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Combat false doctrines and cunning craftiness of Satan the devil by using the Word of God!
Fred R. Coulter—January 26, 2019
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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services!
Recently some wrote me and said that someone has said that we don't need to keep the Night Much to be Observed. Well, we've beefed up the booklet on it—thanks to Steven Greene—by taking the booklet by Wayne Stenhouse. The cover shows Moses leading the children of Israel out of Egypt on a full moon night. That was the night of the Lord, the Night to be Much Observed.
Transcript Book: The Bible Answer to Evangelicals. Their doctrine goes clear back to the heresies of the finishing days of the apostles. I'll explain that part of it today.
What are the first three things that are attacked by those who want to change the Truth of God to their interpretation and doctrine?
- Passover
- Sabbath
- the nature of God
Always the nature of God!
We're going to cover some things today going through what we have in this series, where there are times when you can misinterpret the Word of God and create ostensively a Biblical doctrine, but it's not the Truth. What do you think one of the earliest things that they did concerning the Sabbath.
1-Timothy 6: If anyone teaches any different doctrine, and does not adhere to sound words, even those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine that is according to Godliness."
How can you take the words of Christ and twist them, and make it look like that Jesus came to do away with the Sabbath?
First of all, you have to understand the hatred of the Jews during the time of the Roman Empire. The taxes that they put on the Jews, which if the Christians were keeping the Sabbath they would be taxed as well, because they would be considered Jews.
What Scriptures would you use to show that it looks like Christ did away with the Sabbath? He healed on the Sabbath!
John 5—I want you to understand that even the King James Version does not translate this correctly. So, they came up to Jesus:
John 5:14: "After these things, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, 'Behold, you have been made whole. Sin no more…'" What is sin? The transgression of the Law, or lawlessness!
"'…so that something worse does not happen to you.' The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus Who had made him whole. And for this cause, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on a Sabbath" (vs 14-16).
So, you tie that together with the hatred of the Jews that the Romans had, and the Gentiles within the Roman Empire, you read that and say, 'See? Jesus did this to loose the Sabbath.' Actually, they say to do away with! That is still used today, and they were using it back then. Wouldn't you want to avoid the persecution that was coming against Christians, because they were keeping things of the Jews? The Sabbath and Holy Days!
What did Jesus say salvation comes from? Salvation is of the Jews, meaning it didn't come through the Gentiles!
Verse 17: "But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is working until now…'"
- How does God the Father work?
- Is He subject t breaking the Sabbath? No!
He keeps everything in the universe moving and working. You need the earth turning! You couldn't have the Sabbath without the earth turning, and every seventh day. You couldn't have the Holy Days without the proper coordination of the moon.
"…and I work" (v 17). What kind of work did Jesus do? Healing to remove the consequences of sin! Teaching to have the right conduct.
Verse 18: "So then, on account of this saying, the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, not only because He had loosed the Sabbath…"
The KJV says 'broke'! He didn't break the Sabbath, He loosed the Sabbath of the ridiculous argument that you can't pick up your bedroll and carry it on the Sabbath, because that's carrying a burden.
You know that he didn't have a 'Sleep Number' bed there. But he could still pick that up and carry it if you let out all the air and roll it up. The word is "…loosed the Sabbath…" from what? The tradition of the Jews!
You ought to read all the different things they have concerning the Sabbath from Code of Jewish Law by Ganzfried and Goldin. If you read that you'll understand why the Jews were absolutely hated by the Gentile. Most of their laws were stupid! What they did is put their traditions around the Law so they wouldn't break the Law. They had all of these traditions that kept them from keeping the Law. They never understood that.
"…but also because He had called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. Therefore, Jesus answered and said to them, 'Truly, truly I say to you, the Son has no power to do anything of Himself, but only what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, these things the Son also does in the same manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him everything that He Himself is doing. And He will show Him greater works than these, so that you may be filled with wonder'" (vs 18-20).
That's one of them concerning the Sabbath. Let's look at the Pastoral Epistles and see what was happening at the time that Paul wrote these. Think about all the warnings, and remember what we have in Eph. 4; what's the important thing?
Ephesians 4:12: "For the perfecting of the saints…"—the whole ministry. They were also beginning to develop priesthood. We'll cover that later.
"…for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ; until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; so that we no longer be children, tossed and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men…" (vs 12-14).
There were people going around creating these false doctrines looking at the Gospels and saying, 'Look at what Jesus did, He healed on the Sabbath. Obviously, He was doing that to show He was preparing for Sunday.' That's the way they were reasoning clear back then!
"…in cunning craftiness, with a view to the systematizing of the error" (v 14). What does that tell you? They were organizing doctrinal statements for their new Christianity! I've got them all right here in the Epistle of Ignatius, which we will to later.
