Created Relationships

Divorce & Remarriage #2

Fred R. Coulter—October 10, 1998

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[Feast Of Tabernacles - Day 6, 1998]

Let's go to the beginning and let's look at the creation of man; let's look at Adam and Eve for just a minute, and we'll look at it from a little bit different perspective. Let's understand some very important things that God did to have a relationship with mankind. Mankind is the one who chose not to have the relationship!

After God made all of the animals, created everything and made the environment—everything necessary for human habitation—then God said,

Genesis 1:26: "And God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness…" That's quite a blessing to be created in this particular way and in this particular fashion, as compared to all the animals and the rest of the creation.

We'll just interject here the rest of the story—being the rest of the Bible from the beginning of God's plan to the end—that we will be after the God kind. If we're going to be after the God kind, then we have to have a relationship.

Too many things have gotten totally out of hand with human relationships, church relationship and relationships with God. People want to do it their way rather than God's way. Notice what God gave all of mankind. You think about this in type what is going to be in God giving the eternal inheritance to us who enter into the Kingdom of God. Here's what He gave mankind:

"…and let them have dominion over… [that is let them be structured over and to rule over] …the fish of the sea and over the fowl of heaven and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that crawls upon the earth" (v 26).

God gave the whole earth as a wonderful present and blessing to all of mankind. We need to really understand what God did and how He desires this relationship. That's what God created. We are created to have a relationship with God. Keep that in mind.

Verse 27: "And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female. And God blessed them…. [God wanted us to be blessed so that we would develop in this relationship] …And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it… [God revealed in this, part of His plan; what He had in store for mankind] …and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of heaven and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.' And God said, 'Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree upon which is the fruit of a tree bearing seed—to you they shall be for food. And to every animal of the earth and to every fowl of heaven and to all the living creatures that crawl upon the earth, every green plant is given for food.' And it was so" (vs 27-30).

That's true today. Even today in eating meat, when we eat meat, we eat what the animal has eaten, which is grass or herbs or whatever it is.

Verse 31: "And God saw everything that He had made, and indeed, it was exceedingly good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day."

In order to have this relationship with mankind, God created from the beginning the Sabbath Day. This was a day for a special relationship day where God would put His presence in the Day. It was literally so at the beginning. God put His presence in the Day, He blessed the Day, He sanctified the Day—that is to set it aside because in the sixth day—not the seventh day.

Genesis 2:2: "And by the beginning of the seventh day God finished His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work, which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made" (vs 2-3).

That is coming right up toward the beginning of the seventh day everything was done. God blessed the seventh day and that is part of the grace of God. The Sabbath is part of the created structure, which God has given for this relationship based upon grace, which He created from the beginning. In it He rested from all His work, which God created and made.

God "...formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being" (v 7).

God also put the two trees in the Garden of Eden: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (v 9).

Verse 15: "And the LORD God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden…"—a perfect, wonderful place to live for a relationship with God!

After creating Adam, God wanted him to know and understand that being created he was to obey. But this was not a hierarchical thing that God did, it was a created relationship and all created relationships from God require obedience. In this created relationship there are responsibilities:

So, God said Adam was to "…dress it and keep it" (v 15) the garden. He also told Adam that he could have the freedom of eating all the trees of the garden except the one:

Verse 17: "But you shall not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for in the day that you eat of it in dying you shall surely die."

In the eating of this tree it would destroy that relationship that God wanted to have, that God created to be. Let's also understand, this is part of the covenant that God had with Adam.

• there were laws
• there were commandments
• there was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that God said you shall not eat thereof

Also, we understand with this thing that Adam didn't die instantly, but we know from Rom. 5 that when they ate of it, the law of sin and death was imputed to them as part of the judgment because of the eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

We're going to understand why. What happened with Lucifer? When he fell, he broke that created relationship with God! He wanted to become something that he was not, should not and could not be!

Likewise, man is given the choice whether he will follow in that relationship with God or not. In the beginning Adam and Eve were neither mortal nor immortal; they were in-between. They were not subject unto death until they ate of the tree.

Let's read the rest of the story, v 18: "And the LORD God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a helper compatible for him.'…. [in order to bring this point home, God did this]: …And out of the ground the LORD God had formed every animal of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them…." (vs 18-19)

In this relationship, in order to have the relationship, God not only created the man, but gave him a language, gave him a mind, intelligence and understanding. So, when He brought the animals by for Adam to name, He was teaching two things:

• to name them
• that there was nothing in all the creation for him that was compatible and suitable for him

Before God made Eve He brought home this important lesson to Adam so that Adam would understand that in order to be complete he had to have a woman, a wife, to have that relationship.

"…And whatever Adam called each living creature, that became its name. And Adam gave names to all the livestock, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field, but there was not found a helper compatible for Adam. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall over Adam, and he slept. And He took one of his ribs, and afterward closed up the flesh underneath. Then the LORD God made… [built in the Hebrew] …the rib (which He had taken out of the man) into a woman and He brought her to the man" (vs 19-22).

God was teaching another lesson in relationships. This lesson is—this is true—this is a created relationship. It is not a hierarchy. It's not superiority/inferiority. It is a created relationship that God intended from the very beginning.

Verse 23: "And Adam said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man.' For this reason shall a man leave his father and his mother… [one relationship] …and shall cleave to his wife… [that's another personal relationship] …—and they shall become one flesh" (vs 23-24).

That's what God wants it to be for us. We're going to see that the ultimate that God wants is for it to be one spirit. This is a created relationship.

God made the woman the 'weaker' vessel. That is also a created reality of life—we need to understand that. God did not make women inferior. He made them in the created relationship to be subject to their husbands. That's the way God has designed it. You can argue all you want, but that's exactly what God has done and that's what God expects.

Out of the husband and wife relationship—or the man and wife relationship—then there were to be children born. That likewise is a created relationship! It is not a hierarchy. It is a created relationship, which is supposed to be based on love, and the children are born as a result of that love. There is to be care. There is to be concern.

