The Great Commandment of God

To love God with all your heart, mind, soul, being and strength!

Fred R. Coulter—April 6, 2024

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News:

Someone sent me a couple of books and one of them is How Elections Are Stolen by Joseph Fried CPA. It documents what happened in the 2020 election. So, all of you thinking that Trump will win? Who knows what will happen!

Then someone else sent me: Passover Haggadah For 90 Years!

I mentioned that the Muslims commit idolatry when they have the pilgrimage to the Kaaba. There's this meteorite stone in there that they think is 'Holy,' that it came down from heaven. They go around this seven times and they all have to say the same prayer, then they get a blessing. But that's idolatry!  And they have to bow in prayer five times a day to Mecca. That's idolatry!

Booklets & Books {truthofGod.org}

• Count to Pentecost

Very interesting indeed counting to Pentecost. The Jews keep the Passover on the 15th and not the 14th. They start counting toward Pentecost beginning with the first Holy Day of Unleavened Bread. They then keep Pentecost on the 6th of Sivan, a fixed date, all the time.

The proper way to count it with the Calculated Hebrew Calendar is found in this book, Count to Pentecost.

• The True Calendar of God

Those booklets will help you if you have any other problems.

• The Christian Passover

I want to remind you that if you want the freshly printed The Christian Passover book, and this is the most important book that we have, because if we do not keep the Passover the way that God says, the way that Jesus directed, we don't have life in us. So, if you want the latest publication, you e-mail us or call the office because they're being mailed out this week.

This is the third printing of The Christian Passover book, and it is absolutely imperative because this is the first thing that Satan attacks.

Also, remember, we still have a lot of Bibles to give out, and so keep it up. We'll let you know when to cut back on it. But it's being very successful. We're having excellent responses because of what you're doing in passing out the Bibles to those who need them.

It is really the only Bible in English that has all the books of the Bible in their original manuscript order, and that tells the whole story of God.

When Jesus was speaking, this really presents a conundrum for all of those who say the Law has been done away.

Matt. 22:34 is also very interesting because IF the Law is done away, THEN this commandment is done away, too. So, think about that!

Matthew 22:34: "But after the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they came together before Him. And one of them, a doctor of the Law…" (vs 34-35).

Always the important, well-educated, have got to get up there and try and trip up Jesus.

"…questioned Him, tempting Him, and saying, 'Master, which commandment is the great commandment in the Law?'" (vs 35-36).

I want you to think about that for a minute, because if the Law has been done away, so has this. Actually, those who transgress the commandments of God have done away with this, and they don't even realize it.

Yet, they profess to have the love of God, and they want the love of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as Steve Durham pointed out in his message: Six Hours That Changed the World!

Let's see what Jesus answered; v 37: "And Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'" The account in Mark says, 'all your strength.'

We'll look at this a little bit, because this is important for us to understand. How can Law and love exist together? They've never figured that out! They all want the love of God, but how many want to love God back?And that's the whole point of the Passover.

The love of God to us and our love of God to Christ and God the Father!  We'll see that in a little bit.

Verse 38: "This is the first and greatest commandment." Greatest! Think about that!

Verse 39: "And the second one is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Then, as I pointed out in my March-April letter, the first four commandments are

• love God
• love neighbor
• love the brethren
• love each other
• love your enemies

Verse 40: "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.'

In other words, loving God supports all the Law and Prophets. That's an amazing thing to consider. In the account in Luke, the doctor of the Law said, 'You've spoken well.' So, Jesus said, 'Go do this and you will have eternal life.'

You all know John 3:16. However, let's come to 1-John 3:16 and let's see what this tells us about the love of God, and why we're to have love, to love God. Now to love God with all your heart means with:

• all your emotions
• all your strength
• all your soul

Now, that means everything that you do in your life has got to be a form of loving God. Not just a profession of it, not just telling God, 'I love You,' but love in action with your whole being! Isn't that what Jesus did to come and be the sacrifice for the sins of the world? Yes it did!

1-John 3:16: "By this very act…" John is talking about the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Christ! We have known the love of God, God's love to us!

Sidebar on the love of God: The love of God is not unconditional. We'll see that a little bit later.

The Protestants preach, since it's unconditional, once you accept Jesus and say this nice sweet little prayer, you're saved forever. And it doesn't matter what you do. That is an absolute satanic lie!

