Holy Days in the New Testament

You cannot have the blessing of God unless you are doing God's will

Fred R. Coulter—August 24, 2019

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Greetings, brethren! Welcome to Sabbath services!

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How did they say that Paul brought a better Gospel? This is a perfect example of how fake Christianity takes one verse and then uses that one verse and builds a whole new doctrine! It's ironic, every time they do that, there are Scriptures close at hand that tell you the opposite.

Romans 15:8: "Now, I tell you that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision… [just to the Jews] …for the Truth of God, so that He might confirm the promises given to the fathers." On that they turn to the rest of Paul's Epistles and say, 'See, he brought a better Gospel.

However v 9: "And that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, exactly as it is written: 'For this cause I will confess You among the Gentiles, and I will praise Your name.' And again it says, 'Rejoice, all you Gentiles, with His people'; And again, 'Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; and praise Him, all you peoples'" (vs 9-11).

So, that's exactly what they have done with the Holy Days. Here is something that they really don't understand or should understand, but don't believe. Remember what Paul said: that to this day blindness, in part, has happened to Israel. Blindness, in part, happens to people who read the Bible and don't follow it to obey and believe it.

Verse 12: "And again, Isaiah says, 'There shall be a root of Jesse… [which is Christ] …and He that arises shall rule the Gentiles… [a prophecy going clear on through the Millennium] …in Him shall all the Gentiles hope.'"

What it does, it sounds like the Gospel is the same for everybody. It's not a better gospel by Paul. In other words, if Paul brought a better gospel, that would make him higher than Christ. The real key thing is that you must obey and believe, or believe and obey!

Paul is talking to Timothy, and Timothy was the son of a Jewish mother, but a Greek father; 2-Timothy 3:15: "And that from a child you have known the Holy Writings… [Old Testament] …which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus."

I've mentioned to Michael Heiss, if he can do it, to collate all the verses from the Old Testament that refer directly to Jesus Christ, whether it's a phrase, several verses or even a whole chapter or two. They didn't have the New Testament to preach from, so how did they know what to preach? After Jesus rose from the dead He came back and He 'opened their minds to the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Himself.' You can't get anymore direct revelation than that!

Verse 16: "All Scripture… [talking about the Old Testament here] …is God-breathed…" If it's God-breathed, the apostle do not have the ability to override that!

Peter writes that 'God moved the Holy men of God—referring not only to the Old Testament, but the New Testament—to write the things that God wanted to be written.

"…and is profitable for doctrine, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness so that the man of God… [referring to those who are teaching, but also every person] …may be complete, fully equipped for every good work" (vs 16-17).

If that isn't done, what happens? 2-Tim. 4! Here's why we do what we do! We're coming close to the fall festival days. We have Trumpets on Sept. 30, Atonement on Oct. 9, a Wednesday, and that's the same day of the week that Jesus began His ministry, the fourth day of the week. Then we have the Feast of Tabernacles on Oct. 14, and the Last Great Day on Oct. 21[transcriber's correction].

Here's what we are to do in teaching, 2-Timothy 4:1: "I charge you… ]pretty strong language] …therefore, in the sight of God, even the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is ready to judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His Kingdom: Preach the Word!…." (vs 1-2). Not your own doctrines or ideas!

Look at what has happened to Christianity because they didn't do it. They have done everything they can to change certain parts of the Bible so that it looks like that their doctrines are correct. Those are all exposed. We have that in the booklet by Joseph Ackermann—New Testament Scripture Comparisons,

"…Be urgent in season and out of season…" (v 2). It's the season coming up for the fall Holy Days, so what do we do? The fall Holy Days!

"…convict, rebuke, encourage, with all patience and doctrine" (v 2)—teachings! When we come to Sabbath services, with God's Spirit and God's Word, and we hear what God wants us to hear in season, that brings us a conviction of how right God is. That's one of the most important things of conversion, to have that conviction that:

• God is right
• His Word is true
• everything that God wants it to be

We've seen this, v 3: "For there shall come a time when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but according to their own lusts they shall accumulate to themselves a great number of teachers, having ears itching to hear what satisfies their cravings; and they shall turn away their own ears from the Truth; and they shall be turned aside unto myths" (vs 3-4). Then Paul tell Timothy to be diligent!

Jesus said of the Old Testament, 'Your Word is the Truth!' Deut. 12 is quite a chapter and you need this in order to understand the New Testament.

Deuteronomy 12:28—Moses speaking: "Be careful to observe and obey all these words…" The only difference between the nation of Israel and the Church is that they had laws that were theological—that is related to God—and civil! Why? Because God gave every nation a sovereignty over the territory that He gave them!

God gave them responsibility to bring peace to their people. So, He gave the administration of death. All countries have this. Israel had it. So, in the Old Testament those laws that relate to the administration of death cannot be exercised by the Church. The Church is different. The Church has been scattered throughout all the world into many different sovereign territories, and we do not have the right to enact national laws.

