Satan and Passover Confusion

Fred R. Coulter—March 31, 2012

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services! The devil is 'deceiving the whole world' (Rev. 12:9). We're also told, 'don't give an advantage to the devil,' (Eph. 4)—give no room for him. We know that in having deceived the whole world, who is he most interested in to deceive? To get those to not follow God the way that they should? How does Satan work? Satan works by what you would call incrementalism!

What do I mean by that? Let's come to 2-Corinthians 2:17 and we will see some of the tactics and how these things work; let's look at this Scripture from this point of view.

• How many so-called Christian churches are there in the world? Thousands!
• How many denominations? Hundreds!
• How many conflicting doctrines? Thousands!
• What does this cause? Confusion!

But 'God is not the author of confusion.'

• How does Satan work in the so-called Christian pulpits? They use the Bible!

Like I've said several times, every once in a while on Sunday morning I do a little channel surfing to check up on the competition and see what they're doing.

I think that this is really a good description as to what is going on, 2-Corinthians 2:17: "For we are not like the many..." That is the majority of people; they have the Bible. Some read a lot from it; some read a little bit of it; some of them refer to it—but do they use the whole Bible? Atheists had a big rally the other day—and if you want to know how they are read Rom. 1; they reject God. He just abandons them to their own passions, their own sins.

We can say they're totally deceived. But how is it and how much incrementalism is there that Satan has brought about? Remember, we're coming up to the Days of Unleavened Bread, and leaven is depicted as sin. 'A little leaven—we are told—leavens the whole lump.'

Here's how they do it: "...who for their own profit are corrupting the Word of God..." (v 17)—whether that is in translating, whether that is in preaching, whether that is in studying. What is the easiest way to corrupt the Word of God and save yourself from having a stricken conscience? You just avoid it; you just refer to it! How do they avoid it? We know the two traditional commandments—don't we?

• second commandment for idols
• fourth commandment for the Sabbath

Here's another sign of false prophets: they always want to improve on the Word of God. They have something better than what God has said. You can do this incrementally, too. If you start looking at all that has gone on in the Christian world and the confusion that is there, you can see how this works. They are: "...corrupting the Word of God; but we speak with sincerity, as from God, and before God, and in Christ" (v 17).

Now let's see what happens when you're given part of the Truth. Let's see what happens when some things are deliberately misinterpreted and you don't understand. I've got some keys in my pocket here and we all know all the law of gravity works—right? If you drop it, it falls! There's a spiritual process that also happens, which we'll see right here.

2-Corinthians 4:1: "Therefore, having this ministry... [which is from God] ...according as we have received mercy, we are not fainthearted. For we have personally renounced the hidden things of dishonest gain..." (vs 1-2). This means:

• there has to be conversion
• there has to be overcoming human nature
• there has to be overcoming lust
• there has to be overcoming selfishness
• there has to be overcoming political moves, because those are for dishonest gains as well

"...not walking in cunning craftiness... [not having an agenda] ...nor handling the Word of God deceitfully...." (vs 1-2). So we have in 2-Cor. 2:17, they corrupt it. 2-Cor. 4:2, they handle the Word of God deceitfully.

Like one man told me, they were going to a Sunday-keeping church and they had been in a Sabbath-keeping church and they came to a Sunday-keeping church and the minister said, 'We're going to study the Ten Commandments.' He thought, 'Boy, this is good.'

It was a Protestant one so they went 1-2-3-5-6-7-8-9-10. He asked the pastor, 'What happened to the Sabbath one?' Oh, well, the Church changed it. Handling the Word of God deceitfully! They don't think about asking: Can a man do better than what God commands? In other words, can a man tell God what to do? If you tell God, 'We don't like this part of the Bible, but we like this over here.' or 'We like eight of your commandments, but two of them we don't like.' Handling the Word of God deceitfully.

"...but by manifestation of the Truth..." (v 2). And that's what we need to do. What we do with Christian Biblical Church of God and Church at Home:

• no politics
• no merchandizing
• no deceitfulness
• no traditions of men
• no edicts of men

but the:

• Truth of God
• Truth of the Old Testament
• Truth of the New Testament
• Truth of God in our lives

What is it that God desires? He wants Truth in the inward parts! That comes about by conversion. How do you get Truth in the inward parts? By studying the Word of God, which is Truth. By believing the Word of God and acting upon it.

