The Power of God's Truth

Fred R. Coulter—May 28, 2016

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services! We had an excellent conference. We ordained Russell Kemp as an elder in the Tennessee area and also during Unleavened Bread Roy Assanti ordained Andrew Moses as an elder in Malaysia.

As soon as I got back I had an e-mail from someone in Cambodia: Do you have anyone to help us here in Cambodia? We sent Andrew's first assignment to him. He's a whole lot closer than we are. All the conference was recorded so we're going to send it to you. You'll get the whole thing. I think you'll be very pleased with the things that we covered.

I left early because every year I go back and spend time with our webmaster Ron Cary, and his son Aaron also works for us. We need to keep everything up to date and post the videos, sermons, letters, forward the e-mails, and all of this sort of thing.

We've just recently upgraded it so that the website now you can put on your smart phone. Think about when they had scrolls and clay tablets. Wonder what size of truck you would need to have the whole Bible on clay tablets? Have to have 40 donkeys to carry it all.

The conference went well. We have a total of 19 elders now, including me. I'll put it in the letter that will be coming out.

While there with Ron and Aaron, we covered quite a few things. For some time before going I've had in mind… Ken has been doing all the work on the back sermons and putting together the in-depth study series that we have; we're up to 54-55. We have nearly all of that already online.

Update on the new website

I got to thinking, here we've had a website, CBCG.org since 1999. Through the years we have grown bit-by-bit, and we're up to about a little over 100,000 visitors a month. After 16 years I think that's not very much.

Stop and think about it, if you were a new person out there wanting to know: 'What on earth is going on? I want to find out about God.' You think you're going to be sitting there and all of sudden a little light will come on in your head: CBCG.org. No! Never happen!

A little later I had four of those attending with me, they all had smart phones. So we're all sitting there eating dinner and I said, 'I want you to punch in CBCG and see what you come up with. I didn't know, but there are scores of websites that use CBCG. No one's going to think of Christian Biblical Church of God.

If they're fairly used to looking into the Bible, they might put in 'Christian.' they might put in 'Biblical,' or something like that. They might find us, but I would get e-mails every once in a while that said: In searching for things I came across your site; this is what I've been looking for.

I've been thinking, with all the material we have there, with everything that we have on the site, with everything that we've covered, with all of our books, letters, churchathome.org is far easier to find. I thought we've got to do something different. What is it that we need to do different? Do we just want to get those people who eventually come to us and say, 'Oh, by the way, we have a website'?

I was thinking about Truth of God. I talked it over with Ron and had him look up the domain names: Truth of God. We were able to come up with these:

• thetruthofGod.world

That's a new designation. I guess that's because .com, .org, and all that has expanded so much they need it.

• thetruthofGod.net

We got that regular price. Then we didn't get The Truth of God, but we got:

• truthofGod.org

Which is perfect. There was for sale thetruthofGod.com. The other three we bought because they were available and all we had to do was just register and now we own them. thetruthofGod.com was owned by someone else and it was for sale for $4,288. We went ahead and got that. We have all of those locked up.

What we want to do is change the website, rename it. We still keep CBCG.org and anyone who knows about CBCG.org can still get there, even though it won't be up front like it used to.

truthofGod.org is what they'll come to when they get to this website:

Restoring Original Christianity for Today: Special greeting from Fred R. Coulter:

Welcome to the homepage of the Truth of God website, sponsored by the Christian Biblical Church of God. We are dedicated to restoring original Christianity for today, the true original Gospel as revealed and taught by Jesus Christ and His personally chosen apostles, preserved in the God-breathed New Testament. Therefore, we are Scripturalists.

Most of this we already have up there.

We believe and practice the Word of God as inspired and preserved in the Holy Bible, Old and New Testaments. The Word of God is the Truth of God from the God of Truth.

We've had that up there previously.

We strictly follow the Bible and recapture the true Biblical meaning of the Word of God by comparing Scripture with Scripture to prove all things. As Jesus said, 'We are to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'

We do not teach or practice any tradition of men, regardless of their claims, whether Judaism, Catholicism, Orthodox, or Protestantism.

The founding battle cry of original Protestantism, 'sola scriptura,' meaning the Scriptures and Scriptures alone has long been forgotten, ignored and rejected by the Protestants. The Catholic religion is based on tradition and myth, using a few Scriptures.

As a result, all orthodox Christendom has gone astray and is now merely practicing 'Christianized' pagan traditions, teachings and philosophies of men.

That's the introduction when they come to the website. Then we'll re-work it a little bit here, because we explain about Christian Biblical Church of God.

The Truth of God

How many have listened to Michael Savage? He's pretty hard-hitting in what he says and he's generally pretty right.

