good, oh, what a wonderful thing, take this medicine, it’ll kill you but you’ll smile to your grave.    
“…of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession… [it’s like the lay-a-way plan] …to  the praise of His glory” (v 14).
Paul had to fight sin. He has many occasions in 2-Cor. and 1st & 2-Tim. where he reminds everybody of what he was before he was called. Think about Paul, #1 enemy of the Church, #1 handyman of the high priest, going out persecuting and killing Christians. God knocked him down and
he had a change of attitude right quickly.
 
Romans 7:11: “Because sin, having taken opportunity by the commandment… [where there is no law there is no sin] …deceived me, and by it killed me.” You think that if you do something that will be a benefit for you, even though it is a sin, you’re going to get away with it, but he didn’t, it
killed him.
 
Verse 12: “Therefore, the Law is indeed Holy…” That’s not what the Protestants say. They say Jesus did away with the Law. Proof that they don’t have the Spirit of God! They may have some understanding of some things. Do you think God Who created everything that there is to run by laws that He created, is going to do away with those? Just because sinners sin is God going to come along and say, ‘Oh, now, now. That’s all right. I’ve done away with the Law so anything you do is just fine now?’ Never happen!  No!
“…and the        commandment Holy     and righteous and good. Now then, did that which is good become death to me? MAY IT NEVER BE!…. [to show them that if he continued in transgressions, he would die] …But sin, in order that it might truly be exposed as sin       in me” (vs 12-13). Within! 
That’s why it says in Heb. 12 that we need to keep looking to Jesus Christ because we’re ‘so easily beset with sin.’ God knows we’re going to sin, but He hasn’t given us carte blanche to sin. He has given the vehicle through grace, prayer and repentance to be forgiven so that you will be strengthened, so you will not sin. That’s a life long project. 
“…by that which is good, was working out death; so that, by means of the commandment, sin might become  exceedingly sinful” (v 13). 

• Isn’t that what happened with David? 
• Isn’t that what happened with you? 
• Isn’t that what happens with everyone that God calls? 
• Yes! 

You begin to see the sin:

• your lying
• your cheating
• your deceitfulness
• your wickedness

 
We’re coming up on Christmas time. Here’s a benefit from Satan: We can all have a good time. Let’s stop at Halloween first. All of the kiddies go out: 

• introduce them to death
• introduce them to trick-or-treating
• introduce them to extortion           

There are a lot of people willing to be extorted, so they have piles of candy and they come. The kids get all this candy and you go home. I remember when I went out and I came back with a big bag full of goodies: candies, cookies and everything like that. I put it out on my bed and looked at all of that and I thought: I got it made! Like kids are going to do, they’re going to gorge themselves on all the sweets and in two weeks they’re going to have a flu
epidemic at school.
 
Satan gives you a benefit. You don’t think that is sin. When my Mom took me out trick-ortreating, I didn’t say, ‘No, Mom. I’m not going, that’s sin.’ She gave me a bag and said, ‘Let’s go fill it up.’ I said, ‘Fine!’          
How does Satan work? Incrementalism! A little bit at a time! You’re going to see this year the beginning of an onslaught of Satan to deceive the whole world in the greater occult experiences. Halloween is becoming an adult thing; adults are spending as much or more on Halloween than they do on Christmas. It is the first holiday of the year that celebrates death and all the gruesomeness that goes with it and everything else that takes place.     
Verse 14: “For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am carnal, having been sold as a slave under sin.” Bring that out with anyone. Tell a thief to stop stealing. ‘Well, I know how to do it.’       
I remember watching this one program that what the police finally did, they conceded to the greatest jewel thief in the United States. He would come into the high-priced, expensive hotels and steal the jewels from the top paying customers that would come in there. They never could catch him. Finally, they caught him. They said, ‘All right. If you tell us how you do this, we’ll strike a deal with you and not put you in prison, but you better never steal anymore.’ So, he said, ‘Thank you,’ and told them how he did it. Every time he stole, that was a benefit. That’s how Satan works, but somebody always suffers.  
Verse 15: “Because what I am working out myself… [in other words, you’re going to live your life by yourself, without God] …I do not know…”           

• you don’t know what you’re doing
• you don’t know where you’re going
• you don’t know what the purpose of life is             

“…For what I do not desire to do, this I do; moreover,, what I hate, this is what I do” (v 15). This is the struggle that now takes place once you
have the Holy Spirit of God. 

