Things You Should Know

A study of the Law! Will you cling to what is true with conviction?

Fred R. Coulter—June 19, 2021

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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services!

Here we are heading down the road toward all the Feasts in the fall, and it's going to be a great Feast of Tabernacles this year. Last year it wasn't so great because of all of the restrictions, because of the so-called China plague.

We're going to cover a number of different things today, so there's no single title for this message. This week I came into the office and got a call to talk to this gentleman from Georgia. He sent me part of a paper—actually found the whole paper—A Study of the Law that I did in 1969. I have a copy of it right here: A Study of the Law.

The reason that I did it was because of the teaching of WCG at that time, by Herbert W. Armstrong, concerning Galatians 3. We all used the King James Version at that time. Let me explain what the teaching of the Church was at that time:

Jer. 7 says that when God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, He did not speak to them concerning sacrifices, but He said, 'Obey My voice.'

That was true! But that's not the first thing that He told them.

When you really look at it, they did have a sacrifice before they left Egypt. What was that? That was the killing of the Passover lamb! When the children, later on, were asking their fathers, 'Why do you have this sacrifice?' Because the Lord passed over our houses when we were in Egypt and killed the firstborn of the Egyptians, man and beast so that we could leave!

But that does not mean that God did not intend for them to have sacrifices.

• Did Abraham offer sacrifices? Yes!
• Did Isaac offer sacrifices? Yes!
• Did Jacob offer sacrifices? Yes!

So there were sacrifices! But the understanding in Galatians was:

Galatians 3:16 (KJV): "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, 'And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.' And this I say. that the covenant… [What was the covenant?] …that was confirmed before of God in Christ… [What was the Covenant?] …the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator" (vs 16-19).

But it says up here (v 15) that you cannot add to a covenant. So, that doesn't make any sense.

So, in 1969 I wrote this paper, and I didn't have a copy of it until it showed up. This man found it as he was cleaning out his basement and he sent it to Tom Parker and he made copies: A Study of the Law. So, here's what I wrote in 1969.

Let me give you a little background on this. All of the elders were told that if you're studying anything and you come up with something that is new or different, you write it up and you send it in. That's what I did. At that time Roderick C. Meredith was the one who was the head of Church Administration, over all the ministers. So, I wrote it up! I also rented a bulletin typewriter so it would be large type so Mr. Armstrong—who, at that time, was blind in one eye—could read it.

It has to do with justification under the New Covenant.

A Study of the Law by Fred R. Coulter, 1969

Galatians 2:16 (KJV): "Knowing that a man is not justified by… [the] …works of law… [the word the is not in the original] …but by the faith of Jesus Christ… [that is, through faith of Christ, in original] …even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by [the] works of Law. For by (the) works of law shall no flesh be justified."

The works of law in verse 16 does not have directly to do with the sacrifices, (but in principle includes them), because Peter was not about to offer a sacrifice.

Remember the problem in Gal. 2:16! Peter was separating from the Gentiles, which was very hypocritical, because he was the very one whom God used to go to Cornelius to open up the Gospel to the Gentiles. So, here come the politics from Jerusalem. Believe me, there were a lot of politics in Jerusalem!

So, Peter was afraid, he didn't want to get a bad report going back to James, the half-brother of Jesus, that he was eating with the Gentiles. Remember, when Peter went to Cornelius, he stayed several days in Cornelius' house with all the Gentiles.

So, he separated, and that was a work of law, not in the Law of God! So, when it talks about works of law, that's what it means.

Peter was separating himself from the Gentiles. That was a work of law that the Jews had added to justify themselves to the temple, and to be accepted in the Pharisaical circles. Also, it was a law of the Jews commanded by the Great Beth Din…

The great synagogue that did the final canonization of the Old Testament. The last thing that was added before the Great Beth Din disintegrated was in 206 or 9B.C.

…and binding on all Jews, especially in Judea. The whole principle of verse 16 is that works of any law did not put one in right standing with God, under the New Covenant….

But it does say in Romans 2:13: "Because the hearers of the Law are not just before God, but the doers of the Law shall be justified."

What does this tell us? That before you can be justified in the New Covenant—and justification comes with repentance and baptism—you're repentance must begin with keeping the Laws of God, as you know them and find them!

