App
To truly know God requires truth, repentance, obedience and love
(T.R.O.L - Truth, Obedience, Repentance & Love #3)
Fred R. Coulter—August 13, 2016
- Video | 
- PDF | Audio | [Up]
Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services.
A lot has been happening in prophecy, but I'm not going to cover prophecy for a while. I want to see how it develops. Keep your eyes on Turkey, because that is Edom/Esau in prophecy. It's going to be a major player in the Middle East.
My supposition is that since the major powers are all exhausted in fighting in the Middle East and the Middle East countries do not want westerners in there fighting against them, that the perfect solution is to finance Turkey to go in and straighten out the remnants of their Ottoman Empire, which they used to rule.
We've been in the book of 1-John, a very small epistle, but a very powerful epistle. Also, one that is easy to understand in both the Greek and the English, and most languages, because it has a very simple Greek in its writing. God inspired it that way so there would be no contesting over which word means what.
We've come down here through 1-John 2:2: "And He [Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins; and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
If you would ask a Protestant how God is going to take care of that, the whole world, and then you explain to them that it means everything from creation to the return of Christ—that means everything in the Millennium and that means the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20)—they wouldn't have a clue. Why? We will see as there's an answer to it!
We have seen contact with the Father and Jesus Christ, repentance and walking in the light, or being in the darkness (1-John 1).
Verse 3: "And by this standard…" Greek: 'en touto,' which means in this. Since it's written with some ellipsis in this, you supply the word standard.
"…we know that we know Him…" (v 3). How many people know God? How many people know that they know God?
You can probably go to any Sunday-keeping church and they say, 'Do you know the Lord, brother?' Oh, yes, I'm born again. I know the Lord. 'How do you know the Lord?' I've got this wonderful feeling in my heart and I feel good and love everybody. 'Really!'
Notice the answer is conditional, and remember what we've covered concerning conditions and independent free moral agency (IFMA). We've got TROL and IFMA.
IfGod opens our mind. If we go to church every Sunday; if I'm nice to my neighbor; if I think I'm a good person. No!
"…if we keep His commandments" (v 3). That's quite a statement. Is that hard to understand? No! In every language it is easy to understand.
Sidebar: Matthew 24:12: "And because lawlessness shall be multiplied, the love of many shall grow cold." You first have to love God before you can love other people in reality the way God wants you to love them. Even sinners love one another and help out one another. Even thieves have honor. If you steal from someone else and share it with them, that's fine, but if you steal from them you're gone.
"…if we keep His commandments" (v 3). In the book of Revelation there are two very important Scriptures concerning commandment keeping:
- Rev. 12:17 describes the Church as those who 'keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus'
That adds a little more to it!
- Rev. 14:12 is speaking of Christians, here are 'those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus'
It takes faith to keep the commandments. It takes no faith to disobey; everybody does that automatically.
I got this book The Naked Gospel by Andrew Farley. He doesn't know how true that is. What does he have on the front of it? A fig leaf, because he's repeating exactly what Adam and Eve did.
When you get a book like this, you can go through it and you can find the pages and you will know that you don't have to read the whole book. As we have pointed out many times, the ones who are responsible for all the lawlessness and all the crime and everything:
- the religious leaders
- the politicians
- the people
in that order
from The Naked Gospel by Andrew Farley: The Secret Formula…
Really?
If the Scriptures say that the law has no place in the life of the believer, the most logical question is this: If the law isn't our moral guide, then what is? As Christian we have an inborn desire for our behavior to turn out right.
Proverbs 14:12: "There is a way, which seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death." It's repeated in Prov. 16:25, and other places as well.
In fact the desire to please God is what drives some to embrace the error of law-based living.
Did you know you're living in error?
How can that be?
Romans 8:7: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the Law of God; neither indeed can it be." Why? Because it's not in our nature to do so!
Taking the Ten Commandments away from a believer can be spiritually akin to taking a safety blanket away from a child. The child may feel insecure, but removing the crutch is essential to helping them become mature.
