Sabbath After Unleavened Bread — 2018

A Generational Shift

We must leave for those who come in our footsteps everything they need to know the Truth

Fred R. Coulter—April 7, 2018

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services! This is the Sabbath after the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread! We have back-to-back Sabbaths, which happens on occasion.

Now we're ready to go forward, and remember the counting for Pentecost began at the beginning of this week, so, we're already one week into counting toward Pentecost.

What's going to happen? We have heard, as it was in the past so it will be in the future. Jesus even verified that by saying, 'As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.'

Human nature never changes. It goes in cycles of not so bad to absolutely horrible and to acceptable at a certain level, even following God to a certain degree down to abject barbarianism!

Yet, from the time of Christ until now, the Church has survived all of it. Yet, the world knows very little about the Churches of God.

We have a very interesting prophecy in Rev. 12, and we also have a video put out by the SDAs (Seventh Day Adventists) called Israel of the Alps! This chapter goes back further in time than any other chapter in the Bible with the exception of the different places where it says before the earth was created. But this goes back before then, before the rebellion of Satan and a third of the angels.

God's plan is pictured by this woman. Catholics like to say it's Mary, but it's not. Israel likes to say that it's Israel, and it may be a type. But this is all of God's plan.

Revelation 12:1:1: "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."

Then it jumps forward to a prophecy of when Christ would be born. Then it drops back to the rebellion of Satan. This tells us that Satan rebelled, just like we have covered many times, when he found out that the creation of man was going to put him in a subordinate position. Therefore, he rebelled.

Isa. 14 says that he wanted to go in above the clouds and become like the Most High. So, we'll see here how all of that worked out, and then something very special.
Verse 2: "And being with child, she cried in travail, and was in pain to deliver." Mary became a type of the Church. However, the woman is not Mary. The woman is all of God's plan.

Verse 3: "And another sign was seen in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads." Seven and ten are the numbers that reveal Satan, the counterfeit.

Verse 4: "And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to deliver, so that he might devour her child when she gave birth."

We find that in Matt. 2. It was Herod that was used of Satan to kill all of the boys in and around Bethlehem to try and kill Christ.

Verse 5: "And she gave birth to a man Child, Who was to shepherd all the nations… [Jesus Christ] …with a rod of iron; and her Child was caught up to God and His throne." So, we have here:

• the plan of God
• Satan the devil
• a prophecy of Christ
• the birth of Christ
• His death and resurrection
• the sending of Christ back to the Father in heaven

All of that just in those verses! Then we know that the Church started right after that with the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2).

Now then, we leap forward in time, v 6: "And the woman… [in this case the Church, not Mary] …escaped into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there for a thousand two hundred and sixty days."

In the video Israel of the Alps, they bring out very clearly, which is more likely correct, that this was the Church that fled in 325A.D. when all of the persecution came against the Church, because of Constantine and the actual establishing of the Roman Catholic Church. They went to the Alps where she was preserved.

Jesus also gave another promise; He said that He would 'establish His Church and He would build it' (Matt. 16), and that 'the gate of hell would never prevail against it.'

So, here we are all that time later. Very rarely do we hear of anything about those brethren who were in the Alps. But they had the Bible, and they did evangelizing in Europe. You will see on the video that they went out two-by-two as merchants selling cloth and things like this. With every visit they would leave a page of the Gospel of John telling them that this 'is more valuable than the product that they bought.'

Well, I had something sent to me by John Guther. Here's what he wrote, and this is very interesting, because there are more connections with the Church of God, God the Father and Jesus Christ, and the people that He has dealt with down through the centuries.

Why is this important? Because we're going to examine some of the things that we'll be confronted with in the future as we go on closer toward the time of the end!

Here's what John Guther wrote:

The old Waldensian Bible dates from 120A.D….

That's when it was first translated from Greek into old Latin!

…way before Jerome's time…

in fact, over 200 years before

…and was translated from Hebrew and Greek into old Latin (or italic). It was used and circulated among the people and Church of God well before the Reformation and the appearance of many other publications.

We're going to read from one of those publications in just a minute

The Church of God preserved and persevered in the valleys of northern Italy and had many publications, including the ancient Nobla Lacon, a testimony of ancient origin.

Although some errors—trinity, for example…

We have covered this as the Thyatira Church, and they're the ones that had the most problems with Satan and the Roman Catholic Church. So, some of them slipped into accepting the trinity, perhaps to avoid the intense persecution that would come upon them.

However, what I'm about to read you displays that testimony of true believers, as Stephen did when he was martyred.
The book Israel of the Alps is available at archive.org (digital version) or can be purchased at Amazon.com

That's interesting that they have a whole book on it.

It charts the struggles of God's people in the light of their faith pursued by the ever present Babylon and antichrist.