This is important to really understand and grasp in the whole understanding of the relationship that God wants with us today, and wants with us through all eternity. What we are going to teach the people when we are kings and priests in the Millennium, we are going to have that kind of relationship with them in a very open way, like God intended to have with Adam and Eve at the beginning. In the beginning God was in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.

When they sinned, we saw, they had to be put out. We saw what that sin did. Then we have also a removal from God, which then severs that relationship or distances that relationship. Then when Cain and Abel were born, there was another created relationship. Each of them had a responsibility to God as well as to mother and father. That is also a created relationship that God intended.

Then we saw a breaking and severing of that created relationship because Cain did not want to obey God and follow Him and do what God wanted. He wanted to do his own way and his own thing.

On the other hand, Abel wanted to love God and serve Him and he did what God wanted. Cain killed Abel and that, again, severed another relationship—the brotherly relationship. We're going to understand that that's part of the problem that we have in the world today. And, yes, that's the deep problem that we also have in the Church of God today. We're going to see that what God is laying upon us is a great and tremendous responsibility, because of the relationship that He wants with us.

God created man and woman; He created the Sabbath Day; He told them to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. He had to remove them one step because of sin. Then because of further sin, Cain had to be removed yet another step and put into the land of wandering.

Yet, God was still on the earth and those who had a relationship with Him were the patriarchs listed in Gen. 5. Because man broke that relationship totally, corrupted God's way, became evil and gave themselves over to Satan the devil! Satan the devil was the one who broke that relationship with God by going against the created structure that God made. This is something that we need to understand.

The whole world followed Satan the devil and destroyed all relationships with all human beings and the whole world was wicked and evil and corrupt and the earth was filled with violence and God destroyed it. And except it were that Noah found grace in the sight of God, we wouldn't be here today.

When we come to the other side of the Flood, there is another further removal of God. God no longer is on the earth in a permanent place in the Garden of Eden. God is now part of the time in heaven and part of the time on earth, and reveals Himself only to whom He wills.

We come to Gen. 12 and God calls Abraham. Abraham went through all the things to understand the personal relationship with God. God loved Abraham and Abraham loved God, and Abraham was called 'a friend of God.' The ultimate test of that relationship—that He had with Abraham and Isaac—was a type of what God the Father was going to do with Jesus Christ. There would be:

• the love
• the obedience
• the worship of God

to the point of death! That's what Jesus Christ was going to do.

You know the story: God told Abraham, 'You take your son, your only son—your beloved son whom you love—and you take him to one of the mountains of Moriah that I tell you and you offer him there for an offering. Abraham did and Isaac did. They went and the offering took place, and God supernaturally provided the ram 'caught in the thicket' for the alternate sacrifice.

The whole lesson and the whole story was because the relationship between Abraham and God was so great and was so strong that Abraham believed God. It was 'counted to him for righteousness' and he obeyed God. Therefore, the plan of God then was sealed in that relationship between Abraham, Isaac and later in Jacob and on down to our time.

Let's understand that this is what we need to realize, not only in the lives of the patriarchs but also in our own lives, and also in the relationship with one another that God has brought us into. God has brought us into a created relationship within the Church. It is not a relationship that we have done, but a relationship that God has done.

I want you to understand how serious and how desperate the condition of the Church is today, because of breaking that relationship in so many different ways.

• by superimposing upon the Church a hierarchical system
• by superimposing upon the family a hierarchical system and calling it a hierarchy, which it is not

It is a created relationship based upon love and based upon obedience to God and to each other. That's why there's the love of God, the love of neighbor and the love of family.

James 2:23: "And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'Now. Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness'; and he was called a friend of God." Jesus calls us 'His friends, no longer servants.' Servant is a structured relationship that is not by creation! Being a friend of Christ, called of God the Father and having the Holy Spirit is a created relationship, which God has created. This is profound for us to grasp and understand. We need to change our whole, entire way of thinking in this understanding of God's relationship and our relationship with one another. This will help us solve many, many problems, once we really grasp and understand it. Abraham was called 'a friend of God.'

Verse 24: "You see, then, that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only." When we have this relationship with God, we must have the works of love and obedience to conform to that relationship!

That's a whole different view of understanding things than 'here's a law and you must do it.' It's the other way around: Here is God, here is your calling, here is what God expects you to do in love to Him and love to your neighbor and love to the brethren. Do you see how profoundly different that God's way really is?

Verse 25: "Now, in the same manner also, was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when, after receiving the messengers, she sent them out a different way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, in the same way also, faith without works is dead" (vs 25-26)—and so is a relationship! A relationship without the works of love and service is also dead!

Heb. 11 is important concerning the Feast of Tabernacles, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the offering of Isaac and so forth. That is very important that we understand this and realize why God gave the promises to Abraham and then subsequently to Isaac and Jacob. It was because of the relationship that they had!

Hebrews 11:8: "By faith Abraham, being called of God to go out into the place which he would later receive for an inheritance, obeyed and went, not knowing where he was going."

That's the way it is with the relationship with God. We trust Him in faith for everything, regardless of the circumstances around. God is always going to work it out, no question about it.

Verse 9: "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, like a foreigner, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the joint heirs of the same promise."

This has to do with the Feast of Tabernacles and our sojourn here now, and what we are going to be doing in the Millennium, in the Kingdom of God.

Verse 10: "For he was waiting for the city with the foundations of which God is the Architect and Builder." So, there would now be a place for that permanent relationship! That's what it's all about with New Jerusalem.

Verse 11: "By faith also Sarah herself received power to conceive seed, and gave birth when she was well beyond the childbearing age because she esteemed Him faithful Who had personally promised her a son. Because of this faith, there came into being from one man—and moreover, one who was reproductively dead—descendants as numerous as the stars in the heavens, and as countless as the sand on the seashore" (vs 11-12). That's all projecting forward to the plan of God!

Verse 16: "But now, on the other hand, they are aspiring to a more excellent country—that is, a heavenly one…."