Verse 15: "But holding the Truth in love…"
- What is the Truth? The Word of God is the Truth!
- What sanctifies us before God? The Word of God (John 17—sanctify them in your Word; Your Word is the Truth)!
"…may in all things grow up into Him Who is the Head, even Christ from Whom all the body, fitly framed and compacted together…" (vs 15-16).
All of these things are in there to give us understanding of how it happened. Today we look at what happened with the Worldwide Church of God. How did that happen? The same thing! We'll see the process that takes place! It gets back to one of the most important things in keeping the Holy Days, and it's right at the very beginning. What is that? After the Passover, a little leaven leavens the whole lump!
Once you start creating these things, then you can come to the same conclusions today that they did back then.
- Why is that so?
- Who do you suppose inspires them? Satan the devil!
- Is he not going to do the same thing? Yes!
Remember what Paul said, 'You were giving in to another Jesus, another Gospel! Right during the days of the apostles! It was tailor made for the subversives. The apostles thought Christ was going to return in their lifetime. What do you do when He didn't and the temple is destroyed? and Jerusalem is destroyed? Everyone is wondering what has happened. 'Jesus was going to return, but He didn't return.'
What did we find in 1-Cor. 15? There were some who didn't believe in the resurrection! How can you be a Christian and not believe in the resurrection. Same thing today! Go to heaven, immortal soul! Same doctrine! So, here it is in the Bible to give us warning.
1-Timothy 1:1: "Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the commandment of God our Savior, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is our hope."
You will find that the Father is called our Savior, and Jesus is called our Savior, because together They save us! What Scripture confirms that? John 14, that you receive the Spirit of the Son and the Father! Together They save us!
Verse 2: "To Timothy, my true son in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. WhenI was going to Macedonia, I exhorted you to remain in Ephesus, in order that you might solemnly charge some not to teach other doctrines" (vs 2-3). What were those other doctrines? I'll read them to you a little later!
Verse 4: "Nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which lead to empty speculations rather than to edification from God, which is in faith. Now, the purpose of the commandment is love out of a pure heart…" (vs 4-5).
Through this whole thing, I want you to read 1st & 2nd Tim.: I charge you! This commandment! Why was he doing it? Because he was preparing the Church to go beyond what they thought would be the time when Jesus would return!
Verse 6: "From which some, having missed the mark, have turned aside unto vain jangling; desiring to be teachers of the Law, neither understanding what they are saying, nor what they are strongly affirming" (vs 6-7).
Isn't that true? If you have part of the Truth and you twist it and turn it, you don't understand what you're saying, though you affirm it, you don't realize how far off you are.
Now there's on TBN a David Jeremiah. Wonderful name! Two Biblical names—David Jeremiah—and he talks about going to heaven. You watch some of his sermons and he can't put it together with the resurrection. But he's written books on it. What is that? Systematizing of the error!
Look at the Catholic catechism. What is that? Systematizing of the error!That's why God has the called, chosen and faithful! What happened? Let's look at the worldwide event. Remember the sermons The Cycle of Human Behavior #s 1-2 that I gave during the Feast of Tabernacle 2014. You start out with zeal, then it gets all developed, and then you have buildings and colleges. You have all of these things and it looks really good. When you're few like we are here, people don't want to come with us. Look at that there's just a few people here. We want to be where there are more people.
Okay, so when you have a college everything's really nice. We used to say this is like a mini-Millennium right here on the Ambassador College campus. I said it! Those who were there said it, and it was beautiful when the smog went away. But then people came who were not converted!
Remember where we started, the tares! Then there were those who didn't believe. When the trouble came, different ones wanted to get up and speak because they had a different doctrine. How did that happen? They didn't stick to the Truth, and the ministers didn't stick to it either!They thought the more people and the more love the better you are. The more love the better you are, but the more people did not love God the same way it should be.
- you have the tares
- you have those that were into stony place
- you had those who were in the thorns and thistles because of worldly concerns
So, when the breakup began to come, all of these cracks suddenly appeared, and this is what happened here.
Verse 7: "Desiring to be teachers of the Law, neither understanding what they are saying, nor what they are strongly affirming. Now we know that the Law is good, if anyone uses it lawfully, understanding this: that law is not enacted for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for slayers of fathers and slayers of mothers, for murderers, for fornicators, for homosexuals, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other thing that is opposed to sound doctrine" (vs 7-10).
What did he list here? All the sins that people commit and still do today! Remember I alluded to the report where in Iowa you had all of these religious leaders in churches standing up even have one woman put up a big sign: I was glad I had my abortion, and all these church leaders saying they're for abortion. Why was it in Iowa? Because the state legislature just passed a law that abortion could not take place when there was a heartbeat!