We'll have some things to say in the future as to what's going to happen, and how the world is, and what it's going to be like as we go forward.

My ancestors descended from the Church of God and moved from Holland to Dansik in the 1600s then to Russia, invited to Katharine and escaped to Canada in 1920.

They had lost the Truth of the Sabbath, but had always had the Bible in the vernacular and adhered to the primary doctrines of the Church of God, even to this day.

The Church has never died out! That's what Jesus said: The gates of the grave shall never prevail against it! And remains a remnant of incredible spirit and strength.

What I'm going to read to you is very interesting. You will see a theme of this as we go along.

The Noble Lesson was written in the language of the ancient inhabitants of the valleys—the Waldensians—in the year 1100A.D.…

Amazing!

…extracted out of the most authentic manuscript of the true original where it seen in the public library of the famous University of Cambridge. The history of the evangelical churches in the valleys of piedmont by Samuel Moorland, 1658.

It was published in 1982, and this is from page 99. You might ask why I'm doing all this reading? So that you will know that God is great; Christ is always there at His right hand! He is the Head of the Church, that the Word of God is true in all ages, from the beginning to the end, and that you can depend on it and rely upon it. But we're going to learn a very important lesson here. It seems as though that in almost every generation of the Church of God sin was so prevalent in the world, and difficulties because of the things going on.

Remember that in 1100s is when the Crusades started. How did many of these crusaders come? They came through the Alps! The lower Alps, not the higher Alps where the Church was. They were going to fight in the area of Palestine, and who was there? The King of the South! Who sent them? They came from many European countries, which represented the King of the North!

Think on that! Do a little extra study go back and study about the Crusades and the battles that they had and so forth.

I suppose that you could say that in that time, right around the 1200s that the end was near, because some of the things spoken of in the book of Daniel were taking place. It says that 'at the time of the end the King of the South will push at the King of the North' and who was coming against Europe? The Muslims! Who else came with the empire of Genghis Khan? The armies from the East!

If you had the Bible, which the Church of God did, and the brethren there in the Israel of the Alps, and you heard of these things, what would you be thinking?

A Statement of the Need for Belief (http://www.thereformation.info/Noble%20Lesson.htm)

O Brethren, give ear to a noble lesson. We ought always to watch and pray…

Isn't that the same message as you have today? Watch and pray!

…For we see the world nigh to a conclusion….

They were looking at these events as if it was going to be the end of the world in 1100A.D. over 900 years ago!

There are already a thousand and one hundred years fully accomplished…

so this dates this written in 1100A.D.

Since it was written thus, for we are in the last time.

What do you know about that!

We ought to covet little, for we are at what remains, viz. at the later end.

We see daily the Signs to be accomplished,

And that in the increase of evil, and decrease of good.

These are the perils which the scripture mentioneth,

In the Gospels and St.Paul's Writings:
As also, that no man living can know the end.

I was absolutely amazed when I got this!

And therefore we ought the more to fear, as not being certain,

Whether we shall die to day or tomorrow.

But when the day of judgement shall come,

Every one shall receive their full reward.

Those that shall have done either well or ill.

Reject Purgatory

Now the Scripture saith, and we ought to believe it,

That all men shall pass two ways.

The good to glory, and the wicked to torment.

Actually burned up in the Lake of Fire!

But he that shall not believe this departure,

Belief in the Trinity
Let him search the Scripture from the very beginning,

Since Adam was formed until this present time,

There he shall find, if he has understanding,

That few are the saved in comparison of the rest.

Wherefore every one that will do good works,

The honour of God the Father ought to be his first moving principle.

• Isn't that something?
• What is that we preach?
• Love God how? With all your heart, mind, soul and being!
• Don't we admonish people to come out of the world? Yes!
• Don't we preach against the sins of the world? Yes!
• What were they doing? Exactly the same thing with the means and tools that they had 900 years ago!

He ought likewise to implore the aid of His glorious Son, the dear Son of the Virgin Mary,

And the Holy Ghost which lightens us in the true way.

These three (the holy Trinity) as being but one God, ought to be called upon,

Full of power wisdom and goodness.

This we ought often to beg and pray for,

That He would enable us to encounter our enemies,

And they face death!

And overcome them before our end,

Which are the world, the Devil, and the flesh…

What did we cover during the Days of Unleavened Bread? Satan, sin and self! Another way of saying: the world, the devil and the flesh! So, this is a truly an astounding thing. And I'm so happy that I got it. I haven't been able to read through the whole lesson, but that was written by some minister of the Church of God in the Alps over 900 years ago! Isn't that something?

