Word of God Unto Salvation

Fred R. Coulter—July 6, 2013

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Greetings, brethren! Welcome to Sabbath services! Several weeks ago I had a very interesting e-mail from Cathy Kelly. She and her brother are here. Samuel is from Israel; he's working over there at the present time. They are the daughter and son of Dr. Ernest Martin. He is the one who instructed it at Ambassador College first and I don't know how many years he did before I took his class in 1972 on the original order of the Bible. Subsequently when he had his own organization, he wrote two books, The Original Bible Restored and Restoring the Original Bible.

Those who were supposed to do the translating and help get it done, actually ended up being very slow and obstructionist, and it ended up that after I had done the New Testament in Its Original Order and Dr. Martin knew I was doing it before he died and that was in 2002. I've already covered the reasons why I did it. That was because there were so many doctrinal errors and so many assaults against the Bible when the Church got infiltrated with the enemy and was taken down.

I undertook to do the New Testament in Its Original Order, got that done first. Different ones said, 'Why don't you do the Old Testament?' I said, no, no, no, I don't have enough knowledge of Hebrew to do that. I remembered Michael Heiss, we got together, collaborated on it and we did the Old Testament. I took care of the English, he took care of the Hebrew. So, we were able to finish it and had the first publication in 2007 of the Bible.

As you will see in the commentary, all the credit for many of the things and what Dr. Martin had written are quoted in here, etc. Actually in the appendices we have his design and development of the Psalms and the Proverbs. We're very happy to have you here. Cathy lives up near Las Vegas and Sam lives over in Israel. Maybe we can persuade him to tell us a little what's happening in Israel sometime a little later.

After services are over we're going to have a meal. After we get done eating, we're going to have a helper's class where all of the men are going to bring a 12-15 minute sermonette on one verse. Those of you who can stay, by all means stay. Those who cannot stay, that's understandable. It isn't something you should feel obligated to do.

On Thursday night I was able to get together with Byron. We covered some things concerning the Bible, so I want to cover just one thing that we covered. The question comes up: how different is this translation compared to the King James?

As you know I studied Greek under Dr. Dorothy and he continued to be my mentor until he died, and he kept telling me to translate. What I tried to do was this, because the Word of God is the Truth and out of it comes no lie! We have to be faithful to the truth. God's Spirit is a Spirit of Truth. God is a God of Truth.

So, there is no room for personal opinion. There is no room for political correctness, which is one of the reasons that I decided to finish the New Testament because of the assault against the Word of God by the translating committees that were placating the feminists and the homosexual community. As you can tell by the news, their true colors come out just like Sodom and Gomorrah. They are willing to assault people and beat them up if you don't agree with them. I'm sure God is going to have His day with them. I hope they repent, because God always honors repentance.

If you have a handy King JamesVersion Bible, let's go to 1-Corinthians 15. Here is an example of conveying present-tense participles. The Greek is what is called a participial language. It's very rarely expressed in the King James.

1-Corinthians 15:1 (KJV): "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain" (vs 1-2).

When you bring in the present tense, either of a participle or a verb, it makes it an on-going thing. It is not something where you're once saved, always saved. Here is the translation using the present tense participle, translating it properly and also the verb.

Verse 1 (FV): "Now I am declaring to you, brethren, the same Gospel that I proclaimed to you which you also received, and in which you are now standing… [present-tense passive] …by which you are also being saved…" (vs 1-2). That's a very important thing, because this is present-tense passive. It shows conversion is a process. Conversion and salvation is something that God is working with us. It's not conveyed that way in the King James.

Let's come to 1-John 3. Of the King James translation, this is perhaps one of the most difficult ones to understand. I'm not going to spend much time in it. Let me read it in the King James first. Here is where the Protestants get their claim that once you're saved, you cannot sin regardless of what you do. Sin is always sin—is it not? The King James translates it 'sin is the transgression of the law.' It should be translated 'sin is practicing lawlessness.' That defines it more than just the law, because that includes all the add-ons that human beings do to the Word of God.

1-John 3:8 (KJV): "He that committeth… [the 'eth' is a present-tense participle; the one who is committing sin is of the devil] …sin is of the devil; for the devil sins… [continually] …from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is born of God…" (vs 8-9). That's why in the appendices in the Bible in Its Original Order we have: What Does It Mean to Be Born Again? and What Does It Mean to Be Born of God?. They believe when you're baptized, you're born again. That's not what it says here.

