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"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
Fred R. Coulter—January 18, 2020
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Greetings, brethren! Welcome to Sabbath services! Today we're going to do quite a study on the Word of God. We're going to first look at where the Protestants say that the Old Covenant and everything in the Old Testament has been done away.
- Why do they say that?
- Why are they wrong?
I'll tell you where it says, 'done away' in the King James Version, and those are the two words that the Protestants love. They completely misunderstand, and the translation is not correct.
2-Corinthians 3:4: "Now we have this confidence through Christ toward God; not that we are competent of ourselves, or credit anything to our own abilities: rather, our competency is from God" (vs 4-5).
2-Corinthians 4:5: "For we do not preach our own selves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake."
Quite a difference! When you begin preaching men instead of Christ that's the first step to getting in trouble!
2-Corinthians 3:6: "Who also made us competent as ministers of the New Covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry of death… [Paul is referring to part, not all, of the Old Covenant] …which wasengraved in stones, came into being with glory, so that the children of Israel were not able to gaze upon Moses' face because of the glory of his face, which glory is being set aside" (vs 6-7)—KJV: done away!
The Protestants read that and say that everything in the Old Covenant is done away because the King James says 'done away.' But what did Jesus Himself say about the Law and the Prophets? Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law! Abolish and do away are the same. Or the Prophets! I have come to fulfill—which in the Greek means to complete. The completion is showing the spiritual part of keeping God's way.
What is being set aside is legally necessary in order for the Gospel to be preached around the world and out of the bounds of the land of Israel.
The glory is being done away. It talks about Moses' face when he came down from Mt. Sinai the second time in receiving the Law. His face was so glorious he had to put a veil over his face, and the children of Israel couldn't even look upon him. I imagine that was astonishing to everybody when he came down that way.
Verse 8: "Shall not the ministry of the Spirit be far more glorious? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation…" (vs 8-9).
Even though it was engravened in stone, it is only the glory done away and for the Church certain aspects of the Word of God contained in the Old Testament that we do not carryout. We need to understand the difference there. The sacrifices are one, and that's been replaced by the sacrifice of Christ.
Remember that every physical law that has been set aside has been replaced with a higher spiritual law! Death is still in the New Covenant, the second death! So, it's been raised to a higher level!
"…to a much greater degree the ministry of righteousness overflows with glory. And even the ministry of condemnation, which had glory, was not glorious in this respect, because of the surpassing glory of the ministry of life" (vs 9-10).
What results in the ministry of life? You receive the Holy Spirit, and the end result of that is eternal life! That's far more glorious than it was in the Ten Commandments and the statutes and judgments that were given concerning that.
Verse 11: "For if that which is being set aside came into being through glory, to a much greater degree that which remains is glorious. Now then, because we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech; for we are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face, so that the children of Israel could not gaze to the end upon the glory that is now being set aside. But their minds were blinded; for to the present hour the same veil has not been removed, but remains at the reading of the Old Covenant; which veil is removed in Christ" (vs 11-14).
Blindness! How is that expressed in other way? Let's see the words of God! There they were, saw the glory of God on top of the mountain, heard the Ten Commandments, everything that was there. Remember that all of the Ten Commandments have subordinate laws of punishment. We'll look at a few of them, but we're not going to belabor the point on that.
Let's see what God said even after He gave the Ten Commandments. Remember, they were not given the Holy Spirit.
Deuteronomy 5:28—Moses said: "And the LORD heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me. And the LORD said to me, 'I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They have well said all that they have spoken'"
They were well intentioned, and that's just the way it is with human beings, they are well intentioned.
Verse 29: "Oh, that there were such a heart in them that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always so that it might be well with them and with their children forever!" That's what God wanted!
Now let's look at the administration of death. We'll just review this very quickly.
Exodus 21:12: "He that strikes a man so that he dies, shall be surely put to death…. [that's what we call today first degree murder] …And if a man does not lie in wait, but God delivers him into his hand…" (vs 12-13).
