The Truth and Power of the Word of God

Warning from the Prophet Jeremiah;
we must warn the Churches of God and anyone who will listen to God!

Fred R. Coulter—February 17, 2024

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Now, let me just mention this, we sent out, as Kimberly said, tons and tons of Bibles already, and we have a whole lot more to send out.  So, keep at it and keep it being given to the brethren and other Churches of God, and encourage them for also the other things that we have we can send to them.

Now, another note along that line, the book by Dr. Ernest Martin on Restoring the Original Bible, we have some more of those, so if you haven't gotten that, be sure and do it. But beware, there are a few things in there that are of his own opinion and not according to the Word of God. Other than those few things, this is an excellent book, tells you about the history and canonization of the Bible.

Also concerning the Bible, I might mention we have The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, the paperback, And this Bible is really top notch, as well. We have plenty of those.

This becomes important because today they're doing everything they can to get rid of the Word of God. They're also doing everything that they can to persecute those who believe the Truth.

The man who went and tore down the monument to Satan in the State House—I forget the state—was sentenced to 11 months or longer in jail. The media is silent of persecution as it grows worse around the globe. They're trying to exterminate it, to bring in the amalgamation of the religions. In Vietnam, a man was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for holding a prayer meeting in his house.

All the prophecies of God, as we will see, are going to take place.

Here's one, Europe is rising again. I've covered that before. Only one state has thrown out the satanist abortion lawsuit, and that's the state of Idaho. Their law is that if there is a heartbeat, no abortion!

That's very interesting because by the time a woman knows she's pregnant, the baby has developed to the point that it has a heartbeat. We'll see what happens. Remember like I pointed out last week, since Roe vs Wade was eliminated, everyone thought: that's a great victory.

Jonathan Cahn gave so many programs on it, but he missed the whole point. Instead of one battle, we now have 50. Instead of 77,000 abortions a month, we now have 83,000 a month and going up.

We have a whole youth coming along that are dedicated to homosexuality and satanism and rejection of God. Let's look at what happened this week. I don't know how many of you watched the news, but I turned on the news on Wednesday, and here are these newscasters with this ash cross on their forehead. I was startled how many people had them. What does that show? It shows they are owned by the pope. Think about that!

Here's quite an article about Lent leading up to Easter. Here's what it is in Alexander Hislop's last book, written in the late 1800s:

From Chapter 3; The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop
{https://cbcg.org/twobaby/sect32.html}

The festival, of which we read in Church history, under the name of Easter, in the third or fourth centuries, was quite a different festival from that now observed in the Romish Church, and at that time was not known by any such name as Easter.

Here's quite an article leading up to Easter. Then he mentions the Passover. That's what we were to keep. Remember, this is the reason we have The Christian Passover book. That covers so many different things concerning the Passover. IF Satan can get you to move a little bit away from the proper taking of the Passover, he can lead you further yet!

That ties in with what the Feast of Unleavened Bread is all about, which we'll hear a lot about: 'A little leaven leavens the whole lump.'

So, they have Easter. Lent was not observed. That's what starts out with this: Ash cross on the forehead; that's 'Ash Wednesday.' Can you find that in the Bible? No! But they think they're Christian! Because they accepted the false teachings of the pope, who thinks he's God.

What was observed in the first century of the early Church, it was first addressed by the Church at Rome during the Council of Nicea in 325A.D. when Emperor Constantine declared that all those who are Christians keep Sunday.

I'm doing a series on Church at Home {churchathome.org} on all the difficult Scriptures on the Sabbath in the Old and New Testament.

Because there are so many things that are twisted and turned by the sleight of hand in the lies of Satan the devil.

Understand this: The Sabbath and time was established on the fourth day of creation, and is linked to the sun, the moon, the stars and the earth. The Sabbath Day, the seventh day was made Holy by God Himself. Do you think that a pagan emperor like Constantine can do away with what God made.

'Oh well, we transferred it to Sunday.' Lie! You didn't transfer anything to Sunday, because God never moved it. Because from now on, we're not going to be talking about 'patty cake' and 'little tweaks' of doctrine.

We're going to talk about the Truth and the Power of the Word of God, because all of the things coming in the world today are coming because God said they would come! We will see that!

