The Holy Spirit of God II

Fred R. Coulter—August 27, 2011

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Greetings, brethren! Welcome to Sabbath services. This is the second one that we're doing on the Holy Spirit and how the Holy Spirit works. Let's just review from what we did with the last one. Let's come to John 14:23. We are going to see there are two aspects to the Holy Spirit of God:

• the Spirit of Christ
• the Spirit of the Father—which is a begettal

John 14:23—this is a very important verse. "Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We... [notice the two—We] ...will come to him... [How do they come to him? Through the Spirit!] ...and make Our abode with him.'" We have seen recently where we are a temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in us. And the Holy Spirit, we have seen, is the power of God.

Verse 26: "'But when the Comforter comes, even the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in My name... [The Father sends the Holy Spirit. We're also going to see that Jesus sends the Holy Spirit.] ...that one shall teach you all things, and shall bring to your remembrance everything that I have told you."

Our learning of the Word of God and understanding of the Word of God is then a spiritual event or spiritual understanding. It doesn't come like just reading another book. I think this is very interesting. You compare John 15:26 with John 14:26.

John 15:26: "But when the Comforter has come, which I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of the Truth, which proceeds from the Father..." Jesus sends it, the Father sends it, but it is sent at the command of the Father or the desire of the Father. This helps us to understand that We—the two of Them—will make Their abode—that is dwell—in us. They will dwell in us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

As we covered when we talked about the Holy Spirit last time, nowhere does the Bible show the Holy Spirit to have personality or be a person. The Holy Spirit is always in the Greek in the neuter gender, never in the masculine gender.

John 17:19: "And for their sakes... [That is, those that God the Father would call.] ...I sanctify Myself, so that they also may be sanctified in Your Truth." It is

• the God of Truth
• Jesus Christ—Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life
• the Spirit of Truth.

And if we're sanctified in the Father's Truth, this is what God's Spirit is to do for us.

Verse 20: "I do not pray for these only, but also for those who shall believe in Me through their word; That they all may be one... [Notice the end result actually begins with the receiving of the Holy Spirit from the Father and from Christ. The end result is at the resurrection:] ...That they all may be one, even as You, Father, are in Me... [by the power of the Spirit] ...and I in You... [by the power of the Spirit] ...that they also may be one in Us... [by the power of the Spirit at the resurrection] ...in order that the world may believe that You did send Me" (vs 20-21).

This shows all along Christ and the Father, and the Spirit is subject to what They desire. In other places we'll see a little later, it says the Spirit says or the Spirit speaks. But that's much like playing a recording. It is coming from God, but it's not God speaking. Just like when you listen to the audio or you watch the video, you're watching me, but you're really not seeing me, you're seeing an image of me. Same way when you listen to the audio. You hear me, but you don't see me and you could say after the sermon, well, he said. Well, I did say, but I wasn't where you were when you played it. But I did say it when I recorded it.

When we come to Romans 8 we will see the same thing. This is where we ended up last time, so let's go ahead and review it. Romans 8:8: "But those who are in the flesh... [that do not have the Holy Spirit of God] ...cannot please God.... [But we'll see a little later that if we have the Holy Spirit of God we can please God.] ...However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if... [there's that big, little word again] ...the Spirit of God is indeed dwelling within you…." (vs 8-9).

When Jesus said that 'We will come and We will make Our abode with you,' abode is a dwelling place. So we become the dwelling place. "...ifthe Spirit of God is indeed dwelling within you.… [notice how he talks about the Spirit of God here] ...But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ..." (v 9) He says the Spirit of God, then he says the Spirit of Christ, because we saw that Jesus sends the Spirit, and the Father likewise sends it. It's obviously at the same time.

"...But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. But if Christ be within you, the body is indeed dead because of sin; however, the Spirit is life because of righteousness...." (vs 9-10). Notice how he brings this out again. We have:

• the Spirit of God
• the Spirit of Christ
• Christ in you

Verse 11: "Now, if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is dwelling within you... [What does that tell us? That's the Spirit of God the Father—right? Isn't that what Jesus had? We have the Spirit of God, which is divided down into the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of the Father.] ...He Who raised Christ from the dead will also quicken your mortal bodies because of His Spirit that dwells within you."