This was allowed; God allowed vengeance! So, if someone knew who came in and raped his daughter, he could go and execute him. Let's put it this way: If you knew that someone had killed someone in your family, you could execute judgment against him if he didn't flee to one of the safety cities. All the safety cities were jurisdictions like courts. Then they would have to have a hearing, a trial, and if it was true that it was first degree murder, he was to be stoned, executed. If not, then as long as he stayed in that city he was free; let's read on and see:
"…then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee" (v 13). He goes there, the one who took vengeance for the killing of one in his family, and they would have a full hearing. The Levites and priests would be there, the elders of that city would be there, and they would make the judgment.
Verse 14: "But if a man comes presumptuously upon his neighbor to slay him with guile, you shall take him from My altar so that he may die." That the administration of death!
Verse 15: "And he that strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. And he that steals a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death." They didn't have jails and penitentiaries full of criminals for life sentences! Why would God order this? He didn't tell them about the second resurrection. That we know today. So, God will take care of it at that time.
Verse 22: "If men strive and strike a pregnant woman so that there is a miscarriage, and no harm follows…"—meaning the wife is okay, or if it's late term and the baby is born and it's okay. If it's not late term and the baby dies and the woman is okay. That's one thing.
"…he shall surely be punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him. And he shall pay as the judges determine" (v 22). Here we have civil law!
- Why do we have civil law here for Israel?
- Why is that different from the Church?
- Israel was a physical nation!
These laws and penalties ended at the border of Israel!
- Why? Because other countries were given the civil law and penalties right after the Flood!
God said to Noah, 'When a man kills a man, by man he shall be killed.' That's giving the law of the civil administration for the various nations! That's in every country today.
What do we have concerning the civil servants, the civil law? Rom. 13—be subject for they are servants of God doing His work! If they're corrupt and evil, that's a different case. But that was given to the nations.
What do you do with thievery? Here's how you can stop a lot of thievery:
Exodus 22:1: "If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox…" What if he didn't have enough to pay for it? Then he could become an indentured servant until he paid for it; the equivalent!
"…and four sheep for a sheep" (v 1). What if we had that with cars today? If you steal a car, you're going to give back five.
Verse 2: "If a thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, no blood shall be shed for him." That means there is no sacrifice that has to come to the altar.
This is protecting your home, v 3: "If the sun is risen upon him and he lives, there shall be blood shed for him. He shall make full restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft."
You can read and study all of these laws. For the Church: the Church cannot use any of these laws. Why? Though it says to live by every Word of God? Why were these laws set aside for the Church? Every country in the world has it's own laws! You can have international agreements that if someone commits a crime and he flees to a different country, that country can extradite them back to wherever they committed the crime. But if you don't have an agreement with that country to extradite, they don't send them back.
This tells us that all laws within the sovereign territory of every nations are the laws of that nation for all the civil activities so they can keep a little piece and order. Look what happens when you have no laws. You have lawlessness run amuck! So, all the laws will vary from country to country, yet, they're similar in certain ways. But they're all different on how that country chooses to have those laws for public safety.
The Church is different. The Church is not restricted to a geographical area. What happens if the Church takes it upon itself? We can look at Islam today. Islam takes it upon itself that anywhere they go they can kill the 'infidel.' That's the greatest trouble in the world today.
Why? Because they take those laws and go beyond the bounds of their countries! It would be the same thing for the Church. If the Church enforced civil laws wherever the Church would be, then that would be going against what God has already established in all the nations of the world. You can't have to sovereigns within one jurisdiction with the power of death. You can't do it.
Matthew 28:18: "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore, go and make disciples in all nations…'" (vs 18-19). The disciples need to keep their national citizenship in the nation that they are born, but they become Christian!
"…baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…." (vs 19-20).
Nowhere did He give the authority to take physical life with civil authority. In the Church there's spiritual authority. What is that spiritual authority? To teach! If there's a problem or difficulty that comes up, then it has to be resolved! That's within the Church and has to do with Church things.
If the person who has committed a great transgression, which could also be against civil law. There was a man in the Church for a long time who was a pedophile and no one ever knew it when it came out. What did the Church have to do? Disfellowship him! Remove from within the body of the congregation of the Church of God. The authorities came and arrested him and put him in prison. There's the difference between Church authority and spiritual authority, and civil law and order.
In the United States today there are 'sanctuary cities' that are not for people to keep the law, that's for lawbreakers to come to avoid punishment. That's a perversion of curtain safety cities that God provided, but that was only to keep peace and order so there would be a proper legal trial.
