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The greatest works of God revealed to those who have the Spirit of God dwelling in them!
Fred R. Coulter—April 18, 2020
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Greetings, brethren! Welcome to Sabbath services! Today is the end of the first week of counting to Pentecost, seven weeks, each week ending in a Sabbath.
There are two mysteries—or secrets—in the world, and those two are responsible for everything that's going on in the world:
- the mystery of God, or secret of God
- the mystery of Satan, or mystery of deception
Mystery of Deception
We'll take a quick look at the mystery of deception, because that's based on lies. Remember that partial Truth constitutes half a lie. Satan's way or the whole system is called:
Revelation 17:5: "…MYSTERY… [or secret] …BABYLON THE GREAT…"—and that encompasses the whole earth!
Let's see what happens when people give themselves over to the mystery of iniquity, which is another name for the mystery of Satan, the mystery of lawlessness.
2-Thessalonians 2:7: "For the mystery of lawlessness… [iniquity] …is already working; only there is One Who is restraining at the present time until it arises out of the midst."
That arising out of the midst we find in Rev. 13, coming up out of the ocean or the sea, the beast with seven head and ten horns. That's mystery Babylon, also known as the beast or the Beast Power.
Verse 8: "And then the lawless one will be revealed (whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth, and will destroy with the brightness of His coming)… [this mystery will end when Christ returns, not until] …even the one whose coming is according to the inner working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders" (vs 8-9).
What did Jesus say would happen right about the time of the Great Tribulation? Many false prophets and false Christs shall appear and show great signs and wonders! What's the purpose? To deceive the elect if possible! Let's see how this develops:
Verse 10: "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who are perishing…" Why is that? Because it's also known as 'the god of this world' Satan who blinds the eyes of those who don't believe!!
"…because they did not receive the love of the Truth… [we will see that's absolutely essential] …so that they might be saved. And for this cause God will send upon them a powerful deception…" (vs 10-11).
What happens when you believe a powerful deception? You think it is the truth! You think that it is right! Human beings were created by God to believe! When you believe with conviction, you can believe a lie with the same intensity and conviction that you do the Truth. That's why you have to have the mystery of God rather than the mystery of Satan.
Here's what will happen, "…God will send upon them a powerful deception that will cause them to believe the lie, so that all may be judged who did not believe the Truth… [there it is: the lie, the Truth, etc.] …but who took pleasure in unrighteousness" (vs 11-12).
Mystery of God
Now let's see how Jesus refers to the mysteries of God. The Bible is the Word of God to give us understanding of what God wants us to do. There are secrets to understanding the Truth. But we find that this is why Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables. They really wanted all the benefits of what He was talking about, but they weren't willing to do what was necessary to receive those blessings.
Matthew 13:11: "And He answered and said to them, 'Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries… [secrets] … of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it has not been given." We'll examine how we understand those mysteries!
- it has to be given
- it has to be revealed
- it has to come from the true God
- it has to be the Truth of God
1-Corinthians 2:6 "Now we speak wisdom among the spiritually mature; however, it is not the wisdom of this world…"—the philosophy of the world: the philosophy of the world, the ancients: the Greeks, the Babylonians and Egyptians!
"…nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing. Rather, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery…" (vs 6-7).
What two words are the foundations for that mystery? Love and Truth! Everything flows from that!
"…even the hidden wisdom that God foreordained before the ages unto our glory" (v 7).
Proverbs 25:2: "The glory of God is to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter." We will see how to discover it!
1-Corinthians 2:8: "Which not one of the rulers of this world has known (for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory); but according as it is written, 'The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him'" (vs 8-9).
It is a secret—or mystery—how this is done. We'll talk about other secrets/mysteries that God has, that even in this sophisticated age of great knowledge of men, they still don't know.
Verse 10: "But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things—eventhe deep things of God." This is how we're able to understand.
Remember the first time you picked up a Bible? What did you think? Some parts are easy to understand, other parts are not!
Verse 11: "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 Satan] …but the Spirit that is of God… [For what purpose?] …so that we might know the things graciously given to us by God" (vs 11-12).