Every once in a while he does something entirely different. He was having people call in about the dark side of their lives. In other words, how many people out there live two lives?

• happy and friendly for everybody they know
• what they secretly do

He brought up the example of this woman who died from a drug overdose in New York. She was a cosmetologist and her husband was, too; both doctors. She lived two lives. Here she had this practice and she had everything about her life up on Facebook, traveling here, going there with her husband, smiling, happy, wonderful, everything good. Then she was found dead with an overdose of heroin in New York.

Different people called in. This woman called in; I heard the last part of the program. She was an engineer in Houston, working on futuristic things to go into the body. For example if someone swallows a lithium battery, how then do you retrieve it? Things like this. She has some dark side to her, which I will just summarize this way: writing about demons and angels.

When you're watching television, you watch how much of it is getting into satanism. The thing I have noticed more than ever before is the cartoons. There are no more young adults. They are cartoon adults, growing old—17, 18, 19, 20—Into that. So you have all of these cartoon commercials. That's cheaper to make than hiring people. Everything is an artificial reality. Everything that is in the news contains so many lies. I have to commend Fox News; they have fewer lies. CNN is nothing but lies, always slanted to the liberal thing to elect 'Hillary-Billary.' That's the way the news is slanted.

People find that there are lies everywhere. They don't know that Satan the devil is deceiving the whole world. They don't really understand what Truth is.

If you happen to meet someone who is really nice, you really don't know what is the other side of the coin. That's the way the world is. What the world needs is the Truth of God! Even with us. Here is a little test. How honest are you with yourself in relationship to other people as well? But basically with yourself?

Matthew 5:33: "Again, you have heard that it was said to those in ancient times, 'You shall not forswear yourself, but you shall perform your oaths to the Lord.' But I say to you, do not swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne; nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. Neither shall you swear by your head, because you do not have the power to make one hair white or black. But let your word be good, your 'Yes' be yes and your 'No' be no; for anything that is added to these is from the evil one" (vs 36-37).

With human nature being 'deceitful and desperately wicked above all things,' even for those of us who are converted, how many times do you have to wrestle back and forth yes/no, yes/no, in your own mind? That's really quite a test when you put it there. Is your yes really it? or Is it yes/maybe? or Is it no/maybe? Or is it a bold-faced lie? Either way!

How many people live lies? That's why truthofGod.org is going to have more meaning, because people are going to be wondering where the truth is.

• Why do we have the world the way that it is, going deeper and deeper into sin?
• Why are they going to worship the beast as God?
• Why are they going to allow him to say that he is God, and fall for it 'hook, line and sinker'?

2-Thessalonians 2:9: "Even the one whose coming is according to the inner working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders." Seeing is believing, but what you see may not always be the truth.

Have you watched those television programs that show you what you think is absolutely true by what you see is not really what you see? Yes, indeed!

Verse 10: "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who are perishing because they did not receive the love of the Truth, so that they might be saved."

Here is why God's Truth is automatic. All of God's laws are spiritual and function all the time. We don't even have to know that they exist, because they exist. Here's what happens when you reject the Truth:

Verse 11: "And for this cause God will send upon them a powerful deception that will cause them to believe the lie." You know they're going to get all excited about that, yes, indeed!

Let's see what the world has done with the Word of God. The Word of God is true and we're going to examine all of that. The Word of God—the Bible—is the most important book in the world, which has the most information about

• man
• God
• why we're here
• where we're going
• what God's plan is
• how we fit into it

There are certain keys that have to be followed to understand it.

Romans 1:21: "Because when they knew God… [there was a time when people knew there was a God] …they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but they became vain in their own reasonings, and their foolish hearts were darkened."

Again, automatic! What has happened to every one of these great musicians, entertainers, so-called? They get all lifted up and glorified. What has happened to them? The last one was Prince. The one before that was Michael Jackson. Why? Because you get lifted up in your own vanity and your own thoughts! Then Satan has an entrance and he takes you down.

Have we seen that happen in more lives than just entertainers? Did it happen to that doctor who had a wonderful life on Facebook? You would think she's the most successful person in the world and even married to a doctor. Died of a heroin overdose.

Verse 22: "While professing themselves to be the wise ones, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed creatures, and creeping things…. [What happens?] …For this cause, God also abandoned them to uncleanness through the lusts of their hearts, to disgrace their own bodies between themselves, who exchanged the Truth of God for the lie…" (vs 24-25)—because they didn't love the Truth!

That's why we're going to change and add to what we already have on the website: TruthofGod.org  When God begins to call people, they want to know what is wrong. When they find out that everything that they've come across is a lie, a fraud, a farce, a façade and their lives are ruined—if God is going to deal with them, and God will call them, if they really want the Truth.