Then it says here that 40 days leads up to Tamuz who was the son of Semiramis who said he was the Messiah of God, and that he was raised from the dead on Easter Sunday. That's what the Catholics believe about Christ today. We'll examine all the details. That is a lie! You need to understand this.

If you're a Catholic, and if you're angry at me, and if you're offended at me, don't do that; have enough guts and courage to get a Bible and take your stupid catechism, and look up the Ten Commandments in the Bible, and the Ten Commandments in the catechism. You will see that the Catholic Church has eliminated the second commandment against idolatry!

Every time you go into a Catholic Church or whatever, you are walking into a house of idols and lies! The profession of Jesus in the Catholic Church is Tamuz, not Jesus Christ.

Now, let's see what Jesus said about our day. Let's come here to Matt. 24 because we'll see that this is very important. We're going to talk about the Truth of God, the Power of God. We will get into some very difficult readings in the Old Testament, which people don't like to read because they are not pleasant. But if you avoid them:

• Does that make them go away?
• Does that eliminate any of the Word of God?

What Jesus said, 'Man… [that's any man or woman] …shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God'—not the pope!

Now, here's where we are with this generation. Here's what Jesus says of the last generation. Some people are even saying, 'Maybe that's 50 years off.'

• What if it's not 50 years off?
• What if it's closer than you think?

A lot of other people say that 'if we get Trump in there, he'll straighten it out.' Do you think he's going to abolish abortion? 'It's going to be just like Josiah, we'll have a time of respite.' You go read what Josiah did.

• he destroyed all the idols
• he took down all the homosexual tents around the Temple of God
• he took all the leaders, called them to the temple, and made them stand before God at the pillar of the king and swear to God that they would enforce the Laws of God and stop their idolatry

Do you think Donald Trump is going to do that? Everybody is looking at the effects and not the cause!

If you don't look at the cause, which is sin and Satan and evil people in high places, just like Paul said there in Eph. 6, you know nothing. I don't care if you have a hundred PhDs strung out after your name. You are a product of this world, and this world is owned by Satan the devil. We are living in the last days!

Let's read what Jesus said here, Matt. 24; these are the words of Jesus.

Now, we'll read some others a little bit later.  He says:

Matthew 24:34: "Truly…[now that means in truth, 'I'm telling you the Truth, so listen up]: …I say to you, this generation…[ the end-time generation] …shall in no wise pass away until all these things have taken place." Why? Because:

• the Word of God is true
• the Word of God will be fulfilled
• the Word of God is judging the world right now for what God is going to do

and it is coming!

Notice how sure that the words of Jesus Christ are. I want all of you to think about this in relationship to the statement that is made that Jesus changed the Law; that Jesus did away with the Law.

If you go to church and hear that or you watch Daystar or TBN… Oh, by the way, they are all controlled. If they don't preach what they want, you're never going to get on Daystar or TBN.

And if you want to get on any of the other stations that are owned by any of the media corporations in America or in the world to tell the Truth, you will never get on there, because they won't let it be on their programs!

That means it's incumbent upon all of us, all the ministers, all the elders, all the brethren to uphold the Word of God!

Verse 35: "The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away." Never! Who was Jesus?

John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. [v 14]: And the Word became flesh…" Christ was God manifested in the flesh!

That's the whole purpose of what we're going to study about leading up to the Passover and taking the Passover.

Let's see something else about the Word of God, because this will be very important for us to really grasp. That's why we have the Bible. That's why we are giving it at no cost to people. That's the most important thing that we can give to them.

Heb. 4 shows that for the people of God today, New Testament Christians, the Sabbath—the seventh day of the week—is the day to keep.

Hebrews 4:9: "There remains, therefore, Sabbath-keeping for the people of God."

So, if you consider yourself a Christian and you keep Sunday, you're a fake Christian! Now, you may be good according to the world. You may be honest according to the world. But remember this, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is Satan's way!

You cannot take the good from Satan's church, Satan's way, and crossbreed it with the Truth of God because it will all collapse.

Verse 12 is talking about the Word of God. The truth and power of the Word of God, here it is right here.