Verse 9, (KJV): "Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin…" You read the rest of 1-John, you find he talks about if we sin; if you see a brother sin not a sin unto death, so this would be directly contradictory of his own writings if that were absolutely the case.

"…for his seed… [the seed of the Father] …remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (v 9).

Here's the proper translation, because it's talking about practicing lawlessness or sin or practicing righteousness: Verse 8, (FV): "The one who practices sin is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the beginning…. [showing the movement contained in the Greek] …For this purpose the Son of God appeared that He might destroy the works of the devil. Everyone who has been begotten… [1-Pet. 1 says we have been begotten again; that's when we receive the Holy Spirit of God.] …by God does not practice sin…" (vs 8-9).

We do sin; we do need forgiveness, but we can't live in sin. We can't practice it. "…because His seed of begettal is dwelling within him, and he is not able to practice sin because he has been begotten by God" (v 9).

How does that work? You all know in your lives if you sin, because 1-John 2:1: "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And yet, if anyone does sin… [How could that be if it's impossible to sin if you're born again?] …we have an Advocate with the Father; Jesus Christ the Righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (vs 1-2).

How does that work? If we sin—if we don't recognize it and repent of it—God will keep working with us and bring it to our attention one way or theother to lead us to repentance so we cannot be sinning! And here's how it's done:

John 14:15: "If you love Me, keep the commandments—namely, My commandments." There a certain structure in the Greek that emphasizes that as an emphatic thing—namely Mine. So, you can take what He says here, you can apply it to the Old Testament and the New Testament.

There are some expressions in here like that. We tried the best we could, led by God's Spirit, to make it as accurate as we can, to make it as meaningful as we can. I'm very happy that Sam and Cathy are here and that I can share a little bit with them concerning it. We're very happy for all the work that your father did in working at it and the different things that he did and all the writings that he had. He contributed an awful lot.

It just shows that if God wants it done, He will have it done. I'm the least of anyone to undertake it. But when I understood what was happening to the Word of God with the Inclusive New Testament—remember things that I brought out about that? That was put together by the committee that was supposed to be one of those big mucky-muck committees in translating the Bible. They had feminists, they had homosexuals and they all had their input.

The homosexuals and the feminists wanted to have a Bible that would de-emphasize the patriarchal or the masculine emphasis of God. So, they changed the Son of man to the human one. They changed many of the masculine references of pronouns—personal pronouns, relative pronouns—to something other than that. The one that really got me was the one that they said, 'The New Testament is mostly metaphors, so we have designed a new metaphorical word for the Father.' They translated it Father/Mother. Hello! When I read that I was about halfway done with the New Testament and I said in a prayer to God, 'I'm going to finish the New Testament.' If we let that stand, God is going to judge us—is He not? Yes, indeed!

Those are just a few of the things that were some of the motivation with it, but I consider myself the least of anyone to do it and all the credit and glory goes to God and I'm sure that your father would have said the same thing, had he had the opportunity to do it himself.

Let's talk today a little bit about the Word of God. Acts 17 is something that applies to all human beings; this is why God does not want a hierarchy, He wants overseership. He does not want a monolithic organization where men are put between God and those He is dealing with.

This is why we always need to remember: our relationship is first with God the Father and Jesus Christ, not the corporate minister charging in on his white horse to solve every problem. Can't be done. We need the relationship with God. He alone can lead us. He alone can guide us. Furthermore, did He not make every one of us? Yes, He did! We are His workmanship. You can read that in Psa. 119.

How many have seen the Parthenon? Here are the philosophers, the intelligent people. Of course, western civilization is based upon Greek philosophy, which came from Babylon and Persia and then into Greece.

Here is Paul after they said they want to hear from him. Acts 17:22: "Then Paul stood in the center of Mar's Hill and said, 'Men, Athenians, I perceive that in all things you are very reverent to deities. For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your veneration, I also found an altar on which was inscribed, "To an unknown God"… [They didn't want to miss out on any. They wanted to have all these pagan gods be on their side.] …So then, He Whom you worship in ignorance is the one that I proclaim to you. He is the God Who made the world and all things that are in it. Being the Lord of heaven and earth, He does not dwell in temples made by hands" (vs 22-24). Right there on the Parthenon and who are etched and engraved in stone right at the top of it—Zeus, Mercury, Athena, all of them.