Remember when Pilate was quizzing Jesus? John 18:33: "Then Pilate returned to the judgment hall and called Jesus, and said to Him, 'Are You the King of the Jews?' Jesus answered him, 'Do you ask this of yourself, or did others say it to you concerning Me?' Pilate answered Him, 'Am I a Jew? The chief priests and your own nation have delivered You up to me. What have You done?' Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight… [we're going to wait for that day; that's the resurrection day] …so that I might not be delivered up to the Jews. However, My kingdom is not of this world'" (vs 33-36).

Verse 37: "Pilate, therefore, answered Him, 'Then You are a king?' Jesus answered, 'As you say, I am a king. For this purpose I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, that I may bear witness to the Truth. Everyone who is of the Truth hears My voice.'" (v 37). That's the first step in understanding.

Verse 38: "Pilate said to Him, 'What is Truth?….'" Think about that answer when you know:

• all the pagan gods, all the pagan myths
• all the pagan religions
• dealing with the Jews with all of their traditions and all of their lies and everything like that

Pilate said, 'What is Truth?' That's where we are in the world today. What is Truth?

Just like today, as God is left out more and more and more, what pours in to fill the gap? Evil! The latest current thing is which bathroom should you use? Something you would think would be unthinkable! Because we're in the same condition that Judah was back then.

2-Chronicles 15:1: "And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded. And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, 'Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you while you are with Him.…'" (vs 1-2). Key thing!

God will never be with you in sin. He may rescue you from it but He's not with you. The opposite is if you're not with God, He's not with you! That's where we are in the world today.

"…The LORD is with you while you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will be found by you.…" (v 2). This is why God gave us the Sabbath (Lev. 23). 'These are the appointed times of the Lord. Six days shall you labor and do all your work. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord.' That is an appointed time.

That's why the Sabbath is so important. People will never go beyond just a few grains spilling out of the sandbox unless they come to keeping the Sabbath. God has set an appointment every week, every seven days, because our human carnal minds, even with the Spirit of God, need the Sabbath every week so that we can grow, prepare, use the Spirit of God, overcome and learn of God. We need the Truth of God!

"…But if you forsake Him, He will forsake you" (v 2). What happens when He leaves you? You're given over to delusion and lies!

Verse 3: "And for a long time Israel had been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. And when they turned in their trouble to the LORD God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found by them. And in those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in, but great tumult was upon all the inhabitants of the lands" (vs 3-5). That's what we have today, great tumult.

Verse 6: "And nation was destroyed by nation, and city-by-city, for God troubled them with every adversity." Look at the world today. You just take this one little incident and multiply it for the whole world. So if they turn to God, they would find Him.

Verse 7: "But you be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded." Then they turned to God, made a covenant with Him and that lasted for a while.

Let's see some characteristics about God. First of all we learn here He is the true God. All other gods or versions of god are false. There's only One! He says that He is 'abundant in goodness and Truth' (Ex. 34:6). We are told that God is the true God Who cannot lie! Think about that, that's very important in understanding the Scriptures.

God has inspired the Bible to be written in such a way that when disbelievers come to it they think they are lies and myths and things like this, and listen to the other 'religionists,' that is true. But there is a way to understand and we'll see that here in just a little bit.

We'll spend some time in the Psalms because this will tell us a great deal about God. We're going to find God is the true God, a God of Truth, and He cannot lie. Everything that He does is in Truth!

Psalm 111:7: "The works of His hands are truth and justice; all His precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever; they are done in truth and uprightness" (vs 7-8). That's why they stand forever. Jesus said, 'The words that I speak to you, they are Spirit and Truth.'

Verse 9: "He sent redemption unto His people; He has commanded His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom… [that's the first thing that people don't want to do] …a good understanding have all those who do His commandments.…" (vs 9-10). What's the shortest version of that? Obey My voice!

Psalm 117:1: "O praise the LORD, all you nations; praise Him, all people." Think what it's going to be in the Millennium when that happens.

Verse 2: "For His merciful kindness is great toward us; and the Truth of the LORD endures forever.… [Every Protestant needs to read that. Never going to stop. If God lives for eternity, and God is true, and His ways are true, everything He does is true, and it's going to last forever.] …O Praise the LORD!"

This is for us. This is what we want to do with adding to the website: truthofGod.org coming there and explaining to them:

• they need the Truth of God
• who is God
• who is Truth
• what is right
• what is wrong

Psalm 119:29: "Remove from me the way of lying…" Tricky human nature. Another way is, let your 'yes' be yes and your 'no' be no.