We know how we receive the Holy Spirit—right? And we are also to grow in grace and knowledge and understanding. We know in Acts 2:38 that when we repent and are baptized and receive the laying on of hands we receive the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit comes from God the Father and Jesus Christ together and that is called the Spirit of God.

The SPIRIT OF CHRIST:

Let's look at the part for Christ. What does the Spirit of Christ in us do? Because we're going to see

• how we need to be led of the Spirit
• how we need to use the Spirit
• how it can help us overcome
• how it can guide us in the way that we need to be guided

Just to tell you a little occurrence that happened to me yesterday, I was doing some anointed cloths and praying over them, praying for the individuals. When I was praying a name came into my mind of someone who called me the night before and asked for an anointed cloth, that I didn't write down so I could do it. Right while I was praying, God gave me the name of the other one that I needed to do an anointed cloth for. You will have things like that happen to you as God's Spirit works in you. But here's what the Spirit of Christ is to do for us.

Colossians 1:20: "And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself; by Him, whether the things on the earth, or the things in heaven."

The blood of Jesus Christ is used to justify us as the sacrifice that God the Father has accepted for the payment of our sins. Jesus had to do this Himself, because He was Creator of heaven and earth and mankind, and let's see how Paul writes of it here in Hebrews 1, and why it was important that Jesus did this Himself and why—He's the Creator—having to carry within His body human nature, which Paul calls the law of sin and death, and yet never sinned—so that God could condemn sin in the flesh—and the sin was condemned in the flesh of Jesus Christ, because even though He had human nature, He did not sin.

Hebrews 1:1: "God, Who spoke to the fathers at different times in the past and in many ways by the prophets, has spoken to us in these last days by His Son, Whom He has appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the worlds; "Who, being the brightness of His glory and the exact image of His person..." (vs 1-3). That is of God the Father, because Jesus told the disciples, specifically Thomas, 'If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.' No one has directly seen the Father, but in seeing Jesus they saw the similitude of the Father as well.

"...and upholding all things by the word of His own power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (v 3).

Remember when Jesus was hanging on the cross, what happened, from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, or from noon to 3 o'clock? It was dark! Darkness covered the whole land. Now some people claim that it was an eclipse of the sun by the moon. But you cannot have an eclipse of the sun at that time of year when the full moon is what it was there like on the Passover day. You can have when the moon is on the dark side and you can't see it, then you can have an eclipse of the sun by the moon and you don't see the moon. You just see the dark part of the moon as it goes past the face of the sun.

He had to by Himself purge our sins. He was Creator, He was the one Who judged Adam and Eve, gave them the law of sin and death. Told them the wages of sin is death. He took that same thing upon Himself. That's why when we read in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, John the Baptist in looking at Christ said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.' Not sins of the world, but sin of the world; because the sin of the world and all mankind comes from Adam and Eve.

The Creator then, took that upon Himself. Equal justice. When He became a man: He lived, He never sinned, He was tempted in every point like we are, yet without sin. And that's why

• He becomes the Savior
• He becomes the sacrifice
• He becomes the Intercessor
• He becomes the Mediator

for us, because He took that all on Himself.

Let's see what the Spirit of Christ is to do for us. Colossians 1:20: "And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself; by Him, whether the things on the earth, or the things in heaven. For you were once alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works; but now He has reconciled you In the body of His flesh through death..." (vs 20-21). He condemned sin in the flesh. The only way He could do it was that way. That's why no man can forgive sin.

Romans 8:3: "For what was impossible for the law to do... [The law only states what sin is. The law has no power to make you do something. You have to choose, because God set before us His laws—life and death, blessing and cursing. We have to choose. The law, though it's righteous and Holy and good, cannot make us do anything. We have to choose!] ...For what was impossible for the law to do, in that it was weak through the flesh... [rebellious, weak, unable.] ...God, having sent His own Son in the likeness... [the exact sameness—the Greek there is 'homoiomati.'] ...of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh."