• you’re tempted 
• you sin 
• you don’t know why you do it       

• Were you perfect in temperament all this week?
• Was every word out of your mouth nothing but praise and glory to God?
• How about the thoughts in your mind?
• Were your thoughts only on God?

or 

• Were they on something else, and that something else was sin in your mind?

!
            Now what do you do?       
That’s why you have to have God’s Spirit to repent, pray and ask God for strength.           
Verse 16: “But if I am doing what I do not desire to do, I agree with the law that it is good…. [the Law is still good, there’s nothing wrong with it] …So then, I am no longer working it out myself; rather, it is sin that is dwelling within me” (vs 1617). Because you still have the law of sin and death within you, and your deliverance comes from exercising the Holy Spirit to overcome. God wants
our full-time, active involvement:

• in overcoming sin
• in studying and learning righteousness
• in learning how to do things God’s way     

Our full-time effort in life! That’s what we’re here to learn. That’s why God just doesn’t say, ‘Oh, good. You repented. Let’s take the law of sin and death out of you.’ You going to live forever in the flesh? Never happen! Not going to happen! The sin is still there.  

• that’s why temptation comes along
• that’s why you lose your temper 
• that’s why you even swear            

Maybe you’ve quit swearing but you’ve got another word in place of it. So, you use that word now because you’re not swearing, but it still means the
same thing.

• Do you perfectly love everyone? No!
• Do you have some people you don’t care for? Yes!
• What are you going to do about that?
• How are you going to handle that?             

Those are all things that come along!
 
What if, when you get older? I’m 80-yearsold and I remember things that I did as a kid. Why do I remember that? That’s a reminder that you’ve been a sinner from day one! I remember when I would lie, my mom sent me out—there were hazelnut trees around where lived—and I had to pick my switch. I would try to bring in a little thicker one that didn’t sting as much. She’d say, ‘Go out and get a thin one.’ Then she’d go whack! whack! whack! on my calves and everything. ‘Don’t you lie again.’     
I was rambunctious. At five-years-old I’d walk five blocks down to the park and spend all day there. I’d play with the kids and come home.            
‘Where you been?’ Been down at the park. What’d you do?’ Swinging, sliding, doing all of this. Don’t you know something may happen down there? No! ‘Well, you stay home.’ So I went again. ‘You stay home.’ I went again. ‘All right. I’m not going to switch you for it. Here’s the clock up on the mantle of the counter of the fireplace. You stand there with your arms out.’ 
First time 15 minutes: ‘Get ’em up! Get ’em up!’ So, I got through the 15 minutes. The next day. Gone again, come back. ‘All right, a half hour. ‘Get ’em up!’ That went on until I got up to an hour. My mom finally surrendered and said, ‘Look, if you’re going to go, let me pack a lunch for you.’ So, I quit going.
 
That’s the sin within! We can laugh at it because it’s humorous because it has to do when you’re a kid. Think of that behavior when you get older. Think of what it is when there’s rebellion. ‘I’m going to take the car and go out.’ You be careful. Drive carefully. ‘Yep.’ So you crash it at 100mph and kill somebody! Sin within! You don’t
know what you’re doing. 
 
“…For what I do not desire to do, this I do; moreover, what I hate, this is what I do” (v 15). That’s what happens when you sin. You don’t like it, God’s Spirit convicts you, reminds you of it so you can repent ; that’s what God wants!
Verse 18: “Because I fully understand that there is not dwelling within me—that is, within my fleshly being--any good….” Where did we start? Matt. 19, ‘there is none good but God,’ Jesus said to
the young man!
 
“…For the desire to do good is present… [my intensions were good] …within me; but how to work out that which is good, I do not find” (v 18). 
 