One of the questions that is asked is: Have you repented of your sins? That's what we ask at baptism. Sin is the transgression of the Law! It goes around and around in a circle if you don't understand the process correctly.

…We must be in right standing with God, the Father, in heaven above, by the forgiveness of sin through Christ's sacrifice. We must go through Jesus Christ, Who is the High Priest. It is now of the Spirit and not of the flesh.

John 4:21: "But the hour comes and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such to worship Him God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth" (vs 21-24).

Difference Between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant

That has to be understood, especially for Jews. They are so dedicated to the letter of the law of their Judaism that they feel if they don't have traditions, they have nothing; which is true! They have nothing because they reject the New Testament.

It is vital to compare the functions of the Old Covenant and New Covenant, in order to understand the differences between justification by works and justification by faith.·

 The comparison between the workings of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant are clearly explained in Hebrews 8, 9 and 10.

Under the Old Covenant they were to obey in the letter of the Law. Their willingness to follow God was shown when they were circumcised. For circumcision and obedience in the letter of the Law they were to receive physical blessings. They had an acceptance to the temple or to the tabernacle for the purifying of the flesh only (Heb. 9:13).

The New Testament is totally different. What temple do we have? The one in heaven above! Our justification is directly to God the Father through Jesus Christ.

The works of law for justification came to an end with the death of Christ.

Remember what happened when He died; the temple was still there, and they had a great hanging curtain right on the front of the temple. It was very thick and there were 12 sections to it, one for each tribe. It was, if I recall correctly, about 70+feet tall. When Jesus died, there was an earthquake and the veil was ripped in two from the top to the bottom. What was written that that signified: now for the New Covenant—not yet completely understood—that we would have access to God the Father and Jesus Christ in heaven above! Quite a different thing, indeed!

Now a person was to be justified to the Tabernacle in heaven, not the one on earth. The blood of Christ, not the blood of animals, was to be the atonement. Belief in the sacrifice of Christ for the forgiveness of sin was required for justification, and not the works of law and animal sacrifices.

Let's see how important this is. Here is the correct translation of Gal. 3:16:

Galatians 3:16: "Now, to Abraham and to his Seed were the promises spoken. He does not say, 'and to your seeds,' as of many; but as of one, 'and to your Seed,' which is Christ. Now this I say, that the covenant ratified beforehand by God to Christ cannot be annulled by the Law, which was given four hundred and thirty years later, so as to make the promise of no effect" (vs 16-17).

Covenant is very, very important! Once a covenant is made you cannot add to that covenant or you cannot take away from that covenant. So, the covenant that Abraham made—Gen. 15 & 22—God's part (15) and Abraham's part (22) and now it was all set. That prefigured Christ.

Verse 17: "Now this I say, that the covenant ratified beforehand by God to Christ cannot be annulled by the Law, which was given four hundred and thirty years later, so as to make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is by law, it is no longer by promise. But God granted it to Abraham by promise" (vs 17-18).

Here's the key: you can't add to it. Verse 19 (KJV): "Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added…"

It says in v 15 that you can't add to it! So, that's where they made the mistake and they said that this represented the animal sacrifices that God gave to the children of Israel, which it wasn't! that was the whole purpose of writing this paper. I went through it in great detail and showed that, yes, there were sacrifices intended by God when He gave the instructions to Moses for making the tabernacle and the altar of sacrifice and incense they had sacrifices! And they had morning and evening sacrifices.

Verse 19 (KJV): "Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions…" NO! You cannot add to a covenant! That's the wrong translation in the KJV!

If some of you out there are still using the KJV you better get The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, a Faithful Version and follow that. Because all of the errors of the KJV have been removed. This is one of the major ones here.

"…till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator" (v 19 KJV).

Now, here's the correct translation; you can't add to a covenant, but you can make another covenant and place it alongside, and that's what the word "…added to…' in the Greek means.

Verse 19 (FV): "Why then the Law? It was placed alongside the promises for the purpose of defining transgressions…"

Where there's no law there's no transgression! The Protestants don't have a clue as to what it means.

"…until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made, having been ordained through angels in the hand of a mediator" (v 19).

You have the great promise given to Abraham, and coming to Christ, and then you have the promise in Gen. 17, which is a separate covenant placed alongside about physical seed.