Now look what happened in New York just this past week; up to the point of birth, that's the same as partial birth abortion. Guess what's going to happen? Someone in New York is going to sue. They've already sued in Iowa; guess where that's coming? To the Supreme Court! That will be the final judgment day against this nation! What will the court do?
Verse 11: "According to the Gospel of the glory of the blessed God, with which I was entrusted. And I thank Jesus Christ our Lord, Who has empowered me, that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was previously a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent person; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. But the grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with the faith and love that is in Christ Jesus" (vs 11-14).
Verse 16: "But for this reason I was shown mercy in order that in me first Jesus Christ might demonstrate all long-suffering, for an example to those who would afterwards believe on Him unto eternal life."
Verse 18: "This charge…" How emphatic was the problem that Paul would write it this way? Read through 1st & 2nd Timothy, he has this: I charge…
"…I am personally committing to you, my son Timothy, in accordance with the prophecies that were made long ago concerning you…" (v 18)—holding the faith!
This becomes very important because in 1-Tim. 3 says that an overseer… In the King James it says 'bishop.' Why did they put 'bishop' there when they translated it? Because in the Anglican Church, they wanted to keep their bishops! That's why! It means overseer. That's the way Christian Biblical Church of God operates. We oversee and teach the brethren, and we all grow in grace and knowledge together. We do not have an authoritative dictatorship rule from the top down.
When that happens, something else also develops that they don't realize: a lot of people have contrary opinions, but they're afraid to speak about them!
When you have open participation, which we do in our congregations, people can have ideas—good, bad or whatever—and they can bring it up and we look at it and discuss it and see whether it's in accord with the Word of God. That's how you solve the problem of having all of these secret things being kept in the hearts and minds of people. When trouble comes, BANG! it pops up and comes out!
When you have the one-man rule you have sycophants. A sycophant is one who wants to get up close to the leader. So, he tells them how good he is. Then the leader, because he enjoys it, promotes him. Then the one who was promoted has his friend, and he promotes him. This is how it's subverted. That's why in Christian Biblical Church of God I don't set myself and authority above people. I say, 'Look, we all need to know the Law of God, the Word of God, all of it!
If there's anything that I do that's concerning the Word of God, it better be motivated with God's Spirit, otherwise it's going to come to a selfish end like the HWA prayer rock that's going to take place in Edmonton, OK.
Paul says, 1-Timothy 3:2: "Now then, it is obligatory that the overseer be blameless, the husband of one wife…"
- How did they come up with a priesthood of celibates? and nuns with chastity vows?
It's nowhere in the Bible!
- What does that tell you? That can't be of God!
Was this one wife? Not allowing for any divorce, you may have an invalid married. But today within the Church of God there are too many ministers who have been divorced and remarried who did not have that kind of situation that would make the second marriage legal. What happens then? A little leaven leavens the whole lump! And remember: Satan is always there!
1-Timothy 4:1—the Apostle Paul gives warning: "Now, the Spirit tells us explicitly that in the latter times some shall apostatize from the faith, and shall follow deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons."
Where was Satan on the Passover night? Jesus' last Passover? In Judas! He likes to get in there to cause trouble! What trouble did he cause that night? The disciples were arguing, 'Who's going to be greatest in the Kingdom of God?' After Judas left it got very serious.
Verse 2: "Speaking lies in hypocrisy…" Did that not happen? Remember when GTA was caught in his philandering of hundreds of women? He and his father stood back to back on the stage—and I saw it—and said all the rumors you hear are not true! Right from the 'pope.' "Speaking lies in hypocrisy…" includes false doctrine and false interpretation!
"…their consciences having been cauterized with a hot iron; forbidding to marry… [was already starting then] …and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful, even by those who know the Truth" (vs 2-3).
To this very day they go to the King James Version and say it's okay to eat pork and lobster and shrimp. How about python? You get some big steaks out of pythons. You know, get a 30 footer!
Back in 1-Cor. 7 Paul was going through the dissertation of to marry or not marry, to be chaste or not to be chaste. Paul said that if you can't contain yourself, be married. That was before they understood that Christ's coming is going to be way off. Right there all of that was going on at the same time. I tell you, it's amazing what's hidden in the Bible! It always comes up that Paul apparently did not have a wife, but he said he had the power or the right to have a wife. We don't know what happened, but how would you like to be a woman trying to follow him around?
I mean, read 2-Cor. 11. He didn't say he was night and day in the deep and my wife was hanging on to the board with me. She probably said, 'Paul, look, I tried to tell you; look at this!' Everybody was after Paul. Everybody wanted his favor, and everybody was after him.
That's how you go to the Bible and you make a conclusion and come up with a doctrine that is not true. They said, 'Look at Mary, she was a virgin. Yes, but if you read Mark 6 or 7 what do you find? Jesus had brothers and sisters: four brothers and however many sisters.