How does the mystery of God develop and unfold? First of all, you have to start out with the true God! Let's see a comparison:
Jer. 10—think about this every time you see something where you see the orthodox Christianity of this world and all of their idols and everything like that.
- We Need the True God
The first thing we need to understand the mystery of God is the true God! You don't understand everything about the true God, but He tells you how you can understand what He will reveal to you in His Word!
Jeremiah 10:10: "But the LORD is the true God… [Who is the One Who became Jesus Christ] …He is the living God, and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to stand His fury."
This one verse goes from God, the everlasting God—as applied right here in Jeremiah—and then goes clear forward to the return of Christ! In the meantime, there is judgment on all the nations as things go down, as well.
Verse 11: "Thus you shall say to them, 'The gods who have not made the heavens and the earth, they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.' He has made the earth by His power; He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by His judgment" (vs 11-12).
You have to have the true God, and if you don't have Him, you have nothing!
The Epistle of 1-John is really fantastic, because it tells you all about the things that we need to know about God and Jesus Christ based on love and obedience! This is the conviction that we come to as we prove things as we go along. The reason that we are to prove all things is because there are so many lies and counterfeits and half-truths!
1-John 5:19: "We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the wicked one…. [here are the two mysteries] …And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding, so that we may know Him Who is true; and we are in Him Who is true, and in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God, and the eternal life" (vs 19-20).
That jumps ahead to the ultimate result of conversion, which is eternal life!
1-Thess. is the very first epistle that the Apostle Paul wrote, and he wrote this in 52A.D. Shortly after that he wrote 2-Thess.
1-Thessalonians 1:8: "For the Word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every other place also your faith toward God has spread abroad, so that there is no need for us to say anything; because they themselves are relating how readily you received us when we first visited you, and how you turned from idols… [ties in with Jer. 10] …to God, to serve the living and true God…" (vs 8-9)—there are many counterfeits out there!
- We Need the Spirit of God
I debated back and forth as to whether I should put the Word of God first or the Spirit of God. I put the Spirit of God first, because how many people have the Bible, but not the Spirit of God.
So, you need the Spirit of God and that's what's really key and important. You cannot receive the Spirit of God unless you have repented and are willing to believe and love God and keep His commandments.
Delores and I were talking and she mentioned concerning what Franklin Graham keeps saying whenever he speaks. He gives this simple little prayer and all you have to do is say that you believe in Jesus and you're all set for all eternity. There's far more to it than that!
John 14:15: "If you love Me… [it has to be love and Truth, the true God] …keep the commandments—namely, My commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that it may be with you throughout the age: Even the Spirit of the Truth… [there is the spirit of the world that is of Satan the devil] …which the world cannot receive…" (vs 15-17).
- Why?
- What is the condition for receiving the Holy Spirit?
- repentance
- baptism
- obedience
When the apostles were all before the Sanhedrin, because they healed a man, Peter said that 'God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him!' think of this: the whole Sanhedrin right there, all of their glaring eyes looking at them. Peter tells them that:
- they have killed Christ
- they haven't been doing what God wants them to do
They couldn't deny the fact of this man being healed, because he had had this infirmity for 38 years. Everybody knew him.
So, it's the Spirit of Truth and it is the Truth, as it is in the Greek.
John 16:12: "I have yet many things to tell you, but you are not able to bear them now. However, when that one… [referring back to the Spirit of the Truth] …has come, even the Spirit of the Truth, it will lead you into all Truth… [necessary for salvation] …because it shall not speak from itself, but whatever it shall hear, it shall speak. And it shall disclose to you the things to come" (vs 12-13).
So, you have the true God and the Spirit of Truth. Let's see what else we need:
- We Need the Word of God
It falls right in line: the true God, the Spirit of Truth, the Word of Truth, all of which are necessary for fulfilling God's way.
John 17:14: "I have given them Your words…"—the words of the Father!. Jesus said that He did everything that the Father commanded Him to do. The things that He did and said were motivated by God the Father working with Him with His Spirit.