Let's see what happens here with this: "...but by manifestation of the Truth, we are commending ourselves to every man's conscience before God. But if our Gospel is hidden..." (vs 2-3). What we're going to do is come across that automatic spiritual law that happens: if you don't believe and you don't obey, it becomes hidden! You don't understand it. Another way of putting it is you become blind. Spiritual blindness takes hold.

Verse 3: "But if our Gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing; In whom the god of this world... [Satan the devil] ...has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, lest the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (vs 3-4).

They can all know it if they would believe and preach all of it. That's why there are so many Bibles in the world. I think there are going to be a lot of people when the judgment comes say, 'Lord, I didn't know.' Well, I sent you a personal message. 'I never received it.' Yes, you had it up on your library shelf. 'What was that?' It was the Bible. 'Well, I never read that.' God looks and says, 'It's not My fault, I sent it.'

"...blinded the minds of those who do not believe, else the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we do not preach our own selves... [You have ministers who preach themselves. That's one way to do it.] ...but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake" (vs 4-5).

Let's see another tactic that comes along. Then we'll talk a little bit about the Churches of God, because Satan is interested in the Churches of God as well. This is why we always have to be on guard. If anyone wants to become an apostle, I think they should read all of 2-Cor. 11, and ask themselves: Do I want to go through what the Apostle Paul went through? He's been dealing with a lot of things here in the Church at Corinth.

2-Corinthians 11:1: "I would that you might bear with me in a little nonsense; but indeed, do bear with me. For I am jealous over you with the jealousy of God, because I have espoused you to one husband, so that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (vs 1-3).

Let's use the example of Adam and Eve. The simplicity was: Don't eat the fruit from this tree; don't touch it. That's simple—correct? Satan comes along and says, 'No, God didn't tell you everything. Why did He say not to eat of every tree of the garden?'

I've been watching some of these alligator hunts and they put real rotten meat—they get the beef and they get the chicken and they let it rot in the hot Louisiana sun so it's stinking and festering and running. They take that and they have a line and they've got a gigantic hook and they put on half a chicken.

There was one that they had this beef that they kept for about six or eight days in the hot sun and it was really putrefying. As they put it on the hook, the one who was in charge of the boat says, 'Squeeze it, let some of the juice come out so the gator will get it.' But the gator took it, hook, line and sinker.

Satan's crafty! He's going to trick people. He's going to get them to believe lies as those they are blessedly true. Here's what happens when that comes along, v 4: "For indeed, if someone comes preaching another Jesus..."

Do these churches today have another Jesus? Yes, they do!

• long hair
• crosses
• Easter resurrection
• Sunday-keeping
• Christmas-observing
• Halloween

"...another Jesus… [another gospel] …whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different gospel, which you did not accept, you put up with it as something good" (v 4). We have the same thing today—don't we? What is the most sacred thing with people today? Not of God, of course, to themselves. What is the most sacred thing? My opinion! I think! Sometimes it's okay; sometimes it's not.

Those are the tactics that he uses. We who are baptized have all made a covenant with God unto death. It's irrevocable, cannot go back on it. In following along with the Word of God, Satan likes to come along and get you to do things that you shouldn't do.

For the seven churches in Rev. 2 and 3, Jesus tells them to repent. Let's understand some things here. I had one man write me and say, 'There was a first version of the book of Revelation which the church didn't accept. In that they gave a historical fulfillment of the seven heads and ten horns being past and contemporary emperors of Rome.'

But the only problem was, you read the first part here, Revelation 1:11, says, "…What you see, write in a book…" what I show you. John knew nothing about Revelation until he was on the Isle of Patmos and Christ appeared to him in vision to tell him what he should do.

So, after he saw the glory of God and everything that was there, v 17: "And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if dead; but He laid His right hand upon me, saying to me, 'Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last, Even the one Who is living; for I was dead, and behold, I am alive into the ages of eternity. Amen. And I have the keys of the grave and of death'" (vs 17-18)—no one else! So all this transhumanism we're going through today, all in vain.

Verse 19: "Write the things that you say... [which he did] ...and the things that are, and the things that shall take place hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, is this: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven lampstands that you saw are the seven churches" (vs 19-20).

This is a prophetic history, contemporary first, then prophetic history of the Churches of God. What it does, it shows that Christ is the Head, and it shows the problems and difficulties that people have when they don't do what Christ says, the way that He said to do it.