We have the right to enforce spiritual laws. What is the greatest penalty that we can administer? Disfellowshipment! Other than that, we are to obey; as Jesus said, 'Live by every Word of God!'

Verse 28: "Be careful to observe and obey all these words, which I command you, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever when you do that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God." That's what God requires of all the physical nations of Israel!
Verse 29: "When the LORD your God shall cut off the nations before you, where you go to possess them, and you take their place and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself…" (vs 29-30).

God expects self-government! If every person governs him or herself according to the Laws of God, then everything would be far less with crime and difficulties and problems.

"…that you do not become ensnared by following them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not ask about their gods… [Who is behind all the false gods? Satan the devil!] …saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods that I may also do likewise?' You shall not do so to the LORD your God, for every abomination to the LORD, which He hates, they have done to their gods; even their sons and their daughters they have burned in the fire to their gods" (vs 30-31).

Moses was covering the whole gambit of everything here.

Verse 32: "Whatsoever thing that I command you, be careful to do it…. [when we understand that Christ was the Lord God of the Old Testament] …You shall not add to it, nor take away from it." The truth is, if anything is to be changed of the Word of God, God must do it, no man!

Even after all the time of the 40 years of wandering in the desert, they didn't get Egypt out of their system. Remember when Jacob left Laban and took his two wives and two concubines and their children, what did Rachel[transcriber's correction] take? An idol! Laban came looking for it, and she knew she was in trouble. What did she do? She hid by sitting on it! He comes looking for it, and she says, 'Father, I'm the way of women, I can't move.'

Who was the first wife to die? Rachel[transcriber's correction]! There must be a connection! The hardest thing for people to do is to get rid of all the old gods!

Judges 2:10: "And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them…"

Isn't it interesting that a new generation always wants to do something different? Human nature! They look out there and see all these pagans having a good time and all this sort of thing—you can do what you want—but God says don't do that. They say, 'Try it, you'll like it!'

"…And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor even the works which He had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim…. [the sun-god] …And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, Who brought them out of the land of Egypt. 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. And they forsook the LORD and served Baal and Ashtaroth" (vs 10-13)—a goddess!

Has anything really changed down to this day with the exception that Protestantism is not quite as pagan. That's about all! However, what do they follow over and over again?

Just 10 days[transcriber's correction] after the Last Great Day [this year], what day is coming up in the world? Halloween! The first thing they introduce children into is death and satanism! How do they make it palatable? They don't go to their children and say, 'We're going to tell you something real evil and wrong and we want you to understand that this is really bad!' NO! They come and say, 'Guess what we're going to do tomorrow night?' What's that? 'We're going to go out and 'trick or treat. You're going to get lots of candy and goodies.' What kid would say, 'No, I don't want to do that'?

If you're a parent and tell them they don't want to do it and don't tell them why, they'll say you're mean and nasty. All the other kids at school ask 'what I got for Halloween? My folks made me stay home!'

Ezekiel 8:5: "And He said to me, 'Son of man, lift up your eyes now to the way of the north.' So, I lifted up my eyes toward the way of the north, and behold, northward at the gate of the altar…"—right at the temple of God! Isn't that what Manasseh did?

"…the image of jealousy was at the entrance. And He said to me, 'Son of man, do you see what they do; even the great abominations which the house of Israel is doing here, that I should go far off from My sanctuary? But turn again, and you shall see greater abominations'" (vs 5-6).

Look at what has happened to America, very similar to it. First of all, we had those people who came along and said, 'Now, it's not right to have the Bible and prayer in the schools. That's a state-sponsored religion.' BANG! Get rid of that! Was that an abomination? Yes, indeed!

Then you come to the next one. We are now having so many difficulties with unwanted pregnancies that 'what we need to do is have sex-education in the schools.' They increased the unwanted pregnancies!

We can't have that! That's a terrible thing! [which it is] So, we have got to have abortion.

What happened? Now 3,000 a day! Abomination after abomination, leaving God! You can almost go along and see the rise in the problems and difficulties that come about because of that.

If you've been watching the news and all of these real liberal cities in America, with all of the homeless, drugs, human waste and everything out there. In California you can't even touch their vinyl blue hut 'because that's their personal property!' So, they just takeover everywhere! That's punishment for all the things they've done in the past leading up to this. How are going to take care of it? What are you going to do with them?

They had the 'bright idea' to close down all of these mental wards and let them go on the street! You see what happens when you get rid of God?

Verse 7: "And He brought me to the opening of the court; and I looked, and behold, a hole in the wall. And He said to me, 'Son of man, dig in the wall now.' And I dug in the wall, and, behold, an opening. And he said to me. 'Go in and see the evil abominations that they do here.' And I went in and saw. And behold, every kind of creeping thing, and hateful beast, and all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around. And seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan… [one of the priests] …standing in front of them, these were before them, and each man with his censer in his hand. And the sweet smelling cloud of incense was rising" (vs 7-11). Secret societies!