When the subverters came and infiltrated themselves into WCG and got themselves into positions of authority, all of the leading ministers went to Azusa Pacific University, which was a Protestant theological university. Why would they go there? Now you know why they came back with all of these different interpretations of doctrine. Then when the moment came, and they're all in position, and Hebert Armstrong is dead, they started changing doctrine! We get a lesson from that: You can't go to the Protestants to find the Truth of the Bible! You go to God, because He inspired it and He will give you the Truth!

We've already covered the sacrifice of Abraham and God there in Gen. 15. what happened, Sarah thought and said, 'Look, Abraham, I'm not having any children so you take Hagar who is my handmaiden and she'll rear up children for me.'

Well, if you wife comes up with a brilliant idea that really is not right, don't go for it, because that one thing has affected the whole history of the world from that time. Ishmael in our age from the time of Christ until now is one of the biggest problems in the whole world!

Abraham was 85 when the promise was given to him in Gen. 15, then in Gen. 16, the thing occurred with Hagar.

Genesis 16:16: "And Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram."

How old was Abraham when Isaac was born? 100! So, that's 15 years from 85. this was 14 years before Isaac was born.

Genesis 17:1: "And when Abram was ninety-nine years old… [13 years; Ishmael was 13 at that time] …the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am the Almighty God! Walk before Me and be perfect. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.' And Abram fell on his face. And God talked with him, saying, 'As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations…. [this is a physical covenant with physical descendants] …Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations'" (vs 1-5). Before it ever took place!

Lots of times God speaks of things that are not as though they are! That's called a prophetic perfect.

Verse 6: "And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you" (vs 6-7).

Even though God sent the 10 tribes into captivity and the Jews into captivity, they are still His people according to the flesh! He said, 'from generation to generation.'

• Are there still generations?
• Are there still the children of Israel today? Yes!
• Are there still the children of the Jews today? Yes!

There it is!

Verse 8: "'And I will give the land to you in which you are a sojourner, and to your seed after you, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. And I will be their God.' And God said to Abraham, 'And you shall keep My covenant…" (vs 8-9).

This is a separate covenant placed alongside. Isaac isn't mentioned here, yet.

"…you and your seed after you in their generations. This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised" (vs 9-10).

That's the covenant of circumcision! That's the covenant that was to base the covenant with Israel.

Verse 11: "And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. And it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. And a son of eight days shall be circumcised among you, every male child in your generations; he that is born in the house, or bought with silver of any foreigner who is not of your seed. He that is born in your house, and he that is bought with your silver, must be circumcised. And My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant" (vs 11-13). That is the token of the physical seed!

I want you to see how this promise was given. To show you how strong human choice is… And remember this when you're dealing with God and His promises: there are no fudge factors, no additions to it; it has to be what God says in His Word!

When God provided the substitutionary sacrifice. the ram caught in the thicket… I've always wondered if God sent it up there to be there, or did He create instantly? Who knows? It may be that God created it right there!

Genesis 22:12: "And He said, 'Do not lay your hand upon the lad…'"

Isaac had to be about 15 at this point; that's the difference between the 430 and 400 years: 15 years from 85 to 100 and 15 years from the birth of Isaac and that 30 years.

"…nor do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God…'" (v 12).

Think of this for just a minute: When God tests you, He deliberately does not know what you are going to do until you do it! Why? Because He wants to know what you are a choosing yourself! He's not going to influence! He's going to provide the circumstances because:

"…for now I know…" Didn't He know that all the time that He was dealing with Abraham for all those years? A total of 40 years up to the time of bringing Isaac out for the sacrifice!

But for this choice, his only son, what was he going to do? He did exactly what God said! Here's a little something else that most people don't even catch: you don't understand why it was that Abraham was willing to do this; why was it? Heb. 11—he did it because he counted God able to raise Isaac from the dead! That's quite a thing!

It doesn't say it here. It would have helped a lot if it said it here. But it doesn't, and that's why we have to put the Scriptures together in whatever they're talking about.

Verse 13: "And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram was entangled in a thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide; so that it is said until this day… [the day of putting the book of Genesis together] …'In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.' And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, 'By Myself have I sworn,' says the LORD…" (vs 13-16).