Revelation 2:1, we have the Church at Ephesus. I'm not going to go through it except to say that they did a lot of good things. But notice what happened, v 4: "Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love." If we also look at these seven churches this way:

• They're the current seven churches that were when John was writing
• It's prophetic in time down through history
• It is the way that God views the Churches of God today as He looks down on the earth, not according to any corporate structure

—because the corporate structure, though it says Church of God, what makes a Church of God a Church of God is God's Spirit and loving God and obeying Him. He said, 'You left your first love.' How did that happen? They got so busy that they forgot! Is there a penalty for it if they don't repent? Yes, indeed!

Verse 5: "Therefore, remember from where you have fallen, and repent, and do the first works; for if you do not, I will come to you quickly; and I will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent."

The Church at Smyrna didn't have anything wrong with it. They were faithful unto death and they did the things that God wanted. But notice, v 9: "I know your works and tribulation and poverty (but you are rich)... [If you have the Spirit of God and you know the Truth of God and you love God, then you're spiritually rich.] ...and the blasphemy of those who declare themselves to be Jews... [To be a spiritual Jew means that you have the circumcision of the heart and you're converted.] ...and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan."

Now we see an organized movement here, which resulted in the martyrdom of many of the saints. Smyrna was one of the churches that suffered a lot. But He had no correction for them. He didn't say repent. He said, 'I'm going to give you a crown of life.'

We come to the next church and we find how Satan can come against the church without even the church realizing it. How can that be? Are there things in the world that work in the way of organization, in the way of structuring things? Yes! If you have a corporation where you make money, you better have a hierarchy of control—correct? If you do manufacturing, you better have a hierarchy of inspectors; you better have a boss; you better have foreman; you better have everything laid out—correct?

With the churches or the religions of Satan the devil, he always has a hierarchy so he can control. Look at what happened to the Church at Pergamos and look where they were located.

Verse 12: "'And to the angel of the church in Pergamos, write: These things says He Who has the sharp two-edged sword. I know your works and where you dwell, where the throne of Satan is... [That's where the large temple to Zeus was in Pergamos.] ...but you are holding fast My name, and did not deny My faith, even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells" (vs 12-13).

What happens when you get too far into the world? You look at how the world is successful and you say, 'That's what we will do.' That gives Satan an entrance. Notice what they decided to do:

Verse 14: "But I have a few things against you because you have those who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication." What does all of that mean? You go back in the book of Numbers and you see what happened to the children of Israel. Instead of following God, the Midianites were over there and they had a religious festival. They sent all the gorgeous women to come over toward the Israelites and say, 'Come over here, have a good time.'

• Remember, they had been in the wilderness a long, long time.
• Remember, they only had manna to eat.
• Remember, when you are barbequing and cooking something and the smell comes up, you know how good it is.

When someone comes along and says, 'Come on over here. We'll eat a little and we'll have a little fun.' There are other gods over there. 'No, they won't hurt you. Come have some bread. Come have some meat.' They were like lambs to the slaughter. How many died that day because they didn't believe God? 23,000!

"'...to eat things sacrifices to idols..." (v 14). What does that translate into today? The sacrifice of the mass, communion, Eucharist, Lord's Supper—all the substitutes for the Passover. Do we have that today in the so-called Christian churches? Everywhere! More confusion about that than anything else. We will see that is the central thing that Satan wants to confuse people on, and also to confuse the Churches of God.

Then v 15: "Moreover, you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate... [That's a rigid hierarchy where the ministers are placed between the people and God.] ...Repent! For if you do not repent, I will come to you quickly, and will make war against them with the sword of My mouth'" (vs 15-16).

Then the next church—Thyatira—v 20: "But I have a few things against you, because you allow the woman Jezebel..." Who was the woman Jezebel? She was the daughter the high priest of Baal! She married Ahab, king of Israel. What is the church that is most likened to Jezebel today who teaches sun-worship and all the pagan doctrines? Catholicism! So, this church really got itself in trouble because they got their eyes off Christ. They got their obedience deferred and incrementally they fell into the trap. He says here, He's going to correct them.

Verse 24: "But to you I say, and to the rest who are in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, and who have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will not cast upon you any other burden." Satan really got a stronghold here.

The next church Sardis, we'll just review it. They're almost dead. They just did the bare minimum. The next church, the Philadelphia church, they loved God, loved His Word, loved the brethren, had no sins. Satan didn't have a foothold in that church. The last church, the Laodiceans, they're the ones who are rich and increased with goods. In all of these cases there were degrees of deception, even within the Churches of God. What has that resulted in today but all the different churches that we have.

We are in covenant with God, which is the central thing that Satan likes to get to. How can he get to people in the Church of God to incrementally step away from it? He can attack the day! We've had that—right? We know it's on the 14th day of the first month, as God has said. But someone comes along and says, 'The Jews keep it on the 15th and, after all, the Jews are right.' And people say, 'I suppose so.' If they're always right, why did they reject Jesus?