Sin was condemned in Jesus' flesh—right?—as the sin offering? Yes, indeed! Peter says that He bore on the cross our sins within Himself. So, He had to have human nature, the law of sin and death, and yet never sin. Don't ever think Jesus had it easy. Don't ever think you have it tough. We may have difficult circumstances, but never like Jesus had.

Colossians 1:21: "...but now He has reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, to present you... [to be presented to God the Father at the resurrection] ...Holy and unblamable and unimpeachable before Him… [all of those are qualities of God—right? Yes!] (Notice the if clause again): …If indeed you continue in the faith grounded and steadfast..." (vs 21-23). There are a lot of people today who are not grounded and they are not steadfast. They are wishy-washy; they go here/they go there, they try this/they try that, and there are two reasons for it:

• The ministers are not teaching the Word of God; they are teaching a 'religion.'
• The people don't have the understanding of the Bible, though they have them.

Even a lot of ministers who have them, don't understand it either. They can't continue in the faith. Another thing that is very interesting for today is this: Jesus said, 'When the Son of man returns, will He find the faith on the earth?' In spite of the proliferation of Bibles, there are fewer people really believing and obeying it, especially in proportion to the number of people in the world today.

"...grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the Gospel... [What is the hope of the Gospel? The resurrection from the dead!] ...which you have heard, and which was proclaimed in all the creation that is under heaven..." (v 23). We know that it wasn't preached to all creation under heaven at that time. So, this is also a prophecy. And what did Jesus say? 'And this Gospel shall be preached as a witness unto all nations and then the end shall come.'

"...of which I, Paul, became a servant. Now, I am rejoicing in my sufferings for you, and I am filling up in my flesh that which is behind of the tribulations of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the Church... [Christ is the Head of the Church] ...of which I became a servant, according to the administration of God that was given to me for you in order to complete the Word of God" (vs 23-25).

He knew he had to finish writing what he was doing as part of completing the Word of God. That's why we have the commentaries in the Bible so you can read about that, that the apostles knew what they were doing. Jesus told them to write it. The apostles, as we saw there in Acts 6, told the congregation to appoint seven men that they would lay hands on them to do the ministration of the tables. Remember that? They said, 'So that we can give ourselves to the ministry of the Word.' What were they doing? They were writing down what they needed for all of the new disciples. Many people have never really thought of this. The only ones who kept the New Covenant Passover were Jesus and the eleven. Judas left before He got to the bread and wine.

What did they have to have ready for the thousands of new converts by the next Passover? They had to have the instructions on what to do—correct? Yes, they did! They were, I'm sure, working on that. That means that they were writing these things down from the very beginning. When you read the book of Matthew, you will see that he really captures the conversations of Christ as if he were right there taking notes. Being a Levite and a tax collector, he was educated and he would be taking the notes. You read the Sermon on the Mount, right down the line.

"...in order to complete the Word of God; even the mystery..." (vs 25-26). You need to understand something here. There is the mysteryof God, which is His plan. There is the mystery of lawlessness (2-Thes. 2), which is Satan's plan—right? The mystery. The only way you understand it, is God to open your mind, because it is His secret. And He's sharing it with those that have the Spirit of God, which has two parts to it:

• the Spirit of Christ
• the Spirit of the Father

Verse 26: "Even the mystery that has been hidden from ages and from generations, but has now been revealed to His saints; to whom God did will... [it was God's desire] ...to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (vs 26-27).

What do you mean 'Christ in you'? Rom. 8 says 'if you don't have the Spirit of Christ, you are none of His.' You've got to have that; that is an absolute demarcation point. You cannot be Christ's unless you have the Spirit of Christ and then of the Father, as well. He doesn't give the Spirit to those who don't obey Him.

See how all of these things come together. Here is what the Spirit of Christ, that part of the Holy Spirit that comes from Christ, is to do for us. Philippians 2:1: "Now then, if there be any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any deep inner affections and compassions, fulfill my joy, that you be of the same mind... [That mind is the mind of Christ, but we be likeminded to each other.] ...having the same love, being joined together in soul, minding the one thing" (vs 1-2). That's what it is in the Greek. What is the 'one thing' we are to mind?