"…we have known the love of God, because He laid down His life for us… [Jesus said He lays it down and no one took it from Him] …and we ourselves are to lay down our lives for the brethren" (v 16).

Now think of that! That's something! And this is what we need to do as elders and those serving the brethren.

This is why what we do in all of our publications and everything, it is to bring out:

• the Truth of God
• the love of God
• the commandments of God
• the Holy Days of God
• what we are to do

Verse 21: "Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, then we have confidence toward God. And whatever we may ask we receive from Him…" (vs 21-22).

How important is loving God on our part? If we claim the love of God to us, our love back to God produces this:

Verse 22: "And whatever we may ask we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and practice those things that are pleasing in His sight."

All of this comes with the New Covenant, which is established with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His blood, and His flesh.

Verse 23: "And this is His commandment: that we believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and thatwe love one another, exactly as He gave commandment to us. And the one who keeps His commandments is dwelling in Him, and He in him…" (vs 23-24)

The whole purpose of the Passover was to forgive our sins so we could receive the Holy Spirit; that's an amazing thing. But notice how this is tied together.

Verse 24: "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."

That's the whole key of the New Testament. Now, if there is not repentance and if there is not baptism, it's not possible to receive the Holy Spirit of God.

There were two occasions when it occurred before baptism. That is, on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was given, and then also when Peter was sent to the house of Cornelius and all of those who were there heard him received  the Holy Spirit, then they were baptized.

That doesn't mean that God does it that way all the time. Those were two special occasions to show the apostles, especially with Cornelius, that the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit and in the first case then they were baptized.

Now, the Spirit is in us, so we have a warning given to us.

I was watching the other day about this man who was preaching about that God is 'I AM. And he says, 'If I have God in me, I AM. I am God.'
Everybody was cheering, and it was really quite a thing. He just fulfilled a prophecy that Jesus said that many would come in His [Jesus'] name saying he is the Christ.' If he says 'I AM,' he's saying He's God.

1-John 4:1: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this test you can know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God. And this is the spirit of antichrist, which you heard was to come, and even now it is already in the world" (vs 1-3).

Now let's see again about our love back to God. How can we love God if we don't keep His commandments? It's not possible! It's not an emotion; it is action, emotion, life with your whole being! That means a complete dedication.

1-John 5:2: "By this standard we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments."

Notice v 3 because this becomes important because we will see you cannot separate the love of God, God's love to us and our love to God from the commandments of God.

What is sin? Sin is the transgression of the law or lawlessness! (1-John 3).

• God is perfect
• God cannot sin
• God does not sin

So if we're to receive the love that comes from God, that is pure, Godly love through His Holy Spirit!

This is to do what for us? This is to convert us so that we become the begotten sons and daughters of God!

Conversion is based upon loving God and keeping His commandments and being faithful to the end. We'll see that as we go along.

Verse 3: "For this is the love of God…" That is our love to God!

God's love to us comes when we repent and are baptized and receive His Holy Spirit. That's love unto salvation!

It's another whole topic about degrees of love of God toward people in the world because there are varying degrees of the love of God toward them, as well, but not unto salvation!

Verse 3: "For this is the love of God: that we keep… [keep, practice, do] …His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome."

That's quite a thing! When we look at that and think of that, this is the great commandment! This is what God wants from us.

Now let's see how this works in our lives. See how all of this ties together.

1-John 4:6: "We are of God…" That's what we are to know:

• because of His Spirit
• because of His Word
• because of how we live

"…the one who knows God listens to us; the one who is not of God does not listen to us. By this means we know the Spirit of the Truth and the spirit of the deception" (v 6).

So what does the Spirit of God give us? The understanding how to detect the Spirit of deception!

Why is it that Satan attacks the Passover so furiously? Because he knows that if he gets people to:

• not be baptized
• not receive the Holy Spirit
• not keep the Passover

they will not have eternal life!

Verse 7: "Beloved, we should love one another because love is from God; and everyone who loves has been begotten by God, and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God because God is love" (vs 7-8).

Now you tie that together. We can reverse it this way, the ones who:

• do not keep the commandments of God
• do not have the love of God
• do not know God

The whole purpose of the Passover is so that we receive the love of God the way that God wants us to.