"…and the world has hated them… [the apostles] …because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You would take them out of the world, but that You would keep them from the evil one" (vs 14-15)—because the evil one is always there trying to do His infiltration and do his fake religions and all of this!
Verse 16: "They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." This tells us something about v 17: You can't be part of the world and understand the mystery of God! Because:
- you can't receive the Holy Spirit
- you don't keep the words of God
Therefore, we are not of the world because we do not live like the world with their religions, beliefs and philosophies!
- we have the true God
- we have the true Christ
- we have the Holy Spirit of Truth
Notice what the Word of God does:
Verse 17: "Sanctify them in Your Truth… [to make Holy] …Your Word is the Truth." That's really quite a thing!
Let's see how this works. These all come together working together. If you want to know the true attitude toward the Truth of God and His laws and commandments, then read the whole Psa. 119.
Psalm 119:127: "Therefore, I love Your commandments above gold…" Why? Why would you want to love the commandments of God more than gold? Because with the Spirit of God they lead to eternal life! Gold cannot do that!
"…—yea, above fine gold. Therefore, I esteem all Your precepts concerning all things to be right…" (vs 127-128). That's were we come to in our conviction! This is part of the mystery of God!
Would you say that the Protestants actually believe this? No! the most that they can come is about 50%!
You've seen this ad on television that you wouldn't want to have something done halfway. There's a picture of this dog that is sheared, but the back quarter parts is not done, the lawn isn't finished, the roof is not on it. It says that you need to have things complete.
Likewise this is a quite a verse, because this gives you a mindset that helps you defend against the wiles of the devil.
"…and I hate every false way" (v 128). That all comes from God! Everything that God stands for, everything that God has done is right, good, true and perfect!
Verse 142: "Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness…" Stop and think about that!
Verse 172: "My tongue shall speak of Your Word, for all Your commandments are righteousness."
If v 142 is correct—which it is—what does it do? It adds to us the understanding that His righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. Therefore, what does that mean concerning the commandments of God? They're everlasting and cannot be done away!
What did Jesus say in Matt. 5? Don't think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I didn't come to abolish but to fulfill, or complete! What Jesus was saying was, the knowledge that you have is not complete!
'I'm bringing you now the knowledge, and the Father is going to send the Holy Spirit so that you can understand.' Then you will understand the righteousness of God!
Verse 151: "You are near, O LORD, and all Your commandments are Truth."
- What did Jesus say? The Truth will set you free!
- From whom? Satan the devil, the evil one!
Verse 165: "Great peace have those who love Your law, and there is no stumbling block for them." That's quite a thing!
Verse 160: "Your Word is true from the beginning…"
I've got a thick book of all the great people of the world. There's one or two pages, depending on who the person was and what they did. Every single one of these great people of the world have rejected God and the Truth of the Word of God. Every single one! They're all atheists!
Now let's see how the Word of God with the Spirit of God works in our lives. Let's see how it works, and we'll put this together with some other words, as well. All of these factors of Truth combined together form a perfect pattern, or a perfect way of doing what God wants us to do. Furthermore, the more we have it written in our heart and mind we are able to make the right kind of judgments and assessments and thinking, and things like this.
Psalm 19:7: "The Law of the LORD is perfect…" Anything that is perfect you don't want to throw away! You want to keep it. It's perfect and it comes from a perfect God, Who has perfect love and perfect Truth. There are no perversions in it, no twists and turns of Satan the devil.
"…restoring the soul…" (v 7)—health to your whole being! It helps straighten out your mind, your emotions, your bodily functions because you're not all filled with conflicts and false hopes and lies.
"…the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple" (v 7).
We heard something the other day that was a short saying. I forget what it was, but every once in while someone comes up with a bit of truth, something that is true, "…making wise the simple."
Verse 8: "The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart… [the precepts of God are true in everything] …the commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes."
Think about this for a minute: Protestants want you to be converted. Isn't that what they say? If you say this little prayer then you will receive Jesus and then you will be able to go to heaven when you die. That's what they say.