Verse 4: "For every creature of God designated for human consumption is good." Why did I translated that way? Because it says:
Verse 3: "…which God created to be received with thanksgiving…" Which ones did He create to be received with thanksgiving? Lev. 11 and Deut. 14! None others! So therefore, this in italics is a clarification based upon what is in v 3; to take away the argument that you can eat anything you want.
Verse 4: "For every creature of God designated for human consumption is good, and nothing to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer" (vs 4-5). Tie in with Lev. 11 and Deut. 14!
Verse 6: "If you are teaching these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Jesus Christ, being nourished by the words of the faith and of the good doctrines that you have closely followed. But refuse profane and old wives' fables; rather, exercise yourself unto Godliness" (vs 6-7).
Then Paul gives other warnings; let's see what they are, v 13: "Until I come, devote yourself to reading, to encouragement, and to doctrine."
One of the most important things for any minister or elder to do is study, study, study the Word of God. That's the most important thing to do! Not read commentaries, because most commentaries are written to justify the establishment Christian world, and you can't see the problems with it if you don't understand the Word of God. That's what's important. You've always got to be studying! What did Paul say in Acts 20 to the elders? Watch yourselves!
In other words, a minister and his wife are supposed to watch their conduct at all times. You can only do that if you pray, study and yield to the Word of God, and know that you are only a servant. It's interesting that the word to serve is 'diakoneo' from which we get the word deacon, and Jesus said He came to 'diakoneo.' So, think on that for a bit; to serve! Not to be exalted, but to serve!
Verse 15 "Meditate on these things; give yourself wholly to them so that your growth in the faith may be apparent to all. Be diligent with yourself and with the doctrines… [See how important that is?] …continue in them. For in doing this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you" (vs 15-16).
Then he talks about how now to run the Church on a long-term basis (1-Tim. 5)
1-Timothy 6:3: "If anyone teaches any different doctrine…"—any different doctrine. How many times did it talk about different doctrines all the way through here?
- different teaching
- different ideas
Now today, it's especially important because what do we have? The most sacred thing on earth is 'your opinion'! Look at that 30-year-old new representative from New York: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In her opinion, let's tax everybody at 70%! It's almost like there's a bell going DING DONG! DING DONG! But it's 'sacred opinion.' What do you think? Well, I think this! What do you think? Well, I think that! What are most people agree to? Rather than:
- What does the Word of God tell us?
- What is the Truth of God?
That's the important thing!
Verse 3: "If anyone teaches any different doctrine, and does not adhere to sound words, even those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine that is according to Godliness."
This brings us back once again to the Sabbath argument about Jesus' working. But why did He say after the disciples picked the grains, husk them and eating the grains? He said that the Sabbath was made on account of man! In other words, God gave the Sabbath for man! When? With Adam! 'And not man for the Sabbath!' Therefore, the Son of man—Christ—'is the Lord of the Sabbath.'
In reading all these false doctrines they don't quote that, but they quote all the other things. That's why a principal in studying is this: get all the Scriptures concerning the doctrine! Not part of it!
So, it says that if he doesn't do that, v 4: "He is proud and knows nothing. Rather, he has a morbid attraction to questions and disputes over words, from which come envy, arguments, blasphemy, wicked suspicions, vain reasonings of men who have been corrupted in their minds and are destitute of the Truth—men who believe that gain is Godliness. From such withdraw yourself" (vs 4-5).
Paul is talking about the men at the time that he was still alive. Can you imagine what some of these Sabbath services were like? We already covered that in 1-Cor. 14:
- one has a hymn
- one has a song
- one has a prophecy
- one has a doctrine
It was a wild mess!
(go to the next track)
Very important things in 1-Tim. 6 to understand that Paul was laying the groundwork going on in the future for the Church. He finishes that in 2-Timothy.
1-Timothy 6:6: "But Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and it is evident that neither do we have the power to carry anything out of the world. But having food and clothing, we should be satisfied with these, for those who desire to become rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts, which cause men to sink into destruction and perdition" (vs 6-9).
Isn't that what happened to WCG? Perfect description! They wanted to be with the rich. That's the opposite of what Christ did.
Verse 10: "For the love of money is a root of all evils; by which some, while striving after riches, were seduced from the faith… [they deceive themselves] …and have impaled themselves with many sorrows." That is a complete death!
Verse 11: "But you, O man of God, flee these things, and pursue righteousness, Godliness, faith, love, endurance and meekness…. [true] …Fight the good fight of the faith! Take hold of eternal life to which you were also called, and did profess a good profession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you…" (vs 11-13). There it is-right as he had in the first!
