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How you can hold back the wrath of God that He is going to
bring upon us by using the Ten Commandments as a guide for your life
Fred R. Coulter—September 24, 2016
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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services.
We just saw an interesting video on Hillary Clinton's health. If you want to see that video, it's about 15 minutes long, go to VidZette.com (video of Aug. 29 by Dr. Ted Noel). A doctor of 30 years analyzes all of her miscues and falls and shows that there's a reason that Huma Abedin asked for Parkinson's medicine, because that's probably what she has. I'll leave it up to you to search it out.
We've been watching another riot, based upon lies. We have people saying, 'How do we stop this? How can we end this?' Let's see what we need to end first!
Everyone screams, 'black lives matter, 'white lives matter, blue lives matter, brown lives matter.' If you're in the service: 'Red, white and blue lives matter.' If lives matter, what's the most important life that needs to be protected? The babies! I have here some current statistics on abortion, Sept. 19, 2016. We're not dealing with something new. This is an age-old problem.
As it is today, it is the government, the Supreme Court, the legislatures and the states. The whole lesson that the world is going to learn, between now and the return of Jesus Christ, is that if you don't live your life according to the Ten Commandments you're asking for terrible trouble, and it goes to the very top.
Here's what God told Jeremiah. I bring this out, because with this election, if Hillary gets in, you better have all your emergency food and money pretty well stored up and ready to go. If Trump gets in, there may be a space of time for preaching the Gospel. Either way, this is going to be the main problem that needs to be solved, Jer. 19.
Granted they are performing fewer abortions than they have been say 10 years ago. If anyone wants to look at that and say that's an improvement…
Jeremiah 19:1: "Thus says the LORD, 'Go and get a potter's earthen jar, and assemble some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests.'…. [they are the ones who are responsible] …And go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom by the entry of Potsherd Gate. And there declare the words that I shall tell you. And say, "Hear the Word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and people of Jerusalem. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel…"'" (vs 1-3).
Jeremiah had to do a lot of things that everyone was against. He had to suffer so badly, and so many people against him. He even complained and said, 'Oh God, this is terrible.' God said, 'Didn't I say I wouldn't spare you?' He didn't say Jeremiah wouldn't have difficulties.
Here's what Jeremiah was to do. This is what has to happen. This message is really for people in the world, rather than people in the Church.
- What are you going to do with your life?
- How are you going to live?
Here's God's Word to you. A lot of people say, 'If God would come down and speak to me, I'd listen.' He has spoken to you and has had it written and He has sent it to you. If you have a Bible, God's message for you is right in your own home.
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.'"
As long as 'we go to Sunday-worship…' that's what they were doing at the temple: Baal-worship, right at the temple of God. All you Sunday-keepers who take the name of God in your lips, God says, 'Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it Holy.' If that offends you, then answer this: Can you make anything Holy, let alone time that God created?
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. Do not trust in lying words…'" (vs 3-4).
Take some time and ask yourself the question, watch the television, look at your books, talk about your friends, think of what you believe: How many lying words do you believe and trust in? I think you would be surprised. Even some of the worst people in the world think they are good. That's not the question. Are you good in the eyes of God?
Verse 4: "Do not trust in lying words, saying, "The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.'"
That's why even if Donald gets in as President, unless there are some major changes in behavior in people's way of living, they can't say, 'We're Americans, we'll do this, we'll do that, we'll do the other thing.' That doesn't bring any repentance. Amend your ways and your doings means to stop doing what you're doing and do God's way!
Verse 5: "For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor." All the riots we've seen, is that executing judgment? Is that right? No!
Verse 6: "'If you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place…" What does it mean to "…shed innocent blood…"? Cops killing black people? It means killing young infants and children! That is the innocent blood it's talking about.
"…nor walk after other gods to your hurt; then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever" (vs 6-7).
- Don't we talk about the wonderful land that God has given us?
- Didn't Abraham Lincoln say that God has given us the choicest place in all the earth?
- Yes, indeed!
Verse 8: "Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit." I tell you, living here in California under this California government is absolutely that.
Verse 9: "Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know; and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations'?" (vs 9-10).