…and grant me Your Law graciously. I have chosen the way of Truth… [a way of living, which comes from God; also walking in the path of Truth] …I have laid Your judgments before me" (vs 29-30).

Let me tell you something very important to do. Psa. 119 is one of the greatest Psalms in the Bible. It has more Is. But notice the perspective from which that I comes from. Not vanity, not importance, but coming to God. There are 135 Is in Psa. 119.

Speaking of Truth, v 142: "Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness…" If all of God's laws are righteous, if God is righteous… Even Tyndale understood this.

While I was on the trip I read The Obedience of the Christian Man by William Tyndale. He understood. He said even Jesus couldn't do away with the Law, because it's spiritual. I don't think we understand the magnitude of Tyndale's life. You can say, by what he did that God raised him up directly, divinely. God can do that. Can God raise up anyone directly? Yes! Can He make him an apostle by the work that he was going to do? Look at what happened with that.

Everything concerning the Bible, not only in English, but in the other languages, sprang from what Tyndale did and he did it alone while being chased and everything. What a life that man had had! One of the last things Tyndale asked for, while he was in prison, he said, 'Can I please have a cap and can I please have some leggings, because my legs are cold in this damp prison, and my Hebrew Lexicon so I can translate the Old Testament.'

There, facing death in the dark and dampness of Vilvorde Prison, Tyndale was translating the Word of God! He was resolute and strong. You want to know about the Catholic Church, you read what he says. He came out of the middle of that whole fraud, that satanic setup there.

Verse 142: "Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your Law is the Truth."

What do we read in 2-Thess. 2 as to why they believe the deception? Because they didn't love the Truth! His Law is the Truth, but notice what it says here:

Verse 97: "O how love I Your Law! It is my meditation all the day." That's the Truth. Read the whole thing, Psa. 119, is absolutely fantastic, especially when you start out with this as your guide.

To Isaac He said, 'The promises are coming to you because Abraham obeyed My voice, kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.' That's why we need the Truth of God. That's why we need everything that God has for us. You think you can get along without God? Try stop breathing for a while! See how you do.

Verse 151: "You are near, O LORD, and all Your commandments are Truth." As I've said how many times, take the Ten Commandments, watch your television, and ask which one of them are being kept?

Verse 160: "Your Word is true from the beginning, and every one of Your righteous ordinances endures forever."

With that kind of attitude and understanding and God's Spirit, think of what God is going to do.
It's like someone asked me, 'Who do you think you are,' because you've got this minister over here saying he's an apostle for the 21st century. You've got another one over here saying he's the successor of this great apostle, and so forth and so on.

My answer was: I'm a teacher and a defender of the Truth! That's it! If I can help and serve the brethren of God that way, teaching them. With the Elders' Conference I made it clear the thing we all need to do, as I've said before, is to teach, teach, and teach!

We're not to do like churches do. 'If you have a problem, come to me and I, the big minister, will solve your problem.' There needs to be counseling, of course. However, as I mentioned to them, we are to teach them to solve their own problems by coming to God and using the Word of God so they can think with the Word of God, think with the Scriptures of God.

You've seen this ad: 'Yes if you take this from jelly fish, then your brain will work better.' It shows the brain connections and everything.

The Truth of God and the Spirit of God, if you turn the mute on and get rid of the words and then watch that, that's what God's Spirit is doing to clean up our minds. All those little sparks and things like that because our minds are working all the time, converting it:

• from lie to Truth
• from self to God
• from vanity to substance

What more could you want in your life? The end of that is eternal life to live forever. What is it going to be like to live forever? The older you get, the closer you get to the point, 'Well, one of these days I'm not going to be here.' You can't think of when that's going to be, but neither can we think of a time when we didn't exist either.

You get to thinking, what is it going to be like to be a spirit being? How are we going to exist? Look at it this way: Our converted minds, fully converted, have to be born again and put in a new mind and body.

How much did we know when we were born in the flesh? We learned how to nurse by sucking our thumbs in the mother's womb. What is it going to be like at the resurrection? That is something! You probably hear me talk about this more the older I get. Here's something else about God that's important for us to understand:

Psalm 146:5: "Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God, Who made the heavens and earth, the sea and all that is in them…" (vs 5-6). Think about that the next time you watch a special program on the sea, the mountains, the fish, or whatever it is.

"…Who keeps Truth forever" (v 6). Truth lasts forever!

(go to the next track)

Let's come to the book of Titus and notice how Paul phrases this. We've covered a lot of things in the Old Testament, now here's New Testament. Here is why His Truth endures forever.

Titus 1:1: "Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the Truth that is according to Godliness."