Verse 24: "Nor is He served by the hands of men, as though He needs anything, for He gives to all life and breath and all things. And He made of one blood all the nations of men to dwell upon all the face of the earth, having determined beforehand their appointed times and the boundaries of their dwelling; In order that they might seek the Lord… [God has given free moral agency whether we will or not. That applies to every one of us.] …if perhaps they might feel after Him and might find Him; though truly, He is not far from each one of us'" (vs 24-27). Have you ever had God intervene in your life in a way that you know that God did so? Yes, indeed!

Verse 28: "For in Him… [We all need God! We all need Christ! We all need the Holy Spirit of God because we are incomplete.] …For in Him we live… [He has given us life] …and move… [everything about us He gave to us] …and have our being…" This is why we have the Word of God.

God is so great that when men told God, 'Go away, leave us alone,' He went away and left them alone. But He also sent prophets and He also sent His Word. So, today we have the Word of God.

Let's see what Jesus said that Word is. This is why when you read the Bible something happens in your mind and with your thoughts that does not happen when you are reading any other book because it's by the power of God.

John 6:63: "It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing…." We have thousands' years-old testimony to that: mummies in Egypt. They took nothing with them, the thieves did.

"…The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life" (v 63). No other writings of men can do that. This is why God sent His Word.

As we've covered before, we find in Rev. 4 and 5 that God has seven eyes, Spirits that go throughout the whole earth seeking for those who are seeking Him. That's why, when a person gets out all alone, maybe on a mountain top or something and they see the vastness and the beauty of the mountains that God has created and they say, 'Oh, God, what a wonderful creation. I need Your help; my life is a mess.' Then He creates circumstances to begin to answer that. This is why He's given His Word.

We just read that the words "…are spirit and they are life." Now let's see what Paul says. Ernest Martin in his writings quoted this quite a bit.

2-Timothy 3:15: "And that from a child you have known the Holy Writings, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus." Remember, wherever Paul went the only thing they had—and that's why he started in the synagogues—was the Old Testament. If you want an interesting Bible study some time, begin reading through Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and the Psalms. Then you can include the Law. Ask yourself: How did Paul use these to preach Christ? About His crucifixion he probably used Isa. 53 and Psa. 22. To show that He was the One that Moses prophesied to come: Deut. 18.

"…make you wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture… [each and every one] …is God-breathed…" (vs 15-16). The literal word there is 'theos pneuma.'; 'pneuma' is spirit. 'The words that I speak they are spirit and they are life.'

Verse 16: "All Scripture is God…" (v 16). To translate it is awkward in English, so it's difficult—is God-spirited. There is spiritual value to the Word of God all the way from Genesis to Revelation. There's also necessary all of the chronologies, those that you start reading and you get bored and can't pronounce, you skip them over. They're important to establish that Jesus is/was the Christ.

Let's look at some other things concerning the Word of God. In 1-Corinthians 2 it shows how God conveys His knowledge to us through studying, through praying, through His Spirit. The last part of 1-Cor. 1 tells us that God has called the weak of the world to confound those who are wise. Just think of what it would be if you walked up to some senator or some governor or to some president and announced to him—and he would think this would be very presumptuous, but it would be true—'Sir, I would like you to know that God has called me as part of His plan to rule over this world and you will be demoted.' True, but unacceptable.

1-Corinthians 2:9: "But according as it is written, 'The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard… [This comes out of the Old Testament, Isa. 64] …neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.'" Of course, that's the whole thing it needs to be. Here's a real principle for us to always remember and understand: Law does not create love; love creates law! God is love and He has given law. You need the two together. If you want a perfect example of something where you have law with no love, all you need to do is look at radical Islam: hatred, killing and every evil under the sun.

"…for those who love Him…. [that comes first] …But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit…" (vs 9-10). That's how we understand things in the Bible. That's why as you read along and maybe you've gone over some Scriptures many times and all of a sudden something happens with your understanding. That's God's Spirit working in you, giving you understanding. You say to yourself, 'I never thought of that.'