I've got another book by G.G. Rupert. He was a Seventh Day Adventist, but became a minister in the Church of God Seventh Day. He as a lot of things exactly correct. This book was published in 1911, so that's 800 years after what we read here. What are we going to read? The same identical message inspired by God!

That's why yesterday we had that we are to go forward, and we're not to complain and fear and hesitate, even though the world that we are entering now is going to be a change in generation.

• How many generations has it been since Christ?
• How effective has the Word of God been? More than we can imagine!

I have another book called The Ingathering of Israel written by G.G. Rupert, which was 1917.

• What was going on in 1917? WWI!
• Where was it being fought? In Europe and the Middle East!

King of the North, King of the South! Finally, the British came and took Jerusalem in 1917: General Allenby. There are a lot of things in prophecy that had to happen. But for those people at that time in 1917, it looked like the end was near.

Let me read this, talking about the Yellow Peril, which is referring to the great armies of 200-million from the east, but he also rightly predicted the war between Japan and the United States 1911. It's very interesting, isn't it?

In every generation, all the people of God have had to watch, and when they look at things there are many aspects of what is taking place that tie in to the last days. Let's look at another situation.

Whenever there's a generational change, isn't it true for those who are older, living in that generation—like many of us—that for us it truly is our last days. But not the last days of God's plan before the return of Christ.

The Yellow Peril, or the Orient Vs: The Occident As Viewed By Modern Statesmen and Ancient Prophets by G.G. Rupert (amazon.com)

In the conclusion, chapter 31

No doubt, some of the readers of this book will say, 'Well, if the thing is come, we can't help it.' Therefore, we need not bother our minds until it comes.

If God had made no provision for a remedy, then that would be true. But we have Nineveh as an example to teach that the calamity even now is not necessary.

These were all the events leading up to WWI!

The provision holds good to the last moment before the decree, 'Let him that be filthy be filthy still' passes. Up to that point, man can repent and obey God.

• Doesn't God call everyone to repentance all the time?
• How many repent? Many are called, but few are saved!
• Why? Because few repent!

If Christendom meets the threatened peril, there will be no one to blame but themselves.

And Christendom did not! And it did happen!

That is true of each individual. Each can escape if he will. That's just why the Bible is so particular to give every evidence of the surety of the event.

In other words, prophecy is true and even though you might not completely understand how it's applied or how far it's going to go, or how much time is left, the words of that generation at that time, as applied to the people, are true and do apply.

There's just one motive we have had in the publication of this book, namely to call attention to the facts as recorded…

in the Bible

…hoping some, at least, will take the advice of the Lord as so often given to repent and obey God!

Isn't that something? Remember the three words: obey My voice!

…rather than obeying man.

That sounds a lot like the sermons that we have given, and the sermons that you have heard.

We need not repeat the condition now confronting us for the record is being written daily in the public press of the country.

Crime is not extant everywhere. For instance, the thousands of murders each year perpetrated in cold blood. Adultery is the common sin of the day. Divorces are daily increasing. Suicides are a daily occurrence. Fraud is practiced in business transactions in too many instances to specify.

But it exists from the great combines of the cheap fake advertisements in our daily papers.

That was before radio and television.

We look for a moment at the pride of heart manifested in the churches in display…

This is the churches of Sunday-keepers, because he was a Sabbath-keeper and a Holy Day keeper, and understood the first resurrection and the second resurrection. He didn't understand the third resurrection, but many of the writings of G.G. Rupert were studied by none other than Herbert W. Armstrong! He got a lot of his teachings from Rupert and the Church of God Seventh Day.

It was never, never, never true that Herbert Armstrong was like the Apostle Paul. Not true! All this information was in the library where he went every day for six months to study. Plus they lived next door to the Remquins and Mrs. Remquin was a member of the Church of God Seventh Day, who made friends with Loma D. Armstrong and convinced her concerning the Sabbath. That's how Herbert Armstrong got all mad and tried to disprove these things, but couldn't!

He was a member and minister in the Church of God Seventh Day for decades, right up to the founding of Ambassador College in 1947. Those, brethren, are the facts. That's why we need to serve Christ, worship God the Father and we need to thank Herbert Armstrong for doing what he did; but we need not get hung up on men because that becomes idolatry and that's one of the great sins of this modern day church at this time. Yes, he did a lot of good work, but rarely, rarely, rarely are the great overall sins published.

…We look for a moment at the pride manifested in the churches in display of church dress, church edifices, high priced ministry all growing from the unconverted heart.

He had that nailed exactly right! This is not too far removed. When did Cardinal Gibbon write Rome's Challenge to the Protestants? Eighteen years before this!

Election frauds are common, political bribery is equally so. Last but least on the list of crimes is the nation's granting, for the sake of gain, a license to men to deal out the deadly poisons of liquor and all the soul destroying and finite wrecking devices. The daily increase of poverty and multiplied widows and orphans, and a thousand other crimes growing out of the traffic are all the result of license by Christian nations for the sake of gain.