We find a proper legal trial may not be solved in the local jurisdiction. What was the high court of the nation of Israel? The high priest (Deut. 17). If there's something, and you can't solve the problem, then you take it to the priest and the priest and the others on the council will be the determining factor of what needs to be done.
God says of that, you will—whatever that judgment is—obey! If you don't obey you are doing presumptuously. So, with the sanctuary cities that we have in America, that lead to great disobedience and more crime, because they misuse the purpose of a sanctuary city. That's only a temporary holding place so that there will not be violence against the one who has committed the crime while he is held for trial. Quite different, isn't it?
Let's look at why there is so much crime and why there needs to be in the different nations people that God is not calling today. There needs to be law and order and civility so that they're not killing one another. Look at what's happening south of the border, in those nations down there. Look at Mexico right now—27,000 murders a year! They only have 50-million people.
Romans 8:6: "For to be carnally minded is death… [we'll get into spiritually minded in just a bit] …but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the Law of God…" (vs 6-7).
When you have lawlessness in society not having anything to do with the Church, that is still enmity against God, because God put the civil authorities there. So, the lawlessness ones have no regard for any law.
The 'religious' people—too many of them—pick and choose what they will do, because they have enmity against obedience.
"…for it is not subject to the Law of God; neither indeed can it be" (7). That's why in order to love God and keep His commandments there has to be repentance and conversion!
Here's why the carnal mind is against law; Romans 7:14: "For we know that the Law is spiritual…" Even the civil laws of the nations of the world have:
- do not murder
- do not steal
A lot of them do not have not commit adultery because they're very lawless!
- do not bear false witness
That's still something that they're being disobedient to. Though it's a civil law, it has a spiritual basis within the laws of God. But the Church has no authority to enforce those, because the Church is one body under Christ in many nations in the world.
Christ is the One Sovereign over the Church! So therefore, we keep the laws and commandments of God in the letter and in the spirit! Which then makes us in this society good citizens.
"…but I am carnal, having been sold as a slave under sin" (v 14).
Verse 12: "Therefore, the Law is indeed Holy, and the commandment Holy and righteous and good."
God has given the civil authorities to take care of those people, and God calls those Himself to be in the Church. Christ is the Head of the Church. So, how do we look at law?
Let's see how the veil is taken away. The process of conversion begins with God's calling,
Colossians 2:10: "And you are complete in Him [Christ], Who is the Head of all principality and power"—including angelic, demons, and all civil governments!
Verse 11: "In Whom you have also been circumcised with the circumcision not made by hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ."
That's taking away the veil! That's taking away the carnality that is deeply ingrained in us, and with the Spirit of God we have the desire to do God's will.
Verse 12: "Having been buried with Him in baptism, by which you have also been raised with Him through the inner working of God, Who raised Him from the dead…. [then it shows what happens]: …For you, who were once dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has now made alive with Him, having forgiven all your trespasses" (vs 12-13)—and has provided a way through Christ to continue to have your sins and trespasses forgiven and your mind converted! Your mind transformed, and that's totally different than in the world.
I had to go to AAA (Triple A)and walked in about ten in the morning and there was a line of ten people standing there. I didn't want to wait that long, because they all have to be attended to individually. I heard them talking, and it was terrible, hideous conversation. I couldn't get over it, just ordinary people in the world. Why are they like that? Because they have the veil that has not been circumcised! To them it's all natural. This is a good explanation of it.
Let's see how everything spiritually is based on everything that we do.
- Do you keep the laws of the land?
- Is it lawful before God to get a driver's license? Yes, indeed!
- Why do they have that? They don't want idiots driving wildly on the road killing people!
They had that when they had animals. If you had a ox that gores you're going to pay, and if he's known to gore in the past, you execute the ox and make good what he's done. We have the same thing with driving a car. If you get in an accident, you pay.
- How do we pay? We have insurance!
- Is it lawful before God to have insurance? Yes!
So, we keep those laws!
- Why? God wants us to be subject to the authorities that are there, because He has instituted them!
If they tell us we can't meet on the Sabbath, that's going against God, so therefore, we would not obey that!
We're to give taxes, because Jesus said to 'render to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar and the things to God that belong to God.' Everything is based right here in Matt. 22 beginning with God. So, all of it comes from God. This has to do with keeping the commandments.