He passed that test! A mighty test! Think about it! If you were a 115-years-old and all of the bodily mechanisms are dead and you have your only son and God tells you to go offer him for a sacrifice. What are you going to do? Some movies like to have it that he argued with God; got mad and pounded his fist on a rock! That's not so!

Abraham did it because he loved God, believed God and knew that He would raise Isaac from the dead if possible! But why was this so important? Because this finishes the covenant that Paul is writing about in Galatians! You can't add to that; there's no adding to it! Think about that in relationship to the Jews later with all their traditions.

Verse 15: "And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, 'By Myself have I sworn,' says the LORD…" (vs 15-16).

That is absolutely going to come to pass the way that God said, because when He swears by Himself there can't be anything greater. Today, I don't even know if they use Bibles in court anymore; I haven't gone to court. It used to be that you raised your right hand and put your left hand on the Bible and you swear that your testimony is going to be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God. And then they get on the stand and lie.

"…'because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son'" (v 16)—which was a type of Jesus Christ, the only Son of God the Father! He was also by promise, by God Himself directly! That's something!

There are a lot of theologians who don't believe in the conception and birth of Christ the way it's written in the book of Luke. They believe that Joseph was the father.

Verse 17: "That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens…"

This is the spiritual seed who will be in the first resurrection. Then after that there will be many who will come in, as we know through the Holy Days.

That's the first one, this is the promise that Paul is giving in Gal. 3. This is the promise that you can't add to, you can't nullify.

"…and as the sand, which is upon the seashore…. [the physical seed; physical Israel] …And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice" (vs 17-18).

That blessing is God giving an opportunity of salvation to people that He never gave it to in their first life.

(break@3934)

We're going to look at something a little differently, and the reason I'm doing this is because it's kind of an introduction to next week's message. I'm going through this so that we know that we know that we know God's way is true!

I bring this up because there are some, even in the Church of God, who do not believe that the mark of the beast has to do with buying and selling, when it clearly says so. Some of those are the ones who believe that everything we need to know—for Christians—was restored by Herbert W. Armstrong. Which it wasn't!

I won't get into all the details of that, but I can tell you this much: Armstrong never understood about love or grace! Grace was merely the forgiveness of sin, and love was merely the keeping of the commandments. No! It's more than that!

There's a man who has a church, a Church of God, and he says that the first commandment of God is government! That is totally wrong! Ministers are not to govern the people of God!

Ministers and elders are to teach the people—the brethren—how to have a relationship with God so that they will govern themselves with God's Spirit. God wants us active, thinking and applying everything that we need to as we go along, whatever comes along, however the day may be.

Here is the first and great commandment, and you know it! There was a Pharisee who came to Jesus and they were always asking, 'What is the first commandment?'

Matthew 22:36: "Master, which commandment is the great commandment in the Law?"

If you ask that, and you think you know what the great commandment in the Law is, but you really don't know what the great commandment is. IF you do what you think is the great commandment, THEN will you not be inclined not do other commandments? You could say, 'This is the most important.' And you know people would do that.

Verse 37: "And Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…'"

I want you to understand the word all! You don't reserve anything to yourself. That doesn't mean that you give up self, but self is converted with the Spirit of God to love God. He talks about self a little bit later.

"…and with all your soul…" (v 37). Your life! In the Greek it says that Jesus gave His soul, which in English is translate life. Greek:

• soul—'psuche'
• life—'zoe'

Did Jesus die? Yes, He did! So, if He gave up His soul, that proves that souls die!

This is why we need to continue to study the Word of God over and over, and with the Spirit of God He's going He's going to give us more understanding as we go.

"…and with all your mind" (v 37). In Mark 13 it says, 'with all your strength.'

Think about this for minute: Is this not a fulltime parameter or fulltime occupation to do this in everything that you do? 

I talked to a person who—when the Church was all in a mess—said that the only church she could go to close by was a Japanese Seventh Day Adventist Church. She said that they were more devoted than the people of the Church of God. They didn't want to take any credit for anything that was done. So when something was done they would always say, 'Praise the Lord.'

Think about that! Do we involve God that much in our lives? Loving Him this way shows that we need to!