Will not God avenge?

Do not be deceived, what a man sows that shall he also reap!

G.G. Rupert, preacher and evangelist of the Church of God Seventh Day!

Amazing material! That sets the stage for what we are going to cover today. We want to cover that we are entering a generational shift in our world, and also in the Church!

Look at the pictures of those who attend the Feast of Tabernacles. They show this big picture, and what do you see? Well, you see a lot of older folks that have been faithful!

Let's understand that we need to preach the Gospel so that God can call more people! God is the One Who calls. They have to answer, and we have to provide. Just as G.G. Rupert used publication to get his works out, when radio came along Herbert Armstrong used radio, and then television came along and he used television. Now we have the Internet and we have the means of reaching out far beyond what all of us who have been in the Church 30, 40, 50 years knew about when it first began. It's going to increase and multiply even more.

Let's look and see an example in the book of Judges. There always starts a time when a church first starts out, and it's been scattered. The Church has been scattered to purify it. Whenever it scatters and starts, there's the evangelical, the zeal to go forward to do what is necessary. With the Church scattered, that's been multiplied hundreds of times. Maybe well over a thousand times.

How much each church is doing, where they're doing it, what part of the world they are in, God knows and Christ is the Head of the Church. We are looking at the things that bring about a generational change!

Sidebar: Remember that Jesus said, 'As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.' The Flood came and destroyed them all. The ark was big barge; it didn't have round bottom because that would roll over. It had a flat bottom so it wouldn't roll over. Anytime you see a picture of an ark with a round bottom, they don't understand.

They have 385 days in a leap year plus a few days beyond to think about life, obedience, serving God. They had the animals there. The ark finally settled. They all were able to get out. God replenished the earth. He made a special covenant with them. It also shows how things start out, and then quickly degenerates into evil practices.

Judges 2:2—God said that He brought them in the land but they did not obey the voice of God, so He told them: "And you shall make no treaty with those who live in this land. You shall throw down their altars. But you have not obeyed My voice. What is this that you have done?" Making leagues with the people of the land for slaves for yourselves?

So, God said, v 3: "And I also said, 'I will not drive them out from before you, but they shall be thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.'" Then all the people wept! All the people were sorry!

Isn't that true? People don't like to be told that they're going to have tough times! Well, we're having tough times—aren't we?

Verse 5: "And they called the name of that place The Place of Weeping…."

Verse 7: "And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua…"

• Is a leader important? Yes!
• What happened to this nation when we had a leader whose purpose was to destroy it? For eight years! And came nigh on to doing it!

So, the leader is important!

"…and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD that He did for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died…" (vs 7-8)—and all the fathers died.

Verse 10: "And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor even the works which He had done for Israel."

How short is the memory of people? Look at some of the same sins being done in the Churches of God that were done that caused the downfall of it. Always remember that what you did yesterday—good or bad—that's over with. What you are doing today is what God is looking at! What are your intentions for tomorrow?

Just as both of these writers wrote hundreds of years ago, that if you repent God will honor it. Isn't that true! What does the model prayer tell us that Jesus said?

• Everyday provide for us!
• Forgive us our sins!
• Forgive others!

Isn't that true? Yes, indeed!

Here they are and what happened? You can almost overlay Worldwide Church of God right on this:

Verse 11: "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim." How many that were in the WCG now keep Sunday, Christmas, Easter, and all that sort of thing? Isn't that all Baalim? Yes, indeed!

Verse 12: "And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt…." People today are forsaking God Who called them out of this world! God is still going to deal with them. He will give them an opportunity to repent, and likewise with us.

• Don't you think it's a whole lot better to really understand how you're living today so that those things that you have done, which that are not good, that you need to repent of, you can repent of?
• What happens whenever we repent? We all determine to do better!
• Isn't that what God wants us to do? Yes!

"…And they followed other gods, even the gods of the people who were around them, and bowed themselves to them, and provoked the LORD to anger" (v 12).

Sidebar: they just recently found a known little icon that was during the days of Hezekiah. They found this in one of the archeological digs. So, they know because it was with one of the coins that was dated during the days of Hezekiah. What was this little icon? The female goddess and little child in her arms—800sB.C.!

What has changed? Human nature gets back to the same thing over and over again! Some of the mainstream churches now, in following this satanic doctrine of destroying birth gender designation and destroying the knowledge of God so that Satan can setup his one-world religion.

They are not refraining from speaking of God in the masculine gender. That paves the way for the female goddess again. Has anything changed? This is the generation we have to face.