Verse 12: "For the Word of God is living… [as Lyall said, 'spirit and life'] …and powerful… [because everything that God said He's going to do, it will happen] …and sharper than any two-edged sword…"

Because it does something to the heart and mind and your very person and your being when you come to understand the Word of God! It convicts you of sin so you can repent!

A lot of people say that God is love and 'He loves us and God is grace and we have His grace, and we have nothing else that we need to do.'

• Do you love God?

or

• Do you want the love of God, but you don't love God?
• Do you love God?
• How do you demonstrate that you love God?
• What is in your life that shows that you love God?

John wrote: Hereby we know that we love God when we love the children of God and keep His commandments (1-John 5). That is New Testament doctrine.

Verse 12: "For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of both soul and spirit, and of both the joints and the marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart." That's how powerful the Word of God is:

• no other book can do that
• no other book can touch your conscience
• no other book can make you aware of the true God
• no other book can lead you to the true God
• no other book can show you how to be in contact with Him
• no other book can show you what He's going to do to grant eternal life to those who love Him

Verse 13—listen to this: "And there is not a created thing that is not manifest in His sight…"

Not a single thing! Why? Because God made it all! Everything that there is, the smallest thing that we cannot even see, from whence we came, to the greatest amount of stars and galaxies and the heavens above, to everything on the earth and in the water and in the air above the earth. Sustaining and making it go, and everything like that, for mankind, God did it!

Verse  13: "And there is not a created thing that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and laid bare before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account."

Everyone is going to give an account to God! No one is ! That's how powerful the Word of God is. He gives us some encouragement here:

• so that we know there's hope
• so that we know that there is forgiveness
• so that we know we can come to God

But we have to come to God on His terms, and these are His terms.

Verse 14: "Having, therefore, a great High Priest, Who has passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, we should hold fast the confession of our faith. For we do not have a High Priest Who cannot empathize with our weaknesses... [He knows what the flesh is because He became flesh] …but One Who was tempted in all things according to the likeness…" (vs 14-15)—'homoiotes'—meaning the exact sameness of human nature that we have!

"…but One Who was tempted in all things according to the likeness of our own temptations; yet, He was without sin. Therefore, we should come with boldness to the Throne of Grace…" (vs 15-16).

Not run away and say, 'Oh, God is mean!' Really? You think about a hundred-million dying in WWI between the war and the Spanish Flu is not great sorrow and death? And a hundred-million that died in WWII?

"…so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (v 16). There you see:

• the strength of God
• the love of God
• the condemnation of sin
• the forgiveness of sin

all of this together!

We will look at some things of how God reveals Himself in His Word to the prophets and then hence to us today.

Remember this, never in the history of the world have so many people had the Bible available to them to understand it. That at any time in the history of the world, nor has it been translated in more languages than it has today, over 3,000. So, God figures that in to what He's going to do in the end-times. Remember, Jesus said that the end-times will be the worst that it will ever be from the creation until this time! That's how powerful the Word of God is.

Let's see how absolute that it is and how we've got to emphasize and understand that, as well.

Matt. 5—we've been here before, but let's read it and let's understand it in terms of what we need to cover in these days that we're living in. But before we get there, let me tell you what the latest knockdown, drag out, and stealing going on in the cities where the immigrants are.

They are there to take down this nation. They run up to people who have a smart-phone, they yank it out of their hands, knock them down on the ground, run away and jump in a car, and take all your money out of your accounts. Then they send the phone to hackers and they know everything about you. Now, I'll let you think about what that's going to lead to.

Jesus is concerned with what we think and do. Like Lyall said, 'Let this mind, which was in Christ, be in you.' Here's some instruction.

Matthew 5:17: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets…"

• Isn't that what they say?
• Isn't that what they claim?

"…I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill" (v 17).

Now, that fulfill doesn't mean to end it. That means to, like with a glass of water, you fill it to the full. In other words, you increase it! You don't diminish it. Just so you get it clear"

Verse 18: "For truly I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall pass away… [ You still here on the earth? Yes indeed!] …one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the Law until everything has been fulfilled."

Is the Kingdom of God on earth? No!

Verse 19: "Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven…"

That's what God thinks about all the cartoon preachers that are on television, on radio, that stands in the pulpit on Sunday morning.