It's natural for adults to feel insecure when something they've seen as a foundation for their lives is figuratively yanked from them. But realizing our release from the Law is an essential step toward Christian maturity.
That's why we have the book, Judaism: A Revelation of Moses or a Religion of Men? I'll have a little more to say about that when I talk about the Holy Days. 'Just a little question to prime the pump': What human being is so great that he can add-to what a perfect God has already dictated or commanded?
The Apostle Paul minces no words in making freedom clear to the first century church and to us today. The Law was never intended to serve as a foundation for the Christian life. We have no right or Scriptural basis by which to select portions of the Mosaic Law and claim that these should supervise believers. Paul teaches that believers are led by the Spirit are not under the Law.
He doesn't even understand what under the Law is. The whole world is under the Law. Most people do not even understand that. They have no conception of what it means to be under grace, except 'I've got my sins forgiven.'
Thus even the Ten Commandments are not designed to guide our daily living.
Think about that. You can kill, you can commit adultery, you can steal, you can lie, you can covet, you can have idols. Amazing! This is in print. Is there nothing new under the sun? We will see what John calls them here in just a minute. I also need to say this. Even within the Churches of God there are several things that always course through.
- the nature of Christ
Was He the God of the Old Testament? or Did He only exist at the time of conception? Was God the Father His Father? or was Joseph His father? or was another man His father?
- the keeping of the Holy Days
- tithes and offerings
You can add on other things to go with that.
We have no right or Scriptural basis by which to select those portions. Thus the Ten Commandments are not designed to guide our daily living. The Ten Commandments are described as a ministry of condemnation that brings death. Who wants that in their life?
You're going to face 'it's given to all men once to die.'
We're also informed that sin gains an opportunity through commandments…
No, it defines it so we can repent, including the big ten.
…the Law causes sin to increase, not decrease…
How does that work?
…Therefore, we can expect more struggle and more sinning if we adopt the Law as our guide for living.
That's partially true, because the Spirit of God and the Law of God will reveal in your mind the sins within, those secret thoughts you never share with anyone. But God knows them.
Conversely, our release from the Law directly results in a release from sin's power. Apart from Law sin is dead. In fact, what the Law couldn't do, in its inferiority, Christ has already done, that is for us. Through placing us in perfect standing before God, our calling is to break free from the Law and cling to the Spirit alone as our guide for daily living.
It's worse than a naked gospel; it's annihilated! I wonder how many people will take that book and think this is good. What does this justify? Every religious practice that comes into the mind of individuals!
1-John 2:3: "And by this standard we know that we know Him: if we keep His commandments. The one who says, 'I know Him' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the Truth is not in him" (vs 3-4). We just read what the author said.
We're going to see that this is a lie. This is the lie of Protestantism over and over again. It's what the rest of the 1-John 2 covers, because those who speak this way are actually the antichrist. They are against Christ.
Verse 5: "On the other hand, if anyone is keeping His Word…" That's a broader statement. That means everything that God has provided for us: His Word!
"…truly in this one the love of God is being perfected. By this means we know that we are in Him" (v 5).
Here's the standard, the ultimate reason why we do what we do, v 6: "Anyone who claims to dwell in Him is obligating himself also to walk even as He Himself walked." What is sin?
- sin is the transgression of the law
- sin is lawlessness
and that's the broader meaning of it. Lawlessness is anything that is against God's Word.
It's like one ex-Protestant told me one time. He said, 'In the church I went to, they told us if you have Christ you have everything.' They never tell you what it means to have Christ!
What did Jesus tell the rich man who came to Him and said, 'Good Master, what should I do to have eternal life?' Jesus said, 'If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.' He said, 'Oh, boy, I'm doing that.' Sound a little different from what we read in The Naked Gospel? Did Christ say that? Yes, He did!