But what does God want you to do? He wants you to grow in grace and knowledge, and this is how to do it! "…the commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes." In other words, being able to see things for what they really are. Tie that together with the Holy Spirit.
So, the mystery of God is all put together with these parts that we're talking about today. If any one of them is missing, you don't have the Truth the way that it should be. You may have part of it.
I don't suppose that you could drive half a car. I guess it would depend on which way you cut it, from side to side or down the middle. You need it all!
Verse 9: "The fear of the LORD is clean…" Why should we have the fear of God?
Some people say, 'How can you fear God when you love God?' If you love God and keep His commandments and His Holy Spirit is in you, then if something comes along that is not right, you're going to love God and fear Him so that you won't want to do that which is wrong! Why? It may not get you right away, but sooner or later it will.
It's just like arsenic! A little arsenic is not going to kill you immediately. But a little arsenic every day for a long period of time will kill you. That's why you need to have the 'enlightening of your eyes.'
Verse 9: "The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether."
What are the judgments of the LORD? In the Old Testament you find those in Exo. 21-23 in various places, and also in Deuteronomy. They're true and righteous. How do you deal with your neighbor. God even says that someone who is your enemy has had his ox fallen on him and he's lying there. You will go and help him out. That's one of God's judgments.
The statutes and ordinances of God are the Holy Days, which fall into the category of commandments, which then also reveals the mystery of God.
This is quite a thing the way that God has done it. That's how He hides it from the world. That how they can have it right in front of them and not understand it.
Verse 10: "More to be desired than gold, yea, much fine gold… [repeated in Psa. 119] … sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned…" *vs 190-11).
If you have God's Law written in your heart and mind, if you you're going to do something that isn't right, there's going to be something happen in your mind, either before you do it or right after you do it that you shouldn't do it.
"…in keeping them there is great reward…. [Why?] …Who can understand his errors?…." (vs 11-12).
A lot of things that people do think they are right. Only God's Spirit and God's Word—God Himself—working with you can reveal to you to understand your errors.
Here's something else, "…Oh, cleanse me from my secret faults" (v 12).
Concerning secrets, it says that God is going to judge the secrets of the heart! So, what happens is that God, the Spirit God, the Word of God—coupled with your loving God and keeping His commandments—will help you direct your life in the right way. That is good for you and me, and a blessing from God. You don't want to get away from that!
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Let's look at the mystery of God just a little bit more. God has always made it known! Like we covered on the last day of Unleavened Bread, the proposition always starts out simple. Then other things unfold from there.
Isaiah 45:18: "For thus says the LORD the Creator of the heavens, He Himself is God, Who formed the earth and made it…"
Think about everything you can concerning that. How much knowledge do we have concerning how the earth works? Actually, very little! Most of it is a mystery.
Example: The sun: We know that it's a huge fireball out there.
- What keeps it from devouring itself?
- How does it regenerate itself?
- Why is it just the right distance from the earth?
- Why is the earth the right distance from the sun?
- What keeps the earth turning? The laws that God made to make it happen!
Let's take it down to something very simple: You have a little seed and you plant it. You do whatever you need to—fertilize the ground and everything first—then you plant it and water it. What makes it grow? We know it grows, but we don't know what makes it grow! You can have the seed, in a package, bag or whatever and store it for hundreds and hundreds of years, and take it out and plant it and it grows.
- How does it grow?
- What is the action of the water?
- What is the action of the soil?
- What is the action of the sun?
- What is the action of the moon?
It needs carbon dioxide and all that sort of thing. They know all of this, but they don't know how it grows. What makes the roots go down and the stems go up?
How do trees grow? One thing they have learned about trees is that they grow in a spiral. It's interesting that everything in the universe functions on a spiral. It's moving in a direction while it also moving of itself. Those are things we don't know.
- Why does water freeze at 32 degrees? We don't know, but we're glad it does!
- Why is it that water can evaporate? Those things we don't know!
Let's talk about human life for just a minute.
Psalm 139:1: "O LORD… [this is what He does]: …You have searched me and have known me."