So, every minister and elder needs to read the Pastoral Epistles and take these charges that he gave very seriously.
Verse 13: "I charge you in the sight of God… [that's quite a statement] …Who gives life to every living thing, and Jesus Christ, Who in testifying before Pontius Pilate gave the exemplary profession of faith, that you keep this commandment without fault and without rebuke until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ" (vs 13-14).
That tells us Paul was looking to it out in the future, but he didn't know how long out in the future it would be.
Verse 15: "Which in His own times the blessed and only Sovereign will make known, the King of kings and Lord of lords; Who alone has immortality, dwelling in light which no man can approach…" (vs 15-16).
He alone has immortality having been a human being. That's what it's referring to. It's not saying that He alone has immortality and the Father has something else. So, you can see how they can get all these doctrines twisted out of out of proportion there.
"…Whom no man has seen, nor has the ability to see; to Whom belong eternal honor and power. Amen. Charge those who are rich…" (vs 16-17).
2-Tim. continues right on with this. Here we find a complete breakdown of the churches in Asia concerning Paul.
2-Timothy 1:1: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, my beloved son: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord" (vs 1-2).
Everything comes from God! He didn't say 'from me your presiding apostle over you.' He said "…from God…" That picks right up where it left off. We brought nothing into the world we're taking nothing out of the world.
Verse 3: "I am grateful to God—Whom I have been serving from the days of my forefathers with a pure conscience—because I never fail to remember you in my supplications night and day. As I recall your tears, I am longing to see you, so that I may be filled with joy" (vs 3-4).
Here Paul is in prison. He had a few visitors come by, and we know that the only one to seek them out was Onesiphorus.
Verse 5: "When I remember the unfeigned faith that is in you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice, and I am convinced that it dwells in you also. For this reason, I admonish you…" (vs 5-6). This is something that we all have to do, but especially those who are teachers and elders.
"… to stir up the gift of God that is in you by the laying on of my hands" (v 6). How do you do that? Through prayer and praying with the Bible! Begin with the Psalms.
{Note Transcript Book and CDs: Pastoral Epistles and Bible Answers to Evangelicals. If you get the two together then you can go to your local Baptist Church and give them the Truth. You'll be thrown out head first!
That's how you stir it up: prayer and study, and that has to be every single day. I'll tell you what my study is right now and has been going on for quite a time. We are working on redoing the Interlinear Greek-English New Testament by George Ricker Berry. We have to reset the type. I have it 50% bold for the Greek. It all has to be reset, because the Received Text that he used is no longer used by the scholars. I wonder why?
So, I have his Greek text here, and I have the one that has been done by the Vogele's and I proofread it reading the Greek. I read it to myself as I'm going along, and I'm learning a great deal as I'm going. That takes a lot of time. I finished Matthew, Mark and Luke, and I just started John. When we finish John we're just about halfway through the New Testament, and we have a column on the side with the Faithful Version.
There was an elder up in Montana that John Vogele knows, and he saw what they were doing. He knew that none of the scholars use that Greek text. Why don't they use it?
- they want to change it
- it has never been set in the Greek that would be available digitally online
So, we will have that! That's what I'm working on now.
But every elder, every person, needs to study every day. Have a plan, keep up with it, and you go through different parts of the Bible at different times. We have plenty of material for studying the Bible and probably much more than anybody would suppose.
The Received Text was the one that was finished by Erasmus, and the first printed copy of that was his 5th edition, which is the Stevens 1550 text. Now I've got the whole printed 1550 text; that's when it was printed. I've got the whole New Testament on it.
Guess what I found? All the questions concerning the alternate readings were all known in 1550. So, with all of these scholars most of it's a charade because they want to change the Bible and bring it into conformity to a one-world religion. That's why in the NIV there are 35,000 missing words! That's why in the study by Joseph Ackerman for the New Testament comparison that he did: Comparison of the New Testament. It will shock you how much they have changed the Bible. That's why it's important that we have this and that we do that Interlinear.
I hope it's going to help a lot of people. But what we can do is strip out the English translation that he has under the Greek and form it into just a complete Greek text and we can have that available online for anyone, because it's not available now. That text had been revised a little bit, but the revisions were very little, very, very small. It just may be the word order is a little different, but in Greek the word order is not primary. But the words are there.
2-Timothy 1:7: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of sound-mindedness."
But the way you receive the spirit of power is not to beg for the power but to realize how powerless you are. But always remembering that in God, we live and move and have our being, every person on the world on the surface of the earth and those who have lived in died already. We have nothing we didn't receive!
- we're certainly not going to tell God what to do
- we're certainly not going to invent doctrines that Christ must approve because we are greater than Him
Always acknowledge that it comes from God!