(go to the next track)

We know what happened. The children of Israel that followed in that generation sinned and God:

• punished them
• sent them into captivity
• sent the enemy after them
• punished them

and then they would repent somewhat! Then God raised up another judge to rescue them!

Well now, how much that applies in our day we don't know. We don't know if the reform that is attempted by our current President Donald Trump is  going to amount to enough repentance so that some of the evil will be held back that would come because of the result of our sins!

We don't know! We don't know exactly how it's going to be, but we do know that in this generation human nature has never, never, never changed! There will be those who will do well, but that still doesn't take away from the problems of human nature.

Let's see what God warned; there are many things going on. Look at the difficulties that we are having in this nation, and look a the difficulties that are in the world. We hope that people will be able to hear the Word of God. How many will repent and come to baptism, we don't know. God is the One Who is charge of that. We'll look at that a little later and see how God does that.

Here's Jeremiah's message to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and here's what God said to say to them:

Jeremiah 11:3: "And say to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant." I want you to think about that in relationship to the New Covenant.

We just finished with the Passover and Unleavened Bread, which is the summation of the New Covenant. Now as it were we're going back into the world in the sense that we're not going to have the reminder of this that we have during Unleavened Bread. But we have to obey the words of the covenant of Christ!

Verse 4: "'Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, "Obey My voice and do according to all that I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God"'" That's what we need to have here. This is what we need with the people of God and the Churches of God. That we're all:

• loving God
• serving God
• keeping His commandments
• keeping His Sabbath
• keeping His Holy Days
• being an example to those in the world
• being able to help those who ask questions
• to be able to preach the Gospel and spread it as far as we can

As many Churches of God that can be, so that the Word of God is going out in the greatest way that will have ever gone. Remember what God is doing in getting the Word of God even to the ends of the earth!

Verse 7: "For I earnestly forewarned your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and warning persistently, saying, 'Obey My voice.'" Isn't that what Jesus wants us to do, obey His voice and the words that God the Father inspired to be? Yes, indeed!

Verse 8: "Yet, they did not obey nor bow down their ear, but walked each one in the imagination of his evil heart…." That's what's happening today; the whole world is filled with it everywhere.

• Do you think there was crime back in 1911 that G.G. Rupert saw? Think about it today~.
• Do you think there were problems with adultery and divorce back there in G.G. Rupert's day? Think about all the perversion that's going on today! All the abortion!

Therefore, it's imperative that those of us in the Church of God do not compare ourselves with the world, and think how 'good' we are compared to how they are. But compare ourselves to the Word of God and to Christ! So, God had to deal with them.

Jer. 14—It's going to get this bad in the world, so let's not fool ourselves into thinking that everything is just fine, because we're in the Church of God and we know the Bible, the Word of God, and so forth.

Jeremiah 14:10: "Thus says the LORD to this people; 'Even so they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet; therefore, the LORD does not accept them. He will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins.' Then the LORD said to me, 'Do not pray for this people for good'" (vs 10-11).

How close we are to that point, we don't know. But this is the world that we are in! The Christianity of this world is like daubing with untempered mortar (Ezek. 13) or whitewash!

Verse 14: "And the LORD said to me, 'The prophets prophesy lies in My name; I did not send them, nor have I commanded them, nor did I speak to them. They prophesy to you a false vision and a worthless divination, and a thing of no value, and the deceit of their heart."

'Everything is going to be good.' They may preach somewhat against sin, but until they start lambasting Sunday-keeping and holiday-keeping, their words are empty and vain, and will do virtually nothing to bring people to Christ.

We just recently had the death of Billy Graham, called 'America's pastor.' Billy Graham had the first step correct: repentance and forgiveness through the blood of Christ, but never went any further. God says that it's going to get bad for them.

Now let's take a quick look in the book of Proverbs and see what we're dealing with. Let's see that at any time in the whole history of the world, because of the advances of science. And now we have singularity is near. Yes indeed, hook your brain up to a computer. Now we have artificial intelligence, and wait and see, it will make people dumber than ever before! They won't have to read, they won't have to apply their mind, they will just ask their little personal 'Watson' and they'll get an answer right back!

Well, maybe we ought to get a personal 'Watson' with a whole Bible on it and use that to help people to find out what they need to know. That would be a good use of it, but I don't know if there's enough money for us to that, or for anyone to do it.

Let's look at some things in Proverbs that we need to understand in dealing with people here in the world. We need to also, as in every generation down through time, adjust our preaching to the realistic facts of what's in the world to help people. And, let's also be very frank about it; because there is so much perversion and sin in the world, does that not indicate that there are more demons out there working with people than ever before? We're going to have to deal with that!

Proverbs 16:1: "The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, are from the LORD." The way that we think, act and speak, everything. All of that is from God!