Now let's come to some of the things we'll cover during Passover, John 14 is very profound because this is what Jesus taught His disciples on that very last Passover night. Everything that this Passover portrays is the love of God toward us and, yes, the whole world through His Plan, but specifically for those that are called now! Jesus gave a lot of promises here in John 14 and 15 concerning the love of God.

What we are to believe is every word of God. Actually, the Bible is the most profound book in the world. Yet:

• people don't realize it
• they don't understand it
• they won't believe it
• they won't obey it

They want to take from God; what God says He will give. But they are unwilling to give back to God what God desires you to do.

John 14:11: "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; but if not, believe Me because of the works themselves…. [everything that He did] …Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me shall also do the works that I do; and greater works than these shall he do because I am going to the Father" (vs 11-12).

That's exactly what happened with the apostles when they started out as you read in the book of Acts.

Here's the key; we have direct contact with God. That becomes the important thing for us to understand, and we'll get into that in just a bit.

Verse 13: "And whatever you shall ask in My name, this will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it."

But there's one caveat. When we pray to God, what do we pray? That the will of God be done!

• Your will be done in heaven and in us on the earth, and that's in our lives
• in the world in general in preparing for the return of Christ

Think about this: God has created everything that there is. I think the longer that we live, it gets back to this: Someone sent me a picture of this cowboy. He had a cowboy hat on, had a mustache, and the light was so that half of his face was more dark than the other half. And it said:

The more years you have behind you, changes the way that you see the years ahead of you.

Is that true? Yes!

You understand more about the creation of God that is absolutely fantastic. Everything, everything comes from God. There's nothing that you have or are or make or touch or do or breathe or eat, whatever, all comes from God.

To receive His Holy Spirit is the greatest and most important thing that can happen in our lives. That's why when we keep the Passover, these are the words of the New Covenant that we read and go over and reaffirm.

Verse 15: "If you love Me…"

It doesn't say, 'If I love you'; because God's love is true, sure and permanent; we are the ones to receive His love.

Verse 15: "If you love Me, keep the commandments—namely, My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter… [the Holy Spirit] …that it may be with you throughout the age" (vs 15-16).

Now notice what the Spirit of God is called here, because this is important. And this is how we separate out true teachings that are in the Bible from false and twisted teachings that are not in the Bible.

Why is it that we can understand those things, but people in the world can't understand those things? Because we have the Spirit of God!

What is the Spirit of God within us always doing? It is connected with studying the Word of God and praying to God combined together!

Verse 17: "Even the Spirit of the Truth…"

Verse 16: "And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that it may be with you throughout the age:

Verse 17: Even the Spirit of the Truth…" That's what it is literally in the Greek. That means the Truth of God's Word, because the words of God are spiritually discerned.

That's why, without the Spirit of God. Look at all of the 'experts' who don't believe in God. They don't have the Spirit of Truth.

Verse 17: "Even the Spirit of the Truth, which the world cannot receive because it perceives it not, nor knows it but you know it because it dwells with you, and shall be within you."

That's the whole thing about the coming Passover: That we receive the Spirit of God, that we accept the love of God, and that we love God. How? With all our mind, with all our soul, with all our strength, with all of our being! That's how God wants it.

Think about this. The love of God was manifested in sending Christ, and we want the forgiveness of sin, That was the profound love of God toward us now, and in His Plan of God for the whole world.

We need to understand what God has done so that when we receive the Spirit of God, that will help us grow in grace, knowledge, understanding, loving God and loving each other.

Verse 20: "In that day, you shall know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you." Think about that!

When you receive the Holy Spirit of God, you receive two things.

• the begettal from the Father for eternal life, to be a son or daughter of God.
• the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit that will lead us:
• to keep His commandments
• to believe Christ
• to accept Him as our Lord and Master and Savior

Verse 21: "The one who has My commandments and is keeping them, that is the one who loves Me..."

Now if you reverse that: 'The one who does not keep My commandments does not love Me,' and all the profession of it is vain.'

Like I explained when I was on The Two Mikes (podcast) recently, the religionists of this world proclaim the Gospel that's supposed to be like a Rolls-Royce. But when you examine it very carefully, it's only the Rolls-Royce emblem put on a Volkswagen. It is completely and utterly false.

Jesus said this, v 21: "The one who has My commandments and is keeping them…

Who is the Lord God of the Old Testament? The One Who became Jesus Christ, manifested into flesh!