Have you ever had it where you want to do something really nice and lovely for someone and what happens? You have the best intensions possible, but it ends up in a fight and an argument and you just walk away angry and mad. I know that’s never happened to you     —has it?
Even within the Church is it okay that you love some people more than others? Yes, because Jesus loved John more that the other disciples, but He still loved them within the Church! Because of personality differences, or something—you’re kind to them, you’re good to them, you love them—but it’s not necessarily a bosom buddy type of thing where it’s huggy-kissy all the time. You better be
careful about that.
 
Verse 19: “For the good that I desire to do, I am not doing; but the evil that I do not desire to do, this I am doing.” This is the pull of human nature!
 
You have a thought come into your head that you know didn’t come from God. You have a memory from the past, and that memory from the past is a history lesson, just like you read in the Old Testament all the history; just like we read about David. That’s a history lesson. He’s forgiven! God has forgotten it! He’s going to be raised as king over Israel forever!
 
God understands we’re weak in the flesh. He’s going to forgive when we repent. It’s not if we sin, because there’s no if about it. You are going to! So, it’s when you sin.
 
Maybe you’ll be really inspired after this sermon today and you’re going to be really resolved that you’re going to do better. You’re going to be really resolved that you’re going to sit down and have those nice little talks with yourself and say:             

• Now, {your name}, you know what you need to do. Yes! 
• You know that you ought to do this. Yes! 
• Are you going to do it? Yes! 
• Why didn’t you do it?       

That’s how it works. This is why:
 
Verse 20: “But if I do what I do not desire to do, I am no longer working it out myself, but sin that is dwelling within me.” Why does God leave the law of sin and death within you? He leaves the law of sin in you so that you will learn to use the Holy Spirit to overcome and so that you will learn that you can’t overcome unless you repent!    
He doesn’t know what sin you’re going to do. You don’t know what sin you’re going to do. Tomorrow, tell me what sin you’re going to do at eleven o’clock in the morning. You don’t know. Neither does God, because there’s free moral agency. Maybe at eleven you won’t sin, but maybe at three o’clock in the afternoon, you will. Who knows? This is why prayer is every day, led by the Spirit of God to change and grow and overcome. If you have a thought flash from the past, repent of it, get it out of your mind and ask God to clean your mind. 
How are you going to get your mind cleaned up? Think of all the garbage that is in there. There’s a lot of garbage in the brain. Everything you’ve ever done is still recorded there somewhere. They know with brain surgery that you can touch a certain place in the brain and they can smell smells, while they’re under surgery. It’s recorded there. Conversion of the mind becomes the important thin             g!
The truth is, we’ll just project ahead: none of us will be perfect until the resurrection. Just like when you’re begotten you cannot be born. You can never, in the flesh, be totally perfect. You are in the process of being perfected spiritually so that at the resurrection God will finish that perfection. Then you shed everything; you leave everything behind.
 
Verse 21: “Consequently, I find this law in my members, that when I desire to do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the Law of God according to the inward man” (vs 21-22). You’re not trying to resist against the laws of God. You’re not trying to go out and sin, but sin is there and it pops
up.
 
Verse 23: “But I see another law within my own members, warring against the law of my mind, and leading me captive to the law of sin that is within my own members.” The law of sin is still there!
 
Stop and think for a minute. Suppose you could be perfect in the flesh. Would you not go around and look at other people in their sins and just condemn them up and down, one way or the other? Think of the arrogance it would be if that were possible. 
That was the problem with Job. Maybe I ought to follow this up with a series on Job. I’ve done some in the past, but I’ve read the transcripts recently and it’s not sufficient. That’s what Job did. ‘I’m so good. God has got to come down here. I need an umpire or a judge. I’m going to take God to court so He can know how good I am.’ God took him to court and he found out he wasn’t so good.        
Here is what happens when you begin to see how sinful sin is as he said; Verse 24: “O what a wretched man I am! Who shall save me from the body of this death? I thank God for His salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of this, on the one hand, I myself serve the Law of God with my mind; but on the other hand, with the flesh, I serve the law of sin” (vs 24-25). That is when you sin because it’s still within you!
​
​Full Video@CBCG.org