"…but whoever shall practice and teach them, this one shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven" (v 19).

Let's look at something else that God does. When God intervenes, He makes Himself known. That goes clear back to creation. Did He make Himself known to Adam and Eve? Yes! They were perfectly created. They had a language within their mind; they could converse back and forth. God taught them.

How long were they in the Garden of Eden before Satan was let loose? We don't know, but it had to be quite a length of time, because God was not going to bring judgment upon them until they had the knowledge of what they needed to do. Then you know the rest of the story, how Satan came in!

That brought evil to the whole world. Then it got so evil that they were chasing down Enoch in Gen. 5 God had to miraculously remove him before he was killed. He died later on.

Then we come down to the time of Noah, and it says that every thought of the mind of the man, every individual, was only evil all the time, continuously. So the Flood came!

Then we have the covenant with Abraham; Abraham was so righteous and so faithful. This is the attitude we need to have, because it says 'that if we are Christ, we are Abraham, seed, heirs according to the promise' (Gal. 3).

Everything else in the rest of the Bible flows from Gen. 15! Everything!

• down to the children of Israel
• down to Christ coming in the flesh
• down to the New Testament Church
• down to the condition of the world at the end of time

There are a lot of prophets online: Facebook and all of the digital channels for  everyone.

Jere. 23—about the preachers, 'deceit of their own heart'; you've got to get it in context so you get the whole thing"

Jeremiah 23:26: "How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies and who are prophets of the deceit of their own heart?"

The way you understand prophecy is through the Sabbath, the Passover and the Holy Days with conversion and the Spirit of God in your mind!

If you don't love God and keep His commandments and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ, you will not understand prophecy! No one will.

That's why we have the in-depth study on Daniel and Revelation. It is complicated, it is detailed, it is based upon the Calculated Hebrew Calendar. If you don't have that, you better write for it and get it, because there are false prophets within the Church of God speaking things they ought not speak, and not speaking things they should speak!

Verse 27: "They scheme to cause My people to forget My name by their dreams, which they tell, each one to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten My name for Baal." Baal is the sun-god, and Sunday is the sun-god's day!

• How many times must that be preached?
• How long must that be said?

Look at what happened to the Church of God in our time. I was branded and castigated when I resigned and stood for the Truth. I said in that message—God inspired me to say—'IF there is not someone in Pasadena standing in the pulpit telling the people to amend their ways, that the forces would be let loose, which would tear the Church asunder!'

Messages (truthofGod.org):

• Repentance & Resignation (Day of Atonement, 1979)
• The Rest of the Story #s 1, #2

Did that happen? Yes, it did! It took 12 years, but it did happen! Yes it did, and it's still suffering from it.

God says, v 28: "The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream. And he who has My Word…"

We've got it right here, all of it, the complete Word of God!

• what a great blessing
• what a great privilege
• what a great marvelous thing that it is

All of us who are elders and ministers, it better be about our business:

• to learn it
• to know it
• to understand it
• to memorize it
• to live by it
• to preach it
  • with conviction
  • with Truth

because we're facing times that we're going to have to be strong in the Lord like we have never been before!

"…he who has My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully…." (v 28).

• don't bring in your own ideas
• don't bring in the good of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
• don't try and marry it to the Word of God.

That's what they've all done in the false Christianity in the world! So God says this:

Verse  29: "'Is not My Word like a fire?'…." IF you get too close to the fire, you get burned.

• What is the unpardonable sin deserving of?
• What does the Word of God say? The Lake of Fire!
• Is that the Word of God? Yes!

Verse 29: "'Is not My Word like a fire?' says the LORD, 'and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets who steal My words each one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets who use their tongues and say, "He says," when I did not say'" (vs 29-31).

Now then, let's look at how God deals with people. When God revealed Himself to the children of Israel to take them out of Egypt, how did He reveal Himself? By judgment against Egypt! With all the plagues, one after the other, one after the other, one after the other; all of the plagues! The final one was the death of the firstborn!

Then the first introduction to God on a personal basis was the Passover. Then He took them out of Egypt. They went through the Red Sea. They rebelled along the way. They came to Mount Sinai and God told them that He wanted them to be His people. Let's read it in Exo. 19. These are the words of God. This is what He said.