Matthew 22:36: "'Master, which commandment is the great commandment in the Law?'…. [He was asked this by a doctor of the Law] …And Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment'" (vs 36-38). This is what we learn to do being Christians!
- to love God
- to love Christ
- to love one another
- to love our fellow citizens in the world
Verse 39: "And the second one is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." We read these things and we agree with it!
Matthew 7:12—Jesus explained it another way: "Therefore, everything that you would have men do to you, so also do to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets." That agrees with what Jesus says:
Matthew 22:40: "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
We're going to take a look on how we look at the laws of God and what we do.
Matthew 4:3 (also found in Luke 4): "And when the tempter came to Him, he said, 'If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.' But He answered and said, 'It is written…'" (vs 3-4).
Everything we do is based on the Word of God! The Word of God says that His Word is spiritual and life! Even in the letter of the Law, for people in the world who obey to the degree that they do, they live good and long lives. Those who are wild and lawless, they generally end up either in prison or in the grave.
"…'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God'" (v 4).
That which has been set aside for the Church is still applicable in the world. So, when we obey those laws in the world that are good, which we should do, that's living by every Word of God as well!
We will go through a good section of Psa. 119 and see how spiritually we should look at the laws and commandments of God. That is a fantastic Psalm; it has 176 verses, but we won't read every one.
(go to the next track)
AD: Transcript Books with CD
- The Law of Moses without the Veil
- The Three Most Important Days (Sabbath, Passover and Holy Days.
On the days that God has set He has placed His Spirit wherever His people are gathered together. It's like an appointment, these are the appointed times (Lev. 23). God has made an appointment with us, and we determine the time of the day that we will come together.
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What happens when the veil is removed and the carnality has been exposed for what it is and you want to overcome it?
Romans 8:8: "But those who are in the flesh cannot please God." That means you don't have the Spirit of God in you!
What generally happens when you don't have the Spirit of God—or you let the Spirit of God go away—then you start having strange doctrines and teachings.
Verse 9: "However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is indeed dwelling within you…." The spirit of God is such that we can stir it up (2-Tim. 1 Stir up the Spirit of God that is in you!).
How do you do that? By prayer, study, yielding to God and learning from all the situations that you go through!
"…But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him" (v 9).
What did Peter tell the Sanhedrin? These were the ones who thought that they were the closest to God. You had the chief priest, the other high priests, the Levites, the elders all gathered together in the Sanhedrin. They arrested the apostles because they were preaching Christ when they were told not to. They were ready to kill them.
What did Peter say? God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him! They were all of the flesh and didn't have the Spirit of God. They could have had the Spirit of God, but they didn't want to humble themselves to be baptized; they didn't want to humble themselves to learn of Christ. They wanted Christ to come to them, instead of them coming to Christ. That's the way it is with fake Christianity in the world! They have their devices to do what they are doing, and it looks very good to the carnal mind.
Verse 10: "But if Christ be within you, the body is indeed dead because of sin; however, the Spirit is life because of righteousness." God's Spirit leading in us, to guide us and to direct us.
Remember what Jesus said about 'hungering and thirsting after righteousness'? You shall be filled! So, hungering and thirsting means that you are taking spiritual meals every day by study through God's Spirit.
Verse 11: "Now, if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is dwelling within you, He Who raised Christ from the dead will also quicken your mortal bodies because of His Spirit that dwells within you." There are the two parts of the Spirit of God!
Verse 12: "So then, brethren, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh; because if you are living according to the flesh, you shall die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God" (vs 12-14)—and that's what we are!
Let's see another one. To the world, they don't have a clue as to what is going on. Paul says concerning the Church:
Colossians 1:25: "Of which I became a servant, according to the administration of God… [the administration of the Spirit] …that was given to me for you in order to complete the Word of God." Paul knew he had to do the writings and finish the Word of God! When he finished them, he sent them all to Peter.
What did Peter say in 2-Pet. 3? That Paul, in all of his epistles—so Peter had all of them—wrote in them some things that are very difficult to understand! And yes, some of them are. That's why you need the Spirit of God to understand it.
Verse 26: "Even the mystery that has been hidden from ages and from generations…" The world doesn't know, and the only ones who really know are those who are in the true Church of God! There are many congregations in many places.