 "…for the Spirit searches all things—even the deep things of God" (v 10). That's what He wants us to learn, especially since we have the whole Bible now. He wants us to learn

• as much about His plan
• as much about Him
• as much about Jesus Christ
• as much about what He is going to do

Especially when we look on our televisions and we can see it. The nations are raging, just in a rage. Look what has happened in Egypt here this last ten days. Need to know the deep things of God, especially while there's enough peace and we can do it.

"…for the Spirit searches all things—even the deep things of God. For who among men understands the things of man except by the spirit of man which is in him? In the same way also, the things of God no one understands except by the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of the world… [which comes from the prince of the power of the air who is Satan the devil] …but the Spirit that is of God, so that we might know the things graciously given to us by God" (vs 10-12). That's the whole basis of the Word of God.

Now let's look at some other things concerning the Word of God. A lot of it you find in the Psalms. Psa. 90 is actually a Psalm written by Moses; a prayer of Moses, the man of God. Moses really had a very difficult life. This is the first Psalm in the fourth book of Psalms.

Psalm 90:1: "O LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting You are God" (vs 1-2).

Think about how great that is. To the world we're nothing, foolish. But to God, He loves us. We're part of the plan that God had designed way back before the earth was ever made. He is God from everlasting to everlasting.

Verse 3: "You turn man over to destruction, and say, 'Return, you children of men.'" Every time you have a trial or difficulty, know all things are going to work together for good to those who love God. God loves you and it helps you come back to God. Have you ever had someone come up to you and have a nice little discussion with you and told you that really in this area you have left God? What do you do? You go to God and repent! God has sent that individual to bring it to your attention because you haven't paid attention to God's Spirit nudging you enough, so now God in His mercy sends someone to help you with it. If you repent, God accepts you. Then we have this quote back in 2-Pet. 3:

Verse 4: "For a thousand years in Your sight are as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night."

Let's look at some other things. Psalm 145 is really a fantastic Psalm. I've been going through and reading the Psalms again, so if I have a number of Psalms in here that's the reason why. This tells us our relationship with God. Put in your notes there Matt. 11:25 to the end of the chapter, Christ came to reveal the Father!

Remember this: in the Old Testament the Father is only revealed as the Most High God. Melchizedek was priest of the Most High God! Where there are references to the Lord being a Father, in many cases, not all, it's a prophecy for Israel being restored in the future and that's when Jesus Himself will become a Father because He will be married to the Church and they will bring children into the Kingdom of God.

Psalm 145:1: "I will extol You, my God, O King; and I will bless Your name forever and ever." Think about that because the New Testament, especially Revelation the last couple chapters bring in the ages of eternity.
Verse 2: "Every day I will bless You… [What does this tell us we need to do every day? Pray every day—doesn't it? Yes!] …and I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable" (vs 2-3).

Let me just interject one thing here. You are all going to receive this sermon that I did last week, which is entitled God, Creation and Sand. Remember what He told Isaac and Abraham after the final testing. He said, 'In blessing I will bless and in multiplying I will multiply and your seed shall be like the stars of heaven and the sand on the seashore.'

Have you ever seen the glory of sand? There's a man, Dr. Greenberg and he lives in Hawaii. He's invented some really good microscopes. He has taken pictures of the grains of sand and they are like little jewels. You know the sand that you don't want in your house? That stuff which ruins car's engines? Clogs up your noses? How many have been in a sandstorm? Some of you have. It is absolutely phenomenal. So, instead of sending out a CD, we're sending out the DVD so you can see the pictures. These are not the high resolution ones. When you see this, if God gives glory to little itty-bitty specks of sand and He has called us to glory, think what that is going to be!

If you would get down into the atoms in a grain of sand, that would even be marvelous beyond that, because everything in the whole creation tells about God. We may not get the message, but it does.

I was watching a documentary, and it was showing about North America and the Rocky Mountains. You can tell that they were turned straight up, 14,000 feet right where they were taking the picture there. I was thinking, I wonder how God did that. What a fantastic thing that God has done! Yet this, it's just what we would call the physical part of the earth. God has called us to greater things.

Verse 4: "One generation shall praise Your works to another…" Read the book of Ecclesiastes. One generation comes and doesn't know what the one did before. That which has been is that which shall be and that which is going to be has already been done, etc.

"…and shall declare Your mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious splendor of Your majesty and of Your wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of Your awesome works; and I will declare Your greatness" (vs 4-6).