• Are we going to do it?
• Do we believe Him?

or

• Do we not believe him or what?

Remember how many there were that came out of Egypt. So. this was quite a manifestation that took place. He says, 'You've seen what I've done.'

Exodus 19:3: "And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, 'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel, "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you unto Myself" (vs 3-4).

Verse 5: "Now, therefore, if..." Note this, because this is the most important thing in our relationship with God!

Doesn't it say, 'Man is to not live by bread alone but by every Word of God'? Yes, indeed! Here it is, "If…" God always makes it conditional because we have free moral agency and we must choose.

"…if you will obey My voice indeed…" (v 5).

We'll see that all through the prophets that we're going to cover. That everything that is coming upon them is because they did not obey the voice of God!

"…and keep My covenant..." (v 5).

The covenant means everything that God has said that you are to do. How you are to do it and when you are to do it. So, we have the if and we have the then right there.

"'…then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a Holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel'" (vs 5-6).

This is the proposal, very similar to a marriage proposal by a man to his future wife: 'Will you marry me?' No terms, no conditions! You don't know what it's going to be.

She says, 'Yes.' And he says, 'Yes'; they're married. Oh, but what are all the laws and rules of marriage? That all comes into it.

So, all the people said, 'Yes.' God said, 'Prepare.' Then the greatest event that happened to this large number of people on the Day of Pentecost. God came down on the top of Mount Sinai and spoke the Ten Commandments.

All the people heard. This was God!

They didn't say, 'Thank you God for all these words. We want to love You and keep Your commandments always.'

They said, 'No, we're afraid. Moses, you go speak to God and you tell us.' You know the rest of the story there. You know all the rebellion that they had while they were in the wilderness wandering around.

When they came into the land and they conquered the land. Then after Joshua and all the elders died, what is the first thing they do? They go after Baal and Ashtoroth (Joshua 2)! Same thing they did in the wilderness with the golden calf.

Let's come to the book of Isaiah, and see how God appears when He has a message for the prophets to preach so that they know that this is from God!  Not like some idiot on Facebook saying, 'God spoke to me.' You lying wimp! God didn't speak to you!

God spoke to the prophets. How did he speak? He wanted them to know that this is God Almighty. The all powerful God!

Isaiah had a vision and he saw the seraphim; Isaiah 6:3: "And one cried to another, and said, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.'" The whole earth is full of His glory!

Tie that in with Rev. 4 & 5 because we're going to see every time God has a whole bunch of prophecies that He wants. They fill various other aspects of time; from the time they're spoken to the time they're fulfilled.

• there are types and anti-types
• there are repeated fulfillments of them
• there are blessings and curses in them

All of that comes from God! God wants the prophet to know.

For all of us who have the Word, and for all of us who are teachers and preachers, the Word of God is what must be spoken!

Verse 5: "Then I said, 'Woe is me! For I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.'"

God wants the prophets to see Him, lest they preach their own words!

Verse 6: "Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth and said, 'Lo, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin atoned for'" (vs 6-7).

Then the message came, 'Lord, what shall I say?' He said, 'I will tell you.'

Jer. 1—this quite a lesson itself. God Himself made Himself known to Isaiah. Let's go back to Israel; they turned their back on it. To Isaiah, and he preached the Word of God. And now to Jeremiah.

This is very interesting because Jeremiah was the son of a priest in the town of Anathoth. Jeremiah was a special choice of God, and he had a very difficult ministry to fulfill: To warn the people of Judah and Israel of the things to come because of their sins.

Remember, every person's way is right in their own eyes! When sin enters in like we see today:

• dedicated to evil
• dedicated to transgenderism
• dedicated to Sodom and Gomorrah
• dedicated to Satan the devil
• dedicated to nerdy, nasty politics

All of that comes because of the sins of the people. The sins of the people lay at the footstep and the door of all those ministers who claim to be Christian but are fake liars! They have created the atmosphere of lawlessness by saying 'the Laws of God have been done away.' Likewise here with the book of Jeremiah. God wanted Jeremiah to know, 'I, God, have selected you.' So, God tells Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 1:4: "And it came to pass, the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Before I formed you in the belly…'" (vs 4-5).