"…but has now been revealed to His saints" (v 26). How is that revealed? By His Holy Spirit after the circumcision of the heart, and you are hungering and thirsting after God's way! God's Spirit will be there:
- to help you
- to lead you
- to guide you
- to give you understanding
Verse 27: "To whom God did will… [it is the will of God to the saints] …to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." How is that going to be?
Hebrews 10:14: "For by one offering…"
Remember this: Everything that is in the Old Testament that tells us the things we need to do, there is a higher spiritual fulfillment in the New Testament that we need to follow!
Verse 14: "For by one offering… [His sacrifice; that's why all of the sacrifices have been set aside] …He has obtained eternal perfection…"
(note Go to Meeting message: How Can God Make Us Perfect?}
"…for those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after He had previously said, '"This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days," says the Lord…'" (vs 14-16). That's the finishing of the ministry of Jesus Christ!
"…I will give My Laws into their hearts, and I will inscribe them in their minds; and their sins and lawlessness I will not remember ever again." (vs 16-17). That's quite a thing! How did Paul describe this in another place?
What we are talking about with this is what Paul writes is the mind of Christ. This is something we need to yearn for and we develop by conversion over a process of time through the power of the Holy Spirit. God does the spiritual work; we put forth the effort, love and intensity to do it!
Philippians 2:5 "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
How did Christ look at the Laws of God and the Word of God? Remember that we just ended up with the great commandment!
We're going to look at good number of verses in Psa. 119, and let me just explain a little bit about this Psalm: You see listed over each 8-verse section… To show you what the Levitical singers had to do, they had to memorize this to sing in the temple. Look at the Hebrew letters
- Aleph
- Beth
- Gimel
- Daleth
Etc., all through 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Every section has eight verses. That's interesting, isn't it? You might do some real reading and studying in Psa. 119; you will see that there are a lot of verses in there that we could identify as Christ, especially for the things that He went through and the enemies after Him and so forth.
We can say that this is an example of how Christ would have thought of the Laws of God. If we're to let the mind of Christ be in us, and if He's going to write His commandments and His Law in our heart and mind, what does that do?
It says, 'Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.' We all have enough of carnality in us that sometimes what comes out we realize that it's still there and we have to get rid of it.
Psa. 119—notice how many verses say Blessed and notice the attitude here, especially since there are 135 Is in this Psalm. But this is a good use of I because it is the writer—or Christ in us—showing us how we are to look at these things
Psalm 119:1: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way…" The New Testament is the way of Truth! Jesus said, 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.'
God's way is always a way of living! It's not a religion that you practice on a certain day and then the rest of the week you live your life the way that you want to. Then come back on that certain day again and you feel righteous. No! It is a way that you live all the time. It even talks about in your sleep.
David describes the way, "…who walk in the Law of the LORD. Blessed are they who keep His testimonies… [other sayings of God based on the Word of God] …and who seek Him with the whole heart" (vs 1-2).
That's what God wants. If you don't seek Him with the whole heart, if you have part of your mind that you still go to the world in, and part of your mind that you think you can come to God in, then you're double-minded! What happens to the double-minded? You're unstable (James 1). God wants us single-minded, with our whole heart and our whole being. That's what He desires!
Verse 3: They also do no iniquity…" It doesn't mean you don't sin, but you don't go out and:
- plan to rob
- plan to commit adultery
- plan to bear false witness
- plan to bow down to an idol
- plan to take God's name in vain
- plan to break the Sabbath
"…they walk in His ways" (v 3). So it's the Law of God and His ways!
Verse 4: "You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently."
Then David laments. What happens when you read all of these things and you can't make it? You cry out to God and He'll help you!
Verse 5: "O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes! Then I shall not be ashamed when I have respect unto all Your commandments. I will praise You with uprightness of heart when I have learned Your righteous judgments" (vs 5-7).
We're all learning, still learning. We're all taught of God. How are we taught of God? We have the Word of God, which comes out of His mouth! Jesus said about living by 'every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.' We have the ability to read and study. We have God's Spirit to lead and guide us. This is how we develop the mind of Christ!
Verse 8: "I will keep Your statutes; O forsake me not utterly. With what shall a young man cleanse his way?…." (vs 8-9)—or young woman, old man! God says that He will not forsake us when we're old and gray.