Today it's expressed this way: The law has been done away. How do you like your lawless society?
It says to hear the Word. Will you listen? Or will you say, 'Oh, he doesn't speak politically correct'? Neither does God! When the people heard the voice of God, what did they say? 'Oh what a wonderful speech; the words were so sweet and nice. Oh, He's so politically correct. What a wonderful God we have!'
No! They said, 'Moses, if we hear the words of God we'll die. You speak to us.' God said, 'All right, I'll do that.' But they still didn't do what they should do. Here's what God is telling us. I want you to listen:
Jeremiah 19:3: "…'Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, which shall cause the ears of him who hears it to tingle.'"
If you're a history buff, you look up 586B.C. and see what God did to the temple in Jerusalem and 67-70A.D. in Jerusalem, if you think that God is a nice 'patty-cake,' wonderful little Jesus.
"…I will bring evil upon this place…" Why would God do that? Because you are evil to God! 'Oh, I'm a good person.' Really? Have you read the Ten Commandments? People say, 'We've got to stop this.' I'm going to tell you how you can stop a good deal of it.
Verse 4: "Because they have forsaken Me…" Is God in your life? I want to talk to some Church people, too. What does it say about the Laodiceans? Rich and increased with goods! Christ is knocking at the door. He says, 'If any man opens, I'll come in.' Is God in your life really? or Are you just a Sabbath-keeping-Sunday-keeper, and the brethren are your little social club? And you don't like ministers speaking with authority and truth, but rather 'purr to us nice things.'
"…and have profaned this place and have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents. They have also built the high places of Baal to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal…" (vs 4-5).
If you don't think that was something that God rendered judgment on them for, then all you have to do is look at the Mayans. Guess whose descendants are flooding over our borders? Think about it! People say, 'Why would God do that?'
Do you want God to come down and visit you and personally Himself correct you? You would be less than a spot on the ground! So, God sends evil people to do the correcting! Why would God do that? To wake you up without having to destroy a lot of people in the process, which is merciful when you look at it from God's point of view. The statistics I'm going to read here are absolutely overwhelming.
"…burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I never commanded nor spoke, nor did it come into My mind" (v 5). Then Jeremiah gathered them all out there. He gave them these words. He took the potsherd and he took a club in his hands and smashed it and said, 'This is what God is going to do because of your sins!'
Let me read some statistics. Guess how many abortions since Roe vs Wade in the United States of America, 1973? 59,368,870!
- Is that a Holocaust?
- Is that murder?
- Is that killing the most innocent of all?
You get our book, From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? (truthofgod.org)
If you have had an abortion, God will forgive you, but you better understand what you have done. In the United States this year, they are out there having riots because a black man was shot by a black cop; I didn't know that was a crime. According to the politically correct, that should be acceptable: black on black, huh? After all in Chicago they kill each other. That's the President's hometown and nobody cares about it.
Guess how many innocent lives were killed this year? 782,615! That is the population of the major portion of San Jose, California. In one year and the year isn't over, yet.
Sixteen weeks gestation, fully formed, everything fully functioning: 37,565.5!
- Have you watched Holocaust, WWII?
- Have you seen the crematoriums?
- Have you seen the ghetto camps?
- Have you seen the railroad tracks going out there taking thousands and thousands of Jews and other Europeans?
They killed as many other people as they did Jews. Everybody's all upset, and we should never forget this. How about 59-million? That's equivalent to everybody who died in Russia and Europe in WWII.
- U.S. this year, due to rape or incest: 7,591.4!
By Planned Parenthood since 1970—and they cannot even get a vote to stop funding. How do you think God looks at it? Don't look at me and say, 'Oh, he's shouting. He appears angry.'
- How does God appear?
- Are you upset over it?
- Does it disturb you?
- Does it have any meaning to you?
By Planned Parenthood this year: 232,577!
- since 1970: 7,193,930
- worldwide, in a day: 71,300
- worldwide this year: 29,570,000
- worldwide since 1980: 1,428,719,379
When you read the book of Revelation you will understand why God is going to almost literally destroy this earth. The only reason that it hasn't happened, yet—and He's given plenty warnings with drought, flood, storms, murder, crime—He's given plenty of warnings, but people won't stop.