In that heavenly Jerusalem there is going to be a profound, close relationship of love, understanding, obedience, cooperation, service, humility and all of those things coupled with glory and honor and riches and promise and wealth, and everything. You need to understand that comes through relationship with God!

That does not come through just a structured hierarchical thing, because God wants a spiritual relationship based on love and the family structure! That's what God is producing! When we, as the Bride of Christ, deal with the people in the Millennium, that's exactly the kind of relationship that we are going to have with them: a family relationship based upon love and the Spirit of God.

"…Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God because He has prepared a city for them…. [and Christ is preparing it right now] …By faith Abraham, when he was being tried, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son… [a type of Christ] …of whom it was said, 'In Isaac shall your Seed be called'; because he reckoned that God was able to raise him even from among the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative way" (vs 16-19).

Abraham's body was dead, reproductively speaking; Sarah's body was dead, reproductively speaking, so, God performed a supernatural miracle! Abraham counted God, because of his relationship, as a friend. He was so close with God that he knew that if Isaac died, God would raise him from the dead. It would be as though he had never died. We need to understand that. This is the kind of relationship that God wants us to have with Him, to be a very friend of God!

Let's look at the relationship God wanted to have with Israel. God did have a relationship with Israel, not as close as it was with Abraham, but nevertheless we need to look at this whole thing that God did with Israel in what is called the Old Covenant, that God desired a relationship with Israel.

Exodus 19:4—Moses went up on the mountain and this is the message that God gave him: "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings…"

Just stop and think for just a minute how absolutely carnal the response of the Israelites were, not believing God :

• after seeing all of these miracles
• after seeing the plagues brought upon Egypt
• after crossing the Red Sea
• after drinking water out of a rock
• after having manna given from heaven
• after quail given from heaven

—and they still rebelled against God!

It was really something! That's why it's really important for us to understand. The Israelites never grasped the fact that God wanted a relationship with them!

Let's see what God said He would do, v 5: "Now therefore, if you will obey My voice indeed…"

Since God is the Creator, the creation is to always obey God! Don't you believe that is true? Yet, even though He gives us free moral agency, He wants us to obey Him. What is the first commandment of all? Hear, O Israel, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your mind, and with all your soul and with all your strength! That is a relationship commandment! We are going to see that, in fact, all the Ten Commandments are relationship commandments—how to keep and hold a relationship.

"'…if you will obey My voice indeed and keep My covenant… [all aspects of it] …then you shall be a special treasure to Me … [in a special relationship] …above all people; for all the earth is Mine'" (v 5).

God is saying, 'Look, I have all the earth to give you.' This is very similar to what He told Adam and Eve: 'Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.' He's saying the same thing here to Israel.

Verse 6: "And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests… [in a special relationship] …and a Holy nation.'…."—above all the others, by a created relationship beginning with calling Abraham.

Of course, God created Abraham and then supernaturally created Isaac. Then we have Jacob and all the descendants. That's all by creation—isn't it? Didn't God create all of them? Yes, He did!

"…These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words, which the LORD commanded him. And all the people answered together and said, 'All that the Lord has said we will do.'…. (vs 6-8). You know that they had second thoughts of it a little later.

Here you examine the Ten Commandments from this light: Not only are we to obey them, but these are all designed to keep a pure and special relationship between God and His people!

• First one: no other gods
• Second one: no idols and don't worship them
• Third one: don't take God's name in vain
• Fourth one: remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy, because that is the covenant day in which God is going to fellowship with His people, a special day from creation

Then God went on and said, 'Okay, now I want you to be in a special relationship with your neighbor and here's how to keep that relationship, beginning with the family:

• Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long on the land in which the Lord your God gives you.

That is one of the relationships that Satan likes to destroy. He likes to destroy the relationships any way he can:

• between God and the individual
• between husband and wife
• between children and mother and father

This is why God gave these, to preserve the created relationship, and it is a created relationship! It is not a hierarchical structure. Then He gives all the rest of the commandments:

• don't kill
• don't commit adultery
• don't steal
• don't bear false witness
• don't covet

Then God also gave the judgments and statutes!

Exo. 24—all the people said, 'All that the Lord has said, we will do.' Then there was the offering of the covenant. The sacrifices were given and Moses sprinkled the book of the covenant, sprinkled the people. Then Israel was married to God!

Exodus 25:8, God said: "And let them make Me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them." That God would have this special relationship with the children of Israel, all the way down through their generations! That's what God desired to have.

You know the rest of the story. Let's see something very important we need to understand. The relationship with Israel was one that God intended to be based upon a marriage relationship, a created relationship, to show that this relationship was to be one without oppression, He did not desire them to have a king.

It's very important to understand that God gave them a system of judges. God would work through the judges and work with the people. Therefore, there was not great structure above the people, between the people and God!

When they sinned, yes, they would come to the priest. They would offer the sacrifice and so forth, but that was also just a facilitating thing by the priesthood in relationship to relationship with God, being married to Israel. That's what God intended. When they sinned while Moses was on the mount, again they had to be further removed from that relationship. Somehow the children of Israel just didn't want that relationship.

Isaiah 54:5: "For your Maker is your husband… [just like God created Adam and Eve, God created Israel and married Israel] …the LORD of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called."

Not only does this have to do with Israel, but this has to do with spiritual Israel being the Church. God is creating a spiritual relationship now with the Church, which is going to be profound for all eternity. In this relationship we need to learn now—today—during the Feast of Tabernacles and as we go on through the rest of the time until the return of Jesus Christ to maintain this relationship.

See how important this is? This is why all of the things that God has done are profound! Men come along and want a religion; they want a non-relationship with God; they want their 'religion and structure it the way they want to and take God's name and tag onto it and call it of God. It's not of God because they're not in a relationship with God, and they are not in a covenant relationship with God. Israel was in a covenant relationship with God and God was their husband!