"…By taking heed according to Your Word" (v 9). When we read it, see it or hear it we are to do it! That's what it means to take heed.'
Verse 10: "With all my heart I have sought You; O let me not wander from Your commandments. Your Word I have laid up in my heart, so that I might not sin against You" (vs 10-11).
- How does that work?
- Have you ever gone along thinking about what you're going to do and something comes along that you see isn't right and you don't do it?
- Why don't you do it? Because of what is in your heart and mind!
That's what God is interested in!
Verse 12: "Blessed are You, O LORD; teach me Your statutes."
If we're going to inherit eternal life, which we are; if we're going to have access to whatever God gives us access to, being the universe, and we don't know how that's going to be. How much do we have to learn? I really believe that after the resurrection we're going to learn more than we ever did while living in the flesh. We're going to need to, because we're going to be living in a spirit world. Amazing!
Verse 18: "Open my eyes so that I may behold wondrous things out of Your Law." This is a prayer that we all ought to pray so we can understand God's Law even more! How much is in there that we can learn? Only God can show us!
Verse 23: Even though princes sat and spoke against me…"
- Doesn't that sound like Christ?
- Did they all speak against Him?
- All the leaders?
"…Your servant did meditate on Your statutes" (v 23). Christ always kept His mind on God the Father, and you can read this in John many times:
- I do what the Father taught Me!
- I do what I see the Father do!
- I do what the One Who sent Me commanded Me to do!
All the way through the book of John!
Verse 27: "Make me to understand the way of Your precepts… [notice how many times we come to the way] …and so shall I speak of Your wonderful works."
Let's add this to should be for all elders and ministers. Paul wrote to the Jews, 'You who boast in the law and tell others what to do. Do you not teach yourself?'
We need to stay close to God all the time. Continuously study. We can never say that because we've done this for so many years that now we have everything we need to know to teach. Not so!
Verse 27: "Make me to understand the way of Your precepts, and so shall I speak of Your wonderful works.
Verse 29: "Remove from me the way of lying…" Isn't that the easiest and simplest thing that you do beginning when you're able to speak to your mama. She says, 'Did you do it?' Lying is natural! Even Paul says, 'Lie not to one another.'
He saying to those in the Church that you can be subject to lying. That doesn't mean that you have to speak everything you know, but don't lie.
"…and grant me Your Law graciously" (v 29). Take this one verse and think about it! If you're lying you're not going to understand the Laws of God. Look at the word graciously! Protestants are in trouble! They believe in grace, but look, that's used to modify Law! This is how you get rid of lying:
Verse 30: "I have chosen the way of Truth; I have laid Your judgments before me." That's why we're here! We have chosen the way of Truth, and that begins with repentance and baptism, and we keep growing in grace and knowledge.
Verse 31: "I cleave to Your testimonies; O LORD, do not put me to shame. I will run the way of Your commandments for You shall enlarge my heart" (vs 31-32).
That isn't going to give you an enlarged heart and when you go to the doctor. 'Well, doctor, the Lord gave me an enlarged heart.' That doesn't mean that! It means that He's going to give you expanded knowledge!
Verse 33: "Teach me, O LORD…" We're all taught of God! How? Through His Word, by His Spirit and by living!
"…the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end…. [as long as I live] …Give me understanding, that I may keep Your Law and observe it with all my heart" (vs 33-34).
These are all converted attitudes toward the Laws of God! This is why when we get converted…
- we're going to keep the laws of the land
- we're not going to go out and be lawless
- we're going to treat our neighbors decently
- we're going to love each other
- we're going to love God
Paul says of that behavior, 'Against such there is no law,' because it's all doing the will of God!
Verse 35: "Make me to walk in the path of Your commandments… [God isn't' going to come down and force you, but to give you the spiritual ability to do it] …for I delight in them."
All the rest of the verses in between you need to read and study. In going through in this Bible I've got it all marked up and every Iis circled. This is a good use of I because it's from you to God. It's not asking God, 'Make me great; it's from you to God, 'help me with Your way!'
Verse 44: "So shall I keep Your Law continually forever and ever." In the Kingdom of God there are going to be laws!
Verse 45: "And I will walk at liberty… [walking correctly and there are no stumbling stones in front of you] …for I seek Your precepts. I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings and will not be ashamed" (vs 45-46). Paul did that! Christ did that!