Take that phrase there, how can you be Godly without Truth? The knowledge of Godliness comes from Truth. It doesn't come from traditions of men, anything like that.

Verse 2: "In the hope of eternal life, which God Who cannot lie promised before the ages of time"—that is in His plan. In the Greek this is 'ou dunatai,' means it's impossible. It is no power to have God lie. "…God Who cannot lie promised before the ages of time." That's why when you read certain things, when God says so, He means it. His word is Truth; it will happen.

Now you know why Jesus said, 'Let your yes be yes and your no be no.' We have to come to that point in conversion and Truth.

Verse 3: "But revealed in its own set time in the proclamation of His Word, with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior." That says a lot. You can expand that out into a whole sermon.

Let's see the promise that God gave to Abraham. Let's see the flow of it because this will help us today. Think about this. This is why God corrects the Laodiceans, with all the promises of God and the greatness of those and the promise of eternal life and eternal righteousness and living in New Jerusalem.

Hebrews 6:10: "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work, and the labor of love by which you have showed honor to His name, in that you have served the saints and are continuing to serve them. But we earnestly desire that every one of you be demonstrating the same diligence… [this is so great there is no need for letting down and slacking down] …unto the full assurance of the hope until the end; so that you do not become lazy, but that you be imitators of those who through faith and steadfast endurance inherit the promises. For God, after promising Abraham, swore by Himself…" (vs 10-13). When God swears by Himself, He means it.

I was studying Jeremiah recently. Jeremiah's ministry was 40 years. Here we find something that just struck me when I read it. We like to read the one where God swore by Himself the promises to Abraham, but notice it works both ways, where Jeremiah told them to listen to the Word of God.

Jeremiah 22:1: "Thus says the LORD, 'Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak this word there. And say, "Hear the Word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you and your servants, and your people who enter in by these gates"'" (vs 1-2).

It's amazing how many times that God gave them an opportunity to repent. Jeremiah's life was really terrible. But notice, He gave them the chance:

Verse 3: "Thus says the LORD, 'Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the oppressor's hand. And do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.' For if you do this thing indeed, then there shall enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people'" (vs 3-4). You want it to go well with you? Do right!

Verse 5: "'But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself,' says the LORD…" That caught my attention when I was reading that. I thought, everything God says, and He swears by Himself, happens. Did it happen and how is it today?

"…'that this house shall become a desolation.' For thus says the LORD to the king of Judah's house, 'You are Gilead to Me, and the head of Lebanon. Yet, surely I will make you a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited. And I will prepare destroyers against you, each one with his weapons. And they shall cut down your choice cedars, and throw them into the fire. And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say each one to his neighbor, "Why has the LORD done this to this great city?"'" (vs 5-8). It still is a desolation!

You see those walls around Jerusalem, those old walls. Suleiman the Muslim built those walls. What did Jesus say about the temple? 'Not one stone left upon another.' So thorough was that, most of the Jews—even though the knowledge is now available—don't know where the temple stood. Look at how they have to live. Here's why:

Verse 9: "Then they shall answer, 'Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them.'"

So, God swears by Himself for the good and for the evil! Is that true? You read on a little later, after the destruction of Jerusalem the second time, He scattered them into all the world.

• Are the Jews scattered into all the world? Yes!
• Have they been hated? Yes!
• Persecuted? Yes!
• Why? They have forsaken the covenant!

Worse yet, when the Messiah came, they knew!

• Are the pronouncements of the love of God, the righteousness of God?
• Are the pronouncements the Truth of God?
• Yes, indeed!

Are the pronouncements of God:

• the punishment of God
• the correction of God
• the curses of God?
• Are they true? Yes!

Hebrew 6:13: "For God, after promising Abraham, swore by Himself…" That really caught my attention when I was reading that. Here it is. I thought to myself, is it that way today? Look at the Middle East today.

"…since He could swear by none greater, saying, 'Surely in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply you.' Now, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For indeed, men swear by the greater, and confirmation by an oath puts an end to all disputes between them. In this way God, desiring more abundantly to show the heirs of the promise… (vs 13-17)—that's us! Not only the physical seed, but the spiritual seed.

In Gen. 22, as we have covered, the promise was in 'blessing I will bless you and your seed shall be as the stars of heaven.' That's the spiritual seed. That's the most important. This is what he's referring to here.

"…to show the heirs of the promise the unchangeable nature of His own purpose, confirmed it by an oath" (v 17). When you read that, and you go over here and you look at what the Protestants say that the Law has been done away. How could that be? It cannot be! That's what's important about Tyndale. He knew that.