People say that 'you did this and you did that.' I say, 'You better thank God because He's the only One Who gives the ability to do it.'
Verse 8: "Therefore, you should not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner; but jointly suffer with me for the sake of the Gospel, according to the power of God, Who has saved us and called us with a Holy calling…" (vs 8-9).
Everything circulates around from God, the whole universe. So, what kind of power and authority do we think we need to have to lift ourselves up to make us great? Nothing!
"…not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the ages of time" (v 9).
Now, you can understand that by reading Revelation 12:1: "Then there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and having the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." That's the plan of God!
Daniel 10:19—this is Gabriel coming to Daniel and said: "'O man greatly beloved, do not fear. Peace be unto you; be strong; yea, be strong.' And when he had spoken to me, I was made stronger, and I said, 'Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.' Then he said, 'Do you know why I come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia. And when I go forth, lo, the prince of Greece shall come… [but that was hundreds of years later] …But I will show you that which is written in the Scripture of Truth.… [The word there could also be scroll. Where is this scroll? In heaven!] …(And there is none who holds strongly with me against them, except Michael your prince'" (vs 19-21).
Everything that God inspired to be for the New Testament and Old Testament, all Scripture, was first established in the Scripture of Truth in heaven above. Think of that as a witness at the resurrection. There's one scroll that I want to see: The Scroll of the Covenant between God the Father in Jesus Christ when He gave up his whole Divinity to become a pinpoint of life and be begotten in the womb of the virgin Mary. That was written down, because it says in Heb. 10 'in a Scroll of the Book it is written of Me and you prepared a body for Me.'
If anyone thinks they've been humbled by something, think what Jesus did to humble himself to become a pinpoint of life. Put His whole eternal existence is in the hands of God the Father.
2-Timothy 1:9: "…before the ages of time." I want you to think of the greatness of what God has called us to "…before the ages of time!"
If you went up to someone in the world and said, 'You know, God has called me before the ages of time.' Well, He didn't call you before the ages of time. It was written down that He would call those whom He would call. He couldn't call you before you were born. He couldn't call you at the time you were born. You've got to be old enough to understand what you're doing.
Verse 10: "But has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, Who has annulled death, and has brought to light eternal life and incorruptibility through the Gospel unto which I was ordained a preacher and... [What was Paul?] …an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles… [he was all] …for which cause I am also suffering these things; nevertheless, I am not ashamed. For I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He has the power to keep what I have committed to Him for that day… [that is the resurrection] …Hold as the standard for doctrine the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good thing that was committed to you by the Holy Spirit that is dwelling in us" (vs 10-14).
What happened to the Church? Now when you read v 15 you've got to remember what we've covered in Matt. 13 about the sower of the seed and all of that.
Verse 15: "You know this, that all those who are in Asia have rejected me… [that is a profound statement] …of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus because he frequently refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains" (vs 15-16). They all rejected him!
How would you reject Paul? How was that possible? By the circumstances of the hatred for the Jews! This was before the destruction of Jerusalem. Now we'll read little later some of the things in the General Epistles that shows how bad it really got. What were they going to?
Let's project ahead a little bit. We've read the letters to the seven churches (Rev. 2 & 3). That was written before the death of the Apostle John. Look at the doctrine of the seven churches. Look at all the problems that they had. This is part of it right here. They rejected Paul! Who were they accepting? The false apostles, the precursor of the early church fathers!
2-Timothy 2:1—Paul says: "Therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus."
Verse 14: "See that they remain mindful of these things… [everything Paul is telling Timothy] …earnestly charging them in the sight of the Lord not to argue over words that are not profitable in any way, but which lead to the subverting of those who hear. Diligently study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of the Truth" (vs 14-15).
This tells you that all those who abandoned him were wrongly dividing the Word of Truth! Just like we started out with 'I work in My Father works.' Whoa! Jesus broke the Sabbath! NO! He loosed it!
Verse 16: "But avoid profane and vain babblings because they will only give rise to more ungodliness, and their words will eat away at the body like gangrene; of whom are Hymeneus and Philetus, who have gone astray from the Truth…" (vs 16-18)—written right there in the Word of God!
"…claiming that the resurrection has already taken place, and are destroying the faith of some" (v 18).
What were they saying? Well, Jesus was the only one raised of the dead! All the rest of us have what? What is the doctrine of Satan? Immortality of the soul! 'We don't need a resurrection.' This is really something!
Verse 23: "But foolish and ignorant speculations reject…" Imagine all their speculations when Jesus would come back then, because they didn't have the book of Revelation. How could they understand Daniel without the book of Revelation?
"…knowing that they engender arguments. Now, it is obligatory that a servant of the Lord not be argumentative, but gentle toward all, competent to teach, forbearing, in meekness correcting those who set themselves in opposition; if perhaps God may grant them repentance unto acknowledging of the Truth" (vs 23-25). They were going away from the Truth!