I ask you to stop and think about what lying words that you trust in. What are you going to do about it? If you have the Bible, you are responsible to God' whoever you are, wherever you are, you have no excuse. If you're a doctor or a nurse and you're involved in that, what do you think every time you see that murdered unborn life? Planned Parenthood is still selling them. 'Oh, we don't take money for a price, but they donate to us; are we good people?'
Do you want to know how to turn this around? I think Mike Pence, the vice presidential candidate, said it the best: 'I want to outlaw Roe vs Wade and throw it on the junk pile of history.' That's what needs to be done.
Proverbs 14:34: "Righteousness exalts a nation… [if you keep the laws and commandments of God] …but sin is a reproach to any people." Doesn't matter who you are, where you are, or what you're doing.
First of all, in turning to God an amending your ways, you have to admit what Jesus said that human nature is, and you have to admit that your human nature is this way. You have to repent of it and repent of a lot of things that you assume and take for granted.
The most lying thing that there is, is the entertainment and media industry. It is almost wholly satanic today. The next class of people that are the greatest liars and perverters of young people is the public education system today. They are teaching a promiscuous sex. The next ones that are involved are the religious leaders who agree that the Law has been done away.
Every bit of righteousness from God is based upon the Ten Commandments. I'm sure you know even some of them, but not all of them. Let's go to Exo. 20, and let's look at them, because I am going to tell you how you can hold back the wrath of God and the punishment that He is going to bring upon us by using the Ten Commandments as a guide for your life.
However, politically, it's got to start with eliminating abortion. You know how well that will be received. The next time you yell and scream that a policeman had to shoot someone, think about all of the babies that have been killed in the womb! The next time you're upset because you have to run in a mall because there's a terrorist there wielding a knife to kill you, think about all the babies that were killed with the surgeon's knife with abortion!The next time you wonder why there is a bomb that goes off and why the government allows it, think about the thousands of lives that have been killed in abortion!
The next time you say, 'Oh, we don't need any of these illegals in.' I imagine if they did a census they would find an immigrant, legal or illegal, for every single murdered baby in the abortion clinics! Because God is God and God is real. God will bring His wrath. We are at the point that we are about ready to receive it.
I'm not going to begin with the first commandment, because you first need to start with commandment #5. You've got to start with your immediate family unit: father, mother, children. By the way, all you women who are out there having adulterous affairs: stop! Likewise with every man: stop! God tells you to.
Fifth Commandment; Exodus 20:12: "Honor your father and your mother…" Fathers and mothers: make yourselves honorable. Has to start in the family. Even Donald Trump said, 'If there is any solution to the problem of the inner city problems, it has to start with the family.' Hello! That is true!
How many young people have been killed because they dishonor father and mother? But it always happens to the other person, because the one who dies doesn't know anything.
"…that your days may be long upon the land, which the LORD your God gives you" (v 12).
Do you know anyone who has been killed because of drugs, sex, running away, because of rebelling against parents? Your parents aren't perfect. Parents, don't oppress your kids.
The next one is simple, v 13: "You shall not murder." There are other laws to handle manslaughter and so forth.
What I want you to do is think on this: Just take these last six commandments. If everyone in the United States of America would begin keeping these six commandments, the crime rate would disappear. Would it not? Not go down, but disappear!
Verse 14: "You shall not commit adultery." Every violation of these commandments is a choice. Commit adultery: you choose to do it. You choose to lie. You choose to sneak. You choose to go against it.
Then when you come down with a sexually transmitted disease, you wonder why it happened. The truth is, I'll tell you a little secret: When man and woman marry and stay married, they never have sexually transmitted diseases. It's that simple!
But we have schools that teach young people to destroy their lives sexually before they are even adults. If you're 12 and pregnant, you can go get an abortion without your folks even knowing.
- Is that trusting in lying words?
- Is that going against God?
- What is your life going to be like?
Verse 15: "You shall not steal." Every politician, great majority of preachers, priests and popes, mafia, jewelry thieves, petty thieves, bankers: you shall not steal. We'd empty out the courts. These judges could retire!