• Masonry
• Odd Fellows
• Elks

• Why do they have a 'most worshipful master' in the Masons?
• Isn't that taking the place of God?

Satan is there and he rewards them with all the physical things, and they control the governments!

Sidebar: Maybe this will give you a clue as to why nearly everyone of the super-elite in the world hates Trump. He's not the most righteous man in the world; he'll even tell you that! But at least he knows that he's got to go after these people because they are bringing the nations down, which appears to be their goal! Which will probably happen sometime because of the sins of the people! Can't be avoided!

Then Ezekiel goes and sees that they're worshipping the sun in the east instead of God at the temple. Let's see what else God has to say, because the next holiday after Halloween is Christmas. Notice how everything is for 'the children' to get them indoctrinated!

• you remove God from school
• you remove prayer from school

The next thing to do is make things so expensive that mothers must go to work, ideal! How are we going to take care of the children? Daycare Centers and 'we'll indoctrinate them!' Send them off to the schools and they'll be indoctrinated there. All of the holidays are there at the school:

• Halloween
• Christmas
• Easter

• no Unleavened Bread
• no Pentecost
• no Trumpets
• no Atonement
• no Tabernacles
• no Last Great Day

What do they know? Nothing! They don't know why they're there, where they're going or what life is all about, because they 'came from monkeys.' So, here comes Christmas, the 'glorious time of the year.' And you have to fight the music, because in every one of our brains—even though we're out of the world—is every one of the Christmas carols.

Jeremiah 10:1: "Hear the word, which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the LORD, 'Do not learn the way of the heathen, and do not be terrified at the signs of the heavens; for the nations are terrified at them. For the customs of the people are vain; for one cuts a tree out of the forest with the axe…'" (vs 1-3). Today they use a chainsaw!

What do you see on television? Some of the ads show that the whole family goes out to a Christmas tree farm where it's nice and snowy, and they have someone come along and you choose the tree and he takes a little chainsaw and cuts it down. You take it home and decorate it. You don't know why you're doing this, but it's fun.

One woman was in the Church for years and she really missed Christmas, when she was able to get a Christmas tree and put it up in her house, she said, 'Oh, I missed that smell all these years!' How deep was the conversion?

"…the work of the hands of the workman. They adorn it with silver and with gold…" (vs 3-4). This is not making an idol and overlaying it with gold and silver, this is adorning!

"'…they fasten it with nails and hammers, so that it will not move. They upright like the palm tree, but cannot speak. They must surely be carried because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them; for they cannot do evil nor good, for it is not in them.' Therefore, there is none like You, O LORD… [comparing this to God] …You are great, and Your name is great in might" (vs 4-6).

Let's see how God looks at that. All of this is done in the name of Christ.

Amos 5:21: "I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings… [whatever it is] …I will not accept them. Nor will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals. Take the noise of your songs away from Me; for I will not hear the melody of your harps. But let judgment roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Have you offered sacrifices and offerings to Me forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?" (vs 21-25).

After they sinned with making the golden calf, the tent of dedication was moved outside the camp! On the other side of the camp guess what was going on?

Verse 26: "'But now you have carried the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun, your images, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves. So, I will cause you to go into exile beyond Damascus'… [which He did] …says the LORD, Whose name is the God of hosts" (vs 26-27).

Today let's see how this system is so great. The whole world goes after it. The pagans love it; the 'Christians' relish in it! This is the picture of it today:

Revelation 17:1: "And one of the seven angels who had the seven vials came and spoke with me, saying to me, 'Come here; I will show you the judgment of the great whore who sits upon many waters… [nations, languages, peoples (v 15)] …with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication…'" (vs 1-2).

In other words, instead of bringing the laws and commandments of God and the Truth of God to their populations, they have brought all the paganism with it. This whole system has consumed the world!

"'…and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication'" (v 2). That's why people can't understand the Truth! They've been made drunk; they've been blinded! They can't see!

If they find out that you keep the Sabbath, I don't know how they react against you, or toward you, but whatever that may be I don't think many of them say, 'Oh, that's interesting, tell me all about it, I really want to know.' They probably ask, 'Are you a Jew?' No! 'Are you a Seventh Day Adventist?' No! 'What are you?' I'm an oddball!

Verse 3: "Then he carried me away in the spirit to a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, full of names of blasphemy."

Verse 5: "And across her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."

Revelation 18:1: "And after these things I saw an angel descending from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried out mightily with a loud voice, saying, 'Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen… [that day is coming] …and has become a habitation of demons, and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hated bird; because all nations have drunk of the wine of the fury of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the power of her luxury.'" (vs 1-3).