Sunday-keepers come along and say, 'That's all of the Old Covenant there. We're going to have communion.' Others are going to say, 'We'll have the sacrifice of the mass.' Let's look at this thing from this point of view: it must be done in the way that Jesus said, how He said it would be done, because

• it is a matter of life and death
• it is a matter of Truth vs error
• it's a matter of being in covenant with God and having the Spirit of God or not

Let's come to John 6, and let's see how important that it is with the blood and the body of Christ. If Satan can get people to move away from the Passover—think about that for a minute—I think we would be surprised how few really keep the Passover the way that it should be. The thing is this: God is directly involved through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ! We've covered many sermons leading up to it here. He says, after He said I am the bread of life three times:

John 6:50: "This is the bread which comes down from heaven..." Now, just stop here for a minute. There are people who don't believe that Jesus was in heaven before He became a human being on the earth, and they profess to be Christian. Have they incrementally accepted something not true? Yes, indeed!

"...so that anyone may eat of it and not die.... [Reverse it a little bit. If you don't eat of it, you will die, that is eternally.] ...I am the living bread, which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever... [Of course, Satan doesn't want you to live forever.] ...and the bread that I give is even My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (vs 50-51).

This comes down to be a tremendous thing. When we keep the Passover it is really the key that establishes us with God all through the next year. We renew the covenant! Therefore, we need to take it like He said. The Jews didn't understand it. Because if you don't believe, it's just like I did with the keys—blinded.

Verse 52: "Because of this, the Jews were arguing with one another, saying, 'How is He able to give us His flesh to eat?' Therefore, Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless... [if you do not] ...unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves'" (vs 52-53). No way you're going to give yourself eternal life. No way you're going to be saved.

Verse 54: "The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day… [there are other Scriptures; you need to understand that] …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..." (vs 54-56). There is the key. In this covenant that we are in; it is with the Spirit of God. There are two parts to the Spirit of God:

• the begettal from the Father
• the Spirit of Christ

Paul says in Rom. 8 that if you do not have the Spirit of Christ you do not belong to Him. And if you do not have the Spirit of the Father that was in Christ, you will not have eternal life. So, that's why it's so important and Satan doesn't want anyone to have eternal life.

Here is the summary of the whole thing. What is it that I must do? you ask yourself. Christ gave the answer, v 57: "As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father..."

• He did what the Father commanded Him.
• He did what He saw the Father do.
• He kept the commandments.
• always did the things that pleased Him:
• healing the sick
• raising the dead
• preaching the Gospel
• raising up the apostles
  • He lived by the Father

"...so also the one who eats Me shall live by Me" (v 57). That's how we are to live. Then we have all the other Scriptures: Christ in you, the hope of glory, etc., etc.

Let's look and see what Jesus said concerning taking the Passover. As you look back on the apostasies that have taken place for the Passover ceremony, what is the first thing that people set aside? Foot-washing! Almost every time! 'You don't need to do that anymore.' Let's see what Jesus said.

When He came to Peter, John 13:8: "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.'…. [How important then is foot-washing? Do you want a part with Christ or not?] …Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head'" (vs 8-9). Jesus said, 'No, just the feet.'

Jesus said, v 12: "…'Do you know what I have done to you?'" This was astonishing, because here is the Lord Jesus Christ doing the work of the lowest slave in the household. They didn't understand.

Verse 13: "'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... [That's what it is in the Greek. In other words, you have no room to give your opinion in it.] ...to wash one another's feet; for I... [Who's the Head of the Church? Christ!] ...have given you an example, to show that you also should do exactly as I have done to you. Truly, truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord, nor a messenger greater than he who sent him'" (vs 13-16).

Now let me give you an example of something that happened politically. There was a report put out after the oil spill in the Gulf. After it was cleaned up this committee recommended to go ahead with more drilling. They were to take this report and they were to give it to the Secretary of Interior so he could start giving leases. But someone actually changed the wording and said they should not give any more leases. Was the messenger counting himself greater than the one who sent the message? Yes, indeed!

When ministers set themselves between Christ and the individual, are they making themselves greater than what they should be? Yes, they are! So, this is why foot-washing is so important. This is the thing that tells us every year:

• don't get lifted up in vanity
• don't get up on your high horse
• don't think you're important.

You are to God if you do what God wants, but important in your own eyes

• don't think you can do anything better than what Jesus said to do

This is the message of it.