What does that mean? That means that the instant that he was conceived in his mother's womb, God said, 'He is the one!'

Then he was formed and born and everything like that and brought into the world. Then he tells him what he's going to do.

Verse 5: "'Before I formed you in the belly I knew you; and before you came forth out of the womb I consecrated you, and I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

Jeremiah must have been probably about 17 or 18 at that time, maybe maximum 20.

Verse 6: "Then I said, 'Alas, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak; for I am a youth.' But the LORD said to me, 'Do not say, "I am a youth," for you shall go to all that I shall send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak'" (vs 6-7).

We're living in the same time today. There are a lot of things we need to say, a lot of things we need to speak that come from the Word of God that need to be told to the people because of what is coming.

Remember, Jesus said the times will be the worst that there has ever been from the creation of the world! What is that going to be like?

We can't choose in what age we're going to live. We're here; we're at the start of the end. How long will it be? We don't know! But we better be about doing what God wants.

God said, v 8: "'Do not be afraid of their faces; for I am with you to deliver you,' said the LORD."

There were times when Jeremiah didn't think that was so, especially when he was thrown into the sewer.

Verse 9: "And the LORD put forth His hand, and touched my mouth…."

Same thing with Isaiah, only instead of a coal from the altar by a seraphim taking it and touching his lips, God Himself did it!

Verse 9: "And the LORD put forth His hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, 'Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant'" (vs 9-10).

What a mission statement that is! Think about that.

Verse 11: "And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Jeremiah, what do you see?' And I said, 'I see a rod of an almond tree.' And the LORD said to me, 'You have seen well; for I will watch over My Word to perform it'" (vs 11-12)—and that is through you.

Jer. 7—Jeremiah stood at the temple, and here's what God said; He gave them warning. They had warnings for 20 years before. They had all the trouble. But:

• Would they listen?
• What did they do?

They came to the Temple of God, worshiping other gods! King Manasseh set up the homosexual booths, the host of heaven, the altar to Baal, the king in the temple area. He goes to the temple, and God said to him:

Jeremiah 7:2: "'Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim there this Word, and say, "Hear the Word of the LORD, all Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD."'" There it is, right there! God gives warning!

• we are to give warning now

even if it takes 10 years or longer

• we must give the warning now

to the Churches of God

• we must give the warning now

because the sin of the world is going to grow exponentially!

Verse 3: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.'"

God gives them a choice. What do you want? Then He says:

Verse 4: "Do not trust in lying words…"

They weren't trusting in the words of God; they were trusting in the words of the false prophets! They don't come in here saying:

"…'The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these'" (v 4).

That's exactly what people think. That's why the Jews are so 'hell bound' to build a temple. They think that the temple is going to save them. It's not! The Jews idolize the temple; they don't worship God, they reject Jesus, the true Messiah of God, with the exception of a few Messianic Jews who still cannot get rid of the traditions of the elders.

Verse 4: "Do not trust in lying words… [v 5]: For if you thoroughly,…" now you look at that word, what does that mean? Absolutely completely!

• God doesn't want any half-heartedness
• God doesn't want anyone saying, 'Oh, well, I'm weak. I can hardly make it'

Well, go to God and get a little strength and stand up like a man or woman and do what God says to do!

Verse 5: "For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor; if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place..." (vs 5-6).

• Abortion?
• Isn't that the most innocent blood?

They didn't have the abortion like we have today. They sacrificed the children to Molech!

"…nor walk after other gods to your hurt" (v 6).

Then God says, 'Don't do all of these things and I'll bless you.' But they say

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, God. We'll be good. You bless us because we profess your name. We're standing here in the temple.
Or like they say today:
We are grace and we don't have anything to do and Jesus has kept the Law for us.

That's a pack of lies!

Now, God's choice for us today is:

IF you will love Me and keep My commandments, and IF you will keep My Word, and IF you will love Me with all your heart, mind, soul and being, I will give you eternal life!

Quite a difference! Look at the stakes for us today.

Verse 7: "Then I will cause you to dwell in this place…" Or for us:

Then I will cause you to live in the kingdom of God and you shall be priests and kings for me to rule the world.