Does not the whole world's economy revolve around the holidays? They're saying that Halloween is becoming more important than Christmas. They can sell to adults very expensive outfits and all of this sort of thing. So, God commands us:

Verse 4: "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, 'Come out of her, My people…'"

Let's remember that Jesus Christ was God manifested in the flesh; He was the Lord God of the Old Testament. So, here is the challenge for all of those:

• who think that they are 'Christian'
• who believe that Christ died for their sins
• who say that they are 'born again' and they're not

Born again means to be changed from flesh to spirit!

Now, here's an indictment, because they say, 'We follow the New Testament.' Really? Quite a test! Do you believe that Jesus was God manifested in the flesh? They use the word incarnated.

Luke 6:46: "And why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord'… [Isn't that what they do?] …but you do not practice what I say?" I don't even think they know what He says!

They say that the Old Testament is done away. We'll look at the New Testament and see what we will find. Guess what? We will not find one word about observing any of the pagan holidays! Don't they all admit that they're pagan? Don't they say that they know Halloween is pagan, but it's fun for the kids! It's always the children! And that's what Satan wants! 'Look, Christmas is so great! Everybody participates in it.'

Verse 47: "Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and practices them… [that's us] …I will show you what he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock; and a flood came, and the torrent beat against that house, but could not shake it, because it was founded on the rock" (vs 47-48).

Now, look what's going to happen, and isn't it true? Think about this as to what's happening in general 'Christianity' today. If you watch TBN much anymore, one of the most popular programs is Mike Huckabee, and his is about as spiritual as… I don't know what to tell you. He has nice little sayings about doing good, but there isn't one thing spiritual about it, though they mention God. Think about that in relationship to all the other programs on TBN where all the ministers have all of their services and Bible studies and preaching and so forth. But Huckabee is the most popular.

It tells you what people are interested in. But here's what's going to happen:

Verse 49: "But the one who has heard My words and has not practiced them is like a man who built a house on top of the ground, without a foundation; and when the torrent beat against it, it fell at once, and the ruin of that house was great."

Every time I read that, I think about where there are floods, and they show this nice wonderful house that was on the riverside, beautiful place. They had a dock and all of this sort of thing. Here comes the water and the house is floating down the river, gone forever!

We're going to take a survey and we're going to see what we find in the New Testament that we should observe and keep.

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Advertisement: Book: Occult Holidays or God's Holy Days—Which? This is in-depth, covering everything. It shows all the occult holidays, where they came from and what they mean. It gets into entertainment, gets into television. Then we have all the Holy Days of God.

Protestantism has no excuse for believing what they believe. Let's read it; it's very clear and not hard to understand. In the Greek it's very powerful, because it has double negatives: not:

• not to think it
• not the reality of it

Matthew 5:17: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill."

It's very important that we covered recently that all the commandments and laws of God are based on love, every single one of them!

Verse 18: "For truly I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall pass away…" Always remember this if you get into a discussion with someone. Heaven and earth have not been done away! We're still here!

"…one jot or one tittle shall in no way… [also a double negative] …pass from the Law until everything has been fulfilled" (v 18).

Heaven and earth is everything that God has made. Everything that God has made testifies to the fact that there are the Laws and the Prophets and the commandments of God, and they have not been abolished. No man can abolish them!

I mention the law of the administration of death. Has it been done away? No! It was never given to the Church! It exists in the civil governments and it's still there. That's not done away. The priestly laws have been elevated to Christ as High Priest. Our sacrifices that we bring are a contrite spirit and a broken heart! Our sacrifices are those things that are serving the brethren, loving God and doing those things. Those are greater than animal sacrifices.

The Old Covenant was related to behavior. A little bit to thoughts. But the New Covenant has everything to do with thoughts and conversion. Stealing in the Old Covenant, as long has you didn't reach out and take it—you may have been close to it, but you didn't do it—now is in the New Covenant don't even think of it. Also, any of the other commandments.

"…one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the Law until everything has been fulfilled" (v 18). Where do you find everything fulfilled? Rev. 22! That fulfillment brings a new beginning again, down through the ages of eternity.

Verse 19: "Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least commandments… [the commandment they think is the least is the Sabbath] …and shall teach men so… [all you pastors and ministers in fake Christianity, you'd better listen to Christ] …shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven… [doesn't say they'll get there] …but whoever shall practice and teach them, this one shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven."

The greatest misunderstanding of Protestantism is that they know nothing about Judaism! They think that everything in the Old Testament is Judaism. It's not! Judaism includes the Code of Jewish Law! That is what the Jews practice. They have the outline of the Sabbath and Holy Days, but for everything else they have laws upon laws.

After the Feast of Tabernacles, we're going to go through a special word by word study of Galatians. We will answer those difficult Scriptures of Paul, because they have been:

• mistranslated
• misinterpreted

Verse 20: "For I say to you, unless your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees…"

• How can you exceed what they did? Because you don't keep the Code of Jewish Law! That's their righteousness!
• What is our righteousness? The righteousness of Christ with the Spirit of God! That's the true righteousness!
• Does that exceed what they have codified in their Torah? Yes!