This is what we are to do in preaching the Gospel:

• yes, we're to preach against sin
• yes, we're to preach the Truth
• also, we are to preach the greatness of God

because every human being feels inadequate, sometime or other, especially when trouble comes.

Verse 7: "They shall pour forth the memory of Your great goodness and shall sing of Your righteousness. The LORD is gracious…" (vs 7-8). What is the basis of the New Testament? The grace of God! The grace of God means you have a personal relationship with Him. He has reached down and called you. He has reached down and saved you. God did—no church, no minister, no man—God did! Then He let's you know He has other people He is dealing with, called His church.

Verse 8: "The LORD is gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love…. [the next verse brings us back to Acts 17]: …The LORD is good to all…" (vs 8-9).

• Even the atheists have breath—don't they?
• Even the atheists eat food—don't they?
• Even the atheists' body keeps functioning—don't they?

Even though they have rejected and ridiculed God! We wouldn't be that patient if someone pulled some of the things on us like people pull on God.

Verse 9: "The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. All Your works shall praise You, O LORD; and Your saints shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom and talk of Your power To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom… [So we are being called into something that God has been working on forever.] …and Your dominion endures through all generations" (vs 9-13).

Track 2: or Download

You all know these Scriptures: Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God… [space] …created the heavens… [space] …and the earth"—giving a flow of time.

Then we have John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God"—and nothing came into being that He did not create.

Hebrews 1:1: "God Who spoke to the fathers at different times in the past and in many ways by [through] the prophets, has spoken to us in these last days by His Son Whom He has appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the worlds" (vs 1-2)—all things were created.

'Whom all things were created' (Col 1) and 'and upholds all things by the Word of His power' (Heb. 1). That's an amazing thing! The whole Bible is structured around that. The whole Bible being inspired by the mind of God—God-breathed—means that there are layers and layers of meaning as we put the whole Bible together. That's one advantage of having the seven divisions of the Bible:

• Law
• Prophets
• Writings or Psalms
• Gospel and Acts

That's right in the middle, followed by:

• General Epistles
• Epistles of Paul
• Revelation

God has been from everlasting to everlasting.

Let's look at a few things concerning God's Law. What did Jesus say? One of the first things He proclaimed—which is contrary to one of the first things you may hear when you walk into a Protestant Church: 'Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come to fulfill. Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law.'

The Law is eternal! Someone sent me an article about a man who said it's dangerous to read the Bible and take it literally, because it says you're to take out certain people and stone them. This is an argument that is a 'straw-man,' because Israel was a physical nation within a physical geographical area that God established for them. All nations were given capital punishment laws (Gen. 9). If someone takes a man's life, you will take his life.

The New Covenant, all the death penalty, which goes with a physical sovereign nation, did not pass to the Church. That's called the administration of death. But in a physical society, if the death penalty were administered for those who commit serious capital crimes, this is how God said you will keep your physical population from becoming overwhelmed with crime.

For the Church, it is not a single nation in a single geographical place, it goes to all the world. You cannot have two sovereigns within one geographical nation. I bring to your attention Sharia law. That belongs with the Muslims wherever they are. They bring it, it's not like a religion where the religion of Christianity, even in the world—sometimes they did, sometimes they didn't—took to themselves the administration of death.

The New Testament is an administration of life. So, when we read the Old Testament and we read the laws where someone was to be put to death because of child molestation or kidnapping or murder, they would come to the judges—sound a little bit like today?—and whatever the judges would determine, that's what would be carried out.

Today we don't do that. The Church's greatest legislative ability toward people is disfellowshipment. That's it! When people come and read these things in the Old Testament, they say, 'Oh, well. You can't take it literally.' Much of the Psalms have to do with spiritual things.

It's very interesting. After the Ark was captured by the Philistines because of Eli, Hophni and Phineas. They all died on one day, just like God said, the Philistines took the Ark and Dagon fell down three times. They had mice and hemorrhoids, what a combination. They wanted to get rid of those, so they made some golden mice and golden hemorrhoids and put it in a cart and put the Ark of the Covenant in it and pointed it toward Jerusalem and said, 'Go!'