Scriptural References:
​Mark 7:21-23
2)Jeremiah 17:9-10
3)Colossians 1:26-27
4)Philippians 2:5
5)Matthew 19:16-17
6)Romans 5:12
7)Romans 8:1-3
8)John 1:1, 3
9)Hebrews 5:5-9
10)Romans 2:4
11)James 1:13-16
12)Psalm 51:1-7
13)Romans 3:23-25
14)Romans 6:1-4, 8-14
15)Romans 7:1
16)Romans 6:15-17, 14
17)Romans 7:9-13
18)Hebrews 10:14-16
19)Colossians 2:10-14
20)Ephesians 1:13-14
21)Romans 7:11-17, 15, 18-25
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Isaiah 50 
• Hebrews 12          

Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services! Today we’re going to cover quite a subject. Let’s look at some of the things in the Old Testament, and then the New Testament.
 
1-Kings 8 will prove the unity of Scripture between the Old and New Testaments. This is Solomon’s prayer, and he covers many, many things in it. It’s a long prayer. We can see that this is very similar to the New Testament, which we will cover later.
 
1-Kings 8:31: “If any man sins against his neighbor, and if an oath is laid upon him to cause him to swear, and if the oath comes before Your altar in this house, then hear in heaven, and do, and judge Your servants, to declare the wicked to be wicked, to bring his way upon his head, and to justify the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness” (vs 31-32).
 
That’s very similar to what we have in the New Testament.
 
Verse 33: “When Your people Israel are crushed before the enemy because they have sinned against You, and shall turn again to You and confess Your name, and pray, and cry to You in this house, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them again into the land which You gave to their fathers” (vs 33-34).
 
Here we have repentance, confession and forgiveness! It’s very interesting when you consider about Solomon, and you start reading how he became philosophical in the book of Ecclesiastes. Here is when he was still young, the temple was being dedication, and this is part of the prayer of dedication of the temple.
 
Verse 35: “When the heavens are restrained, and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, if they pray toward this place and confess Your name… [and also their sins] …and turn from their sin when You afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, and of Your people Israel, for You shall teach them the good way in which they should walk, and give rain upon Your land, which You have given to Your people for an inheritance” (vs 35-36).
 
This next one is very interesting, and also very New Testament when you understand it.
 
Verse 37: “If there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blasting, mildew, locusts; if there are creeping locusts; if their enemy encircles them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness, any prayer, any supplication from any man of all Your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart…” (vs 37-38).
 
·         What is the plague of his ‘own soul’?
·         Is that referring to just the outward plagues?
or
·         Is that referring to the sinfulness of the human mind?
 
Trying to capture this human mind and keep it going the way that God wants is quite a challenge, indeed!
 
“…and shall spread forth his hands toward this house, then hear in heaven Your dwelling place and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart You know; for You, You only, know the hearts of all the children of men” (vs 38-39).
 
Here Solomon had it exactly right. It was quite a thing!
 
Verse 46: “If they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin)… [understanding that all of sin comes short of the glory of God] …and if You are angry with them and have delivered them up before the enemy and they have been led away captive to the land of the enemy, far or near, yet, if they shall think within themselves in the land where they are carried captives, and repent, and pray to You in the land of their captors saying, ‘We have sinned… [repentance] …and have done perversely… [confession] …we have done wickedly,’ and so return to You with all their heart and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and if they pray to You toward their land, which You gave to their fathers, to the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name” (vs 46-48). This sounds an awful lot like the teachings of Jesus!
 
Verse 49[transcriber’s correction]: “Then hear their prayer and their cry in heaven Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You, even all their sins which they have done against You, and give them compassion before their captors, so that they may have compassion on them” (vs 49-50)--find grace and favor in the land of their captivity!
 
Verse 52: “For Your eyes shall be open to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your people Israel, to hearken to them whenever they call to You.”
 