"…that is the one who loves Me, and the one who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him" (v 21).

God has manifested, through Christ, Himself to everyone who has the Holy Spirit. How does God do that? He does it spiritually!

We find in John 6 that the Father draws us, and we find in John 14:6 that no one can come to the Father except through Christ. So, whatever precipitated, your desire to repent to God, to understand His way, to be baptized… Baptism is really important because the Passover pictures the sacrifice of Christ.

Paul writes that when we are baptized, we are conjoined to the body of Christ, meaning it is symbolically the same as if you were crucified.

Didn't Paul say, 'I'm crucified with Christ; yet, I live, yet not I, but Christ in me'? Yes!

So, when you come to that point of repentance and coming to God, then God gives you the Holy Spirit.

Since it wasn't clear; v 22: "Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, 'Lord, what has happened that You are about to manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?'"

Verse 23: Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves Me… [again, conditionally] …if, he will 'keep My Word."

Notice that it's singular, but it means all-inclusive, everything about the message of Christ. What does this tell us? That we can't go pick and choose what we want, because there are a lot of nice verses in the Bible that people like. They avoid the ones that say:

• repent of your sin
• keep the commandments of God

So, there's no way that they can receive the Holy Spirit; they have a false, fake conversion!

"…If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word, and My Father will love him…"

I want you to stop and think about this. IF you're loving God the way that you should, the Father is loving you! Every one of us.

God the Father, the Great Ruler of the universe, loves you IF you keep the words of Christ. That's love unto salvation.

"…and My Father will love him, and We… [here it is, both] … will come to him and make Our abode with him" (v 23). Now think about that!

There will be a lot of fake Christs; there will be a lot of fake preachers out there, and they're everywhere. All you have to do is go online and look at Facebook and all the religious channels and everything like that. There's every kind of 'Christianity' under the sun!

It's a terrible mess, but it's precisely as Jesus predicted there in His prophecy in Matt. 24.

John 14:24: "The one who does not love Me…"

What does it say that our love of God is that we read in 1-John 5? This is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome! "The one who does not love me…" means:

• those who don't keep the words of Christ
• those who do not keep the commandments of God
• those who do not have the Spirit of God

Verse 24: "he one who does not love Me does not keep My words…"

• What is the greatest commandment?
• What does God want from us?
• To love him with all our heart, mind, and soul, and being!

That's especially so with the Holy Spirit of God within us.

"…and the Word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father's, Who sent Me" (v 24)

Let's see what else Jesus said; John 15 was on the Passover night. This was on the night in which the covenant for receiving the Holy Spirit was to be secured with His coming crucifixion.

So, all the way through, and that's why when we go through the Passover Ceremony, we read all of John 14 thru 17, because these are the very words of Christ right up until He was arrested. These are final words of Christ, and He knew that He was going to be arrested and taken.

At that time, when He was speaking to them, they didn't yet know it.

John 15:1: "I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman."

There we have it! Now, here is the key in this parable. We must always remain in Christ and God the Father.

• How do we do that?
• we do that through prayer
• we do that through study
  • What is the goal?

We'll cover some of this during Feast of Unleavened Bread. The goal is to become perfect! Now, think about that! That means we've got a long way to go!

We become perfect through our love of God, and His love and Spirit to us. Now, we'll look at that in just a little bit.

So, in this parable, He says, v 1: "I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. He takes away every branch in Me that does not bear fruit…" (vs 1-2). Now that's quite a statement in itself!

• we're to work
• we're to produce
• we're to do the things that God says

But He cleanses each one that bears fruit in order that it may bear more fruit. So this is through all the trials that we have, through all the difficulties and challenges that we face. Some of them sometimes can be very perplexing and very frustrating and wondering: What on earth is God doing? But remember this Scripture, that Paul wrote:

He said, 'All things work together for good for those who love God.' How? With all your heart and mind and soul and being! 'And are called according to His purpose.'

So, what it is doing is saying that whatever we go through is the purpose of God, so we build the character, we have the spiritual strength, we have the spiritual understanding.
 
Verse 3: "You are already clean through the word that I have spoken to you. Dwell in Me…" (vs 3-4)—live by every word of God! Is that what Jesus said? Yes indeed!

"…and I in you.…" (v 4).

That's quite a miraculous thing for us to understand. With the Spirit of God and the Truth of God and understanding His Word

"…As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself, but only if it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you are dwelling in Me" (v 4).