Verse 47: "And I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I have loved." What will this do?
- you willingly want to study
- you willingly want to learn of God's way
- you willingly are doing these thing
Not, 'I know I need to study, but I just have something more important to do.'
Verse 48: "And I will lift up my hands unto Your commandments, which I have loved, and I will meditate on Your statutes."
Verse 50: "This is my comfort in my affliction, that Your Word has given me life." Regardless of the trial, the outcome of everything is eternal life!
We're all going to come to the point that we're going to return to dust. The longer that I'm living the more that I see that's where I'm headed, and the same with a lot. When someone dies in the faith, God has harvested! He's got them all in storage for the resurrection! Think about what that's going to be.
The whole army to take over the world is waiting—sleeping—in their graves. What a fantastic thing that's going to be to the world when they're all raised.
I think about the big Sea of Glass up there and the seventh trump sounds. I don't know if they're going to start at the International Dateline, but that's where the day begins. All of a sudden in all of the chaos that's going on, and just after the two witnesses have been raised, there are people coming out the graves in New Zealand, Australia and whatever country and into Europe and all around the world. All those saints who have been killed are all raised.
I think the world is going to see them! Why are they going to be so desperately willing to fight against Christ? Oh, look! They're taking people! Aliens have come to conquer the world! True, we're aliens to this world. So is Christ!
"…Your Word has given me life" (v 50). Remember what Jesus said, 'The flesh profits nothing. It is the spirit that gives life. The words that I speak to you they are Spirit and they are Life.' There's a New Testament fulfillment of that right there.
Verse 57: "You are my portion, O LORD; I have said that I would keep Your words…. [all the Word of God] …I entreated Your favor with all my heart; be gracious unto me according to Your Word" (vs 57-58). That's how he prayed to God!
Quite a wonderful thing, isn't it? Just think about how Jesus prayed. He had everything against Him: Satan, the demons, all the authorities. Remember that most of His preaching was not in Jerusalem. His preaching was more in Galilee and the whole area there. So, when the scribes, Pharisees and priests wanted to know what He was doing, they had to send officials to find out.
I've been thinking upon the birth of Christ recently. When He was born no one knew it except two little shepherds out in the field. David did not have a house in Bethlehem, they didn't live there. But he was to come from the house of David from Bethlehem, which He did because He was born there, but not in a house. Then what happened?
When the magi came—they came from the east to find out where the King of the Jews would live, the King of Israel—Jesus was born. Herod wanted to know where He was. Herod wasn't going to give up his throne. So, what happened?
An angel told Joseph to pick everybody up and go to Egypt. They had plenty of money to go, because the wise men brought some gold and other things, so they left. Herod in a rage had everyone two-years-old and younger killed.
Jesus was in Egypt. Did anyone want to know about Him there? No! They went back and came to Nazareth and He would go up every year to Jerusalem to keep the Feast. Then one Feast of Unleavened Bread, when He was 12-years-old, Jesus stayed back and all the rest of the company were going to back to Nazareth. They went out three days before they noticed that Jesus was missing.
So, Mary and Joseph came back looking for Him all frantic, and they found Him sitting in the middle of all of these 'wise important' people questioning them and answering questions and they were astonished at His knowledge.
Why? Because God the Father was the One teaching Him!Mary and Joseph didn't know what to do. Mary said, 'Why have You done this to us?' He said, 'I have to be about My Father's business.' That's shook them up!
Had Jesus been born with fanfare, trumpets, parades and political meetings? No! they didn't even know it! The first clue they had was John the Baptist! That was quite a thing! That was kept secret; a 70-year-old woman became pregnant, the wife of a priest. And the priest who had the vision couldn't even speak. The whole think is entirely different than people suppose.
Verse 66: "Teach me good judgment… [we all need that] …and knowledge, for I have believed Your commandments."
Verse 68: "You are good, and do good; teach me Your statutes." Go through and look up every time it says, 'teach me.'
Verse 72: "The Law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver."
I often think of this: You have two tables in a dark room. One table has on it lots of gold and silver, a big table, and the other table is a little old table and it has a book on it. The door is open and you're told to choose which is the most important and valuable. The person goes in there and looks at it and everything that's on the tables. Almost every one will take all the gold and silver, especially if the book is worn and tattered.