Think about this for just a minute; think about the children of Israel today. Are they turning to God in their troubles? Maybe some few are! Think about the children of Judah in the Holy Land. Are they turning to God in their troubles? That’s an interesting thing, indeed! There they are right in the land!
 
Verse 53: “For You have separated them from among all the people of the earth to be Your inheritance, as You spoke by the hand of Moses Your servant when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord GOD.” That goes back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
 
Verse 54: “Now, it came to pass as Solomon finished praying all this prayer and petition to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. Then he stood and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, ‘Blessed be the LORD…’” (vs 54-56).
 
Think about this because just a few chapters over—that we covered during the Feast of Tabernacles—look at all the trouble that Solomon got into himself, and he started out so well! The old saying is: it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish, IF you finish!
 
Verse 56: “Bless be the LORD, Who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promises, which He promised by the hand of Moses His servant.”
 
Think of all the history of Israel. Because they didn’t chase out and go after the enemy the way that God said, He left them in the land as a thorn in the flesh to test them whether they would love God and keep His commandments or no.
 
This also tells us something very important: How important to God is it concerning our own individual choices? He gives choices to us! In the recent Church at Home {churchathome.org} The Delusion of Drugs, there’s a clip that shows someone who has been on drugs a long time. The whole family is there and they keep talking to him and saying:
 
 ‘You can recover. Why don’t you come with us and we’ll help you?’ NO! then the mother would say, ‘Look, I can help you so much, and these people here, we’re all going to help you. Why don’t you come?’ NO! Then someone else says, ‘We’ll be able to do this, that and the other, why don’t you stop the drugs and come?’ NO!
 
He said at least seven or eight times and finally it showed the whole family group—must have been about a dozen—and he stood up and walked out! Quite a thing! So, whatever we choose today, if it is good, that’s fine. But:
 
·         What are we going to choose tomorrow?
·         What do we do when we make bad choices?
·         Or do things that are not right?
 
Verse 57: “May the LORD our God be with us as He was with our fathers. Let Him not leave us nor forsake us.”
 
In the New Testament--Heb. 13—and God says, ‘I will not ever, no, not ever leave you.’ That’s quite a thing! Actually in the Hebrew there are five negatives that:
 
·         He’s not going to leave you
·         He’s won’t forsake you
·         He won’t turn His back on you
 
Verse 58: “To incline our hearts…” How do you incline your heart to God? By knowing that:
 
·         everything we have comes from God
·         be thankful for what God has given
·         use what God has given, whether much or little
 
It’s the attitude in how you use it!
 
“…to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments which He commanded our fathers. And let these my words, with which I have made supplications before the LORD, be near the LORD our God day and night…” (vs 58-59).
 
Here we have it written for us! This is in about 1000B.C. Here we are 3,000 years later reading the same words, and it tells you that human nature is exactly the same today as it was back then.
 
“…so that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel at all times as the matter requires, that all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other” (vs 59-60).
 
Think about how the world would have been completely different IF from this time forward Solomon would have kept this attitude and helped the people of Israel keep this attitude, and then the successor kings that came along.
 
Verse 61: “And let your heart be perfect with the LORD our God… [New Testament doctrine] …to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.” That’s quite a thing!
 
Psa. 74 is written by Asaph, one of the priests. This is just before they went into captivity. This is when the temple was being destroyed in 536B.C.
 
Psalm 74:1: “O God, why have You cast us off forever? Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture? Remember Your congregation, which You have purchased of old, the rod of Your inheritance, which You have redeemed; this Mount Zion in which You have dwelt. Lift up Your feet unto the perpetual ruins; all this destruction the enemy has done in the sanctuary” (vs 1-3). Here he’s seeing everything being destroyed.
 
Verse 4: “Your enemies roar in the midst of Your congregation; they set up their own banners for signs. They seem like men who lifted up their axes against the thick trees” (vs 4-5).
 
Verse 7: “They burned Your sanctuary to the ground… [v 8]: They said in their hearts, ‘Together let us rage against them’; they have burned up all God’s meeting places in the land.” All the synagogues were destroyed!
 
Verse 9: “We did not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet; neither is there among us any who knows how long.” How long is this going to be?
 