However, because of independent free moral agency, v 2: "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirits."

God is going to test; He's going to look. There will be those who will cry out to Him. There will be those who will be convicted by the Spirit of God working with them.

Jesus talks about in Rev. 1 & 3 the seven Spirit of God. All those who are going to be called, God is the One Who must move them first! Everyone must come to see that 'the heart is deceitful above everything'; that their sins are causing them their problems. That's why their lives are ruined, that they have depression and familiar spirits and things like that. But there will be those who repent!

Revelation 5:6—this symbolic of Jesus Christ Who is the Lamb of God and the Head of seven churches: "Then I saw, and behold, before the throne and the four living creatures, and before the elders, was standing a Lamb ashaving been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God that are sent into all the earth."

So, there can be no preaching of the Gospel. There can be no convicting of sin, unless we preach! Then God will draw them! And it's a terrible world to be drawn out of.

We've covered John 6:44 how many times? This is true and this operates day and night around the world. This is why it's important that we get out as much as we can in:

• preaching the Word of God
• teaching the Word of God
• calling people to repentance
• providing them with the books
• providing them with the literature

and that we, as those in the Church:

• keep the Sabbath
• keep the Holy Days
• love one another
• that we are all behind the effort together

Then this multiplied by all the Churches of God that there are in the world. Think of what that would be for this generation that we are now shifting into that's going to be all automated. It's going to seem so good and right. Think of what it's going to be when it comes down to the mark of the beast. How convenient that is going to be for people. It will look like it's the right thing to do.

So, we've got a lot of work on our hands! That's why we need Christ as the head of the Church using the seven Spirit, which are the seven eyes of God to go out and see and find those who are repenting.

If God knows when a sparrow falls, He knows when a person begins to repent. Then this takes place:

John 6:44: "No one can come to Me unless the Father, Who sent Me, draws him…" How does He draw them? By sending His Spirit to convict them in heart and mind! If they continue to repent and want what is right, God will continue to lead them.

God will lead them to the point that they know they need to repent, that they knows that they need to be buried in that watery grave and have their sins forgiven. This is going to be one of those generations that is going to be the most difficult for that to take place because of all of the conveniences that we have.

Remember, look at all of us gray heads, we're going to die. God knows that. That's part of His plan! He wants us to be faithful to the end. We must leave for those who come in our footsteps everything they need to continue to do the things they need to reach out to people in this world:

• to feed the flock
• to help them overcome

that's why we need Sabbath services every week. We need rest from this world as never before! The Father draws them!

Verse 45: "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'…." Absolutely true! We've covered these Scriptures recently, but this is the heart and core of what it is. They're going to taught of God:

• from the Bible
• from the preaching
• from Church At Home (churchathome.org)
• from truthofgod.org
• from whatever the other Churches of God have

I hope that they all stay faithful to the Truth and the doctrines of God. That would be awesome indeed if they would!

"…Therefore, everyone who has heard from the Father, and has learned, comes to Me" (v 45). Comes to that point of baptism and to the point of changing, overcoming and wanting to do what is right and good.

Let's add that process into Prov. 16 so that people can get their bearings. Listen! You think that you've got a lot in your mind that needs to be erased by the Spirit of God because of your behavior before you were baptized, and even in the things that we have to fight and overcome now as we've covered in Rom. 7 a number of times; how that we have war against the sin that is warring against us. We do that with the Spirit of God, with the Word of God. That's how we go forward! That's why it takes God to convince someone of their sins. That's why they need to hear the Word of God.

Proverbs 16:2: "All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirits."How? With the seven Spirits of God, which are the seven eyes of God sent into the whole world!

Here's what do? This is what we need to do everyday. This is what we need to teach people coming to the knowledge of the Truth to do. Especially those who have had their mind polluted and destroyed by wrong music, wrong sex, drugs and all kinds of sins.

Verse 3: "Commit your works unto the LORD, and your thoughts shall be established." That's how conversion works! Because the mind left undirected and unchecked, and the law of sin and death within us leads people to do terrible and awful things, as has been in every single generation of this world.

Remember, we just read a couple of examples of it. In the 1100s they said the time is near. In 1911 they said the time is near; the end of the world is here. Here we are in 2018 already four months into it.

Verse 4: "The LORD has made all for His own purpose; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." We need to choose which side we're on.

Verse 5: "Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; though joined hand in hand, he shall not be unpunished. By…" Here is the solution; these are the problems and the workings of the human mind. That's why it says that 'there's a way that seems right to a man, buy the ends thereof are the ways of death.'

Isn't that true? I mean, every time you see something on the news it comes to mind. Everyone thinks they're right. When everyone thinks they're right, and they think everybody else, but them, is wrong, then you have mass confusion like we have today.