Verse 6: "'For the LORD has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when you were rejected,' says your God. 'For a little moment I forsook you…" (vs 6-7). That's how God looks at it when He turns His back on Israel: "…a little moment…"

Let's see what Israel did, and here's what breaks the relationship. Just like in a marriage of physical people, fornication and adultery breaks that relationship, because that relationship, as we saw, 'they two shall become one flesh.' Sexual immorality, fornication, homosexuality and all of that breaks that relationship of one flesh—the two becoming one. This is why homosexuality is such an abomination to God, because it's going contrary to the created relationship between man and woman that God ordained.

• He ordained it be in love
• He ordained it that man is the head
• He ordained it with male and female the way that God has designed it; that they become one flesh

We're going to see it is a great 'mystery' with the Church! Paul wrote about that and that's all a part of what we're going to be doing when we're spirit beings in the Millennium.

What I want you to do, instead of thinking of it as Israel alone, think of it as about yourself and God calling you. It won't be exactly the same, but nevertheless God had to reach down and:

• call you
• bring you out of this world
• bring you to Him
• lead you to repentance
• grant you His Holy Spirit

He established this relationship with you, and then we need to ask: What are we doing with this relationship from here on.

Ezekiel 16:1: "Again the Word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. and say, "Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem, 'Your origin and your birth is of the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. And as for your birth, in the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you. And you were not salted, nor swaddled at all'"'" (vs 1-4). In other words, just a reject!

Brethren, let's understand something: God has not called us because we are the strong of the world. God has not called us because we're the intelligent or the wise, or the elite, or part of the establishment. NO! God has called us because we're weak, because we're foolish, because God is going to confound the world by converting us and changing us. Spiritually speaking, we were in the same condition.

Verse 5: "No eye pitied you, to do any of these for you, to have compassion on you. But you were thrown out into the open field because your life was despised in the day that you were born."

The Israelites were rejected and taken into slavery by the Egyptians. They were born a nation in one day, when they came out in the Exodus.

Verse 6: "And when I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you in your blood 'Live!'…."

That's what He's telling us today—LIVE! Live a physical life, and a spiritual life is ahead at the resurrection.

"…Yea, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!'" (v 6). It's the same way with us! In blood means that you're in your sins, spiritually speaking. You have to have that cleansed with the blood of Christ.

Verse 7: "I have caused you to multiply like the growth of the field, and you increased and grew up, and became exceedingly beautiful; Your breasts are formed, and your hair is grown, yet you were naked and bare. And I passed by you and looked on you, and, behold, your time was the time of love. And I spread my skirt over you and covered your nakedness….'" (vs 7-8).

He married Israel, just like in Isa. 54. In Exo. 24 when they said, 'Yes, all that the Lord has said, we will do.' Sounds very much like the covenant of a wedding! Do you faithfully promise to love and obey and cleave and cherish? Yes, I do! Do you faithfully promise to submit unto your husband as unto the Lord? Yes, I do! That's what Israel said: Yes, I will! God said, 'I will.'

"'…And I swore to you and entered into a covenant with you,' says the Lord GOD…." (v 8). Brethren, we've entered into a covenant with God! And we've entered into a covenant that only two things are going to happen to us:

• enter into the Kingdom of God
• go into the Lake of Fire

One of the two! If we don't understand the relationship that we need to have with God, then we're also going to diminish the reward that God has for us! God wants to give us great rewards. God wants to give us great blessings. But somehow our carnal nature is there and, 'Oh, no, we don't want to do this. God is just interested in thumbing down women.' Women say, 'I've got to have control of the man' and all that sort of thing. NONESENSE!

Put all that aside; that's the carnality of the world! That's not what God ever intended at all! That's not what God intended with Israel. Look at what God did to Israel. Look how much God put up with with Israel.

I tell you one thing, God is not going to put up much longer with the Church of God and with the people of God and the way that they're going and doing in destroying each other and destroying relationship with God, having doctrines and teachings which take them away from God. We're into some very difficult things here.

Verse 8: "'…And I swore to you and entered into a covenant with you,' says the Lord GOD. 'And you became Mine. And I washed you with water… [we are washed with the water by the Word] …I washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. I also clothed you with embroidered work, and I shod you with leather sandals….'" (vs 8-10).

If He did this physically for Israel, brethren, think what God is going to do spiritually for the Church.

Let's just stop right here and let's see what God is going to do. God is preparing right now the spiritual things that He's going to give to us at the resurrection that we are going to have all through the Millennium and increase beyond there through all eternity. God has called us to the greatest thing that there is. Let's start out with how people view God.

Malachi 3:13: "'Your words have been all too strong against Me,' says the LORD. 'Yet you say, "What have we spoken so strongly against You?" You have said, 'It is vain to serve God…'" (vs 13-14).

How do people say it's vain to serve the Lord? They do it very simply, by saying, 'The commandments of God are not important.' They say it is a religion. They bring in all the ways of the world. They through out the Sabbath, the Holy Days. We've seen that happen in the Church of God.

Brethren, let me tell you something. I believe that a lot of the things that are happening in the world today—in the United States today—are a direct result of the abominable behavior of the Churches of God and their relationship with God—they're destroying it!

• Where is the Church?
• Where are the people?
• Where are the ministers?
• Where is Truth?
• Where is the relationship?

All angry and hostile against God, casting away His commandments behind them! Forsaking the Sabbath! Forsaking the Holy Days, and saying how great and righteous and good 'we are.' Utterly destroying the relationship just exactly as Israel did!

(go to the next track)

Malachi 3:14: "You have said, 'It is vain to serve God; and, what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?…. [God doesn't want you to walk that way] …And now we are calling the arrogant blessed….'" (vs 14-15).

That's what has happened in the Church, they looked to the world and say, 'Oh, you're Sunday religion is fine and

• even though you reject the commandment of God
• even though you reject the Sabbath
• even though you reject the Holy Days
• even though you reject clean and unclean meats

we call you happy. Can we join you?'