"…unchangeable nature of His own purpose…" How sure can we be of the promises of God that what He has said He will do, He will do? By His existence He has promised. How should we respond to that? That's what God wants to know.

Verse 18: "So that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie… [that's why you can come to God] … we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to lay hold on the hope that has been set before us; which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both secure and steadfast, and which enters into the sanctuary within the veil" (vs 18-19). That's what's so very important here.

Just to add a little bit more to what I covered back in Cincinnati—More on Understanding Grace Upon Grace—grace upon grace is the direct relationship that we have with God the Father and Jesus Christ! That takes a lot of grace.

That's why it's more than just forgiveness of sin. It's a complete relationship or fellowship between us and God the Father and Jesus Christ! That's what's so fantastic about it. We will see how that is.

This is why after Jesus came, finished the ministry, chose the apostles, and all of that sort of thing, and the Church began, shortly afterwards He opened the door for all of the Gentiles to partake in the promises given to Abraham.

Paul is talking to them here in Ephesians 2:11: "Therefore, remember that you were once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by those who are called circumcision in the flesh made by hands; and that you were without Christ at that time, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (vs 11-12). You want to know how that works today, look at Venezuela.

Verse 13: "But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off are made near by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, Who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition" (vs 13-14). That was the one resurrected by the Jews through their traditions. There was a court of the Gentiles, that is true, so there is a similarity there.

Verse 15: "Having annulled in His flesh the enmity… [the hatred between the Jews and the Gentiles] …the law of commandments contained in the decrees of men…"

If you have the book, Judaism: A Revelation of Moses or a Religion of Men?, you go to the back; we have in it quite a few hundred laws of Judaism. These are the ones that they replaced and papered over all the laws of God. Jesus said, 'your traditions, and following them you reject God's commandments.' He's saying here, those, what the Jews have done have no standing with God. To this day it's hard for Jews to grasp that. They were the chosen people, but now they are not. However, they are yet to be chosen again.

Why get rid of the decrees of men? This applies to Catholicism and Protestantism, as well.

 "…so that in Himself… [God the Father] …He might create both into one new man, making peace; and that He might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, having slain the enmity by it. Now when He came, He preached the Gospel—peace to you who were far off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have direct access by one Spirit to the Father" (vs 15-18).

That is grace! That is the result of grace! That you have personal permission from God the Father, by the fact that:

• you have repented
• you received the Holy Spirit of God,
• you love Him
• you obey Him
• you keep His commandments
• you have personal, direct access to God

Think of that in relationship to the rest of the world. Then you will understand why God disdains the things of the Laodiceans and gives them the trials to overcome.

Verse 19: "So then, you are no longer aliens and foreigners; but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of the household of God. You are being built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets… [their writings and teachings, which Christ inspired] …Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Cornerstone" (vs 19-20).

We are building eternal character! That's what the Truth is all about. That's why we need to project out there the Truth of God. That's what's so important. Especially now that we have a great deal of it.

We don't want to put it under a bushel basket. We don't want to put it so it's hard to find. We don't want to have it: Where are you? Never heard of you. We need to get it out there.

God is doing a greater work, v 21: "In Whom all the building, being conjointly fitted together, is increasing into a Holy temple in the Lord; in Whom you also are being built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit" (vs 21-22).

As I pointed out last Sabbath, the most important verse in the Gospel of John is John 14:23[transcriber's correction]: "…We will come to him and make Our abode with him." Christ and the Father in our mind. That's what it's all about. Everything else is subordinate to that. It's so important that I don't think we could preach long enough, hard enough, fast enough about it. To live forever! WOW!

Let's come back and see some other things concerning the Truth. John 5 talks about Jesus and what He was doing, what He did. When He was confronted after healing a man, notice what He says. The Jews caught up with Him and asked Him about it.

John 5:17: "But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I work.'…. [spiritual work is always going on] …So then, on account of this saying, the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, not only because He had loosed the Sabbath… [the man had to carry his sleeping bag] …but also because He had called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God" (vs 17-18).

They were right in that. Isn't that the destiny? Isn't that the promise? Yes, indeed!

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…'" Think about these statements here and why this is so important. Think about what was the problem with Cain. He wanted to add to the instructions of God, to do it his own way!

"…but only what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, these things the Son also does in the same manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him everything that He Himself is doing. And He will show Him greater works than these, so that you may be filled with wonder. For even as the Father raises the dead and gives life, in the same way also, the Son gives life to whom He will" (vs 19-21).

Verse 30: "I have no power to do anything of Myself…" Another very important clue which shows that He carried the 'law of sin and death' within Him. Everything that we do comes from God. We need to have the same attitude here.