"…in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever. Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit" (vs 7-8).

That's what we have today. Look at the whole thing. Everybody's trying to solve the problems, but they don't know the central problem is rejecting God!

Jeremiah had a tough message to bring. It wasn't pleasant. Jeremiah didn't feel good a lot of time because of:

• what he had to say
• what he had to bring
• what he had to preach
• what he had to tell the people over and over again

Jer. 16—God told him, 'Don't take a wife, it's too dangerous at this time.'

Jeremiah 16:3: "For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who begot them in this land."

That's what it is today. Who are the ones that are going to suffer? The youth, the young adults, as well as all of the senior citizens!

Verse 4: "They shall die grievous deaths of diseases; they shall not be mourned, nor shall they be buried. But they shall be as dung on the face of the earth…." Think about that!

• Did that not happen in WWII?
• Did we not see how many thousands were killed and shot by the Nazis and put into these great mass pits?

You would think that the Jews would learn, but they haven't learned. You know why all of this comes on the Jews first and in such a terrible way? Because they judged themselves when Pilate was ready to let Jesus free!

They said, 'Crucify Him! Crucify Him! 'Pilate said, 'What for?' He's the Son of God! Then Pilate got all afraid! Then Pilate released Barabbas. What did the Jews say about crucifying Christ? They brought the judgment on their own selves. What was it they said to Pilate, because Pilate washed his hands and said, 'I'm innocent'? They said, 'His blood be upon our heads and our children's heads.'

They judged themselves, and God has brought the judgment on the Jews in every generation of time down to this day. They still do not understand what they have done. They always blamed the enemies.

• it was the Babylonians
• it was the Assyrians
• it was the Romans
• it was whatever army

in our day

• it was the Germans

Remember God stirs up the enemy!

After he's done doing the work that God wants him to do, he turns on the enemy and takes care of them!

• Isn't that the way God works?
• What's going to happen in this age?
• What's going to happen?

Verse 4: "'They shall die grievous deaths of diseases; they shall not be mourned, nor shall they be buried. But they shall be as dung on the face of the earth. And they shall be destroyed by the sword and by famine; and their bodies shall be food for the birds of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.' For thus says the LORD, 'Do not enter into the house of mourning; do not go to weep nor moan over them. For I have taken away My peace from this people,' says the LORD, 'even loving kindness and mercies'" (vs 4-5).

That's what this generation is facing. We must warn them! We must warn the brethren and Churches of God wherever they are that these things are coming!

So he says; v 6: "Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, nor shall men mourn for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them. Nor shall anyone offer food to them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead. Nor shall anyone give them the cup of comfort to drink for their father or for their mother. Also, you shall not go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink" (vs 6-8).

That's quite something! He told Jeremiah, 'You don't go in and associate with any of them. You're a prophet of Mine, and you are to speak My Word."

Verse 9: "For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will cause the voice of mirth to cease out of this place before your eyes, and in your days, the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. And it shall come to pass, when you declare to this people all these words, and they shall say to you…'" (vs 9-10).

I know it is coming! Even by bringing this message, there will be someone out there saying this very thing:

"…'Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity, or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?' Then you shall say to them, 'Because your fathers have forsaken Me,' says the LORD, 'and have walked after other gods…'" (v 10-11)

What is the god today? Digital! Fake intelligence! That's nothing than the accumulation of human knowledge from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil condensed down into multiple computers. Wait till the earthquake comes and breaks all the electrical connections. What will you do? You will have no answer!

"…and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken Me, and have not kept My Law. And you have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, you walk each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, without hearkening to Me" (vs 11-12).

So, God made it known. Yes indeed!  God has made it clear!

Here's how bad it is. How deep is sin in people?

Jeremiah 17:1: "The sin of Judah is engraved with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond; it is carved upon the tablet of their heart and upon the horns of your altars."

Quite a thing! Will they ever repent? Will any of these Sunday-keeping ministers have the guts and the courage and the honesty to stand in the pulpit and tell the people that God's Sabbath Day is to be kept today?

Now then, they will say, 'Oh, we don't want to be under Law!' They don't understand:

• IFyou keep the Sabbath
• IF you keep the commandments of God

You are not under Law, You are within Law!