Verse 16: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." Don't be telling lies. This also has to do in court cases. Every one of these riots is based upon lies. What does that say about those who believe that? 'Oh, I won't believe anything else. Hands up, don't shoot!'
I don't care what color the life is; it matters! But as people have said, 'If it's black lives matter, why do you have the highest murder rate in the cities you live in? Did the white folks come down there and make you do it?' The overall principle is to love your neighbor as yourself. Do you want to get shot? Do you want to get stabbed? Do you want you hear bashed in? No! Shall not murder, shall not commit adultery.
Just think of the health clinics. Their business would go way down. How about the pharmaceuticals? There's a lying bunch of people. All you have to do is look at some of these ads on television. 'In some cases this is such good medicine that you may die.'
Verse 17: "You shall not covet your neighbor's house…. [that's where it all starts] …You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."
You could say his car, his motorcycle, his skateboard, whatever that belongs to your neighbor. But people plan thievery. Movies are made breaking in and stealing. Why?
Let's see what every human being is, and you have to admit this yourself until you see you are this way and you can change and stop it. We will see that God says that's what we are to do. It is a choice.
As I read this first sentence, I want to ask you: What is going on in your mind most of the time?
Mark 7:21: "For from within, out of the hearts of men… [at any age, men and women] …go forth evil thoughts…"—lust, hatred, jealousy, greed, murder, rape, incest, all of those things in the mind.
- What does that do to your mind?
- What does that do to your thinking?
"…adulteries… [sex thoughts and fantasies] …fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickednesses, guile, licentiousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness" (vs 21-22).
Even the former Secretary of State, in answering back how bad Hillary was, had to say that her husband was still 'blanking' women right in their home. Think of it! People pay him hundreds of thousands of dollars to speak? It's exactly as Donald said, 'It's a crime syndicate.'
Right at the beginning of the Bible God tells us what we are to do. God commanded Adam and Eve. They chose to go against God. Of what magnitude was that sin? The highest magnitude possible, because it was right in the face of God, who personally created them.
God has given every human being independent free moral agency and we choose. Their choice was so catastrophic that it changed the nature of all of their descendants and the nature of nature on earth.
When it comes to Cain, people read this and they don't understand it; Genesis 4:3: "It came to pass that Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground."
Does God command an offering of the fruit of the ground? Yes, He does, the firstfruits! If Cain would have done that, that would have been accepted because God commanded it. This is something that God did not command to do. But Cain brought it.
Verse 4: "And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat of it…."
Side-note: What does this tell us? The law of offerings was understood from the beginning! Doesn't it tell us that all the commandments of God were there from the beginning? Yes, indeed, because where there is no law, there's no sin. Had to be! People read it and say, 'Well, it doesn't say it.' Do you have a mind to think? Can you read the rest of the Bible? Can you put it together?
Have you ever put together a 1,000-piece puzzle? Were you happy when you got that last piece in correctly? Yes! That's the way the Bible is, read the rest of it.
"…And the LORD had regard unto Abel and his offering, but He did not have regard unto Cain and his offering…." (vs 4-5).
- Why?
- Was God mean and nasty?
- Why did God not have regard for Cain's offering?
- What did Cain do?
He did like most people: whenever they sin, and they find out they shouldn't do it, they get mad at God. That's what Cain did.
"…And Cain was extremely angry and his countenance fell" (v 5). This is showing the worse kind of anger possible. Didn't say Cain was disappointed.
Verse 6: "And the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you so angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well…'" (vs 6-7). What is well? The commandments of God, if you do well!
If you think you're a good person, do you keep the commandments of God? Do you go to church and throw in a wrinkled up $5 or $20 and think, 'I've really done something good to God.' Not only are you there on the wrong day, on Sunday, but you're just giving God the pittance that's left over. This also tells you that tithes and offerings were from the beginning! If you do well… 'Look, Cain, all you have to do is change your behavior.'
Verse 7: "If you do well, shall you not be accepted?.… I'll accept you if there's true repentance. Does God accept true repentance? Yes, indeed!