Unless it does "…there is no way that you shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven" (v 20). Doesn't that cover an awful lot? Yes, indeed!

We're going to examine what Holy Days or holidays—however you want to put it—does the Bible teach in the New Testament. We read and studied what it says about the holidays of gods of the pagans. Today, everyone admits that they're all pagan. But the pope has 'Christianized' them. Isn't that convenient.

Mark 2:27: "And He said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man…'"—the very first thing God revealed to Adam and Eve; that's the key thing in understanding about God!

• you can study the Bible
• you can study theology
• you can study languages
• you can study whatever you want to study

As long as you disobey what God says that we must obey, and as long as you don't keep the Sabbath, you will never understand the Bible—period! You may understand parts of it, but you will never understand what you really need. So, in fakeChristianity, you have:

• a fakesalvation
• a fake born again

Everything there misses the mark on what God requires!

"…and not man for the Sabbath…" (v 27). Man has no jurisdiction over the Sabbath Day! Man cannot come and make a law on the Sabbath Day. What do you have in the Code of Jewish Law? Lots and lots of Sabbath Day laws!

When we start going through Galatians, we will read some of them. It's amazing! Some of them are for humor they are so ludicrous. You've heard a lot of the politically correct stuff that they are doing today. That's how a lot of this comes about with the same reasoning.

Example: What do you do when you come to a creek on the Sabbath and the water is flowing? What do you do? You can't wade! You can't get your feet wet! What if it's too wide? You can't jump because that's exertion! What do you do? You wait for the sun to go down and then walk through it!

Now this is one of the most important ones in the whole New Testament spoken by Jesus Christ Himself, Whom they claim is their Savior, who is not their savior, because they have a false Jesus. Fake Christianity has a fake Jesus!

Verse 28: "Therefore, the Son of man [Jesus Christ] is Lord even of the Sabbath."

You can read Mark 7 about all of their traditions!We'll cover that when we get to Galatians.

Let's see what the New Testament teaches on the days we need to observe. John 13 has to do with the ceremony on the Passover Day, which is profoundly important. I'll remind you of:

1-Corinthians 5:7—let us keep the Feast: "…For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us."

When was Christ sacrificed? On the Passover Day! God reckons the day from sunset to sunset.

Note book: A Harmony of the Gospels in Modern English, the Life of Jesus Christ. This book coordinates everything concerning the Passover Day. Everyone loves to praise the death of Jesus, and they don't even know when He died, and on which day He died. That was the Passover Day! That's why He's called our Passover!

Now let's see what needed to be done right as that last Passover was beginning. That is called foot-washing!

John 13:1: "Now, before the Feast of the Passover, knowing that His time had come to depart from this world to the Father, Jesus, having loved His own who were in the world, loved them to the end."

Here is another thing that is always evident, v 2: "And after supper began (the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, that he should betray Him)."

Satan likes to get right in there at the top to confuse everything! All the time! Just look at the institutions of this world. Look at how bad the bureaucracies and every government of this world are. Why? Because Satan is somewhere in there guiding and directing it!

Verse 3: "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments; and after taking a towel, He secured it around Himself" (vs 3-4).

This was the work of the lowest slave in the household. They wore sandals, so think about what was on the roads as you were walking. They were not oil spots, but there were dung piles. The lowest job for anyone to have was to scoop up the dung and get rid of it. What is left on the road? It dries out and there is some residual of dung everywhere! Plus dirt and things like this.

So, when they would come into the household, their feet were washed. Think about all the foot problems that you could have if you didn't have that foot-washing. So, Peter didn't like that.

Verse 6: "Then He came to Simon Peter; and he said to Him, 'Lord, are You going to wash my feet?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'What I am doing you do not understand now, but you shall know after these things.'" (vs 6-7). Perfect way to phrase it!

If you don't wash one another's feet you don't understand why it's necessary! We'll find out what that's about here.

Verse 8: "Peter said to Him, 'You shall not wash my feet, not ever.' Jesus answered him, 'If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.'"

Those who do not practice the Passover as Jesus instituted it, with the foot-washing as Jesus instituted it, have no part with Christ!

The fake ceremony that the pope does once a year, he has seminary students up on high rise and he pours a little water over their feet and wipes them off. That's not washing one another's feet. The seminary students didn't get down from there and wash the pope's feet!

Verse 9: "Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.'" What is it that human nature likes to do? Improve upon what God has said!

Verse 10: "Jesus said to him, 'The one who has been washed… [baptism] …does not need to wash anything other than the feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all.'…. [Judas was there with Satan in him] …For He knew the one who was betraying Him; this was the reason He said, 'Not all of you are clean'" (vs 10-11).