• the Kingdom of God
• growing in grace and knowledge
• developing the character of God
• growing in the fruits of the Spirit

That's the 'one thing' we are to be minding. Not having our efforts put out in different channels to different things.

I've been studying how the one-world religion is going to come and they all have one thing in common. This happened to the Church of God, as well. 'Let's do works in the community and become part of the community.' Have you heard that? That's what they're doing in the Protestant churches, Catholic churches. That's what they're doing in the liberal Muslim organizations, though I don't know how liberal the liberal Muslims are. That's what they're doing in community groups. And it's being done right here in Hollister.

I went over to our local supermarket, Nob Hill, and walked in there and here's some kids sitting down there and an adult with them. You sign up to help them assist in their community works. And all of the churches do these community works: go join the Rotary Club, go visit in the rest homes, go feed the poor. All of those things are worthy, but when you neglect the 'one thing':

• conversion
• overcoming
• attaining to the Kingdom of God

and you leave those behind, that's leaving your first love. Then you go start doing all of these community activities and guess what happens? It's like I've talked to people. They said, 'Well, in the church I was in we were busy every day of the week.'

• What happens when that takes place? You don't pray, you don't study!

When you don't do that

• What happens? You drift away from God!

When you drift away from God

• What happens? You lay yourself open to be subverted!

That's exactly how Satan the devil works.

He comes along with his 'good works' to take you away from God's good works! They are all things that needed to be done, but who created the sin in the town or the neighborhood or the city or the country? Who created those things that had need? Satan did, by keeping people away from God!

Verse 3: "Let nothing be done through contention or vainglory, but in humility, each esteeming the others above himself. Let each one look not only after his own things, but let each one also consider the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (vs 3-5). That's what the Spirit of Christ is to do for us. This way we understand what is happening with the Spirit of God within us. Then it shows how He humbled Himself.

The SPIRIT of the FATHER

What does the Spirit of the Father do? We have to have the Spirit of the Father—and the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of the Father are One, just like both of Them are One, but there are two aspects to it.

• Spirit of Christ—to have the mind of Christ
• Spirit of the Father—to be His children

Let's come back to 1-Peter 1[corrected]; part of this we covered last week, but we're going to go ahead and repeat it here. The Spirit of the Father comes as a begettal. Now begettal is important, because we are going to be the children of the Father, having the mind of Christ. Just like Christ was the Son of God, having the mind of the Father, which then now is the mind of Christ for us.

1-Peter 1:3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who, according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again... [Who has begotten us? The Father!] ...unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive the Spirit of Christ for the mind of Christ, and then we receive the Spirit of the Father as a begettal. Let's read about this in 1-John. Begotten us again. In the flesh were you begotten once? Yes! You wouldn't be here unless you were begotten, came to full term, and born—right? If you're begotten again, that is the begettal spiritually.

Let's see this begettal here. Here it talks about the begettal. 1-John 5:1: "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten by God..." It cannot mean 'born of God.' This is where the Protestants get it all wrong. This is begotten. You're not born again until the resurrection! Jesus was the firstborn of Mary, as we discussed. He was the firstborn from the dead, so Jesus has been born again. Likewise, we are to be born again at the resurrection, not until.

 "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten by God; and every who loves Him Who begat... [that is you love the Father Who does the begetting] ...loves him who has been begotten by Him."

Let's see what this begettal does for us, 1-John 3:1: "Behold! What glorious love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God!" You can't be called the children of God unless you've been begotten by the Father. Impossibility. When a mother knows she's pregnant, there was a begettal to cause her to be pregnant. They talk about the new developing life as a child and so does the Bible.

"...that we should be called the children of God!…. [We're called the children of God because we have been begotten by God.] ...For this very reason, the world does not know us because it did not know Him" (v 1). Isn't that interesting? The world has the spirit of deception. The Spirit of God and the Bible give us the Spirit of Truth. And we are to discern between the two.

The spirit of deception will come just like Satan did there in Gen. 3, 'Has God said? Well, no, that's not true. You don't have to believe this here. There's another way of looking at it.' Those who have the Spirit of God know the Truth, because it is the Spirit of the Truth. You can see right through and see those false premises and those lies.