Now let's add another caveat to that, which is this, You cannot take the good of the world and graft it into the way of God! It won't work!

It has to be the Word of God, the Spirit of God, living by it and everything.

Verse 5: "I am the vine, and you are the branches. The one who is dwelling in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; because apart from Me you can do nothing."

Think about that! We may be able to do some tasks but spiritually, can we do anything? No!

• we need the Spirit of God
• we need the Word of God
• we need that kind of conviction that comes from loving God

Verse 6: "If anyone does not dwell in Me, he is cast out as a branch, and is dried up."

Have we not seen that? Yes, indeed! Right here locally in this area, we live just a little ways down the road, about 40 miles, from San Jose. San Jose had one of the largest Churches of God in this area. They had between 450 and 600.

When everything blew up in the Church, and why did we have the trial in a Church? Because they tried to marry the way of the world to the Church and it didn't work! It opened the door for Satan the devil, and God had to cast them out.

Steve Thompson, who's here, keeps me informed about San Jose, and he says that there are about 20 that meet up there now.

• Where did they all go?
• What happened to them?
• Wonder what their lives are like?

You go back and study Matt. 13 and the parable of the sower and where the seed went.

That had to happen because there were a lot of people socializing in good times. and their friends and everything. So, when the trouble came and false doctrine came, and when they found out the sins of the leadership, BOOM! They were gone! Yes, IF you don't dwell in Him. I hope that the last part of this, Lake of Fire, does not happen to them.

This is what it is for conversion and using of the Spirit of God and staying within the grace of God the way that God wants it for us. As we come to the Passover, these are the things we are to keep in mind.

Verse 7: "If you dwell in Me, and My words dwell in you…"—living in you!

Stop and think about this: We all talk to ourselves, don't we? I do, you do, that's how we think!

• How much do we think on the Word of God?
• How much do we think on the way of God?
• How much do we think about praying to God?
• How do we pray to God?
• Do we come to God in awe and understanding that even the smallest thing on the earth, He has made?

The heavens, He commanded and they came into being. So, the 'big bang' was the Word of God!

You go to the James Webb website and you look at the vastness of the universe, the little bit they are able to look at. From that you derive some inspiration of how you need to pray to God and what God is doing to you and for you and through the Passover. That's why with a daily prayer we confess our sins.

Look at the world today. We have so many things bombarding our minds, high tech, television, radio, music, other people, businesses, everything. Our minds cleansed every day from all of that!

Verse 7: "If you dwell in Me, and My words dwell in you, you shall ask whatever you desire, and it shall come to pass for you."

Answered prayer is the real key. I remember talking with a man and he prayed for God to give him a really good car. So, he was expecting something really, you know, almost brand new. What the one he was able to get was a very good used car. He was wondering why he didn't get the one that he wanted. He asked me about it and I said, 'Well, I guess God decided that's what you need rather than what you want!

Verse 8: "In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be My disciples."

Notice these verses here because this becomes important for us.

Verse 9: "As the Father has loved Me..."

Jesus said there in the closing of His prayer in John 17 that He desired the love of the Father that He had with Him before the world existed!

Verse 9: "As the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you… [every one of us, every individual] …live in My love."

That's quite a statement, isn't it? This is what we need to do. When we come to the Passover, whatever difficulties we have between us, get them resolved. Whatever things that you have not taken care of, repent of and get them resolved. "…live in My love."

Notice, He qualifies it again, so we need to ask: How many times does God have to say, "Keep My commandments?" That's all through the whole Bible, is it not? How can people claim the grace of God and not keep His commandments? We'll look at that in just a minute!

Verse 10: "If you keep My commandments, you shall live in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and live in His love. These things I have spoken to you, in order that My joy may dwell in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment: that you love one another…" vs 10-12)

Isn't that important? Look, IF you want the love of God, THEN you've got to love the brethren. How?

"…as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this: that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you" (vs12-14).

Let's see what God is doing and how this all ties together. Eph. 2 is a paramount an important thing that we need to do. Now you might add to it, study Psa. 119, because not only are you to love God:

• you're to love His Commandments
• you're to love His Statutes
• you're to love His Precepts
• you're to love His Way
• you're to love His Word

All of that is part of having them written in our heart and in our mind. That's what the whole purpose of conversion is.