Now, here is the importance of the foot-washing and the Passover is the basic understanding of being a true Christian and understanding what it's all about!

Verse 12: "Therefore, when He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and had sat down again, He said to them, 'Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me the Teacher and the Lord, and you speak rightly, because I am. Therefore, if I, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also are duty-bound to wash one another's feet… [no picking and choosing, you're duty-bound] …for I have given you an example, to show that you also should do exactly as I have done to you'" (vs 12-15). For what purpose? That we don't get lifted up above one another!

Verse 16: "Truly, truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord…" To try and change that, you're making yourself greater than Christ!

"…nor a messenger greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" (vs 16-17).

Now this is doing something that the Holy Days were intended to do: bring the true believers and followers in the way that they believe and live—though they live in the world—out of the world! Not part of the world!

Look at how many churches claim to be Christian do this? They don't! Remember, all of this was done on that Passover night. When was Jesus arrested? That was after the Passover and on the Passover night!

Matt. 26—after they got where they were going to keep the Passover, He institutes the New Covenant Passover:

Matthew 26:26: "And as they were eating, Jesus took the bread and blessed it; then He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body.' And He took the cup; and after giving thanks, He gave it to them, saying, 'All of you drink of it; for this is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins'" (vs 26-28).

That's the basic heart and core of the Passover. Right after that, what is the next thing we have? Feast of Unleavened Bread! The sacrifice of Christ is to take away sin. During the Feast of Unleavened Bread, leaven is a type of sin (1-Cor. 5), and a direct command to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread:

1-Corinthians 5:7: "Therefore, purge out the old leaven…"—because they had sins among themselves in the congregation!

• What are we to overcome? Sin!
• What else are we to overcome? The selfishness of self!
• What else are we to overcome? Satan!

Remember it as the three 'S'es: sin, self, Satan!

"…so that you may become a new lump… [they weren't already a new lump] …even as you are unleavened…."—which means they put leaven out of their houses, but you're not following through with the spiritual lesson of putting sin out of your life, what have you done? You've just eaten Rye Crisp for eight days, that's all!

"…For Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us" (v 7).

• Did Jesus say to do this in remembrance of Me? Yes'!
• What do we have here?

Verse 8: "For this reason, let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and Truth."

That is a simile of overcoming the sin within! That's the New Covenant. The Old Covenant was what your actions were outside! The New Covenant is what is going on in your mind within!

The Gospel of John is very interesting because it's laid out in a pattern of: Passover, fall festival; Passover, fall festival; Passover, death of Jesus Christ. That's the chronology of it.

John 2:13: "Now the Passover of the Jews was near…" At that time, the Passover of the Jews included those who kept a domestic Passover, which was when Jesus and the disciples took the Passover, right after the day began when it was getting dark they had the Passover.

The Jews in the Diaspora came back from Babylon and they were keeping the Passover on the 15th. So, when they came back many of them continued with the same thing. The Jews today will not accept a 14th Passover because they're not in the land of Israel.

Note book & CD: The Christian Passover—when should it be observed? 14th? or 15th? The most in-depth book concerning the Passover that has ever been published. That is not braggadocio, that's just a matter of fact! The research that goes in there answers all the questions concerning the Passover and every false doctrine, every false notion, is addressed!

Then Carl Franklin did a magnificent job on the appendices at the end of the book, going through very particular details. Why is that necessary? Because one of the first things that Satan attacks is the Passover! That's what happened with the beginning of the scattering of the Church of God.
Verse 13: "Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money exchangers sitting there; and after making a scourge of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with both the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money exchangers, and overturned the tables" (vs 13-15).

Can you imagine everyone scrambling around on their hands and knees looking for their money? The reason is because you cannot merchandise God's way, you cannot make it a buy and sell thing.

• it is of the heart
• it is of conversion
• it is of Christ

Verse 16: "And to those who were selling the doves, He said, 'Take these things out of here! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise.'" The very first thing! What has happened in fake Christianity? They have made it a house of merchandise over and over again!

What did Jesus do? Jesus taught them the things that they needed to know!

John 5—we don't know exactly which day this was, but it was probably the Feast of Trumpets. Here's where Jesus healed the man who had been infirm for 38 years.

John 5:1: "After these things there was a Feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And there is in Jerusalem at the sheep gate a pool, called Bethesda in Hebrew, which has five porches. And in these porches were lying a great multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame and withered. They were waiting for the stirring of the water. For from time to time, an angel descended into the pool and agitated the water; and the first one to enter after the agitation of the water was made well from whatever disease he had. Now, a certain man was there who had been suffering with an infirmity for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him lying there, and, knowing that he had been there a long time, said to him, 'Do you desire to be made whole?'" (vs 1-6).