Think about this prayer, because there is something that is really missing here.
 
Verse 11: “Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? Draw it out of Your bosom and consume them, for God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth, You divide the sea…” (vs 11-13).
 
Verse 14: “You crushed the heads of leviathan in pieces… [v 15]: You break open the fountain and the flood…”
 
Verse 16: “The day is Yours, the night also is Yours; You have established the light and the sun. You have set all the boundaries of the earth…” (vs 16-17).
 
Verse 18: “Remember this--that the enemy has reproached, O LORD, and the foolish people have blasphemed Your name.” Quite a prayer! Very earnest!
 
What is missing? This is the same way that the Jews look at enemies today, but what is missing?
 
Verse 19: “O deliver not the life of Your turtledove unto the wild beasts; forget not the lives of Your afflicted people forever. Have respect unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the houses of cruelty” (vs 19-20).
 
What was the covenant with God? Deut. 28; Lev. 26!
 
Verse 21: “Oh, let not the oppressed ones return ashamed; let the poor and needy praise Your name. Arise, O God, plead Your own cause; remember how the foolish man reproaches You daily. Forget not the voice of Your enemies; the noise of those who rise up against You increases continually” (vs 21-23).
 
What is missing? Nothing about confession of sin and repentance!
 
You can rage against the enemy all you want. You can cry out to God all you want to come and kill the enemy. But unless there’s repentance, it isn’t going to be! Same way with today.
 
For the carnal people in the world, God will accept something less than what’s required for conversion, because they’re in the world and they’re unconverted.
 
Psalm 78:34: “When He slew them, then they sought Him…” Every time there’s a great disaster, people return to God somewhat, but never under repentance and conversion.
 
“…and they turned back and sought after God earnestly. And they remembered that God was their Rock, and the Most High God was their Redeemer. Nevertheless, they flattered Him with their mouths, and they lied to Him with their tongues, for their heart was not steadfast with Him; either were they faithful in His covenant” (vs 34-37).
 
In Psa. 74 Asaph says to remember the covenant. God never forgot it! God was never slack in it! Who did the forgetting? The people! But in spite of all of that, because of His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:
 
Verse 38: “But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them; yea, many times He turned His anger away and did not stir up all His wrath, for He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away and does not come again” (vs 38-39).
 
That’s quite a statement about Israel! IF they would have done like Solomon said, then it would have been different.
 
Let’s look at the opposite, Dan. 9. This is quite a chapter because it is so profound that it ends up with the prophecy of the Messiah. As we read this, you will see why Daniel was one of the most righteous. Not that he necessarily did everything perfectly as far as the law is concerned. Notice the two differences:
 
Psa. 74—Asaph is saying, ‘God, go after the enemy; look at what they’re doing, see what is happening. They’re destroying us They got us all bottled up! And so forth.
 
·         Not a word of repentance!
·         Not a word of the cause why all these things happen!
 
Remember the history of the temple, Jeremiah was called by King Zedekiah to ask what’s going to happen, because the enemy was all around.
 
Jeremiah said, ‘You’re going into captivity! But you can avoid the destruction of the city and the destruction of the temple if you just surrender to Nebuchadnezzar.’ Then he would have probably left him there as a vassal king.
 
What did Zedekiah[transcriber’s correction] do? He said, ‘Leave and don’t tell anyone you were here. If they find out you were here, tell them thus and such’ Well, Zedekiah tried to escape with his sons. Quite a lesson! If God tells you to do one thing, and you turn around and do the other thing, it isn’t going to work! It wasn’t successful! The troops of Nebuchadnezzar caught the king and his sons—who left by night—by a secret way out and brought them before Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had the eyes of the king removed!
 
So, it’s a fearful thing to go against God in whatever it is!
 
Daniel 9:2: “In the first year of his reign… [Darius the son of Ahasuerus (v 1)] …I, Daniel, understood by books the number of the years, which came according to the Word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.”
 
Notice the complete change of attitude compared to Asaph, v 3: “And I set my face toward the LORD God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the LORD my God and made my confession…” (vs 3-4).
 