"…But if you do not do well, sin lies at the door…." (v 7). What is sin? Sin is the transgression of the Law. Sin is trying to modify God's laws. God says to tithe. People say, 'That's too much, Lord. Paul didn't take anything.' Yes, he did! He even told the Corinthians that in not taking tithes and offerings from them that he did wrong.
Even had a woman one time say, 'You have to do like Jesus said to the 70: take no money. Go to a house and if they accept you, stay there and preach the Gospel; that's how you're supposed to operate today.' That was for that one time journey. She ought to try that on a trip. Get your suitcase and go. Don't take any money with you.
"…But if you do not do well, sin lies at the door…." (v 7). What do you mean at the door? Where was the entrance to the Garden of Eden? On the east side of Eden! Where was the offering to be brought? To the door of the east side of Eden!
What he did was sin. What does this tell us? First thing, early, right on in the Bible: God will not accept sin! How is your life? How many sins do you have? Beginning right up here as we've covered in Mark 7. Are you trying to overcome those?
So rather than repent, here's what God says. "…Its desire… [sin's desire] …is for you, but you must rule over it!" (v 7). You must choose to not do it. You're not to let sin rule in your heart, mind and body. That's what Paul said.
Rather than repent, Cain said, 'I'm going to eliminate this. I hate God. I hate my brother, and kill him.' When there's no repentance, there's more sin added to it.
We'll jump way ahead and show that the New Testament is exactly the same.
(go to the next track)
I want to show you the Bible is consistent from Genesis to Revelation that sin is the transgression of the Law.
Sidebar: Most Sunday-keepers think that if you keep the commandments of God you are trying to earn salvation by law-keeping. Not true!
Romans 6:14: "For sin shall not rule over you because you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? MAY IT NEVER BE!" (vs 14-15).
I'll give you a little summary. You'll have to wait for the sermon. I'll give it some time in the future about every human being in the world is under law! Otherwise there would be no sin. All have sinned. All are under law. Under grace means you have repented, you've been baptized, you received the Holy Spirit of God and you have a special relationship with God, with His Holy Spirit, through His grace! Grace has nothing to do with giving you permission to do away with the laws of God.
Verse 1: "What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin, so that grace may abound? MAY IT NEVER BE!...." (vs 1-2). The Greek there is very emphatic, meaning don't ever, ever let this thought come into your mind!
"…We who died to sin… [you die to sin by baptism] …how shall we live any longer therein?" (v 2)—because that's the way you lived against the commandments of God. I'll save all the rest of it for later.
In Gen. 6 it tells us if there is no Law, there is no sin. What does God think of sin? What did God do because of sin? All of you atheists who reject the notion of a Flood, God calls you fools.
Genesis 6:5: "And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." What is in your mind?
The ad that comes on, you can hardly get away from it. They end up by saying, 'What is in your wallet?' God wants to know, 'What is in your mind?' What did Jesus say it would be like at the end-time? 'As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.'
How bad did it get? "…only evil continually. And the LORD repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart" (vs 5-6).
You know the rest of the story. There was Noah and his three sons, Noah's wife and his sons' three wives. God did flood the world' it's evident everywhere you go! I remember my first trip into Wyoming. When you go into Wyoming, you don't know how high you are, because from Salt Lake City, you're already starting out at 4,600 feet. You go up and up, and it's not steep.
You get up there about 10,000 feet. Here's this little road going off. I thought, I'm going to test the Bible. There was some dirt there. I didn't take more than two steps and I found fossils, trilobites. Where are trilobites found? Under the water! If that's not evidence of a Flood, what is?
Think of this: The way to start solving the problems is for every church, every school, and the government to teach 'love your neighbor as yourself'! That is the summary of the last six commandments:
- honor your father and mother
- you shall not murder
- you shall not commit adultery
- you shall not steal
- you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
- you shall not covet your neighbor's house, nor anything that he has
That's where to start. Can people choose to do the right thing? Yes! What did God tell Cain? Sin wants to have its result with you, but you must rule over it! You must make the choice to not do it.
- I don't care how frustrated you are
- I don't care how badly you've been treated
- I don't care how much discrimination you have had against you
Some person will say, 'You're a white boy out there and you've never had discrimination.' Let me tell you I know exactly what discrimination is, because I've suffered a lot of religious discrimination because of liars and people who want to pretend that they're righteous, and they're not.