Of course, after 38 years! So, He healed the man! At first the man didn't know Who it was, but he rolled up his bedroll, after Jesus told him to take up his bedroll and go (v 8). The Pharisees found him and said, 'what are you doing carrying your bedroll on the Sabbath? You can't carry your bedroll on the Sabbath' (v 10). One of the traditional laws!

Verse 12: "Then they asked him, 'Who is the One Who said to you, "Take up your bedroll and walk"?' But the man who had been healed did not know Who it was…" (vs 12-13).

But later the man saw Jesus and went and told the Jews (vs 14-15). Then there became the great confrontation between the authorities of Judaism and Jesus!

Verse 16: "And for this cause, the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on a Sabbath…. [this drives the Jews absolutely crazy]: …But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I work'" (vs 16-17).

What kind of work can you do on the Sabbath? The good work of helping the sick and infirm and healing! What is the Father doing on the Sabbath and working? He is working with us to teach us with His Spirit and His Word! That is a Sabbath work. What is going on here is a Sabbath work! That is the spiritual work on the Sabbath to get rid of sin, to bring forgiveness, grace, understanding, knowledge; all of that is the work that God does on the Sabbath! The Jews were absolutely insane over this!

Verse 18: "So then, on account of this saying, the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, not only because He had loosed the Sabbath…"

Some of the Protestants believe that He abolished the Sabbath Day. I've got a whole book on it by Russell Tardo—Sunday Facts and Sabbath Fiction—and he says that Jesus abolished all 630 laws of the Old Testament. That's what people believe. But here's the coup de gra:

"…but also because He had called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God" (v 18). They understood that!

Jonathan here is my son. As an adult he's equal to me though he's still my son. Same way with all of our children. We're the children of our parents and going back and back. So, they understood the implication of what Jesus was saying.

Now here's the key; you cannot have the blessing of God, nor will there be the power of God to do the things that are necessary on the Sabbath with the spiritual things that needs to be done unless you are doing God's will!

Verse 19: "Therefore, Jesus answered and said to them, 'Truly, truly I say to you, the Son has no power to do anything of Himself, but only what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, these things the Son also does in the same manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him everything that He Himself is doing…." (vs 19-20).

That's quite a thing! Think of the spiritual communication that God the Father and Jesus Christ had all the time. Just imagine that! That gives us a hint of it.

"…And He will show Him greater works than these, so that you may be filled with wonder. For even as the Father raises the dead and gives life… [never heard of from the foundation of the world] …in the same way also, the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son" (vs 20-22)—that they may believe!

Then Jesus talks about the resurrection. That must have been on the Feast of Trumpets. So far we have the Sabbath, Passover, Trumpets. It couldn't be the Day of Atonement and it wasn't the Feast of Tabernacles, so it had to be the Feast of Trumpets.

John 6:4: "Now, the Passover a Feast of the Jews, was near." Then we have the feeding of the 5,000! Those who had been fed by the miraculous way of feeding… Imagine if you were one of the 5,000. You saw Jesus take a few fish and the bread, look up into heaven and bless it, and then gave out baskets full of it to the 12 apostles. They started going out among the 5,000 breaking the bread, giving everyone bread and fish. It just kept going and going!

I imagine that there must have been someone kind of following along behind some of these disciples and wondering how this was happening! Look, a free meal, and it keeps growing! This is what they wanted so they wanted to make Jesus king. Christ got out there and they came back and found Him.

Verse 25: "And after finding Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, 'Rabbi, when did You come here?' Jesus answered them and said, 'Truly, truly I say to you, you do not seek Me because you saw the miracles, but because you ate the bread and were satisfied'" (vs 25-26).

Here's a whole lesson concerning the meaning of the Passover, beginning right here, v 27: "Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures unto eternal life…" Everyone wants live forever; who wants to die?

"'…which the Son of man shall give to you; for Him has God the Father sealed.' Therefore, they said to Him, 'What shall we do, in order that we ourselves may do the works of God?'" (vs 27-28). Everyone wants to do something good for God!

Verse 29: "Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God: that you believe in Him Whom He has sent.'" When you believe what do you also do? You obey!

Verse 30: "Therefore, they said to Him, 'What sign will You perform, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do?…. [here's the challenge]: …Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness, as it is written: "He gave them bread to eat that came down from heaven."'" (vs 30-31). What are You going to do for us?

Verse 32: "Then Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven; but My Father gives you the true Bread from heaven.'" And they didn't even grasp it! Christ is the true Bread!

Verse 33: "For the Bread of God is He Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' Therefore, they said to Him, 'Lord, give this bread to us always'" (vs 33-34)—so we don't have to go out and work!

Think of what would happen if that miracle continued! Think about how many people would quit their jobs and stay at home and wait for the food to come by every day: morning, noon and night!

Jesus really perplexed them, v 35: "Jesus said to them, 'I AM the Bread of Life; the one who comes to Me shall never hunger…'" He's speaking spiritually!