But the gold will not lead to eternal life. But the book will lead to eternal life!
Verse 77: "Let Your tender mercies come to me so that I may live, for Your Law is my delight." What is the carnal mind toward the Law? Enmity!
Verse 78: "Let the proud be ashamed, for with guile they have wronged me… [directly to Christ, even though it may have happened to David] …but I will meditate on Your precepts. Let those who fear You turn to me… [also of Christ] …and those who have known Your testimonies. Let my heart be blameless in Your statutes, so that I may not be ashamed" (vs 78-80).
If anyone wants to know about the Word of God, if anything has been done away:
Verse 89: "Forever, O LORD, Your Word is settled in the heavens."
Where in the New Testament is that upheld? Matt. 16 is not translated correctly in almost all Bibles! The Catholics especially don't translate it correctly.
Matthew 16:16: "Then Simon Peter answered and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus answered and said to him, 'Blessed are you…'"
Verse 18: "And I say also to you that you are Peter… [little stone—'petros'] …but upon this Rock… [referring to Himself, a massive cliff or the cornerstone of a building] …I will build My Church… [not on any man] …and the gates of the grave shall not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and whatever you may bind on the earth will have already been bound in heaven…" (vs 18-19).
You're not going to do anything contrary to the Word of God. Why? Because the Word of God has been settled in heaven already!This means that you search the Word of God for the correct answer for whatever you need to bind or loose. You just don't do it on a whim!
"…and whatever you may loose on the earth will have already been loosed in heaven" (v 19). That's why you need the whole Word of God!
The Catholics use this over and over, almost every Sunday, to pound it into the heads of the Catholics that the pope is the head of the church and the one who is the replacement of Christ.
Palms 119:89: "Forever, O LORD, Your Word is settled in the heavens."
Verse 92: "Unless Your Law had been my delight, then I should have perished in my affliction."
When you have trials and afflictions you're trusting God knowing that it's all going to work out!
Verse 97: "O how love I Your Law! It is my meditation all the day…. [What does that do?] …Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients because I keep Your precepts" (vs 97-100).
What do they always promote? Great books to read! The books of philosophers! Can't be compared to this!
Verse 103: "How sweet are Your words to my taste!…. [O taste and see that the Lord is good!] …Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore, I hate every false way" (vs 103-104).
We'll see how that's fulfilled in the New Testament. Remember what Paul said about those who try and change the Gospel.
Verse 142: "Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your Law is the Truth."
Verse 151: "You are near, O LORD, and all Your commandments are Truth."
Why would you want to do away with it and get rid of Truth? That's nonsense!
Verse 156: "Great are Your tender mercies, O LORD; according to Your judgments give me life.
Verse 160: "Your Word is true from the beginning…" Tie in with…
- Your Word is established in heaven forever
- Your Word is true from the beginning
"…and every one of Your righteous ordinances endures forever" (v 160).
This is how you can understand the Bible when the veil is removed through the circumcision of Christ! That you won't get involved in things of men's religious practices, but you will always check it out with the Word of God and prove it by that.
That is the mind of Christ!
Scriptural References:
- 2 Corinthians 3:4-5
- 2 Corinthians 4:5
- 2 Corinthians 3:6-14
- Deuteronomy 5:28-29
- Exodus 21:12-15, 22
- Exodus 22:1-3
- Matthew 28:13-20
- Romans 8:6-7
- Romans 7:14, 12
- Colossians 2:10-13
- Matthew 22:36-39
- Matthew 7:12
- Matthew 22:40
- Matthew 4:3-4
- Romans 8:8-14
- Colossians 1:25-27
- Hebrews 10:14-17
- Philippians 2:5
- Psalm 119: 1-12. 18, 23, 27, 29-35, 44-48, 50, 57, 66, 68, 72, 77-80, 89
- Matthew 16:16-19
- Psalm 119:89, 92, 97-100, 103-104, 142, 151, 156, 160
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Romans 13
- Deuteronomy 17
- Luke 4
- Leviticus 23
- 2 Timothy 1
- 2 Peter 3
- James 1
Also referenced:
Transcript Books with CD:
- The Law of Moses without the Veil
- The Three Most Important Days (Sabbath, Passover and Holy Days.
Go to Meeting message: How Can God Make Us Perfect?
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 1-22-20
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