What you do now is under Law, which is the penalty for your sins! You claim the grace of God, and you claim the love of God. But you won't love Him!

• you despise His Sabbath
• you despise His Holy Days
• you think that you are righteous

Verse 5: "Thus says the LORD, 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the LORD." That's what it is today.

Verse 6: "For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes. But he shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land that is not inhabited."

Remember this: Always in the midst of the pronouncement of punishments coming from God, God looks out for the one who is seeking Him.

 Verse 7: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose hope is the LORD."

That's what we need for us today. We need:

• the blessing of God
• the protection of God
• the righteousness of God
• everything that God wants us to do

Verse 8: "For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters; it sends out its roots by the river, and it shall not fear when the heat comes, but its foliage shall be green; and he is not worried in the year of drought, nor will it cease from yielding fruit."

Now then, here's the opposite, because v 5 ties in with v 7. How many times have we covered this? We do all the time with the Feast of Unleavened Bread! Tells you what a human nature is. And this is what we're dealing with out there.

Verse 9: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" That is true!

The self-deception of individuals is just absolutely overwhelming. Those who have the Spirit of God:

• love God
• love His Truth
• obey His voice
• live by every Word of God

That's why we're here! This is how we use the Spirit of God to judge:

• what we do
• what we say
• what we think

There's the blessing again in the midst of deep trouble.

Verse 10: "I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings." Amazing thing, isn't it?

God does this to every individual on the earth. He has the power! So, wherever the people of God are in this world, some we know of, some we don't know of, who are following the ways of God.

Verse 12: "A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary."

Again, God brings the prophet to His Throne: Isaiah, Jeremiah, and as we will see next week, Ezekiel.

And we will see also after that the Church and Christ and the events in the book of Revelation. Amazing what God does!

Verse 13: "O LORD, the Hope of Israel, all who forsake You shall be ashamed. 'Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth because they have forsaken the LORD, the Fountain of living waters.' Heal me, O LORD…" (vs 13-14).

This is Jeremiah saying, because he's stricken and wounded in heart, mind and emotion, having to speak these words to these people who are stubborn, that are stoned! Just how shall you say? Like it says there in:

Verse 1: "The sin of Judah is engraved with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond; it is carved upon the tablet of their heart..."

So he says, v 14: "Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed, save me, and I shall be saved; for You are my praise. Behold, they say to me, 'Where is the Word of the LORD? Let it come now!'" (vs 14-15).

Let it come now. So then he has to continue on with all of the terrible things that they were doing. We are entering an age right now, we are past the threshold of it beginning. We're seeing it multiply, we're seeing it become worse. Everyone is trying to solve the problems. They can make a little adjustment here, a little adjustment there, but unless they come to God on His terms, there will be no relief. That's why those of us in the Church of God:

• need to stay close to God
• need to stay close to each other
• need to love each other
• need to keep that in mind
• need to understand that we are facing difficult and dark days ahead

We need to pray that God will give us the strength to move forward as He wants us to!

Now we have much more to say, because there's a lot that's going to happen. All of this is going to lead up to the preparation of Passover and how important that that will be for us!

Scriptural References:

• Matthew 24:34-35
• John 1:1, 14
• Hebrews 4:9, 12-16
• Matthew 5:17-19
• Jeremiah 23:26-31
• Exodus 19:3-6
• Isaiah 6:3, 5-7
• Jeremiah 1:4-12
• Jeremiah 7:2-8
• Jeremiah 16:3-12
• Jeremiah 17:1, 5-10, 12-15, 1, 14-15

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Ephesians 6
• 1 John 5
• Genesis 5
• Galatians 3
• Genesis 15
• Judges 2
• Revelation 4; 5

Also referenced:

Messages (truthofGod.org):

• Until Christ Is Formed In You by Lyall Johnston
• Repentance & Resignation (Day of Atonement, 1979)
• The Rest of the Story #s 1, #2

In-Depth Study: Daniel/Revelation

Books:

• Restoring the Original Bible by Dr. Ernest Martin
• The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop

{https://cbcg.org/twobaby/sect32.html}

• The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter

FRC:bo/po
Transcribed: 2/21/24

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