- I know what that's like
- my wife knows what that's like
- our family knows what that's like
- I know what it's like to be unemployed
- I know what it's like to wonder where the next meal is coming from
If I can politely say: don't think that thought because I'm preaching what I'm preaching. The Word of God applies to every human being on earth—period! Every government, every religious organization should start right here with these last six commandments.
- Would we have had a riot in Charlotte, North Carolina, or Ferguson, or New York City, or Detroit? No!
- Would we have the ghettos the way that they are if we have 'love your neighbor as yourself'? No!
- Would there still be the rich and the poor? Yes, there always will be!
Donald Trump—I'm not endorsing him, but I'm just saying this, I have not heard another politician say, 'What we need to do is stop all of our hassling and love one another.' Did Hillary ever say that? Did 'Billary' ever say that? Did Bush ever say that? Donald knows something! Is he perfect? No!
Let's come to the hard part, the first four commandments. This is where it's all at. The whole sum of what God wants is contained in the Ten Commandments and these two summaries of it:
- You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and all your being
How much room does that leave for evil thoughts? Not much room! How much room does that leave for going against your neighbor? The second one is like it:
- You shall love your neighbor as yourself
Why do you think that God has a law that He even said, 'If you see someone that is your enemy fall under his beast, you will go lift the beast off him so that he die not.' Is that not loving your neighbor as yourself? Yes, indeed!
You religionists out there, all you pastors, all you preachers, all you teachers, why do you hate the first four commandments? Don't be so stupid as to say those are for the Jews.
What did God do before there ever was a Jew? We just read it in Gen. 6! Did it not apply to all human beings? So don't bring any specious arguments. God is God of all people, all nations, the whole world—the universe and everything that there is. Why should you be so stupid to settle for Buddha, or Sheba, or a false Christ or a 'holy' pope? 'Oh, those are religious people.' No, they're not! They are embodiments of evil! They may speak nice. They may give you nice words. Even Satan the devil himself will kiss you, if that's what it takes to get you to sin.
Exodus 20:1: "And God spoke all these words, saying." He didn't say to Moses, 'Tell the people,' God spoke and said to all the people gathered there at Mount Sinai in a special meeting of God and His people to fulfill His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
He said, v 2: "I am the LORD your God…" No human being in the world exists without God. Everything that you are, everything that you have, everything that there is in the world, God caused it all. God is love and He loves you, but God is also powerful. If you sin against Him, you are going to pay the penalty. That's what God said.
He said, 'I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life.' To love the Lord your God. If you don't, you're going to have cursing. How does it look across the face of the world today?
Verse 2: "I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage…. [type of Satan the devil and sin of this world] …You shall have no other gods before Me" (vs 2-3). You understand God the way He describes Himself in His Word. You don't read a sentence in the Bible and then make up your own imagination of what God is. There is not one thing that is not centered on God in all this world.
You have life, you breathe, in Him 'we live and move and have our being.' You exist because of God! I exist because of God. Don't you think with what God has done and all the people that He has made and created that He is the One Who we ought to worship? There's a rebellious false god out there, called Satan the devil. He wants you to worship him and most people do. You can read that in Rev. 13, the world worships the beast and Satan.
What do you worship? It's not what's in your wallet, what's in your mind, it is who and what do you worship?
Verse 3: "You shall have no other gods before Me." None, no idea, no thought, nothing!
Commandment #2 is going to require a little work, a little destruction and reclamation project. Verse 4: "You shall not make…" In addition to not making any idol:
Ezekiel 14:1: "And some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me"—the important people. They were in captivity because they were rooted out of Jerusalem for their sins.
Verse 2: "And the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts…'" (vs 2-3). Not only are you not to make them, you are not to have anything as an idol even in your mind! How about that?
Never will forget this statue of Sheba in India. They had to get it from India clear up to Nepal. They put it on a truck and they had to put dirt all around it so it wouldn't move and wouldn't get hurt. They had to drive that truck on one of the most perilous roads in the world where at some points it was 3,000 feet straight down. So, they finally got it up there. They were so happy it got there in one piece.