Verse 38—Jesus says: "This is the first and greatest commandment; and the second one is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (vs 38-39).

So yourself is involved after your relationship with God, because yourself is involved in that relationship with God and then it applies to everything that you do involving other people. You don't have to be super-sanctimonious or religious, but you have to:

• love your neighbor as yourself
• help them
• encourage them in whatever it may be

whether they're in the Church or out of the Church, doesn't make any difference!

Did Jesus go around and only go to the scribes and Pharisees? NO! He went to everybody!

Verse 40: "On these two commandments hang… [when you hand something the support is what it's hanging onto] …all the Law and the Prophets."

Everything that God does is motivated from His love! How can you say that when God destroys so many people? Because God has a second resurrection! It's hard for people to find that in the Bible, because there's just one phrase in Rev. 20 that gives us the key to unlock that knowledge in other Scriptures in the Old Testament, which is: the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years are finished! A second physical life!

He says that in context to those who are in the first resurrection (Rev. 20). Think about this: if there is a first resurrection that tells you that there has to be a more than one. He didn't say, 'the resurrection.'

When it talks about the resurrection of life—to eternal life—that's a particular resurrection. That's for the firstfruits. Everything hangs on this. That's why we have the Scripture in John 3:16, which is often misquoted. So many thing in the Bible are misconstrued by too many people because they're unwilling to put aside their ideas and look for what God wants us to know. That's what's important! What does God want us to know?

The Bible is not something where you can say very much about: I think! What if what you're thinking is not relevant to God's Word. Does it matter? I had one man who said—now think on this—that the second resurrection comes every hundred years during the Millennium.

• I think….
• Ding! I think that's a good idea…
• Think about that…
• I wonder how much room there's going to be for all those people if there's just one resurrection?

It's not what we think, it's what the Word of God says! It says in Rev. 20 that 'the rest of the dead do not live again' until one of the seven times during the thousand year period. It doesn't say that! It says, 'the rest of the dead do not live again until the thousand years are finished.' So therefore, everything that God does—even with the death of people—and we're going to live through a lot of that, so we might as well start preparing ourselves for the dark days that are coming; and they are coming, because it's given over to Satan!

What's the greatest love that God can show to all of those people who died that never had a chance for salvation? To resurrect them to a second physical life for an opportunity for salvation! That's a great love! We're so selfish that we would say, 'good riddance to bad rubbish!' That's what we would think carnally! But this verse, so often read:

John 3:16: "For God so loved the world…"

Look at the mess that the world is in now and how can you say that He loves the world? It goes beyond the temporary things that happening now! Those things that are left over are because of the prophecies that are taking place.

"…that He gave His only Begotten Son… [the only One ever to be born this way] …so that everyone who believes in Him…" (v 16).

• What if you never had a chance to believe?
• What about those who Jesus said are blinded and don't understand?

He deliberately allowed this so they wouldn't be converted!

People don't think on those things and understand what it is, because there's the second resurrection! But those who are in the first resurrection, that's an entirely different thing. The way that we live our lives and how we conduct ourselves is led by the Spirit of God.

"…so that everyone who believes in Him…" (v 16). That's why the second resurrection so they will have a chance to believe!

Did everyone before the first coming of Christ have an opportunity to believe in Him? before He came? NO! Except those whom God dealt with like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the Prophets!

"…may not perish…" (v 16).

It's interesting that it doesn't say die! Perish is something else, which is saved for the incorrigible wicked. They are burned up, no longer exist, perish!

"…but may have everlasting life" (v 16). There we have that! Do we believe that the way that God wants us to believe it?

Verse 18: "The one who believes in Him is not judged, but the one who does not believe has already been judged because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

Verse 20[transcriber's correction]: "For everyone who practices evil hates the Light… [Christ is the Light] …and does not come to the Light, so that his works may not be exposed; But the one who practices the Truth comes to the Light so that his works may be manifested, that they have been accomplished by the power of God" (vs 20-21).

Another way of saying that is with God's Spirit and understanding about our existence and so forth, we can say, as Paul wrote, that in God we live and move and have our being! We can say this more than people in the world though in the flesh it is true that everyone in the world lives and moves and has their being because of God, whether they believe in God or not, because He created them!