"'…Yea, they that work wickedness are built up, they even tempt God, and are delivered.'…. [by Satan and this world; not by God for an eternal relationship] …Then those fearing the LORD spoke together, each man to his neighbor. And the LORD listened and heard. And a book of Remembrance was written before Him for those who feared the LORD, and for those who thought upon His name." (vs 15-16). God is writing down. 'According to your works you shall receive your reward!'

Verse 17: "'And they shall be Mine,' says the LORD of hosts, 'in the day that I will make up My own special jewels…."

God is making a crown of jewels for you today, and you're going to be part of that. This is all talking about the Millennium and your reward and your eternal destiny.

"…And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him."

You can refer right back to Abraham and Isaac. You can refer back to God the Father and Jesus Christ and raising Him from the dead and all of that.

Verse 18: "Then you shall return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God, and the one who does not serve Him."

I want you to understand that just as the curses came upon Israel for sin, so are they coming upon the Church because of sin. Just as the blessings of God came upon Israel because of the covenant and what He gave them, so the blessings will come upon the Church and the eternal reward is going to be there, because it's based upon a covenant relationship. It's not based upon a structured hierarchy. We need to understand that God has called us into a personal relationship with Him!

Ezekiel 16:11: "'And I adorned you with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon your hands and a chain on your neck. And I put a ring on your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head…. [we just saw about that crown] …And you were adorned with gold and silver; and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered work. You ate fine flour and honey and oil; and you were exceedingly beautiful. And you advanced into a kingdom. And your name went out among the nations because of your beauty; for it was perfect My splendor, which I had put on you,' says the Lord GOD" (vs 11-14).

The fullness of that was in the days of Solomon. The absolute fullness of the pinnacle of what God gave Israel! What did they do? It was perfect through 'My comeliness.' In other words, God told them, 'You are what you are because of what I did'; likewise with us today. We are what we are, and what we're going to be, because of what God is doing!

"'…which I had put on you,' says the Lord GOD. 'But you trusted in your beauty, and played the harlot because of your name, and poured out your fornications on all who passed by—on any who would have it. And you took from your clothes and adorned your high places with different colors, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor should ever be!'" (vs 14-16).

Destroyed the relationship between them and God. God had to punish them and send them off into captivity. Not only did He have to put away Israel, but then Judah played the harlot and did even worse!

Verse 44: "Behold, all who use proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, "As is the mother, so is her daughter." You are your mother's daughter, who despises her husband… [hated God] …and her sons. And you are the sister of your sisters, who despise their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. And your older sister is Samaria, she and her daughters who dwell at your left hand. And your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters'" (vs 44-47). Sodom is Judah, and Judah did far worse!

Let's see about a created relationship or a relationship that was established by choice! There was a time when the two of Elohim were neither the Father nor the Son. In the day that Jesus was begotten in the womb of Mary then one of Elohim became the Son and other became the Father. We find a prophecy of this in Psa. 2. This is also a relationship and then we're going to examine the relationship of Christ. Then we'll examine the relationship of the Church and see what we need to be doing.

Psalm 2:7: "I will declare the decree of the LORD. He has said to Me, 'You are My Son; this day I have begotten You.'"

That's the very day that the One of Elohim Who became Jesus Christ was impregnated in the womb of Mary! That established an entirely new relationship between the two of the Godhead. One is the Father; one was the Son.

Let's see how this developed, and let's see how important this was, and what a profound thing that this was; what God told the angels to do when Jesus Christ was born. Jesus Christ then was to become the very image and glory of the Father, though He became a human being. He became a human being so that God could establish a relationship with the other human beings that He called. God also, through this relationship of Jesus Christ, was sent to His own unto Judah and they rejected Him and they killed Him. They did worse than Israel.

Hebrews 1:2: "Whom He has appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the worlds; Who, being the brightness of His glory and the exact image of His person…"—after He was resurrected; but even while He was on the earth He told Philip, 'If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father.'

"…and upholding all things by the word of His own power…" (vs 2-3)—because of the relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ! All these relationships are

• based upon love
• based upon belief
• based upon faith
• based upon trust
• based upon obedience

We'll see that relationship between Christ and the Father existed in that way!

"…when He had by Himself…" (v 3). That's why the relationship between you and Jesus Christ is so important, because He, by Himself:

"…purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; having been made so much greater than any of the angels…" (vs 3-4).

Maybe you'll understand why the rebellion of Satan the devil was so bad. He rebelled against the created relationship that God had made. That's why no homosexual is going to be in the Kingdom of God unless they repent. They're rebelling against the created relationship that God made: male and female.

Verse 4: "Having been made so much greater than any of the angels, inasmuch as He has inherited a name exceedingly superior to them. For to which of the angels did He ever say, 'You are My Son; this day I have begotten You'?…." (vs 4-5).

That's when the relationship became the Father and the Son—when Jesus Christ was begotten.

"…And again, 'I will be a Father to Him, and He will be a Son to Me'? And again, when He brought the Firstborn into the world, He said, 'Let all the angels of God worship Him'" (vs 5-6). And they did! All the angels praised God at the birth of Jesus Christ.

Let's go back and see a little bit more about this relationship that Jesus Christ wanted to have with those of Judea and eventually the whole world. Let's see what happened. We know that 'in the beginning of it was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God,' and the Word created everything. That's referring to Jesus Christ.

John 1:11: "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him."

This does not mean just to receive. This means to welcome as in your bosom. This means they did not receive Him in the kind of relationship that God wanted them to be. They rejected Him and killed Him!

Verse 14: "And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us…" This is all a part of the Feast of Tabernacles!

Christ did this to establish the profound relationship that He wants us to have with Him now. Let's see the relationship that He had with God the Father.

"…(and we ourselves beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten with the Father), full of grace and truth" (v 14).

We've all received of His fullness and continue to do so. Let's look at this relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ. Let's see that when you are in this special created relationship—which Christ was with the Father, through being made a human being, after He was God, and divested Himself of God to become a human being, this created a special and a different relationship. This is the model and type for us.

John 5:19: "Therefore, Jesus answered and said to them, 'Truly, truly I say to you, the Son has no power to do anything of Himself, but only what He sees the Father do….'"