Then He says, v 17: "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." We know from v 1 that it was right at the beginning of supper that He washed the feet.

(go to the next track).

Let's see about the Christian Passover, the first part is the foot-washing. Jesus made it clear we're to do it. Jesus made it clear that there is understanding that comes from obeying. Likewise, there's understanding in keeping the other elements of the Passover—the bread and the wine.
We're going to look at three accounts here. Let me just interject here that because Jesus was Lord God of the Old Testament He had to, with the disciples, first take of the last Old Testament Passover. So they did that first. Then He had to introduce the New Testament Passover—the New Covenant Passover.

Matthew 26:26: "And as they were eating, Jesus took the bread and blessed it..." The question always comes up: Was it leavened or unleavened? What were the instructions back in Exo. 12? Unleavened bread! He said He was going to eat the Passover with His disciples. There's unleavened bread for the Passover. Some people use leavened bread, because they think that's better. Once you get off with the Covenant Christian Passover, then all kinds of other things begin to happen.

Verse 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.'…. [that was symbolic of His flesh] …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).

These are really what you might say big-time statements. How did they have sins forgiven before? They'd go to the temple, offer a sacrifice! Now we have the sacrifice of God manifested in the flesh. It's far more important that God did this, because this is the only way that God could, in justice, provide a way out of sin for all of mankind.

That's why He said, v 28: "For this is My blood, the blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins."

It's also important, because the Bible says that in the mouth of two or three witnesses everything shall be established—correct? So, we have Matthew, Mark, and Luke! They give almost the identical account.

Mark 14:22: "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread; and after blessing it, He broke it and gave it to them, and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body.'…. [Notice what He said also of the cup, almost identical to Matthew.] …And He took the cup; and after giving thanks, He gave it to them; and they all drank of it. And He said to them, 'This is My blood... [They didn't understand that when they were given the wine. But afterwards they understood it.] ...the blood of the New Covenant, which is poured out for many'" (vs 22-24).

They understood covenant law. Covenant law demands the sacrifice before the covenant is enacted, and He did. When He died, His death ended the covenant with Israel and began the covenant with the Church.

Now we have Luke's account, Luke 22:19: "And He took bread; and after giving thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body, which is given for you. This do in the remembrance of Me.' In like manner also, He took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the New Covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you….'" (vs 19-20). Notice there's just a slight difference between this and the other accounts which is 'poured out for many.'

God does it for all that come to Him through Christ, but individually for each one—for you. "'…This do in the remembrance of Me'... [v 20]: ...poured out for you'" (vs 19-20).

There's a little tricky place here in 1-Corinthians 11 that is not noted in any translation. I will explain that to you when we get to it. Let's see what Paul says. Actually now we have four witnesses—don't we? This tells us when we are also to do it, which means that understanding that the Passover when Jesus was crucified was in the middle of the week, and that He was that perfect sacrifice.

1-Corinthians 11:23: "For I received from the Lord... [Paul had personal instruction from Him] ...that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; And after giving thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body, which is being broken for you... [Isn't that interesting? Present tense passive.] ...This do in the remembrance of Me'" (vs 23-24).

How often is a remembrance? Once a year! Look at it this way: We have a day that is called Memorial Day—correct? We are to remember all of those who died in wars.

• Do we have it every morning?
• Do we have it every hour?
• Do we have it every Sunday?
• No! in the night in which He was betrayed!

That is the night part of the day.

Verse 25: "In like manner, He also took the cup after He had supped, saying, 'This is the cup of the New Covenant in My blood. This do... [here is the tricky little phrase]: ...as often as you drink it, in the remembrance of Me.'"

What does the phrase "…as often as you drink it…" mean? You look at that and you say, 'That's anytime we desire'—correct? The Greek does not show that. I have this all written in The Christian Passover book. If you haven't read Passover book, you read it.

This is why it's necessary to understand the original language so you know what it's saying. 'As often as you drink it.' In the Greek there are two untranslatable particles. In the Greek they are 'alpha-nu,' which in the English is 'a-n' and pronounced awn. That means this: The phrase 'as often as' has qualifiers. The qualifiers determine the 'often as,' so that it's not anytime you desire. We can determine from the context 'in the night.' That tells us how often—that one night of the year. 'The remembrance' is an annual event. Why does He say 'as often as you drink it in the remembrance of Me'?

Verse 26 says almost the same thing: "For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you solemnly proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes." When did Jesus die? Passover Day! That's another qualifier.