Another thing about the Spirit of Truth, which is important: If you love God and love the Truth,love the Word of God—not to idolize it, but to love it because it's from God—you cannot be deceived! The reason people believe the lie and the deception that is coming, is because the spirit of deception causes them to not love the Truth. So therefore, they believe a lie.

Verse 2: "Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be... [God revealed it to John a little later in the book of Revelation.] ...but we know... [this is what we are to know]: ...that when He is manifested... [Christ returns] ...we shall be like Him..." You tie all the other Scriptures together that He is going to transform our vile bodies to look like His glorious body. We will be like Him. We are the children of God and we will be like God. Rev. 22 says we will see God face-to-face.

"...we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him exactly as He is…. [This is the hope: The resurrection and being the children of God!] …And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, even as He is pure" (vs 2-3).

Track 2: or Download

I need you to put on your thinking caps for this session, because we're going to cover and go over in the book of 1-John, one of the worst translated parts of the King James Bible, and has caused untold false doctrine, because people believe that if they have been born again, not in heaven, just their belief of born again, they cannot sin.

They believe that when you have your sins forgiven through the sacrifice and shed blood of Jesus Christ, God does not impute sin to you ever again; once forgiven for all time. That's future forgiveness of sin 'carte blanche.' That's not in the Bible!

Let's come here to 1-John 5:16, even the King James has this part right. The difficult part we're going to come to is chapter three, but I want to do a little background work here so that when we get to chapter three, we can understand it.

1-John 5:16: "If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin that is not unto death... [What is a 'sin that is not unto death'? That's a sin that can be repented of—right? Yes! What is a sin unto death? That's the unpardonable sin and that's a rejection of God the Father and Jesus Christ!] ...If anyone sees his brother... [Who's a brother? A church member, who has been baptized, received the Holy Spirit of God—correct? You can sin after you are baptized. Protestants believe you cannot sin after you have been through the 'born-again' experience.] ...If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin that is not unto death, he shall ask... [In other words, ask God to help him, forgive him.] ...and He [God] will give him life for those who do not sin unto death." In other words, have the sins forgiven.

"…There is a sin unto death; concerning that sin, I do not say that he should make any supplication to God" (v 16). That's clear—isn't it? He's talking about people in the Church sinning.

Verse 17: "All unrighteousness is sin... [And we'll see a little later in 1-John 3:4 that lawlessness is sin.] ...All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death." That is a sin that can be repented of, but it's still unrighteousness.

Paul says to people, 'Don't grieve the Holy Spirit.' How do you grieve the Holy Spirit or vex the Holy Spirit? When you do something that is contrary to God's will and His Spirit in you, you're working at cross-purposes and you can't continue doing that. You have to repent.

Verse 18: "We know that anyone who is begotten by God does not practice sin..." Let me read that in the King James: "We know that whoever is born of God sins not, but he that is begotten of God keeps himself..."

Why did they take the same word, translate it 'born of God' in once place and in the next sentence say 'begotten of God'? Exact same word, because the translators did not understand, and they wanted to have a doctrine where the Protestants would accept a born-again ritual and be declared blameless from that point forward.

Let me continue reading here: "...but he that is begotten of God keeps himself, and that wicked one touches him not" (v 18, KJV). The Faithful Version: "We know that anyone who is begotten by God does not practice sin... [We'll see that the meaning is 'practice sin,' when we get to chapter three.] ...for the one who has been begotten by God keeps himself by the power of God, and the wicked one does not touch him" (v 18, FV).

Let's come back to the first chapter, because if John really meant that it's impossible for them to sin, why would he write: 'If you see a brother sin a sin not unto death'? Let's see who he includes in the group of those who sin and need to repent.

1-John 1:4: "These things we are also writing to you, so that your joy may be completely full. And this is the message that we have heard from Him and are declaring to you: that God is light, and there is no darkness at all in Him. If we proclaim that we have fellowship with Him, but we are walking in the darkness, we are lying to ourselves, and we are not practicing the Truth" (vs 4-6).