- How much does God know us?
- What does it mean that God knows us?
- What is it that God is working with us and developing the character that we need for eternal life?
- What's eternal life going to be like? We have no idea!
Verse 2: "You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thoughts afar off. You measure my going about and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways" (vs 2-3).
God knows everything of how every human being works.
- He made them!
- He created them!
- He put into the genes and chromosomes!
Verse 4: "For there is not a word on my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, You know it altogether. You have enclosed me behind and in front, and laid Your hand upon me" (vs 4-5).
As a human being you're so special to God that all of this that you are, He's involved in! Let's just project that forward to the second resurrection. The greatest work of God is going to be during the time of the second resurrection!
Verse 6: "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it."
Even about ourselves; what do we know about ourselves? We can look in the mirror. Have you even looked in the mirror and said, 'Who are you?' Everything about us, God has made!
Verse 7: "Where shall I go from Your Spirit?…. [the truth is, no one can get away from God] …Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I go up into heaven, You are there…" (vs 7-8).
There have been astronauts go up into heaven, but they haven't seen God. But God is there with His power! They couldn't get up into space without using the laws that God has already created.
"…if I make my bed in the grave, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the farthest parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me… [it doesn't] …and the light around me shall be night'; even the darkness does not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; as is the darkness, so is the light to You, for You have possessed my reins…" (vs 8-13).
It's awfully hard to tell exactly what that means. You look it up in the Hebrew and it talks about some bean-shaped thing. The closest I can come to that is the brain. There are two beans, right side and left side.
If God is going to do anything with us, He's going to do it through His Spirit, through the spirit of man that He's put in us, and the Holy Spirit that He's added to us.
So, God tries, and what does that mean? I guess that's the circumstances round: how we think and react!
"…You have knit me together in my mother's womb" (v 13). We're talking about human life here, but everything that God has created reproduces itself:
- by seed
- by procreation
- by eggs
Produces their own offspring after their kind. That's the way God made it! But how does that work? God created male and female and women are the ones who produce the life after conception. How does everything in the womb grow to produce a new human being? I've written a book: From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? The scientists still don't know how it really is done?
With the genes that they've been able to make and log and all of this sort of thing, they have thought that with the genomes that they would know everything about human beings and everything about how they're made and how they react. But they don't, because the combinations of the genes within the chromosomes, the variations are almost infinite! Yet, God made it!
Verse 14: "I will praise You, for I am awesomely and wonderfully made; Your works are marvelous and my soul knows it very well. My substance was not hidden from You when I was made in secret…" (vs 14-15).
No one knows how; they can see that it does, but they don't know how! They know that it comes from the combination of the genes and chromosomes from mother and father, and the offspring is truly the one flesh of mother and father.
Verse 16: "Your eyes did see my substance, yet, being unformed…" Even today in the scientific definition, they call it substance, but it's still a human life yet to develop.
Once there's the impregnation and it starts, it's continuous and continuous, and then after the child is born it's continuous and continuous. We grow and change. How many times have we gotten rid of all the cells in our body through the cells getting old and being discarded? We know that it happens, but exactly how it happens, when it happens, the timing of it, nobody knows!
We're going through this to understand that God is doing something special within us that is just exactly on the same parallel. God is doing something, and we know that His Spirit, but how all of that is working only God knows. Amazing!
"…and in Your book all my members were written… [the scientists call that the genome] …which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet, there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!" (vs 16-17).
Think about our calling, and think about what God is doing. We know that God is doing it, but what the end result is going to be at the resurrection, we don't! That's still a mystery. Everything about what God is doing can be explained, but we still don't know how it works; the exact how it does.
Isaiah 45:19—God says: "I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth…." He has made it known!
God's Word is known in more languages, in more places than ever before in the history of the world. When Christ returns, there's going to be absolutely no excuse for someone, especially in the Church, to say they didn't know. The things we know, God wants us to know. There are things we don't know, but we trust in faith and believe that they will happen, because God said so!