What is the intent and meaning of this then? With these two particles 'an' it means that it is qualified by the things that I just mentioned here. Plus we can add this to it: They were still expecting Christ to return in the lifetime of the apostles. This was written in the 50sA.D. and they thought that Christ was going to return. So. until Christ returns, as often as you do it, once a year, that's when you take it. That was the original meaning and intent of this.

There are some other things that they did, which we won't get into here, but they were having a meal with the Passover and so therefore, v 34: "But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home... [That is, before he comes to the Passover.] ...so that there will be no cause for judgment when you assemble together."

That's why you are not to have a meal on the Passover night. You eat at home before you come. If you don't eat at home before you come and you get back home and you're hungry, eat when you get back home. They were having a 'whoopee-do' time. Some were drinking lots of wine, getting drunk. No, it's a very solemn thing! This is in the remembrance of Christ.

Let's tie this together with what we have learned concerning baptism: how that when we are baptized we are conjoined to the sacrifice of Christ. That's our part of the covenant. Christ died, that's His part. Our renewal every year is to take the Passover. And we can say, as often, every year, until you reach the end of your life or until Christ returns.

Satan has come along and has caused all kinds of confusion: leavened bread, grape juice only. The only time for grape juice or non-alcoholic wine is if anyone has made a covenant with God, a vow to God, that 'I will not drink again,' unless you qualify and say, 'except for the Passover,' you are not to drink any wine. So, in that event then, it would be the grape juice or the non-alcoholic wine, either one.

Why is that? Remember when you tell God something, you better mean it. You can't come along and change your mind. 'Oh, God, forgive me for this,' and turn around and do it again. But in telling God you're not going to touch another drop because you've been an alcoholic or that you just personally don't want to drink anymore, whatever it may be, do not do it. Let's see why. Remember what we say to God, He is going to hold us accountable!

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.'" When you say, 'I'm not going to drink anymore,' you're not to drink anymore.

Verse 34: "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 34-37).

Because Satan will come along and say, 'Oh, that's all right; go ahead and do this. Look at how righteous the priests are in the Catholic Church. They've got all these beautiful ceremonies and he gives the command and Christ puts His flesh and His blood in the host and in the wine.' That's called transubstantiation. Think about it for a minute.

• Was Jesus raised from the dead? Yes, indeed!
• Was He a spirit being? Yes, He was because He could walk through doors!
• Does He have any literal human flesh anymore? No!

So it's impossible for Him to put His flesh and blood there.

• Can a man command God to do something? No way!

But people accept this as normal. People accept this as Godly, because that's what they have been told. Then look at all of the other things that have been added on top of it.

This is why the true New Covenant Christian Passover is the dividing line between the doctrines of the Christianity of this world and the Truth of the Bible. It is also the central thing, which then is going to have you retaining the Spirit of God so you can see and you can know and understand the Truth. That's why.

Here we are. This Thursday night we're going to have the Passover, right here in this room. We have The Christian Passover Ceremony booklet that has all the Scriptures listed. The reason we do that is so that you don't have to flip back and forth in your Bible. We have all the Scriptures straight from the Bible so:

• we can concentrate on the reading of it, on the meaning of it.

• we can think about our relationship with Jesus Christ and God the Father
• we can think about what Jesus Christ has done for us
• we can think about what He has commanded us
• we can think about all the promises that we will read that He has given
• that we are in the New Covenant with Christ and we have that personal one-to-one relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ

Lest you think that you're not important to God, remember this: Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest prophet, yet he did no miracles. But the one who enters the Kingdom of God will be greater than John the Baptist, because God is going to give us eternal life through Christ.

That's what the covenant is all about. So, when we keep the Passover, let's keep all of these things in mind so that we realize what a great and marvelous thing this is and what Jesus has done for us and for the sins of the whole world as well!

Scriptural References:

• 2-Corinthians 2:17
• 2-Corinthians 4:1-5
• 2-Corinthians 11:1-4
• Revelation 1:11, 17-20
• Revelation 2:4-5, 9, 12-16, 20, 24
• John 6:50-57
• John 13:8-9, 12-17
• Matthew 26:26-28
• Mark 14:22-24
• Luke 22:19-20
• 1-Corinthians 11:23-26, 34
• Matthew 5:33-37

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 12:9
• Ephesians 4
• Revelation 2:1
• Romans 1; 8
• John 13:1
• Exodus 12

Also referenced:

Book: The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter
Booklet: The Christian Passover Ceremony

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 4-9-12
Formatted: bo—4-10-12

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