- Do you think that you could go to those Sunday-keeping congregations who used to be Worldwide Church of God and try and tell them they need to keep the Sabbath?
- Can you imagine what that would be like? You might have more hope going to a Baptist Church!
Here's why, v 26: "And that they may wake up and escape from the devil's snare…"
- What is he saying with this? All these variations and strange doctrines are from Satan the devil!
- Can you put it into the heart of people? Yes indeed!
- Did he put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot? Yes indeed!
- Did he put into the heart of Ananias and Sapphira? Yes, indeed!
- Did he put into the heart of Eliamus the false prophet?
- Does he put it in the heart of all the false prophets?
Remember that Paul wrote that Satan appears as 'an angel of light'! It's no wonder then that his servants appear as ministers of righteousness (2-Cor. 11).
"…escape from the devil's snare, who have been taken captive by him to do his will" (v 26). That's quite a statement! That's how these false doctrines come along!
- How prepared are the different Churches of God for the problems that are going to be coming in the future?
- What did Jesus say about false prophets and false christs?
- What would they do? Show signs and wonders to deceive even the elect!
- What if you became so lazy and thinking that being in the Church is a difficult thing for you, and someone comes along showing miracles?
- There are vast numbers of people saying, 'Look at this, look at that! Oh, what a wonderful thing!'
- What's going to happen when the false prophet calls down fire from heaven?
Now with today's communications the whole world is going to know! 'Oh, look at this' what a wonderful man!'
Sidebar: Morgan Freeman was asking a Jew standing right in front of the Wailing Wall—the Jew was telling him that this is where the temple was—and Freeman asked him, 'Are you waiting for the Messiah?' The Jew said, 'Yes, we're waiting for the Messiah.' What will he be? And the Jew said. 'A man.'
I about fell out of the chair. Because that's how they're going to be deceived, because of a man who has great powers and they will not recognize that these are from Satan the devil!
Sidebar: The Catholic Church has more priests working on exorcisms, that is casting out demons. Jesus said that 'if Satan casts out demons his kingdom won't stand.' Will his kingdom stand? No! Can he cast out demons? Yes, he can! And people will think this is wonderful!
Remember the account where John and James saw these men casting out demons in Jesus' name and said, 'We forbade them because He's not with us.' What did Jesus say? Those who are on our part we cannot quickly speak evil of! So, there are people who can cast out demons. This comes along and a lot of people are relieved from demons. What a miracle this will be for the world; 'This must be from God!' Well, the one who's the god of this world!
2-Timothy 3:10: "But you have closely followed my doctrine, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions and sufferings—such as happened to me in Antioch, in Iconium, and in Lystra. You know what sort of persecutions I endured; and the Lord delivered me out of them all" (vs 10-11).
The next time you have a terrible problem come along, think about how miniscule that is compared to what Paul went through. His back was probably something to behold because he was beaten three times with 40 stripes. He was stoned! Imagine what his back was. That's why he had to have Luke the physician with him all the time. He probably needed a lot of back massage.
Verse 12: "And indeed, everyone who desires to live Godly in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted. But wicked men and imposters shall become worse and worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves" (vs 12-13).
That's the state of it just before Paul died! Imagine what it was after the destruction of Jerusalem. And all the gainsayers would be saying, 'Hey, I thought you said He would come before Jerusalem was destroyed. Look, it's been five years; where's the promise of His coming?
- What would you say?
- Do we not have false alarms even at this end of the spectrum? Yes, indeed!
Verse 14: "But as for you, continue in the things that you did learn and were assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from a child you have known the Holy Writings, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus" (vs 14-15).
Everything was prophesied first. Can you imagine the astounding sermons that the apostles gave when they came into the synagogue and opened up the scrolls that were there in the synagogues and say, 'Here's what Jesus did. Here's the prophecy of it':
- the grave could not hold Him
- I will awake with Your likeness
All those things in the Old Testament!
Verse 16: "All Scripture is God-breathed…"—God-spirited! That's why we have no right to change anything in the Scripture.
Sidebar: I have two women's Bibles! I'll cover that at later date; I've got to do a little reading. One was done back in before the turn of the 1900s, and it's basically one showing how women in the Bible were well received and so forth. Then the one that is now coming out with the feminist, they're trying to be un-gendered.
They can't call God God. They can't call the goddess goddess. So, they combine the two together and they call God 'Godde'! The stupidity of people who will follow that is incredible! Like a four-year-old!
Verse 16: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness so that the man of God… [Timothy and anyone who reads the Bible] …may be complete, fully equipped for every good work" (vs 16-17). This is quite a thing!