God says, "…I did not say to the seed of Jacob, 'Seek me in vain.' I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, you who have escaped of the nations… [an analogy of our calling and coming out of the world] … they have no knowledge who carry the wood of their graven image, and those who pray to a god that cannot save. Declare and bring near; yea, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this of old?…." (vs 19-21)—no one!
God can tell you something that's going to happen before it happens. Sometimes it takes many centuries for it to be fulfilled, whether it takes a long time or a short time. What is one of the short times that Jesus said that took place? That was on the Passover night!
Jesus was telling them what was going to happen, and Peter said, 'No! that will never happen! Lord, I'll be right there with you; I'm going to fight for You.' Jesus said—because no man is going to help God—'Before the cock crows twice, you will deny Me three times.' That happened within the next five hours!
Peter heard Him say it and knew that He said it. I wonder if Peter thought that he wouldn't do it. Why did Jesus do that to Peter? So that Peter would know that no man is going to help God!
Verse 21: "Declare and bring near; yea, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this of old?…."
He's saying to get all the greatest brains in the world together and let's see what you can do. Can you do what I've done?
"…Who has told it from ancient times?…." (v 21). What is the oldest prophecy? Gen. 3:15—Christ's death! It took roughly 4,000 years before it was accomplished. But it was as good as done when He spoke it!
- We Need Conversion
The reason we're going through this is because this will help us understand how God is going to take the carnal mind and with His Spirit—combined with repentance, love and obedience—is going to do the mysterious thing of converting us and preparing us for the resurrection! That's quite a thing!
"…Have not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me; a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else" (vs 21-22).
That's bringing out the whole plan of God in one sentence!
Verse 23: "'I have sworn by Myself… [He swore by Himself to Abraham] …the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not turn back, that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. One shall say, "Only in the LORD do I have righteousness and strength; even to Him shall men come. And they are ashamed, all who are angry against Him."' In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory" (vs 23-25).
What does God start with? We've talked about children and their innocence, and all that sort of thing. How far back can you remember in your life? However it is, we are born with a carnal mind. What we learn and what we're taught is what we develop into when we become adults, whether for good or for bad.
Partly wicked/partly good; mostly wicked/partly good, many different combinations. There are those who are locked up in prisons because they have given themselves totally over to Satan and evil!
- What is the difference between you and them?
- How did that happen?
The whole process that we have right here:
- the true God
- the Holy Spirit
- His Word
- conversion
and the end will be:
- the resurrection
There's free moral agency, because God doesn't want robots; He could make robots by the trillions, no problem with that. Men make their own artificial intelligence and there are scientists that are afraid that that will go crazy and kill human beings. I think there's a movie something like that. That's probably true, because who is behind the artificial intelligence? Satan the devil, the god of this world, who wants to destroy all human beings!
In giving free moral agency, there has to be laws for good, and the Law carries two parts:
- blessing for obedience
- cursing for disobedience
If the wicked were prospered, then what good is it to have righteousness? God made it automatic!
Jeremiah 17:5: "Thus says the LORD, 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the LORD…. [What happens automatically?]: …For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes. But he shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land that is not inhabited'" (vs 5-6).
That's the way of the world! Notice the contrast with the way of God:
Verse 7: "Blessed…"—blessings come from God; false blessing—called benefits—come from Satan.
If you watch the program I Almost Got Away with It, there are people who think that if they escape from jail, their minds are good enough that they can stay free. The longest that that happened, in all the presentation of this was:
One man killed his family and disappeared. They kept looking for him and couldn't find it' they didn't know where he was—year after year. Finally, 20 years later they got together with a man who developed the replica of the person's face out of clay from pictures of what he looked like when he was younger. He made a clay image of what he would look like 20 years later. He even got the very same glasses that the man always wore.
This went out on whatever it is to catch him by television. Here's a woman watching in Denver and she sees this photo of this clay image of the person with glasses on it, and she knew who it was. She called the authorities, and sure enough that was the one who murdered his wife and four kids. Couldn't get away with it!
God knows!