Let's see what Jesus says of Himself, why He says it this way; John 14:6: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life…'" The Father has to draw us to Christ. Then Jesus brings us to the Father. It is a joint project of both of Them. That's why we have the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of Son within us.

Sidebar: The way is a feminine noun: 'he hodos.' The truth is a feminine noun: 'he aletheia.' The life is a feminine noun: 'he zoe.' Did that change the gender of Jesus from male to female? No, that's just the way the language is. So. likewise the other part of that sidebar is the Holy Spirit is neuter gender. Even if it's described as 'ha parakletos,' which is masculine, that does not give masculinity to the neuter-gender of the Spirit. These feminine nouns, describing Christ, does not make Him female. Just a little sidebar for something you can think on.

"…the Way, the Truth and the Life…" Think about this. Isn't it absolutely important that anyone who professes Christ speak the Truth? Anyone who believes the Truth to live the Truth? Those who are responsible for teaching, not only to teach the Truth, but to stand for the Truth and defend the Truth? Yes, indeed!.

Let's see what else will happen here. There's so much here, this is a great rehearsal of everything in God's plan.

John 17:14: "I have given them Your words… [His words are Truth] …and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You would take them out of the world, but that You would keep them from the evil one…. [that's the struggle we are against] …They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in Your Truth…" (vs 14-17).

See how important everything is when you tie it all together with the Truth? What is the Holy Spirit called? The Spirit of the Truth! That's how it is in the Greek. In the Greek here it is "…Sanctify them…"  in the Truth, "…Your Truth…"

"…Your Word is the Truth'" (v 17). Tie that together with what we covered in John 5, 'The words that I speak to you are from the Father. What He tells Me to do, I do! What I see Him do, I do! I don't take anything to Myself.' You see the true humility of Jesus.

Think of how humbling it was for Him to give up being God in spirit and with the Father to become a pinpoint of life, to be born a fleshly human being, and to live a human life. He had contact with God all the way through and never got lifted up, not get carried away in vanity. Then He willingly laid down His life. That is something! And here He's preparing for it right here.

So we are sanctified in the Truth. What does sanctified mean? To make Holy! To make Holy is a process. That process is called overcoming. You overcome human nature, which is 'deceitful and desperately wicked':

• with the Truth of God
• with the love of God

in a process of living, growing and overcoming.

Verse 17: "Sanctify them in Your Truth; Your Word is the Truth."

John 16:7: "But I am telling you the truth. It is profitable for you that I go away because if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you. However, if I go, I will send it to you. And when that one has come, it will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment: Concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me" (vs 7-9).

Let's see what Jesus says about believing in Him, John 8:21: "Then Jesus said to them again, 'I am going away… [like He said right here] … and you shall seek Me, but you shall die in your sin. Where I am going, you are not able to come.' Therefore, the Jews said, 'Will He kill Himself? Is that why He says, "Where I am going, you are not able to come"?' And He said to them, 'You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. That is why I said to you that you shall die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I AM… [they knew what that meant] …you shall die in your sins'" (vs 21-24). That's why they asked: Who are You?

In other words, if you do not believe in Jesus Christ the way the Bible says you need to believe in Jesus Christ, are you living in sin? Have to be! Maybe there are some who don't know any better, but even if you don't any better, are you living in sin? Yes!

John 16:10: "Concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you no longer will see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged…. [but not yet removed] …I have yet many things to tell you, but you are not able to bear them now" (vs 10-12). I explain that in the book, From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born?

Verse 13: "However, when that one has come, even the Spirit of the Truth, it will lead you into all Truth because it shall not speak from itself, but whatever it shall hear, it shall speak.…"

It will hear what Jesus told it to hear. In other words, we can understand this more today because we know how a recorded voice is with recording machines that we have. God sends the message through the power of the Spirit. That's why we're to be led by the Spirit. That's why when things come along, ideas will come to you, understanding the Scriptures will come to you, because God's Spirit is doing it within you.

Let's tie this all together: How are we to worship God?

John 4:19: The woman… [at the well] …said to Him, 'Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.'" She is bragging, 'O You're a prophet. I want to tell You something good':

Verse 20: "'Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, but you say that the place where it is obligatory to worship is in Jerusalem.' Jesus said to her, 'Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the Father. You do not know what you worship. We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers… [what we need to be] … shall worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth…'" (vs 22-23). That's through:

• prayer
• study
• living

Worship is more than just on your knees. That's the beginning of worship. Worship also is how you think and how you live—in Spirit and in Truth.

"'…for the Father is indeed seeking those who worship Him in this manner. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and in Truth'" (vs 23-24). That's how important the Truth of God is. It covers everything that there is.