The word that I translated 'practicing' is the Greek word 'poieo'—which the King James translates as 'committeth.' See what he has here in 1-John 1:6 in the King James: "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the Truth" (KJV). But 'poieo' has the meaning of 'practice.' Look at who he's talking to.

v 4: "…we…"
v 5: "…we…"
v 6: "…we…we…we…we
v 7: "…we…

He's including himself. "However, if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His own Son, cleanses us from all sin" (v 7)

John is saying that he still was subject to sin, because he's still in the flesh—right? He's writing this, v 8: "If we say that we do not have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the Truth is not in us." How can they say that if a person is 'born again' he cannot sin? Why then was it translated that way, right here in the book of 1-John? The contradictions are incredible.

He's saying: "If we... [including himself] (claim) ...we do not have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the Truth is not in us.... [but] ...If we confess... [including John showing that he knew when he sinned, if he sinned, he needed to repent.] ...our own sins, He is faithful and righteous, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (vs 8-9).

Remember, all sin is unrighteousness—correct? Yes! Verse 10: "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us." I want you to notice something very interesting when we start in chapter two. All the way through chapter one it is 'we.' You can read in the commentary about this and you will find that the we was John, Philip, and Andrew, and probably Mark, who were doing the canonization of the New Testament.

This first chapter was added as an introduction at that time. Notice how he starts out 1-John 2:1: "My little children, I am writing these things... [I, not we. All the rest of the way through it is I] ...to you so that you may not sin. And yet, if anyone does sin... [The little children are the baptized saints who have the Spirit of God, begotten of God. When they sin, they have to repent, have to confess their sins, have to have them cleansed away.] ...if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father: Jesus Christ the Righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins... [he includes himself here again.] ...and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (vs 1-2). He includes a couple things here with we in it.

Verse 3: "And by this standard we know that we know Him: if we keep His commandments.... [This is what the Protestants do not like to read.] ...The one who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments... [keeping: to practice] ...is a liar, and the Truth is not in him. On the other hand, if anyone is keeping His Word, truly in this one the love of God is being perfected. By this means we know that we are in Him…. [if anyone is in Christ]: …Anyone who claims to dwell in Him, is obligating himself also to walk even as He Himself walked" (vs 3-6). Jesus did not sin—correct? Yes!

With that background we are ready for 1-John 3. Let's go to 1-John 3 and I'm going to read first out of the King James.

1-John 3:4 (KJV): "Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law; for sin is the transgression of the law."
Faithful Version: "Everyone who practices sin... [Commits comes from the word 'poieo'—which can mean practice and that's what it's talking about: living in sin.] ...is also practicing lawlessness..."

Not just transgressing the law, lawlessness. That's a broader definition of sin. That includes all your old thoughts against the laws of God. That includes all of the added things that people improve the Word of God. God's Word is perfect, doesn't need any man to come along and make it better. How can a man come along and make the laws and inspired writings of God better? Perhaps the only way he could is to give an accurate translation, but that doesn't make it better. That means that the translation is more understandable.

The whole thing here is practicing sin, and practicing righteousness. In the Greek when you had a subject like that, they would write in the form called ellipsis. The verb practice is understood for several verses as applying to those subsequent verses.

Verse 5 (FV): "And you know that He appeared in order that He might take away our sins; and in Him is no sin."
Verse 6 (KJV): "Whosoever abides in Him sins not: whosoever sins has not seen Him, neither known Him." Here's where they get the doctrine that they don't sin.

If you're abiding in Christ, are you a brother or a sister? Yes, you are! What did John say that we read in chapter five? 'If you see a brother sin a sin that's not unto death, you shall ask and God will answer and hear you.' It says here, v 6 (KJV): "Whosoever abides in him sins not: whosoever sins has not seen Him, neither known Him."

Remember the key verb was practice. Verse 6 (FV): "Everyone who dwells in Him does not practice sin... [That makes sense—doesn't it? The other one is a total contradiction from what he wrote. How can that make any sense?] ...anyone who practices sin has not seen Him, nor has known Him."