What does it mean “…understood by books…”? (v 2). He probably had Jeremiah’s, Isaiah’s and perhaps maybe some of Ezekiel’s prophecies!
 
Notice how Daniel approaches God. Asaph said, ‘Lord, look at what they’re doing to Your people.’ Here’s what Daniel said:
 
“…‘O LORD, the great and awesome God, keeping the covenant and mercy to those who love Him, and to those who keep His commandments’” (v 4).
 
John 14:15: “If you love Me, keep the commandments—namely, My commandments.”
 
Daniel 9:5: “We have sinned… [confessing sin] …and have committed iniquity and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, and have turned aside from Your commandments and from Your ordinances”--turned their back on them!
 
Verse 6: “Neither have we hearkened unto Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our rulers, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.”
 
He’s rehearsing what went on before they went into captivity. But most of them were just like Asaph, ‘O God, You’re doing all of this, why don’t you come and destroy the enemy.
 
God is waiting for them to repent! ‘When are you going to repent and confess your sins? When are you going to turn to Me. I’ll forgive you.
 
We have the promise given with Solomon. ‘If they turn to You, You will forgive them.’
 
Verse 7: “O LORD, righteousness belongs to You, but to us confusion of face, as at this day to the men of Judah and to the people of Jerusalem, and to all Israel who are near… [those in Babylon] …and who are afar off… [wherever the Israelites were by that time] …through all the countries where You have driven them because they dealt treacherously with You.”
 
In reading this I think about the Code of Jewish Law and all of that; how they set that in place of God’s Law, though it has some of God’s Laws in it. But the laws and commandments of men cannot make you right with God; it’s just impossible. I think about the Protestants. If you watch TBN and you look at what these ministers do, it’s quite a thing. They use the name of God over and over again, and we’ll see later what Isaiah has to say about that.
 
Verse 8: “O Lord, confusion of face belongs to us, to our kings, to our rulers, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against You…. [that’s quite a confession there] …To the LORD our God belong mercies and forgivenesses even though we have rebelled against Him” (vs 8-9).
 
Think about the two worst kings, one in Israel—Ahab—and God sent Elijah there to tell him that he was the most wicked man in the world and ‘God is going to destroy you and the dogs are going to lick up your blood and Jezebel’s blood.’ What did Ahab do? He listened! The Bible says he put on sackcloth and ashes and walked ‘tenderly.’
 
So, as Elijah was on his way going back, God said to him, ‘Go back to My servant Ahab.’ What’s that, Lord! ‘He has repented!’ So, Elijah had to modify the prophecy and say, ‘It’s not going to happen right away, it will happen later.’ Sure enough it did happen!
 
Then you have the king of Judah—Manasseh—who got involved in witchcraft and false spirits and demons. He built idols and had homosexual booths built around inside the temple area. The king of Nineveh came and took him away captive to Babylon, because they controlled Babylon at that time, and there he repented and came back and cleaned up the temple, tore down the idols and the booths.
 
So, never say that you have sinned a sin so bad that God can’t forgive it. Unless you blaspheme the Holy Spirit and rebel against God and have no remorse, your sins can be forgiven.
 
Verse 12: “And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us by bringing upon us a great evil, for under the whole heaven it has not been done as it has been done upon Jerusalem…. [quite a confession] …As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this evil has come upon us….” (vs 12-13)--Deut. 28; Lev. 26.
 
Think about what’s happening with us to today in America. Think about what is happening with Judah over there in Jerusalem and what is called ‘the Holy Land.’ They blame all the enemy! The enemy is doing this! Let’s build up our fornications! Let’s detect them and catch them before they do it. But not a word of repentance and turning to God! That would change the whole picture.
 
How can you say you’re clean from sin when you have all this abortion and drugs going on? Impossible!
 
“…Yet, we did not make our prayer before the LORD our God… [confession their fault] …that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your Truth” (v 13). We’ll see in a minute when you turn your back on Truth!
 
Verse 14: “Therefore, the LORD did not hesitate concerning the evil that He brought upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all His works, which He does, but we did not obey His voice.”
 