He had lived an exemplary life after the killing; he was good man in the letter of the Law that way, even attending church and being part of the choir. The authorities got the information to track him down.
But God knows!
To avoid all of that, you come to God and you will get the blessings God's way, and you don't have to worry about getting caught with the false blessing called a benefit from Satan.
Verse 7: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters…" (vs 7-8). If you take a tree and plant it by the waters:
- What is it going to grow into?
- What is it going to produce?
- How will it look?
- How will it be taken care of?
"…it sends out its roots by the river, and it shall not fear when the heat comes, but its foliage shall be green; and he is not worried in the year of drought, nor will it cease from yielding fruit" (v 8). Tie in Psa. 1
What we're covering in the Old Testament is all New Testament doctrine.
Psalm 1:1: "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the Law of the LORD; and in His Law does he meditate day and night" (vs 1-2).
What did we read that the Law of God does for us? It is perfect and helps us to understand how to think! The long and short of it all is that no human being knows how to rightly think unless they know the Word of God!Why? Because every way of a man that he does of his own seems right, but the ends thereof are the ways of death! You can look at anything that human beings do and see that that is true!
Verse 3: "And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water… [tie in Jer. 17] …that brings forth its fruit in its season, and its leaf shall not wither, and all that he does shall prosper. The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff, which the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked shall not stand in the judgment…" (vs 3-5).
- Where are they going to be? That means stand before God!
- Where is the incorrigibly wicked going to be? In the Lake of Fire!
"…nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous" (v 5).
That's why it has come about the way it has in the Churches of God. God does the separating—those who are loving Him, serving Him, obeying Him, and sometimes He gets down to a few.
Verse 6: "For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish."
Here's the secret of God: He takes this carnal mind and upon repentance and baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit, He's able to take this wicked, evil human mind and convert it!
Jeremiah 17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked… [that's the way the human mind normally is, but it's in degree] …who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings" (vs 9-10). God reveals basic things even to the wicked!
Romans 1:17: "For therein the righteousness of God is revealed from faith unto faith…"—which means you have faith in God, you believe in God and that faith goes toward God!
When you're serving Him and have His Spirit, one of the fruits of the Spirit is faith. That comes from God; Jesus said that we're to 'have the faith that comes from God.'
In our daily lives as we grow and overcome, it is our faith, belief and trust in God to Him, and His blessing and Spirit back to us! It's just like a circuit, from faith to faith!
"…according as it is written: 'The just shall live by faith'" (v 17).
See how it's the same pattern that you find in the Bible. Those who do good are blessed. Those who do evil are cursed.
Verse 18: "Indeed, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the Truth in unrighteousness."
- Isn't that what they're doing concerning the creation that they're examining?
- What is the main goal that the scientists are working toward?
- What is it that they want to do?
- The main goal of it all? To live forever!
- How can you live forever when you have the death gene within you? Only through the mystery of God, His way!
But they suppress it, they say that there is no God!
Verse 19: "Because that which may be known of God is manifest among them, for God has manifested it to them."
Everything they examine and look at, and all the scientific events that they come up with, and whatever laws they may discover, God is revealing it to them!
I imagine that when the day comes along when they're going to standing before Christ, and He's going to say, 'Why didn't you believe what you were looking at? Why did you still insist that this all evolved?' God made it so complicated that there is no way it could happen accidentally or change species or whatever!
Verse 20: "For the invisible things of Him are perceived from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that were made—both His eternal power and Godhead—so that they are without excuse."
How can you talk about billions of light-years and not know that there's a God? That's the mystery of iniquity! or lawlessness! They don't want to believe in God. He reveals it to them!
Verse 21: "Because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God…"
What's the closest that they have come to it without naming God? Intelligent Design! That's the closest!
I watched this ad with Amoco—they do transmissions—and it shows this transmission that blows apart, and you can almost look at every part. I think that no wonder you have to have someone work on it, it's very complicated with all of those parts and everything that is there. Would these intelligent men refute the idea that this was:
- designed by men?
- built by men?
- assembled by men?
- runs according to the laws that they have discovered?