God says that's the height of stupidity! You look around and you see everything that there is: the heavens and the earth and everything that is made.
I enjoy an apple at night. You've heard me talk about my apple at night. Dolores keeps me supplied with apples. She gets them from Costco, who gets them from the grower. The grower gets them from the tree and the tree gets them from the ground. God made everything!
I'm sitting here at night enjoying my apple, sweet and delicious, juicy and wonderful. Thinking, isn't that an amazing thing? Think of all the food that God made for us! It's good: Steak, vegetarians, all your vegetables; everything that He's given to us. What a thing. It came from a seed.
How does a seed know what to do? We're so smart that we can put it in the ground, put some water on it and it grows. How does it grow? Don't know, but you have to have it because you need to eat and whatever it produces. Otherwise you aren't going to be here, because dust you are and dust you're going to return. Think about it.
What is in your mind? The only way you can stop of these things is to begin to get the attention of people and ask them:
- What is in your mind?
- Do you love God?
- Do you love your neighbor?
- Why are you out here rioting?
Catholics have an excuse here, Exodus 20:4: "You shall not make for yourselves any graven image…" Not even to make it. Any church you go into that's supposed to be Christian, professes Jesus Christ, if it has idols of any kind, that's not of God.
- doesn't matter what they say
- doesn't matter how nice they are
- doesn't matter how they dress
- doesn't matter how they cut their hair
- doesn't matter what kind of building it is in
- It's an idol!
"'…or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I… [not the idol, no one else] …the LORD your God am a jealous God…'" (vs 4-5).
You would say jealousy is sin. Here's God and here's this piece of stone over here you're worshiping. Is the stone going to do anything for you?
When I was on religion online 50 years ago, however long ago that was, there's a Catholic priest and a rabbi there. Someone would always call and ask the Catholic about why they had idols. They would say, 'We don't worship them, we venerate them.' Well, what is veneration? It is worship!
What do they have to do when they walk into the door of a Catholic cathedral? Bow! To what? The pieces of bread in the so-called tabernacle that's in a little box up on the altar! If you're a Catholic and that offends you, be offended!
"…visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me" (v 5).
- What does this tell you if you make an idol and worship it?
You have to make it before you worship it. Maybe not, maybe you're just a 'tree-hugger'!
- Do you love God
or
- Do you hate God?
- You hate Him!
- How many people consider themselves to be good this or good that, but they hate God?
- How can you hate God and profess to love Him?
- How do you love God? By keeping His commandments.
- What do you do?
Verse 6: "But showing mercy to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments." That's what God wants! He wants mercy, but notice. Isn't this interesting:
John 14:15: "If you love Me, keep the commandments—namely, My commandments." What's the difference in the doctrine, New and Old Testament? None!
Exodus 20:7: "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain…" That doesn't mean just swearing and cursing. Every minister and every person who says that Sunday is the day to worship God is taking the name of God in vain! God may be merciful, not send a bolt of fire out of heaven to strike you down. Sooner or later everything is going to be corrupted in that church.
God is so merciful that He even said in Jer. 23 just to show you that even though you're still accountable and God has not punished you, even though you have a minister who preaches from the Bible but doesn't teach the first four commandments the way that they should, God is still so merciful. Jeremiah had a 40-year ministry to preach and see everything that he preached come true.
Jeremiah 23:17: "'They still say to those who despise Me.'.… [How do you despise and hate God? Make idols, physical or in your mind!] …The LORD has said… [that's what they say] …'You shall have peace!' And they say to everyone who walks after the imagination of his own heart, 'No evil shall come upon you!'…. [the Law has been done away] …For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD to see and hear His Word? Who has attended to His Word and heard it? Behold, the tempest of the LORD has gone forth in fury, a whirling tempest…." (vs 17-19).
It's coming unless there's some changes coming, it's coming and it's going to happen! You heard me say to look up Venezuela. You want to go down there and stand in line for four hours to buy a loaf of bread out of money that's worthless? It's coming here!
You look at these vast cities. One place I wouldn't want to be, that's New York City. What are you going to do when that's shut down?