Verse 7 (KJV): "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous." That's fairly close.
(FV): "Little children, do not allow anyone to deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous"

Verse 8 (KJV): "He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning…."
(FV): "The one who practices sin... [In other words, living a life of sin.] ...is of the devil because the devil has been sinning... [that's the meaning of it.] ...from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God appeared that He might destroy the works of the devil."

Verse 9 (KJV) is the real key: "Whosoever is born of God does not commit ['poieo'] sin; for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." How could they translate that way when that is so contradictory to the rest of the epistle? Either John had a problem of a schizophrenic brain or the translators had other ideas in mind. I prefer to believe the latter. How do we solve v 9?
(FV): "Everyone who has been begotten by God... [When does that come? When you receive the Holy Spirit!Begotten again happens at baptism and laying on of hands.] ...does not practice ['poieo'] sin..." Not that he cannot commit sin.
(KJV): "Whoever is born of God does not commit sin..."

Then why when we sin, if we do not commit sin, do we have to confess our sins? This is absolutely the worst translation! Yet everyone says, 'Oh, the King James Bible is the best Bible, the most accurate Bible.' Well, compared to many of the modern versions it is. But it is filled with doctrinal errors and this is one of the grossest doctrinal errors, because it takes away the working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those who have been begotten by God. It takes away the leading of the Holy Spirit, because you are in a state where you cannot sin. What else do you need?

Here's the proper translation, v 9 (FV): "Everyone who has been begotten by God does not practice sin because His seed... [Where does the seed come from? The Father!] ...His seed of begettal is dwelling within him, and he is not able to practice sin because he has been begotten by God."

What happens when you sin? God's Spirit in you convicts you and gives you a guilty conscience—right? Now you may not have a guilty conscience right away, but God's Spirit is working in you and pretty soon you will say, 'Oh, oh, I sinned.' Then you go confess your sins. God's Spirit reveals it to you, because His seed is remaining in you and you cannot practice sin.

Could you go to a Sunday-keeping church with the knowledge you now have and go there and be faithful in keeping Sunday and breaking the Sabbath? No, you couldn't do that! There are some who have tried that, but after a while they gave up. And after a while God convicted the person. I get letters from this many times. 'Oh, I've been in Worldwide years ago, but the church went bad and I tried to go along with it, couldn't go along with it, but I just never could give it up.' Even though they were out there living in the world, not doing what they should do, their conscience was nagging them all the time. When they find Church at Home or find CBCG.org or read one of our books or hear one of our CDs or watch a video that we send out, BANG! God's Spirit brings them back. That's what you call backsliding.

All right, let's read it again and this makes sense. That's why you have to first understand you are not born again until the resurrection. And at the resurrection you become a spirit being. At that point you will not sin. What it's talking about here, 'gennao' for begotten, should be translated begotten.

"Everyone who has been begotten by God does not practice sin because His seed of begettal is dwelling within him, and he is not able to practice sin because he has been begotten by God. By this standard are manifest the children of God and the children of the devil. Everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, and neither is the one who does not love his brother" (vs 9-10).

Now that clears up the terrible, difficult place there that the King James Version has done in the translating. I don't have the difficult verses of John, but we've got all the difficult verses of the Apostle Paul in Appendix Z of the second edition of the Faithful Version Bible, so you can go through and understand how this great select committee of the King James Version of the Bible did not accurately translate nor understand what they were doing. Though they were supposed to be Greek scholars, they retained between 80%, in some places, and most other places 90% of William Tyndale's translation. They did not translate it. They did a comparison of the Geneva Bible, the Great Bible, the Thomas Matthew Bible, which was essentially William Tyndale's—and then they created the King James Version; but especially to go against the Geneva Bible.

Why was King James and the religious leaders there in the Church of England so against the Geneva Bible? How many have seen a Geneva Bible? I have one. I have a Great Bible. I have a big King James Bible that looks like it's Goliath's pocket Bible. Big pages, big type, all the old type and it's hard to read. The internal Ss look like Fs, so you go along and you think, 'Oh, what is this?' So it takes you awhile to get used to it. Those are the ones that they did. Those are the ones that they looked at the English, compared the Greek, and then did the King James Version of the Bible. They virtually copied William Tyndale's—90%—and yet they don't give him hardly a breath of recognition.