How do we combat all of these things? By staying true to the Word of God! If something comes up, that's difficult for us to understand, and you don't understand it. Search out the Bible so you can. Pray about it so you will come to the right understanding from the Scriptures. Will God hear you and answer your prayers? Yes! He promises!
Does He want us to be ignorant? No! He wants us to learn and to know! So, here's the charge! And every minister better read this, better take it to heart and better understand that they're going to be judged by this at the resurrection!
2-Timothy 4:1: "I charge you, therefore, in the sight of God, even the Lord Jesus Christ… [that can't get any stronger] …Who is ready to judge the living… [because judgment is now upon the house of God] …and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the Word!.…" (vs 1-2).
It tells you that all the Word of God is God-breathed! That's what has to be taught!
- you cannot mingle it with psychology
- you cannot mingle it with philosophy
- you cannot mingle it with yoga
- you cannot mingle it with Buddhism
- you cannot mingle it with anything
It is pure and true!
Verse 2: "Preach the Word! Be urgent in season and out of season…" What does that tell you? They were keeping the Holy Days!
"…convict, rebuke, encourage, with all patience and doctrine. For there shall come a time when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but according to their own lusts…" (vs 2-3)—that means their own ideas!
Where do all of these ideas and doctrines come from? They come from Satan the devil!
Ephesians 2:1: "Now, you were dead in trespasses and sins … [before your call] …in which you walked in times past according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air…" (vs 1-2)—Satan the devil!
People out there don't know they're being moved by Satan the devil, but I tell you, when you saw the New York senate cheer the abortion law that they passed, that was inspired by Satan!
"…the spirit that is now working within the children of disobedience…" (v 2).
Once you give yourself over to Satan the devil, the spirit of this world, the spirit of being against God
- your minds are closed
- your eyes are blinded
- you can't understand
Verse 3: "Among whom also we all…" Paul included himself! This is what he's admitting here: 'All the things I did in Judaism (Gal. 1) were inspired of Satan.' That's what he's saying; all those things!
"…we all once had our conduct in the lusts of our flesh, doing the things willed by the flesh and by the mind… [the 'brilliant ideas' of new doctrine] …and were by nature the children of wrath, even as the rest of the world. But God, Who is rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, has made us alive together with Christ…." (vs 3-5).
Verse 8: "For by grace you have been saved…"
Here's what we are looking to. And this ties with sound doctrine vs unsound doctrine.
Verse 10: "For we are His workmanship, being created in Christ Jesus unto the good works that God ordained beforehand in order that we might walk in them." That's all the ways of God!
2-Timothy 4:3: "For there shall come a time when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but according to their own lusts they shall accumulate to themselves a great number of teachers, having ears itching to hear what satisfies their cravings; and they shall turn away their own ears from the Truth, and they shall be turned aside unto myths" (vs 3-4).
How soon did that take place?
Introduction to the Epistle of Ignatius
Cardinal Newman in 1890, after reading through the Seven Epistles of Ignatius…
He was a disciple of John, but what did he turn out to be after John died? An infiltrator!
…did not exaggerate the matter when he said, the theology of the Seven Epistles of Ignatius and historical sketches in London in 1890, that the whole system of Catholic doctrine may be discovered at least in outline not to say in parts filled up in the course of his seven epistles.
And one of them was Sunday-keeping!
Scriptural References:
- 1-Timothy 6:3
- John 5:14-20
- Ephesians 4:12-16
- 1 Timothy 1:1-14, 16, 18
- 1 Timothy 3:2
- 1 Timothy 4:1-4, 3, 4-7, 13, 15-16
- 1 Timothy 6:3-17
- 2-Tinmothy 1:1-9
- Revelation 12:1
- Daniel 10:19-21
- 2 timothy 1:9-16
- 2 Timothy 2:1, 14-18, 23-26
- 2 Timothy 3:10-17
- 2 Timothy 4:1-3
- Ephesians 2:1-5, 8, 10
- 2 Timothy 4:3-4
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- John 17
- 1 Corinthians 15
- John 14
- 1-Corinthians 7
- 2 Corinthians 11
- Mark 5; 7
- Leviticus 11
- Deuteronomy 14
- Acts 20
- 1 Timothy 5
- 1 Corinthians 14
- Hebrews 10
- Matthew 13
- Revelation 2; 3
- Galatians 1
Also referenced:
Booklet: The Night Much to be Observed
Transcript Books with CD:
- The Bible Answer to Evangelicals
- Pastoral Epistles
Books:
- Code of Jewish Law by Ganzfried and Goldin
- Interlinear Greek-English New Testament by George Ricker Berry
Sermons The Cycle of Human Behavior #s 1-2
FRC: po/bo
Transcribed: 1/30/19
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