"…It shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD shall not return, until He has executed and until He has performed the purposes of His heart; in the latter days you shall understand it perfectly. 'I have not sent these prophets, yet, they ran…'" (vs 19-21). They build buildings; they build churches. They've had ministries.
I remember one time I was doing some channel-surfing, and they still run Billy Graham's Crusade meetings of 50-years ago. God didn't send them.
"…I have not spoken to them, yet, they prophesied. But… [in spite of all of that]:…But if they had stood in My counsel and had caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings" (vs 21-22).
In His mercy God doesn't strike them down all at once. There may be someone in there who will listen and understand the Word of God and seek God. That's the only good that would come out of it. But God's judgment is going to come upon them.
Exodus 20:8: "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy." I'm happy to read a report that there are some Assemblies of God that are shifting from Sunday to Sabbath. That is good, happy to hear that. But it should be on a vast scale.
Verse 9: "Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God…." (vs 9-10). God made it Holy!
Men come along and say, 'Well, we'll shift all of that over to Sunday. We'll do that.' Really?
- Were you on Mount Sinai when this was spoken?
- Did you speak these words?
- By what authority do you do that?
Most of the Sunday-keepers don't even have a clue about Paul's difficult Scriptures to understand because it wasn't Protestant vs Catholic. It was Judaism vs the Truth. That's what the problem was. We have a publication on that, Judaism: A Revelation of Moses or a Religion of Men? It's a religion of man. The Sabbath Say you're to keep Holy. Then we have the other Holy Days in addition to it.
Verse 11: "For in six days the LORD made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it."
That's not Sunday and that's why we have Rome's Challenge to the Protestants. The Catholics know Sunday is their invention. It's really not their invention; it goes back to the days of Nimrod in ancient Babylon.
Haven't even gotten to some of the other things you can do. I'll save that for next week then since that will bring us hard up on the Feast of Trumpets.
How do we behave to show loving your neighbor as yourself? What do we do? God told Cain, 'Sin wants to devour you, but you shall rule over it.' That means you have to choose. God operates this world on two levels:
- the people in the world God expects them to keep the commandments of God in the letter of the Law
- those who are in the Church and have the Spirit of God, we're to worship God in Spirit and in Truth with all our heart, mind, soul and being
God has chosen us, who are in the Church, to undo all the evil that's in the world when Christ returns. That's a fantastic job. Think of it!
All these people out there trying to live their lives and get it right and all this sort of thing. Like Jesus said, 'Let the dead bury the dead and let the blind lead the blind.'
God has called us out of this world, to learn His Word, with His Spirit, to grow and understand and prepare for the greatest work of God: bringing the Kingdom of God to the world. That's something!
This is why we need the Sabbath every week. Our minds are still physical and
- we need to be taught
- we need to be reminded
- we need to stir up the Spirit of God
- we need to have these things in the forefront of our mind
- we realize how great and marvelous God is
God is going to solve it. We hope things might get a little better for a little while, that's fine. Maybe there will be more people that God can call, that will be great!
But in the meantime, we have to be honest with how we look at the world and see it the way that it is and hope that there are enough people out there doing enough things to try and stop some of this evil. That God will give us a space to preach the Gospel.
That's where we are in the world today!
Scriptural References:
- Jeremiah 19:1-3
- Jeremiah 7:2-10
- Jeremiah 19:3-5
- Proverbs 14:34
- Exodus 20:12-17
- Mark 7:21-22
- Genesis 4:3-7
- Romans 6:14-15, 1-2
- Genesis 6:5-6
- Exodus 20:1-4
- Ezekiel 14:1-3
- Exodus 20:4-7
- John 14:15
- Exodus 20:7
- Jeremiah 23:17-22
- Exodus 20:8-11
Scripture referenced, not quoted: Revelation 13
Also referenced:
Books:
- From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? by Fred R. Coulter
- Judaism: A Revelation of Moses or a Religion of Men? by Philip Neal
From The Holy Bible in Its Original Order: Appendix N, Rome's Challenge to the Protestants
FRC:lp
Transcribed: 10-5-16
Formatted: bo—10-6-16
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