That's very important for us to understand. That's very important in our relationship with God, that we want to do what God wants us to do. We don't want to do our will or our ways, but we want to do God's way. To love God and to do it with all our heart, mind, soul and being.

"'…For whatever He does, these things the Son also does in the same manner. For the Father loves the Son…'" (vs 19-20).

The Father is loving the Son —present tense participle—on and ongoing basis. They had a relationship based upon love. This is the relationship that God wants us to have with Him and the Son, based upon love. This is the relationship that God wants us to have in our marriages, with the husband the head and the wife the helpmeet, based upon love!

"…and shows Him everything…" (v 20).If you love God, God also is going to show all things and do all things for you!

"…that He Himself is doing. And He will show Him greater works than these, so that you may be filled with wonder'" (v 20).

Verse 30: "I have no power to do anything of Myself…"

Let's understand something, that that's very profound and realize as far as human beings go, because we have nothing we didn't receive; everything we do has to come from God. If it all comes from God then why do we act as though we have something that didn't come from God? Everything we have comes from God,

our life—physical:

• every physical thing in the world because of God's creation
• every physical thing that we have because of God's blessing

our life—spiritual:

• with the Spirit of God because of God's calling
• the forgiveness of sin because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ

Why then should we be pretentious and presumptuous to go out and do things that God doesn't want us to do. Jesus didn't do that, because He had this relationship with God the Father. Should we not also have that same relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ? Yes!

Jesus says, v 30: "'…but as I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father, Who sent Me.'" God expects us to have that kind of great and wonderful and loving relationship!

Let's see how we are to live based upon this relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ Who are now one, and based upon our relationship with Jesus Christ and God the Father.

John 6:57: "As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father; so also the one who eats Me shall live by Me." That is the covenant that we have made!

• that we will live by Him
• that we will walk in newness of life

We have pledged our death in a covenantal baptism to so do! There it is right there.

John 12:48 is especially true for anyone who is going to be teaching, a minister. People send me tapes all the time, and I listen to them and there are so many false ministers out there who sound so good and use the Scriptures in a very clever way, yet, they don't understand the Bible, they don't understand the Scriptures, and they are not preaching the Truth. They are only using and manipulating the Truth of God to their own end. That's just the way that it is.

Here it tells us what Jesus did, and everyone who presumes to name the name of Christ in teaching ought to do.

John 12:48: "The one who rejects Me and does not receive My words has one who judges him; the word which I have spoken, that shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken from Myself…" (vs 48-49).

These words in the Bible  are from God the Father! Are we going to take lightly what God the Father inspired to be in the Bible? Remember what we covered about how profound the Word of God is, how great the Word of God is.

Do you think anyone is going to receive eternal life that is going to reject the words of Christ, that is going to deceitfully handle it and deceitfully teach it, use and manipulate? Of course not! They won't be there! They'll be part of:

Matt. 7:21—Jesus says: "Not everyone who says to Me 'Lord, Lord' shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but the one who is doing the will of My Father, Who is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy through Your name? And did we not cast out demons through Your name? And did we not perform many works of power through Your name?' And then I will confess to them, I never knew you….'" (vs 21-23).

John 12:49: "For I have not spoken of Myself, but the Father, Who sent Me, gave Me commandment Himself, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life. Therefore, whatever I speak, I speak exactly as the Father has told Me' (vs 49-50).

Brethren, let that so be with anyone who pretends to name the Word of God. Even if God didn't send you, if you preach the Word of God, He would still honor that. But don't presume upon yourself to be a teacher, because the teacher is going to receive the greater judgment, and we're going to see that being executed all along now as we go down the road; no doubt about it!

Let's understand the relationship that God wanted us to have; John 13:1: "Now before the Feast of the Passover, knowing that His time had come to depart from this world to the Father, Jesus, having loved His own who were in the world, loved them to the end."

I want you to take the verse, 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever…'—and I want you to put your name there, that He died for YOU—'…that you might believe on Him and have everlasting life.'

God loves YOU! God wants a relationship based on love with YOU! That's the only eternal relationship that is going to bring us into the Kingdom of God; please understand that! Let's understand what God wants us to do and how we are to be with each other:

John 14:3: "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; so that where I am, you may be also."

Verse 15: "If you love Me… [it's based on a relationship; relationship is based upon love, and there is obedience]: …keep the commandments—namely, My commandments."

Verse 23: "Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves Me…'"

Again, a relationship, a created relationship, a spiritually created relationship. We are being created in the image of Christ—are we not? Yes! It's a created relationship that God is doing.

"…he will keep My Word…" (v 23). This is not, 'I am God, you obey and this is a hierarchy and this is a man that I have put in charge and you obey him unto death. NO! NO! NO! We're not going to do that when we rule and reign with Christ. We are going to teach in love. We are going to say the same thing to those that are given under our charge that

"…'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. The one who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the Word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father's, Who sent Me'" (vs 23-24).

Verse 31[transcriber's correction]: "Yet, he comes so that the world may know that I love the Father, and that I do exactly as the Father has commanded Me. Arise, let us go out"—because He loved the Father, He did what the Father said! It is a relationship!

{note sermon series: Why God Hates Religion.} God wants us in a relationship with Him!

John 15:7: "If you dwell in Me… [dwelling in Christ. Christ in us and the Father in us now we abide and dwell] …and My words dwell in you…"

You must have the words of God living in you! It is the living Word of God. This is what we're going to teach the people in the Millennium. We're going to teach them the same exact relationship.

"…you shall ask whatever you desire, and it shall come to pass for you. In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be My disciples. As the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; live in My love" (vs 7-9). It's a relationship, a created spiritual relationship!

That's what's so important. The Church is not like a church of anything like it is in the world. The Church is the gathering together of the called out ones of Jesus Christ to have a brotherly fellowship and a brotherly relationship based upon loving God and loving each other. That is profound, brethren, and we need to understand that. We need to understand that men, circumstances and Satan has come in to divide, to conquer, to slice, to kill and destroy that love, and to do away with that relationship.