God is the only One Who can reach down with the seven Spirits of God and call those people. God has to do it. We have to do the preaching, we have to provide the way for them, but God has to start it!

Now, here is the whole Gospel summarized, v 6: "By mercy and Truth iniquity is purged…" How is that: repentance, baptism, laying on of hands, receiving the Holy Spirit. There is the definition of it.
"…and by the fear of the LORD men turn away from evil" (v 6). When you turn away from evil and do:

Verse 3: "Commit your works unto the LORD, and your thoughts shall be established." This is what we need to be teaching the coming generation! They have so many things coming at them. They think that they have everything. But, yet, they are missing the most important thing:

• the Word of God
• the Truth of God
• the Spirit of God

We're very happy and thankful that we can put the whole Bible so people can download it on their smart phones, and we don't know how many thousands of people have already done that. Here in the congregations, people have their little smart tablets and smart phones and they no longer bring a Bible. They've got it on their phone right there.

How close can you get the Bible to someone if it's on their personal smart phone or cell phone, or their personal computer or whatever? One caveat and warning for all of those who have that: Don't get self-satisfied! Because you are still dependent upon charging the battery! Isn't that true? So, in addition to that, you need one of these—the printed Bible—because the only battery that is necessary is the finger to turn the page.

And the electrical system of your body working—which God has given—is recharged with how you live your life and the food that you eat. You don't need to plug it in somewhere. You can read!

Verse 3: "Commit your works unto the LORD, and your thoughts shall be established." Isn't that great?

Verse 7: "When a man's ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." That's quite a statement!

• we've got a lot to fight
• we've got a lot to overcome
• we've got a lot to resist

What we need to do is teach everyone, not only those who have been in the Church for however long you've been in the Church, but this is a constant thing that we need to do.

Proverbs 4:1: "O children…" Let's take these as words from God the Father because we are to be the sons and daughters of God!

Verse 10: "Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of your life shall be many." Project that forward to eternal life. That's why we say that every day: prayer and study, prayer and study! Sabbath and Holy days! Remember what we read in John 6 that 'all have been taught of God.'

Verse 11: "I have taught you in the way of wisdom…"—which comes from God. Are not all of the Words of God wisdom? For righteousness on the one hand, against sin on the other hand!

"…I have led you in the right paths" (v 11). Remember what Jesus said? Enter in at the narrow gate; therefore, straight is the way and narrow is the way that leads to life! That's the path! And He said, 'I'm the Way, the Truth and the Life, and none come to the Father except through Me.'

All of that fits! Look at how this fits into the Gospels. That's why it's important for us to understand it. Then when we have the Spirit of God in us:

Verse 12: "When you go, your steps shall not be hampered, and when you run, you shall not stumble. Keep hold of instruction…" (vs 12-13). Don't let the Word of God fade from your mind through lack of study and prayer.

"…do not let go; keep her, for she is your life. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not into the way of evil men" (vs 13-14).

That's what we have today. We've got a lot of things we need to do. The most important thing is as we go back into the world, and as this generational shift is coming, that we be able to understand how we can teach them to function in this world with so many things that are bombarding their mind! It's right here in the book of Proverbs.

Verse 15: "Avoid it; do not go in it; turn from it, and pass on!" Don't get involved in wicked people. There are going to be a good number of people come into the Church who have been on drugs. They're going to need help in understanding how to set their minds so that they're not re-captivated by that sin. They're going to need help in how to use the Word of God and the Spirit of God so they don't fall back into it again. It's devastating!

Verse 18: "But the path of the just is as the shining Light…" Where does that Light come from? Jesus Christ! He said, 'I am the Light of the world!' His Word is like a light. He says that 'all that come to the Light, those are the ones who love God.' But the world, the wicked, don't! they walk away from the Light.

"…that shines more and more to the perfect day" (v 18). What is that perfect day? The day of the resurrection! We're already one week into the count to Pentecost!

Verse 19—this certainly is true and we need to warn and warn over and over again about this, and be aware of it in our lives: "The way of the wicked is as darkness…"

What did Jesus say? The eye is the light of the body! If the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness? But if the Light that be in your is the Light from God, that's going to lead you!

"…they know not at what they stumble" (v 19).

• they don't know what's wrong with their lives
• they don't why they're unhappy
• they don't understand why things are a mess
• they don't understand why nothing works out the way that it should

if it does, it doesn't last long enough to amount to anything.

Here is the key; this is what needs to be taught to the coming generation! That's why we have the Proverbs for Youth. That's why we have the things that we do. But the Proverbs are for all of God's children, young and old.

Verse 20: "My son, attend to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart" (vs 21-21). Tie into that verse that 'everyone who has heard from the Father comes to Me,' Jesus said. There it is right there, New Testament doctrine.