If you haven't seen the video, The Indestructible Book, you write in for it. We'll send it to you. It's a short history of William Tyndale. And I guarantee you one thing. When you see that you will not have a dry eye at the end because of what he went through so we can have the English Bible today. Then those who were supposed to be the great, great scholars that worked with the King James, they couldn't have the Geneva Bible as the official Bible of England. You know why? Because it was done by English men who were exiled during the reign of Bloody Mary and they were in Geneva. What did they do? They also took 95% of William Tyndale's Bible and made the Geneva Bible. Most people don't know that. It's quite a fascinating and interesting bit of history. Here we find these difficulties.

Let's come down here to 1-John 3:18: "My little children, we should not love in word, nor with our tongues; rather, we should love in deed and in Truth. And in this way we know that we are of the Truth..." (vs 18-19). When you practice the Truth, you are of the Truth. And if you have the Spirit of the Truth, what is going to lead you? The Truth! That's why he tells, and we'll see a little later here, test the spirits whether they're from God or not.

Verse 20: "That if our hearts condemn us... [When do our hearts condemn us? When we get a guilty conscience—right? Because we've sinned—right? We've said something, we've done something, we've neglected something, and our heart condemns us.] ...God is greater than our hearts and knows all things." Again, he's saying that if anyone sin we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. So, you go repent.

Verse 21: "Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us... [Isn't that true? You think about this when you pray.] ...if our hearts do not condemn us, then we have confidence toward God." When you have not sinned, you feel more faith when you pray than when you have sinned and you have to come and repent—right? Because you weren't exercising your faith in being righteous!

"...then we have confidence toward God. And whatever we may ask we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and practice... [The King James would say 'doeth.'] ...those things that are pleasing in His sight" (vs 21-22). Which shows us we can please God—right? Is God happy when we are in this frame of mind? Yes, He is!

Verse 23: "And this is His commandment: that we believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and that we love one another, exactly as He gave commandment to us."

Verse 24 is a really important key, which then we will pick up on next time, but we'll finish with it here. "And the one who keeps His commandments is dwelling in Him, and He in him..." That is Christ and God the Father: 'We will make Our abode with him.' Doesn't that agree with what Jesus said back in John 14?

John 14:21 agrees exactly: "The one who has My commandments and is keeping them, that is the one who loves Me…" Jesus said. What do you think about the person who says, 'The law has been changed, the law has been done away'?

See how that agrees with what he wrote in v 23: "Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. The one who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father's, Who sent Me'" (vs 23-24).

Back to 1-John 3:24: "And the one who keeps His commandments is dwelling in Him, and He in him..." We know that with the Holy Spirit there are two parts of it:

• the Spirit of Christ, the mind of Christ
• the begettal of the Father; we're the children of the Father

"And the one who keeps His commandments is dwelling in Him, and He in him; and by this we know that He is dwelling in us: by the Spirit which He has given to us" (v 24).

All of that is very important to understand in serving God, using the Holy Spirit, understanding how it works in our lives, and letting the Holy Spirit lead us and inspire us in what we need to do.

We'll end it here for today and we'll continue at this point next time.

Scriptures from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order by Fred R. Coulter, unless otherwise noted

Scriptural References:

• John 14:23, 26
• John 15:26
• John 17:19-21
• Romans 8:8-11
• Colossians 1:20
• Hebrews 1:1-3
• Colossians 1:20-21
• Romans 8:3
• Colossians 1:21-27
• Philippians 2:1-5
• 1-Peter 1:3
• 1-John 5:1
• 1-John 3:1-3
• 1-John 5:16-18
• 1-John 1:4-10
• 1-John 2:1-6
• 1-John 3:4-10, 18-24
• John 14:21, 23-24
• 1-John 3:24

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Acts 2:38; 6
• 2-Thessalonians 2
• Genesis 3
• Revelation 22

Also referenced:

• Video: The Indestructible Book
• Bibles:

King James Version
Thomas Matthew Bible
Geneva Bible
Appendix Z—Understanding Paul's Difficult Scriptures Concerning (The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter)

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 9-6-11
Formatted: bo: 9-7-11

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