What you need to do is get on your knees and go to God and repent and ask God to help re-establish that relationship with you:

• let His love come to you
• let His Spirit come to you
• let His Word come to you
• let that relationship be developed

Then let's also understand why the Sabbath Day is so important! The Sabbath Day is a day when we fellowship with God the Father and we each other because of this created relationship that God has made. That puts a whole different perspective on everything!

Verse 9: "As the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; live in My love. If you keep My commandments, you shall live in My love… [because it's an ever ongoing thing] …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… [because of the relationship] …and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment: that you love one another, as I have loved you" (vs 9-12).

I want you to use that as a theme for this coming year. Let all the fellowship groups, let each other, let husband and wife, let children and fathers and mothers understand this, and begin to develop the love that they need to have instead of all the carnal competition and stupidity that is brought in from the world. Let's see if we can change that and really understand it in a greater, greater way.

Verse 13: "No one has greater love than this: that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends… [that is a created relationship because of God's calling] …if you do whatever I command you."

Now, let's go a little bit further. This relationship is so great, so  profound that it is a personal thing between you and Jesus Christ and God the Father. Our relationship as brethren is a personal thing. That's why we need to love each other and set aside all the carnal stupidity and things that we have experienced and gone through.

• Can there be a group of people somewhere on the earth that love God and love each other?
• Can there be a group of people who want to serve God and love Him with all their heart, mind, soul and being?
• Can there be a group of people who will respond to the love of God?

John 16:26: "In that day, you shall ask in My name; and I do not tell you that I will beseech the Father for you, for the Father Himself loves you… [God the Father Himself is going to answer that prayer] …because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God" (vs 26-27). That's profound, and we need to understand it!

Let's see some important thing that we need to grasp as we have never grasped before. To understand as we have never understood before.

Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace you have been saved…"—because of God's love and grace is the foundation of the relationship that we have with God! That foundation of the relationship is so great that God the Father will impute and give to you the equivalent righteousness of Jesus Christ Who never sinned! God wants that relationship. That's how great the grace of God is.

"…through faith, and this especially is not of your own selves; it is the gift of God… [there can be a profound relationship that we know that God loves us and we love God] …not of works, so that no one may boast…. [of anything that a man can do] …For we are His workmanship…" (vs 8-10).

God is working! God is creating in us, developing that relationship and developing that character that He wants us to have. This is profound, brethren! I want you to understand that God is working in you. I want you to realize that all of those that have the Spirit of God, please stir up the Spirit of God as Paul said. Let that relationship be established. Let it be maintained. Understand that this is the most precious and greatest thing in your entire life.

Verse 10: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto the good works that God ordained beforehand in order that we might walk in them."

Let's see what God has done to provide this relationship. Let's see what He's done to make it possible.

Ephesians 1:3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly things with Christ."

He's going to give us all the spiritual blessings that be. Think on that! Because of a relationship! Because God has called you!

Verse 4: "According as He has personally chosen us for Himself…" That's why it's a personal relationship. God the Father Himself called you!

God the Father led you to repentance. Jesus Christ is the sacrifice. God the Father and Jesus Christ together, with the Holy Spirit, are in you as it was there in John 14.

"…before the foundation of the world… [that was God's plan] …in order that we might be Holy and blameless before Him in love" (v 4). That is a relationship!

Verse 5: "Having predestinated us for sonship to Himself through Jesus Christ…"—a family relationship! When we rule and reign with Jesus Christ, it's going to be a family relationship. It's going to be very similar to what the judges were in Israel.

• we're going to be on the sidelines teaching and helping the people
• we're going to be judging them
• we're going to be loving them
• we're going to be serving them
• we're going to be teaching them about the relationship of God the Father and Jesus Christ
• they're going to have a relationship with us
• we are going to teach them that relationship of the family
  • husband and wife
  • father and mother
  • children

The whole world is going to be changed in a new relationship with God!

Verse 5: "Having predestinated us for sonship to Himself through Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He has made us objects of His grace in the Beloved Son" (vs 5-6). Accepted in this relationship!

Verse 7: "In Whom we have redemption… [we had no relationship before we were called, and we were redeemed]: …through His blood, even the remission of sins, according to the riches of His grace, which He has made to abound toward us in all wisdom and intelligence; having made known to us the mystery of His own will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself" (vs 7-9). That you would have a relationship with Him!

Let's see the comparison between the husband/wife relationship and the Church. Let's understand how profound this is and how we need to be using this, developing this, looking to it. I want you husbands to ask yourself: Are you serving your wife this way? And you wives: Are you submitting to your husband in the way that God says? Ask yourself and begin right here with this.

Ephesians 5:22: "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord." What does that mean? Exactly what it says: as unto the Lord!

Verse 23: "For the husband is the head of the wife… [by creation] …even as Christ is the Head of the Church… [by creation] …and He is the Savior of the Body."

So, the husband is to have a sacrificial love toward his wife and family. If you have that kind of submission to your husband in loving him, and that kind of love from the husband to the wife and not to put down, not to control, and not to ridicule, but to love and to serve, I tell you what, many of your problems will just evaporate. Why have competition and hatred within the family one toward another. That's going against God!

Verse 24: "For even as the Church is subject to Christ, in the same way also let wives be subject to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your own wives, in the same way that Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it" (vs 24-25).

Are you doing that, husbands, in that way? Are you serving and loving? or Are you nasty and cantankerous and an oppressive dictator?

I heard a minister give a sermon that a marriage is a hierarchy. NO! It's not a hierarchy! It is a created relationship! Neither is it a partnership. It is a created relationship!

"…and gave Himself for it so that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it with the washing of water by the Word; that He might present it to Himself as the glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it might be Holy and without blame" (vs 25-27).