• What is the Bread that we eat? It comes from the Spirit of God and it's the Word of God!
• How do we eat it? Our mind digests it, learns it and programs it with the Spirit of God!

"…and the one who believes in Me shall never thirst at any time. But as I said to you, you also have seen Me, yet, you do not believe" (vs 35-36). They wanted to know what they should do, so He tells them!

Verse 37: "All whom the Father gives Me shall come to Me…"

Now He's going to reveal that God the Father Himself is active in the world (John 4) those who are seeking God, God is seeking (Rev. 1; 3; 5) with the seven eyes of God.

"…and the one who comes to Me I will in no wise cast out. For I did not come down from heaven to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me…. [notice that the will of God repeats four times in a row] …And this is the will of the Father Who sent Me: that of all whom He has given Me, I should not lose any, but should raise them up in the last day. And this is the will of Him Who sent Me: that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (vs 37-40). A summary of the whole plan of God!

• What is this last day? That's the last day of the rule of Satan and men on the earth!
• When does that end? Pentecost (Rev. 11)!
• What is Pentecost? The last day of the 50-day count!

People get this confused with the Last Great Day! We have Passover and then Pentecost, the last day!

Verse 41: "Then the Jews were complaining against Him, because He said, 'I AM the Bread that came down from heaven.'"

They were saying, 'Do You really mean cannibalism?' You know that's wrong! But it was symbolic, because that Bread symbolized Jesus' broken body! He explains it:

Verse 44: "No one can come to Me unless the Father, Who sent Me, draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day." That's quite a thing!

You can't become a Christian just because you want to be nice. What was the very first thing Jesus said, Mark 1: 'All you do-gooders come to Me and I'll show you how to be nice.' NO!

Jesus said, 'Repent! Believe the Gospel!' The Gospel is the whole message that Jesus brought! Part of the Gospel was in the Old Testament as well!

Verse 45: "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'…."

• What did we see when we covered, 'My Father works until now, and I work'?
• What is the work that the Father is doing through Christ?
• Through His sacrifice?

Through the Spirit of both of Them dwelling within us is conversion!

• Don't you think that's the greatest work possible?
• Converting the human mind?
• Changing human nature?

"…Therefore, everyone who has heard from the Father, and has learned, comes to Me. No one has seen the Father except He Who is from God; He has seen the Father" (vs 45-46).

Then Jesus talks about the bread and the wine! Here is the whole meaning of the Passover in v 53; the life of Christ in exchange for our life. That is amazing! When you think about all the other Holy Days that we have, it is there.

Verse 53: "Therefore, Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and [#4]I will raise him up in the last day; for My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood is dwelling in Me, and I in him…. [here's the result of it; the whole purpose of it]: …As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so also the one who eats Me shall live by Me" (vs 53-57).

Isn't that what Jesus told Satan? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God!

John 7—Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day. All of this right here in the book of John. Quite a testimony!

• Are we to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ? Yes!
• Are we to do what Jesus did? Yes!
• Are we to keep the laws and commandments of God? Yes!

The New Testament shows, without a doubt, that we are to keep only the Holy Days of God and the Passover and the Sabbath.

All the holidays of this world are not of God. You can put the name of Christ all over it you want, but that is a fake mirage, because it's not spiritually true!

As we come to the Holy Days for this fall, and with the Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day, Atonement and Trumpets altogether, we are going to learn more of the plan of God to know what God is doing, approximately when He's going to do it, and what our part will be with it.

Scriptural References:

• Romans 15:8-12
• 2 Timothy 3:15-17
• 2 Timothy 4:1-4
• Deuteronomy 12:28-32
• Judges 2:10-13
• Ezekiel 8:5-11
• Jeremiah 10:1-6
• Amos 5:21-27
• Revelation 17:1-3, 5
• Revelation 18:1-4
• Luke 6:46-49
• Matthew 5:17-20
• Mark 2:27-28
• 1 Corinthians 5:7
• John 13:1-4, 6-17
• Matthew 26:26-28
• 1 Corinthians 5:7-8
• John 2:13-16
• John 5:1-6, 12-13, 16-22
• John 6:4, 25-41, 44-46, 53-57

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 22
• Mark 7
• John 5:8, 10, 14-15
• John 4
• Revelation 1; 3; 5; 11
• Mark 1
• John 7

Also referenced:

Transcript Book & CD: Did Paul Bring a Better Gospel Than Jesus?

Booklets:

• Catalog of 'Christian Biblical Church of God Literature
• New Testament Scripture Comparisons by Joseph Ackermann

Books:

• Occult Holidays or God's Holy Days—Which? by Fred R. Coulter
• A Harmony of the Gospels in Modern English, the Life of Jesus Christ by Fred R. Coulter
• The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter

• Code of Jewish Law by Ganzfried & Goldin
• Sunday Facts and Sabbath Fiction by Russell Tardo

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 8/27/19

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