It came to Kirjath Jearim and it stayed there for twenty-some years in the house of Abinadab, who was a Levite. Then David wanted to bring the Ark back to Jerusalem and they tried to bring it by a cart and Uzzah put his hand up to steady it and he was zapped because no one but a Levite was to touch it. So, David got back to Jerusalem, licked his wounds and he did what he should have done the first time. He conferred with the priests and Levites and they said, 'We should carry it.'

Since there was no temple there and the tabernacle was up in Gibeon, and it remained up in Gibeon until the temple was finished by Solomon. David built a special house in which to put a tent or tabernacle for the Ark of the Covenant to be housed in. He had Asaph and the other Levites to minister there. When David would bring his Psalms, he would come and give them to Asaph and he would also sing before God right in front of this little tent.

Psalm 63:1 gives us a really tremendous inspiration of what our attitude should be. "O God, You are my God, earnestly I will seek You! My soul thirsts for You. My flesh longs for You, as in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see Your power and Your glory—as I have seen You in the sanctuary" (vs 1-2).

What does that tell us? David probably saw an outline of God! The sanctuary is where the Ark of the Covenant was. He would be there bringing his Psalms and singing and praising God. One time he saw Him there. I think that's why he wrote this Psalm. It's so inspiring.

Verse 3: "Because Your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips When I remember You upon my bed and meditate in You in the night watches" (vs 3-6).

Here's another thing that God will do with everyone: There will be times when you can't sleep at night. You're going to be thinking on God. You're going to be thinking about your sins. You're going to be thinking about what you need to do to correct those. That's the time to get out of bed and go pray. God is dealing with you just like He did with David.

Verse 7: "Because You have been my help… [For a study go through all the Psalms and look up help and helper. There's one phrase: an every present help in time of trouble.] …therefore, in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice. My soul follows hard after You; Your right hand upholds me" (vs 7-8).

Let's come to Acts 15. Why on earth am I going to Acts 15? You'll find out when we get there! Remember it was the dispute concerning circumcision or not circumcision. Notice how James made the decision. After they had got all done explaining about how that circumcision is now of the heart and the great works that God did with the Gentiles, etc.

Acts 15:13: "And after they were silent, James answered and said, 'Men, brethren, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take out a people for His name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, as it is written, "After these things, I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David which has fallen… [Amos 9] …and its ruins I will build again, and will set it up"'" (vs 13-16).

We, as the Church, follow what we find in Psa. 63. This needs to be our attitude as if we were in front of the sanctuary, but greater still we have received of the Holy Spirit so we can pray directly to God the Father in His sanctuary above as shown in Rev. 4 and 5. Think of that! So, we are connected to God.

I've seen you in the sanctuary, Psalm 63:7: "Because You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice. My soul follows hard after You; Your right hand upholds me. But those who seek my life to destroy it shall go into the depths of the earth" (vs 7-9). That's a final way that you pray for your enemy. You pray for your enemy:

• to be converted
• to leave you alone
• to go away and if not, 'God judge them and take care of them according to Your will'

Jesus said, 'Pray for your enemies.' Verse 10: "They shall fall by the sword; they shall be a serving for jackals. But the king shall rejoice in God; everyone who swears by Him shall glory, but the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped" (vs 10-11).

Let's look at some things concerning the laws of God. Let's see how great they are. Grace defines our relationship with God. When you are under grace you have that direct connection with God's Spirit. There are two aspects to the Spirit of God (Rom. 8):

• the Spirit of Christ
• Spirit of Him Who is dwelling within Christ, or the Spirit of the Father

Jesus said, 'If you love Me, you will keep My words and My Father will love you and WE (Jesus and the Father) will dwell in you.' That's how we have the direct connection to the sanctuary in heaven above. Remember Jesus said, 'The heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.

Psalm 19:7: "The law of the LORD is perfect… [But it grates on human nature—doesn't it? Yes! It's perfect, because God is love and law comes from love. God is perfect and so God gives us a perfect law.] …restoring the soul…"

Think about when you go through a traumatic experience and God has preserved you. I remember when I rolled my car going back home from Los Angeles. It rolled and landed upright and I didn't have my seat belt on and I wasn't thrown around. It landed on all four, straight up. Another ten feet I would have gone into a car coming 70 miles an hour the other way. The first thing I said when I opened the car door and got out, I said, 'Thank you, God, for saving me from my stupidity,' because I did something I shouldn't have done. I was trying to block off the sun and stuff something up so it wouldn't come in on my face. The front wheel tire went over the edge of the road. "…restoring the soul…"—that's how I felt.