That is looking toward the perfect relationship. The bride and Christ are going to work down through the Millennium in this relationship and teach the whole world the same relationship. When we understand why there's going to be the wicked at the end and they do what they do, maybe if you understand about this relationship, the way that it is, you'll understand why the wicked have to die.

Verse 28: "In the same way, husbands are duty-bound to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself; for no man has ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord does the Church" (vs 28-29).

If you want to be rebellious then God has got to correct you and put you down. But if you love God, then God the Father and Christ are going to nourish you and cherish you and be in a loving relationship. He has to correct those who are out of the relationship with God. Please understand that.

Verse 30: "For we are members of His body—of His flesh and of His bones." This refers back to the very creation of Eve from the rib of Adam, one of his bones!.

Meaning that Christ is creating us right out of the innermost part of His being—spiritually speaking. That we can have this eternal relationship as the Church being the wife and Christ as the husband forever and ever through all eternity, brethren.

• this is what it's all about
• this is what the Church needs
• this is what the world needs

The created relationship based upon the family structure as God has made it evident!

Verse 31: "For this reason shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife; and the two shall be one flesh."

God wants us to be one spirit. That's why it's so important. That's why when the Millennium comes, the earth is going to be

• filled with the knowledge of God
• filled with the loved of God
• filled with the Truth of God

That this relationship can be for all people!

Verse 32: "This is a great mystery… [very hard for people to understand. The mystery is that it's a personal relationship!] …but I am speaking in respect to Christ and the Church."

Let's see that the Church being the bride is going to be married to Christ. Between Christ then and the Church we are going to bring children into the Kingdom of God and then Christ will fulfill that which is said of Him being the Everlasting Father. Till this point He has no children. We are all children of God the Father. But then Jesus Christ will have His own children brought in through His own wife, through the Church being the Bride of Christ.

Revelation 19:7: "Let us be glad and shout with joy; and let us give glory to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready."

That's what we need to be doing now, making ourselves ready. Not fighting, arguing, squabbling and going against God and fighting each other and hating each other.

• Can we all stop that?
• Can we all agree with Christ and God Father and love each other?

This is why as brethren we need to have that special love for each other. God loves us! Do you see how that knocks down a lot of barriers and gets rid of a lot of carnality when you understand that it is a created relationship?

Verse 8: "And it was granted to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, pure and bright; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he said to me, 'Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'…." (vs 8-9). It's going to happen!

Let's see what we're going to do. This is what we're going to do all through the Millennium.

Revelation 22:17: "And the Spirit and the bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.'…."

• we will show you the relationship
• we will show you the love
• we will show you the way of God
• we will show you how you are to be one with us and one with God

"…And let the one who thirsts come; and let the one who desires partake of the water of life freely" (v 17) That's going to be our message!

There's a special prayer that Jesus gave for the Church. It is a relationship prayer. It is something that we need to understand, that we can make ourselves ready as the bride. But in making ourselves ready it is Christ in us Who is doing it. That's how it's going to be through all the Millennium. This is very profound for us to understand. Jesus came and He finished the work which He had to do.

John 17:4: "I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work that You gave Me to do. And now, Father, glorify Me with Your own self, with the glory that I had with You before the world existed" (vs 4-5).

God is going to give us that same glory. God the Father is going to give us the glory that we are going to see Jesus as He is. The glory that God has called us to is so great and so marvelous. He's called us to the mission to redeem the world from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

• to bring the Millennium to the world
• to bring the Truth to the world
• to heal all sickness, all disease
• overcome every war and difficulty

because we have that relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ! He said, 'I pray not for the world, but I pray for them.'

Verse 20: "I do not pray for these only, but also for those who shall believe in Me through their word." That's us!

Jesus Christ is praying for you! For all of those who have the Spirit of God, for this very thing]:

Verse 21: "That they all may be one…" (vs 20-21). In that relationship with God!

See how beautiful and perfect and marvelous that that is going to be! We'll see on the Last Great Day when we understand about New Jerusalem, how perfect that that is going to be.

"…even as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us…" (v 21)—in an eternal relationship forever and ever!

• I want you to understand that!
• I want you to grasp that!
• I want you to realize how important this is!

"…in order that the world may believe that You did send Me" (v 21). We're going to help the world believe when Christ returns!

Verse 22: "And I have given them the glory that You gave to Me…" If you have the Spirit of God you have been glorified to the extent that you have the Spirit of God! A marvelous thing, brethren.

"…in order that they may be one, in the same way that We are one." In that eternal relationship forever and ever!

Verse 23: "I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one… [in that eternal relationship] …and that the world may know that You did send Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that those whom You have given Me may also be with Me where I am, so that they may behold My glory, which You have given Me; because You did love Me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world has not known You; but I have known You, and these have known that You did send Me. And I have made known Your name to them, and will make it known; so that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (vs 23-26).

That is the relationship that we are going to teach the world!

• may we learn it today
• may we grow in that love today
• may we serve and love each other and love God with all our heart, mind soul and being

Love each other as Christ loved us!

If we do that, brethren, then we will be able to bring to the whole world the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

• Genesis 1:26-31
• Genesis 2:2-3, 7, 15, 17-24
• James 2:23-26
• Hebrews 11:8-12, 16-19
• Exodus 19:4-8
• Exodus 25:8
• Isaiah 54:5-7
• Ezekiel 16:1-10
• Malachi 3:13-18
• Ezekiel 16:11-16, 44-47
• Psalm 2:7
• Hebrews 1:2-6
• John 1:11, 14
• John 5:19-20, 30
• John 6:57
• John 12:48
• Matthew 9:21-23
• John 12:49-50
• John 13:1
• John 14:3, 15, 23-24, 31
• John 15:7-13
• John 16:26-27
• Ephesians 2:8-10
• Ephesians 1:3-9
• Ephesians 5:22-32
• Revelation 19:7-9
• Revelation 22:17
• John 17:4-5, 20-26

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Genesis 2:9; 5; 12
• Exodus 24
• Also referenced: Sermon Series: Why God Hates Religion

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 7-14-11
Reformatted/Corrected: 4/2020