There are quite a few things in 1-John that we need to know and cover that we know! We need to know that we know, so that when difficult timescome there is no doubt; though they may be horrible as they may be! And there are going to be some bad times.

We're going to cover the things we need to know! How do we know? We know because:

• we have a relationship with God
• we pray and study every day

1-John 2:3: "And by this standard… [Greek: 'en touto'—in this; in this what] …we know that we know Him… [it's not just know, but you know that you know] …if we keep His commandments."

Commandment-keeping is always required. Remember what it was said about Abraham: because he kept My laws, statutes, commandments and judgments and obeyed My voice! Those are always required!

Notice the opposite, v 4: "The one who says, 'I know Him' and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the Truth is not in him." That's pretty strong words! Think about it!

This is the condemnation to every Protestant preacher and every Catholic priest from the pope on the way down. They so they know Him, but they don't! Why?  "…does not keep His commandments…" You know the commandments they don't keep:

• Sabbath
• Feasts
• Holy Days
• Passover

"…is a liar…"

• a liar can be very convincing
• a liar can really tell a good story
• a liar always has enough truth in it that's it's plausible

In commercials, they have found that they can sell their products if they have an attractive woman. How much do you think they would sell a product if they put up ugly women, ugly men and tell them to say that 'this is a good product you need to buy it.' NO!

If someone is suffering from pain they don't use the attractive woman for the main one, they use different ones. Like the ad for Relief Factor. They get everybody who has a little gray hair and takes the Relief Factor and they vouch for it.

Now look at the comparison, which gives us the conviction. If we know that we know, we have conviction. It's not:

• I think
• I guess
• I hope

It is I know that I know!

Verse 5: "On the other hand, if anyone is keeping His Word…" Notice that is shifts from commandments to His Word!

• Where do we find the words of Christ? Matthew, Mark, Luke and John!
• Where do we find the words of God? Old Testament!

"…truly in this one the love of God is being perfected…." (v 5).

It's a process! It's not as soon as you're baptized you're perfect. Or like the Protestants say:

If you say this sweet little prayer and believe in Jesus, you're saved! You're born again! And you just be good people!

They don't tell them to quit breaking the commandments of God! That is a phony, false trap to get people to believe that! At best it is the first step, but the journey hasn't even started!

"…By this means we know that we are in Him" (v 5). That conviction of heart and mind!

Verse 6: "Anyone who claims to dwell in Him is obligating himself also to walk even as He Himself walked." That is quite a statement!

• Did Jesus do the things that pleased the Father? Yes!
• Did He keep the commandments? Yes!

Look at what else He did, too!

Verse 15: "Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world…."

This tells us how to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and being! Don't love the world; look at the things that are in the world!

"…If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (v 15). How does that come? By the Holy Spirit! Here's why:

Verse 16: "Because everything that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pretentious pride of physical life—is not from the Father, but is from the world."

• Who is the god of this world? Satan the devil!
• Do you want to know a little secret about a secret organization?

Every once in a while there is someone who comes out and reveals the truth, and sometimes when that happens, if it's spread too far, they're dead! There are many secret organizations in the world:

• Masons
• Knights of Columbus
• Elks

Then you have secret organizations within that that includes business men, religious leaders, and they have steps of initiation that they get into. Of course, I'll let you figure out the names of them, because they're evident, when they reach the highest degree—and it's a whole lifelong journey to reach the highest degree—that's the counterfeit for true Christianity!

It's a whole lifelong for us to reach the first resurrection. That's the highest degree: to live forever!

But the highest degree for these secret organizations and the reason why they're secret is because they are told that Lucifer is really 'God.' That's throughout the whole world.

You wonder why things never get done in Washington, D.C.? It's because there are a lot of them that belong to these secret organizations! They have hand signals and handshakes to let each other know who each other are, and that's why! That's why we're not to love the world! Everything in this world is not from the Father!

Verse 17: "And the world and its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God abides forever."

That's why we need the conviction and to know what we know!

Let's also see something else in 1-John 3. We've covered this before, but I'm looking at it in these things so that we know what we need to know! Here's what we always need to keep in mind, these first two verses of chapter 3. this is something, especially when you're in the middle of a trial and you're down low, or you're sick and you don't know what to do, and it seems like the whole world against you.