There are also times that God deals with us with the combination of

• His Word
• His Spirit
• His law
• our circumstances

that we're praying to God and God just deals with us. The tears flow and we thank God for His mercy and kindness—right? Yes, that's what it's talking about here.

"…the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple… [and do we need the wisdom of God] …The precept of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes…. [Gives you understanding of right and wrong/good and evil.] …The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether…. [ notice the value of it]: …More to be desired than gold, yea, much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned…" (vs 7-11).

You get this little inner voice—all of you have that little inner voice—don't you? You talk to yourself—don't you? Don't you think to yourself? Yes! Whenever I do something that's not right I say, 'Fred, you're stupid'; and that is true.

Verse 11: "Moreover by them Your servant is warned… [God keeps you back from trouble] …in keeping them there is great reward…. [here's what it does, because all human beings are subject to doing things that are not right]: …Who can understand his errors?…." (vs 11-12).

If you don't have a standard of right and a standard of wrong based on the Word of God, you'll never know your errors. You'll go along and you'll be doing things, you think you're doing right.

"…Oh, cleanse me from my secret faults" (v 12). Let's understand this. In the New Testament God is called the heart knowing God! Only God can know what's in the mind of any individual. Only God! That's why some of the nicest people on the outside turn out to be the most evil, because you can't read their minds. Wives can guess pretty much what husbands want to do because they've been married. But you still don't know what's in his mind.

We need to understand our errors and be cleansed from our secret faults, v 13: "And keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins… [oh, oh, don't do that] …do not let them rule over me; then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression."

What does this do for your relationship with God? Verse 14: "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart… ['Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.'] …be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer."

I believe there are five mays here. I think I covered this one time before. Psalm 20:1: "[#1]May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble, the name of the God of Jacob set you on high. [#2]May He send you help from the sanctuary, and strengthen you out of Zion. [#3]May He remember all your offerings and accept your burnt sacrifice" (vs 1-3). We can say, all of our prayers today.

Verse 4: "[#4]May He grant you according to your own heart and fulfill all your plans. We will shout for joy in your victory, and in the name of our God we will set up banners; [#5]may the LORD fulfill all your prayers" (vs 4-5).

You get a little discouraged, you open to Psa. 20 and you read that and you start praying and you start claiming those promises.

Psa. 119 is really a fantastic Psalm. It has 22 sections of eight verses each. In the Hebrew every verse starts out with a letter of the alphabet that is listed at the top of each section. I've often wondered this, and I think it's probably so: Could this also be a prophecy of Jesus' attitude toward the laws, commandments, statutes and judgments of God while He was on earth? Let's read some of them. Let's see how this ties in with the Word of God. Let's see how we can apply this with Psa. 19 about cleansing our way and pointing out our errors and what we do with our life. What I'm talking about in all of these things are New Testament teachings about overcoming.

Psalm 119:1: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD. Blessed are they who keep His testimonies and who seek Him with the whole heart" (vs 1-2). What a way to start out. Just take every one of these verses and study it through, read it, think about it, pray about it. This will help you a great deal.

Verse 3: "They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways."

• His way is the way ofTruth
• His way is the way of righteousness
• His way is the way ofgoodness

Verse 4: "You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently…. [Now he sees his own human shortcomings]: …O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes! Then I shall not be ashamed when I have respect unto all Your commandments. I will praise You with uprightness of heart when I have learned Your righteous judgments. I will keep Your statutes; O forsake me not utterly" (vs 4-8). That introduces Psa. 119.

Next section, v 9: "With what shall a young man cleanse his way?.…" Young man, young woman. Remember, at the end of the word woman is a man. As you're going in the doors, make sure you read the one that says, 'wo man.'

"…By taking heed according to Your Word." All the way through, you'll have

• commandments
• judgments
• statutes
• precepts
• word
• law

Verse 10: "With all my heart I have sought You; O let me not wander from Your commandments. Your Word I have laid up in my heart, so that I might not sin against You" (vs 10-11).

What does John write about in quoting God that God does to us with His Spirit in our minds? We have to apply ourselves to learn it and do it, that is write His laws and commandments in our hearts and in our minds—right? Here it is right here. You can take the things from the New Testament and apply it here in the book of Psalms. This is why Paul told Timothy that 'you have the Holy writings that are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.'