Let's put this together with a couple of things in the Epistle of 1-John. With the background of everything we've covered up to this point:

1-John 2:3: "And by this standard we know that we know Him: if we keep His commandments…. [which are Truth] …The one who says, 'I know Him' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the Truth is not in him" (vs 3-4).

It's impossible without the Truth of God and the Spirit of God to worship God. Likewise, you cannot say you know Him if you reject His commandments.

Notice the goal; this is what we are to do with the Truth and Spirit of God, v 5: "On the other hand, if anyone is keeping His Word… [true and sanctifies us] …truly in this one the love of God is being perfected. By this means we know that we are in Him. Anyone who claims to dwell in Him is obligating himself also to walk even as He Himself walked" (vs 5-6).

That's the goal! That's a tremendous thing. We know He never sinned. So what do we have? We have a perfect standard from which to measure and to go by! Notice how this combines in 2-John. I want you to notice Truth, love and commandments as we go through here.

2-John 1:1: "The elder to the chosen lady, and her children…"—the Church of God at any time. Some think that this may even have meant Mary the mother of Jesus. Don't know!

"…whom I [1]love in [1]truth and not I alone, but also all those who have known the [2]Truth; for the sake of the [3]Truth that is dwelling is us…" (vs 1-2). The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Truth, which is from the Father and the Son.

"…and shall be with us forever: Grace, mercy, and peace shall be with us from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in [4]truth and [2]love. I rejoiced exceedingly that I have found among your children those who are walking in [5]Truth… [Is the Truth important?] …exactly as we received commandment from the Father. And now I beseech you, lady, not as though I am writing a new commandment to you, but that which we have observed from the beginning, that we [3]love one another. And this is the [4]love of God: that we walk according to His commandments…." (vs 2-6).

• commandment from the Father
• walk in His commandments
• this is the commandment

Notice how all of these tie together.

"…This is the commandment, exactly as you heard from the beginning, that you might walk in it, because many deceivers have entered into the world… [if it was back then, think of what it is today; it is incredible] …those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is the spirit of the deceiver and the antichrist" (vs 6-7).

We had to fight that off in the Church of God, too. One of the things always ongoing: Jesus was not God before He was human. There are people who believe it. That's the basic substance of the Gospel, so we defend against that.

Verse 8: "Watch out for yourselves in order that we may not lose the things we have accomplished, but that we may receive a full reward." That tells us a lot. Watch yourself, what you do, what you think, how you do it.

Verse 9: "Anyone who transgresses… [What is he transgressing? Commandments, laws!] …and does not continue in the doctrine of Christ… [that He was God before He became a human being] …does not have God.…" Can people who follow those things lose the Spirit of God because of that? Yes, indeed! Maybe not all at once, but they will.

"…But the one who continues in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son" (v 9). (tie in John 14:26)

Verse 10: "If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house, and do not say to him, 'Welcome!' For anyone who says, 'Welcome!' to him is partaking in his evil works. I have many things to write…" (vs 10-12). Here was a dangerous time, so he wasn't going to write it.

"…but I do not wish to convey these things to you with paper and ink; but I hope to come to you and speak face to face in order that our joy may be completely full. The children of your chosen sister salute you. Amen" (vs 12-13).

Quite a short and powerful epistle. Very fitting for us today, living in the world where we now have over 7-billion people on this planet. Think of this: Each one doing what is right in his own eyes, except those that God has called and given the Spirit to! That is an amazing thing!

So that's how important the Truth is! This is what we will emphasize when we add that to our website and begin to flush that out and emphasize it and hope that will help many more people.

Scriptural References:

• Matthew 5:33-37
• 2-Thessalonians 2:9-11
• Romans 1:21-25
• John 18:33-38
• 2-Chronicles 15:1-7
• Psalm 111:8-10
• Psalm 117:1-2
• Psalm 119:29-30, 142, 97, 151, 160
• Psalm 146:5-6
• Titus: 1-3
• Hebrews 6:10-13
• Jeremiah 22:1-9
• Hebrews 6:13-19
• Ephesians 2:11-22
• John 14:26
• John 5:17-21, 30
• John 14:6
• John 17:14-17
• John 16:7-9
• John 8:21-24
• John 16:10-13
• John 4:19-24
• 1-John 2:3-6
• 2-John 1:1-13

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Leviticus 23
• Exodus 34:6
• Genesis 22

Also referenced:
Books:

• The Obedience of the Christian Man by William Tyndale
• Judaism—A Revelation of Moses or a Religion of Men? by Philip Neal
• From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? by Fred R. Coulter

Sermon: More on Understanding Grace Upon Grace

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 6-15-16
Formatted: bo—6-17-16

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