You'll reach that point! Sometimes you may reach it several times! But that's what God wants to know:

• What will you believe at the lowest point of your life?
• Will you cling to what you know that is true with conviction?

1-John 3:1: "Behold! What glorious love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God!…"

That's something really keep in mind! That's we are the children of God, not yet born again, but preparing for the resurrection!

"…For this very reason, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be…" (vs 1-2)—at the time John is writing this!

But later we know that we're going to look like Christ! Even in spite of him writing this after Mark wrote in Mark 13 that Jesus said that those in the resurrection will shine like the sun! That's something to contemplate.

"…but we know that when He is manifested, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him exactly as He is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, even as He is pure" (vs 2-3).

Verse 9: "Everyone who has been begotten by God does not practice sin…"

It doesn't say that we don't sin. What does it say in 1-John 2?

1-John 2:1: "My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin…. [that doesn't say you can't sin] …And yet, if anyone does sin… [because we do] …we have an Advocate with the Father; Jesus Christ the Righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins… [showing that we need to repent and go to God] …and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (vs 1-2). To be applied only when God has the set time to apply it to them!

1-John 3:9: "...because His seed of begettal…"

When we receive the Spirit of God it is called a begettal! Match that up with how human life is produced. First you have the begettal, which is also conception. When there's conception, what has to happen? Everything starts growing and growing immediately! That's quite a thing to contemplate, that from something that we cannot even see with the naked eye, God produces human beings within the mother. God has set it so that everything is created in order, by number, that He has established in the seed—Greek: 'sperma'—and the ovum.

Even planting a seed in the ground! Jesus said that men plant the seeds and watch it day and night, but they don't know how it grows. Think of that! That's something! God is working out a great and marvelous plan for us!

"…is dwelling within him…" (v 9)—receiving the Spirit of the Father and Christ! Remember that there are two aspects to the Spirit of God:

• the begettal by the Father for eternal life
• the Spirit of Christ to develop the mind of Christ

That is there!

Paul said that if 'you have not the Spirit of Christ, you're none of His.'

"…and he is not able to practice sin…" (v 9).

• Why?
• What happens when you sin? You recognize that it's sin!
• Why do you recognize that it's sin? Other people wouldn't!

Because you know the Law of God and you have it being written in your heart and mind so that when you sin you confess your sins and you're not able to practice sin! In other words, you can't live in sin!

Some people go off and they're not convicted for quite a period of time. Then all of a sudden God convicts them so they don't go out and commit the unpardonable sin. They repent and come back.

"…because he has been begotten by God. By this standard are manifest the children of God and the children of the devil. Everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, and neither is the one who does not love his brother" (vs 9-10). All of that is tied up with the love of God!

1-John 4:6: "We are of God; the one who knows God listens to us; the one who is not of God does not listen to us. By this means we know the Spirit of the Truth and the spirit of the deception." There's always the deception that comes along!

Verse 7: "Beloved, we should love one another because love is from God; and everyone who loves has been begotten by God, and knows God."

Think of that! We know God! This is how we retain the strength in difficult times.

Verse 8: "The one who does not love does not know God because God is love. In this way the love of God was manifested toward us: that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through Him" (vs 8-9). Everything that that comes by!

Verse 10: "In this act is the love—not that we loved God; rather, that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also are duty-bound to love one another" (vs 10-11).

There's much more that we can do. Read and study through the Epistles of John; they're very powerful. When you read them superficially, that's okay, but you have to go through and study them and see the impact of what John is saying and the meaning for us.

This is going to help us. The message I'm going to bring next week is going to be a follow up with this message and how we have the strength of God in these difficult times!

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

Scriptural References:

• Galatians 3:16-19
• Galatians 2:16
• Romans 2:13
• Galatians 16-19
• Genesis 16:16
• Genesis 17:1-13
• Genesis 22:12-16, 15-18
• Matthew 22:36-40
• John 3:16, 18, 20-21
• 1 John 2:3-6, 15-17
• 1 John 3:1-3, 9
• 1 John 2:1-2
• 1 John 3:9-10
• 1 John 4:6-11

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Jeremiah 7
• Genesis 15; 22
• Galatians 3:15
• Hebrews 11
• Mark 13
• Revelation 20

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 6/23/21

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