So, here Paul writes this and starts where it was when God was first calling us. Now, I don't know about you, but I still remember the night that I first prayed. It was after studying for class, I was going to the San Mateo Junior College at that time, and I had a lot of problems in my life.

I was out there walking at night and there was fog in the Bay Area and the fog sort of opened up and I saw a star or two up there. I remember my first prayer. It was, 'O God, help me. I don't know what to do.'

A week later that was answered. I heard the first World Tomorrow program on the radio in my car. When I heard it, I knew that was the answer.

This is how we all begin; Ephesians 2:1: "Now, you were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you walked in times past according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working within the children of disobedience" (vs 1-2).

That's where we were, out there doing the will of Satan the devil!

Verse 3: "Among whom also we all once had our conduct in the lusts of our flesh, doing the things willed by the flesh and by the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as the rest of the world."

That's where the world is now and heading forward really fast,

Verse 4: "But God, Who is rich in mercy because of His great love…"

• God doesn't call us because we're important.
• God doesn't call us because of anything except a broken heart and a contrite spirit

"…His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, has made us alive together with Christ. (For you have been saved by grace.)" (vs 4-5). Grace means:

• that you have connection with God
• the forgiveness of sin
• you can't pay for it yourself

Grace comes through Jesus Christ!

Verse 6: "And He has raised us up together and has caused us to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." That's a prophecy of the ultimate end of our salvation!

Verse 7: "So that in the ages that are coming He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith" (vs 7-8).

We call out to God, God answers. That's grace!

Verse 8: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this especially is not of your own selves…" You don't come to God and say:

How great I am, God. You've got to call me, look at all that I can do for you.

What can mankind do for God? Nothing!

Remember Rev. 16, you can read it. It says that 'ALL the cities on the earth fell.' The next time you see a beautiful picture of a city with the lights at night and the tall buildings and all those things that they build, it's all going to collapse. What have they done for God? Nothing!

Verse 9: "Not of works, so that no one may boast." We just talked about that!

Here is the key, this is the key of the Passover and the New Covenant that we need to keep in mind as we come to it.

Verse 10: "For we are His workmanship, being created… [not just created, but being created, because it's a process] … in Christ Jesus unto the good works that God ordained beforehand in order that we might walk in them."

• walk in the way of the Lord
• walk in His Commandments
• walk in His Truth
• walk in His Spirit

Notice the whole thing that all of this is about!

Verse 18: "For through Him we both have direct access by one Spirit to the Father."

Direct access to God! You can call out to God anytime, even in addition to prayer anytime.

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."

What does that mean? That means the goal of living in New Jerusalem! Is that not where God is going to live? Yes indeed! (Rev. 21, 22). This is what God is doing. That's why we are to love Him!

Verse 20: "You are being built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Cornerstone in Whom all the building, being conjointly fitted together, is increasing into a Holy temple in the Lord" (vs 20-21).

Like Paul wrote in 1-Cor. 3, 'We are a temple of God.' because as Christ said, the Father and Christ dwell in us."

This is the whole thing. As we come down to the Passover, as we prepare for the Feast of Unleavened Bread:

• let's keep all of these things in mind
• let's come to God in prayer
• let's come to God in humility
• let's come to God in forgiveness of whatever the things are between any of the brethren and you, or any of you and other people, that they be resolved

That we, through this, increase our love to God the Father even more. Understanding what He has done for us through Christ!

So, this is how we prepare for the coming Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread!

Scriptural References:

• Matthew 22:34-40
• 1 John 3:16, 21-24
• 1 John 4:1-3
• 1 John 5:2-3
• 1 John 4:6-8
• John 14:11-17, 20-24
• John 15: 1-14
• Ephesians 2:1-10, 18-21

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• John 3:16; 6; 14:6
• Matthew 24
• John 14-17
• Matthew 13
• Psalm 119
• Revelation 16; 21-22
• 1 Corinthians 3

Also referenced:

Books:

• How Elections Are Stolen by Joseph Fried CPA
• Passover Haggadah For 90 Years!
• The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter {truthofgod.org}

Booklets:

• Count to Pentecost {truthofgod.org}
• The True Calendar of God {truthofgod.org}

Message: Six Hours That Changed the World! by Steve Durham

FRC:bo/po
Transcribed: 4/11/24

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