Listen! I want to tell you something that is very important. You can find New Testament doctrine in the Old Testament, and you can find Old Testament doctrine in the New Testament, because it's all the Word of God!

Verse 20: "My son, attend to my words; incline your ear to my sayings." Now you can hear the Bible any time you want: afaithfulversion.org

• we've read the Bible
• we've read most of our books and booklets

We want to have every book and booklet to be sent out with a CD with a reading of that book. We want to have it so that people can hear the Word of God. One woman told me that she goes on afaithfulversion.org sets it for play and she walks around the house doing her housework and listens to the Bible while she's doing it. That's really an application of it!

Verse 21: "Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart…. [listen what it's saying here, because this is so important]: …For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh" (vs 21-22). Think about how great that is just with our physical bodies and minds. Amplify this for eternal life, and how great that's going to be.

Verse 23 is one of the most important verses in the entirety of the Bible for all people of all ages, but especially for the end-time generation, because we have so many things bombarding our eyes: through television, smart phones, advertisements. Our ears are bombarded with music, news, sayings, etc.

Verse 23: "Above all guard the door of your mind…"—or your heart, it applies to both.

A thought came to my mind that when Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, what did God do? He put cherubim there with swords to guard the Tree of Life! We have been given the understanding of the Tree of Life through the Spirit of God and the Word of God. Should we not also guard our mind and not get involved in things that we ought not get involved in? Or let things come into our mind that ought not come in, and if they do get in there, to use the power of God's Spirit:

• to cleanse our mind
• to wash our heart
• to give us understanding

Yes, that's where we are in the world today. Notice how we are to do it:

"…with diligence…" (v 23). That means:

• you're alert
• you're attentive
• you're on top of it

all the time! That's what diligent means.

"…for out of it are the issues of life" (v 23). Ours is the issues of eternal life!

Now, let's apply all of this together, because we have that he Feast of Unleavened Bread and even a Sabbath Day after that. So, we have had an extra amount with the extra day.

Rom. 13—this is an interesting section, and you have to be very careful how you read it. A lot of Protestants come here and say, 'If you have love you don't have to keep the Law.' John says that 'this is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.'

Romans 13:8: "Do not be indebted to anyone for anything, unless it is to love one another. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the Law"—in the act of love. But "…the one who loves…" is present tense, as it is happening, has fulfilled the Law. Notice how Paul defines it:

Verse 9: "Because it says, 'You shall not commit adultery. You shall not commit murder. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not lust.'…." Protestants look at that and say, 'Didn't mention the Sabbath.' True! But he does if you read on! How does he do that?

"…And if there be any other commandment…" (v 9).

• no other gods before Me
• no idols
• don't take the name of the God in vain
• remember the Sabbath to keep it Holy

"…it is summed up in this saying, even by this standard: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does not do any wrong to its neighbor; therefore, love is the full expression of God'sLaw" (vs 9-10).

Based on that, here's what Paul is writing and fits in for today.

Verse 11: "Now consider this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour that we should be roused out of sleep…"

This is why the Feast of Unleavened Bread, that we're not sleeping spiritually! We're not like the five foolish virgins.

"…because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed" (v 11). Think about when Paul was writing this in the 50sA.D.

Verse 12: "The night is almost over… [this is not only a statement of the times, but a prophecy for the future] …and the day is drawing near; therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk decently, as in the day: not in reveling and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and emulation. But let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and not make any allowance for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts" (vs 12-14).

That is a perfect ending for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Sabbath afterward.

Scriptural References:

• Revelation 12:1-6
• Judges 2:2-3, 5, 7-8, 10-12
• Jeremiah 11:3-4, 7-8
• Jeremiah 14:10-14
• Proverbs 16:1-2
• Revelation 5:6
• John 6:44-45
• Proverbs 16:2-6, 3, 7
• Proverbs 4:1, 10-15, 18-21, 20-23
• Romans 13:8-14

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Isaiah 14
• Matthew 2
• Acts 2
• Matthew 16
• Ezekiel 13
• Revelation 1; 3
• Romans 7

Also referenced:

• DVD: Israel of the Alps (produced by the Seventh Day Adventists)
• digital version:

                  (https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.188029)

• Books:
• The Israel of the Alps: A History of the Waldensians by Alexis Muston
• The Ingathering of Israel by G.G. Rupert
• The Yellow Peril, or the Orient Vs: The Occident As Viewed By Modern Statesmen and Ancient Prophets by G.G. Rupert (amazon.com)
• Article: Rome's Challenge to the Protestants (truthofgod.org)
• Literature: Proverbs for Youth (truthofGod.org)

FRC: bo
Transcribed: 3/7/18

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