When you're studying, v 18 is a prayer we all need to pray, many, many times: "Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law." Tie that together with what we covered in 1-Cor.2 how God reveals them to us. This is why we study. This is why we pray. This is why we do what we do.

Here's a verse you've heard many times over, v 97: "O how love I Your law! It is my meditation all the day…. [that ties in with Psa. 1, 'blessed is the man…'] …Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me" (vs 97-98).

Verse 105: "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Who is the Light for us, but Jesus Christ? What did Jesus say? If the light that is in you is righteousness, then your whole body will be full of light. But if the light that is in you is darkness, then your whole body is full of darkness.

Verse 142: "Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is the Truth." Do another study on Truth. Do the one on help and helper and do a study on Truth. See that is what we need to continually have as the standard of it. What did Jesus say of Himself? 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'

Verse 151: "You are near, O LORD, and all Your commandments are Truth."

• the law is perfect
• it is Truth
• God made it for us
• God gave it to us

Verse 160: "Your Word is true from the beginning, and every one of Your righteous ordinances endures forever." What did Jesus say? 'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Word shall not pass away.'

Verse 123 frames our whole attitude and you put in there, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, all your soul, all your being, your neighbor as yourself and the brethren as Christ has loved us.' Remember this: When everything else around you fails—you'll have a time or two in your lifetime when that happens—remember that God loves you! That will bring you back to God and you won't let circumstances overwhelm you.

Verse 123: "My eyes fail for Your salvation… [looking, looking, looking, wanting about God's salvation] …and for the Word of Your righteousness. Deal with Your servant according to Your mercy, and teach me Your statutes. I am Your servant... [We can put in there: I am your child—are we not? We are to be the sons and daughters of God.] …give me understanding that I may know Your testimonies" (vs 123-125).

Here's something true for today. Don't be upset about the news and what is happening. It's going to be getting worse. It's not going to get better. We don't know what's going to happen but surely we can read about what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah and what we have been doing in this nation and in Europe, you know that sooner or later judgment is going to come.

We need to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves and stay out of the line of fire. That doesn't mean we compromise anything concerning the Word of God.

• we need the protection of God
• we need the help of God.

The way that is going to come is because we love God and we work at it.

Verse 126: "It is time for the LORD to work… [I pray that every day for God's people, pray that every day for the churches and the ministry.] …for they have made void Your law." Around the world they're doing that more and more.

Verse 127: "Therefore, I love Your commandments above gold—yea, above fine gold." Ties right in with Psa. 19. Doesn't it?

Verse 128: "Therefore, I esteem all Your precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way." That gives you a good guidepost how you're going to survive in this evil world and yet grow in grace and knowledge.

That's how the Word of God is spirit and is life!

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, a Faithful Version (except where noted)

Scriptural References:

• 1-Corinthians 15:1-2
• 1-John 3:8-9
• 1-John 2:1-2
• John 14:15
• Acts 17:22-28
• John 6:63
• 2-Timothy 3:15-16
• 1-Coriunthians 2:9-12
• Psalm 90:1-4
• Psalm 145:1-13
• Genesis 1:1
• John 1:1
• Hebrews 1:1-2
• Psalm 63:1-8
• Acts 15:13-16
• Psalm 63:7-11
• Psalm 19:7-14
• Psalm 20:1-5
• Psalm 119:1-11, 18, 97-98, 105, 142, 151, 160, 123-128

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• 1-Peter 1
• Psalm 119
• Revelation 4, 5
• Isaiah 53
• Psalm 22
• Deuteronomy 18
• 1-Corinthians 1
• Isaiah 64
• 2-Peter 3
• Matthew 11:25-30
• Ecclesiastes
• Colossians 1
• Genesis 9
• Amos 9
• Romans 8
• Psalm 1

Also referenced:

Books:

• The Original Bible Restored by Dr. Ernest Martin
• Restoring the Original Bible by Dr. Ernest Martin
• The New Testament in Its Original Order by Fred R. Coulter

From The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version:

• Appendix P: What Does it Mean to Be Born Again?
• Appendix Q: What Does it Mean to Be Born of God?

Sermon: God, Creation and Sand

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 7-16-13
Formatted: bo—7-17-13

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