There we have the three words: obey My voice! Amazing! Today we have no excuse; we’ve got the whole Word of God, all the voice of God, all written for us! And all the teachings of Christ written for us!
 
Verse 15: “And now, O LORD our God, Who has brought Your people out from the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and has made a name for Yourself, as it is this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly!” Quite a difference from Psa. 74!
 
Verse 16: “O LORD, I pray You, according to all Your righteousness, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your Holy mountain. Because of our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those who are around us.” Complete abject confession and repentance!
 
Verse 17: “And now, therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary that is desolate for the LORD’S sake…. [quite a thing] …O my God, incline Your ear and hear. Open Your eyes and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name. For we do not present our supplications before You on account of our righteousnesses, but because of Your great mercies” (vs 17-18). Getting self completely out of it!
 
Verse 19: “O LORD, hear; O LORD, forgive; O LORD, hearken and do. Do not delay, for Your own sake, O my God; for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”
 
·         Who came immediately? Gabriel!
·         What did Gabriel bring? The prophecy of when the Messiah would come!
ü  first when the city would be built
ü  next when the Messiah would come
ü  then the gap between His crucifixion and the last seven years, which is filled in with the book of Revelation
 
Quite a thing! Very moving, indeed! Just think how God honors prayers when there is the right repentance, confession, then God forgives! (watch for second half posting soon).

     This sermon is currently available on YouTube. For the convenience of the YouTube audience, Fred Coulter's most recent Sabbath sermons are presented in two parts, lowering the watch time form I video at 130 minutes to 2 videos at 45 minutes. 

     Two watch the (first half) of "Guard Against Principalities and Powers" Click Here. 
​
The Message is About: Being on guard because we're not wrestling against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers,  against the world rulers of the darkness.

If you would like to receive the transcript for this message in PDF form, visit the Truth Of God website. All of Fred Coulter's sermons are available there. 

Here is the opening lines for part #2. 
Prophecy - Satan's Power. By Fred Coulter. August 17, 2019

   How many have watched the TV program, Ancient Aliens? Quite a show!!!  They don't understand really what's going on and that what they're describing is what happened and is true. What they don't realize is that there is God, Christ, the holy angels, Satan the devil and the demons. Where they're talking about the ancient aliens in most cases, they're talking about demons and so it's also setting up the world to fight Christ when he returns because he will be labeled, “the aliens.” It's going to be… well, you'll have to come back for our sermon on the Feast of Trumpets to go through that, but it's going to be an awesome thing.
​     The question should be, who is Satan, how did he become Satan and how did he get so much power? Now, first of all, we read in Revalations that Satan is deceiving the whole world and the whole world is worshipping Him. Why -- you either worship the true God, or you may be on neutral ground for a little bit, or you're worshipping Satan the devil.  If you're in the middle ground, you're in the world and we will see Satan controls the world. 

Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services!
Today, we're going to do a little inspection of the Holy Bible in It's Original Order. So, all of you who have the Bible, open it up to the first page where it says:
The Holy Bible In Its Original Order is Presented to:
You will notice that we have a number of important things so that anyone who has this Bible, if they begin at the beginning, right here, that they will have things to help them understand. Next:
The Ten Commandments of God
Why did we put that there? Because that's the first thing that everyone needs to know! What we do is build from there. Next:

• The Perfect Law of God Psalm 19:7
• The Beatitudes and Blessings
  
• The Love of God

The full transcript is available ... Click Here.

Fred Coulter covers this topic in the three video sermon listed below, also available are the transcripts. Just click the links at the bottom of this post. 
Opening to O.T.#1.
Today we're going to do something quite different. How did the early New Testament church—before the New Testament was written—understand the Gospel? Let's begin by going to 2-Timothy 3, because here is a Scripture that tells us something very important and we've read it many times. But now we are going to go through mainly the book of the prophet Isaiah and see how they understood it, and see also how that they could have some confusion as to when the Kingdom of God was going to be established. It's easy for us, looking back with everything that we have, to understand what we understand.
By Fred Coulter