No they wouldn't!
Will they give the glory to God? No, they won't!
"…neither were thankful; but they became vain in their own reasonings, and their foolish hearts were darkened. While professing themselves to be the wise ones, they became fools" (vs 21-22)—automatic! {tie in with Jer. 17).
When you see or hear these things, or you watch some of these things on television and they talk about how it took so many millions of years….
- How do they know?
- How can the measure time?
- How can an infinite mind of a human being know how many millions or billions of years there may be?
- They don't know!
It could be, but that's not to rely on. You rely on the One Who in infinite—GOD—and Who does everything and puts it all together!
Now, in Rom. 8 we have this contrast again, all the way through.
Romans 8: 3: "For what was impossible for the Law to do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God having sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh."
Christ was the Creator of Adam and Eve and sin came through Adam, and the carnal-mindedness was passed on to all the children. That's just the way that it is. Christ came and took it upon Himself so that His sacrifice would cover all those sins IF they would repent.
God's way, the mystery of God—how we are converted, changed, grow and receive the Spirit of God and understand the Truth of God and the Word of God—all comes from God!
God did all of this, v 4: "In order that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who are not walking according to the flesh… [the human mind without the Spirit of God] …but according to the Spirit"—of God!
Those who have the Spirit of God are walking by the Spirit of God. In other words, living their lives by the Spirit of God, the Truth of God, and everything that we've covered today.
Verse 5: "For those who walk according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh; but those who walk according to the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit"—which is:
- What does God think?
- What does the Word of God tell us?
- How are we to behave?
Etc.! Everything you do!
What is happening when that occurs? God is writing in our heart and mind His Spirit, His Laws, His Word and everything! That's what our human mind was designed to do when we receive the Spirit of God!
Verse 6: "For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace… [because you have the promise of the resurrection] …because the carnal mind is enmity against God… [an enemy against God] …for it is not subject to the Law of God; neither indeed can it be" (vs 6-7).
That's why there has to be repentance! That's why it has to follow along the steps of the mystery of God, to complete what God wants!
Verse 8: "But those who are in the flesh cannot please God." That means there is no power to please God because you are good without giving credit to God! Who is the greatest example of that? Job!
Verse 9: "However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is indeed dwelling within you…. [that we mind the things of the Spirit] …But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him."
There's an absolute dividing line. Just like on the last day of Unleavened Bread, there was that wall between the Egyptians and the Israelites, there's an absolute wall between the carnal-mindedness of the world and the spiritual-mindedness of the children of God.
- We Await the Resurrection
Verse 10: "But if Christ be within you, the body is indeed dead because of sin; however, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Now, if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is dwelling within you, He Who raised Christ from the dead will also quicken your mortal bodies because of His Spirit that dwells within you" (vs 10-11). That's through the process of the mystery of God!
There are many other verses we could read in the New Testament that helps explain it even more. You have to have:
- the true God and you have to love and obey Him
- the true Holy Spirit of God
- the true Word of God, all of it
- be converted, through repentance and baptism
- await the resurrection
We're moving toward the Day of Pentecost, which is the Holy Day that pictures the resurrection and we'll keep working toward that between now and when it occurs.
Scriptural References:
- Revelation 17:5
- 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12
- Matthew 13:11
- 1 Corinthians 2:6-7
- Proverbs 25:2
- 1 Corinthians 2:8-12
- Jeremiah 10: 10-12
- 1 John 5:19-20
- 1 Thessalonians 1:8-9
- John 14:15-18
- John 16:12-13
- John 17:14-17
- Psalm 119:127-128, 142, 172, 151, 165, 160
- Psalm 19:7-12
- Isaiah 45:18
- Psalm 139:1-17
- Isaiah 45:19-25
- Jeremiah 17:5-8
- Psalm 1:1-6
- Jeremiah 17:9-10
- Romans 1:17-22
- Romans 8:3-11
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Revelation 13
- Matthew 5
- Exodus 21-23
- Genesis 3:15
Also referenced:
Book: From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? by Fred R. Coulter
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 4/26/20
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