Jesus said, 'Don't call me good. There's only one good and that is God.' Why did He say that? Because He could not claim perfect goodness in the flesh, even though He was God in the flesh because He had the flesh and the flesh is the law of sin and death. 'But if you will enter into life, keep the commandments.' Then Jesus listed all the commandments except the Sabbath. What do the Protestants do with that in Matt. 19? They say, 'See, He didn't list the Sabbath, so you don't have to keep the Sabbath.'
Psalm 19:7: "The Law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes" (vs 7-8).
When you understand and really know that the one Who was Jesus Christ, was the Lord God of the Old Testament, when He says, 'If you love Me, keep My commandments,' what does that include? He said, 'If you love Me, you will keep My words and the words that I bring are from the Father.'
Verse 9: "The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether, more to be desired than gold, yea, much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb" (vs 9-10).
Here's what the author didn't like, v 11: "Moreover by them… [the Law, the testimony, the commandments, the precepts] …Your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors?…." (vs 11-12). Completely opposite of what he wrote. Did God put in every man to want to do what is right and serve God? No! That right is to do whatever you please.
"…Oh, cleanse me from my secret faults" (v 12).
- How does God do that?
- Why are the commandments important?
- What did Jesus say concerning the words that He spoke to the disciples?
- The words that I speak to you, they are Spirit and Life!
What happens with God's Spirit in your mind that is being written in your mind and in your heart? You don't get God's Spirit unless you first repent and are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit. It doesn't come any other way. There must be baptism, after true repentance. That is a covenant burial.
Everyone talks about Christ and dying for our sins. Everyone talks about the New Covenant and how great that is, whether you are a Protestant or whatever.
What is required with covenants? They don't know. It requires a symbolic death! That, in the case of animals, was used in Gen. 15, as a prophecy of the future death of Jesus. The covenant that He made with Abraham and the covenant that He was going to bring with His death. You have to bring forth evidence of death and shed blood!
That's what God did with Abraham (Gen. 15). What happened in Gen. 22? Both parties have to have a death, not just one. So, He told Abraham, 'Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and take him over to Mount Moriah and offer him for a burnt sacrifice.'
After Abraham set up the altar, put the wood on it, and of course Isaac had to carry the wood up. That was a type of Christ. Just as Abraham was ready to take the knife and cut Isaac's throat, the angel of the Lord stopped him. The angel said, 'Abraham.' He said, 'Here I am.' Don't lay a hand on him, because now I know that you fear Me! From Gen. 15 to Gen. 22 was a 40-year period, the number of trial.
The evidence of the sacrifice in Gen. 15 on God's part were those animals that were laid open in a maledictory sacrifice and He passed between the parts. Abraham's sacrifice was his own son, which God provided a substitutionary sacrifice in the ram caught in the thicket, a prophecy of the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ for us.
Christ is a sacrifice; His shed blood forgives our sins. What is the sacrifice you bring? What do you show as evidence of your death? Baptism (Rom. 6)! We are baptized into the death of Christ and conjoined to Him! So, unless there is complete repentance… That's why I labeled this as TROL: truth, repentance, obedience and love.
Now then, when you're buried—didn't Paul say, 'I died.' How can he die and still write an epistle? To be in baptism! That's why baptism is important.
This book is nothing but satanic trash, designed for carnal people who want to feel good about their lives. We have to bring forth the evidence of our death so that the covenant between God—through the sacrifice of Christ—and us can be accomplished through our death in the watery grave.
When we receive the Spirit of God, what does that do? What did Peter tell the Sanhedrin when they hauled him in there? You killed Christ! You always resist the Holy Spirit of God, to whom God gives to those who obey Him. How are you going to obey? Is that New Testament doctrine or not? Yes, it is! Out of the mouth of Peter. You think that's good enough? You think the Catholic Church would accept that? Nope, it has to be out of the mouth of the pope.
Verse 12: "Who can understand his errors?…." That's what Paul said. He said, 'I didn't understand lust, though I had my mind full of it, until the commandment came to my knowledge which says, 'You shall not covet.' The Spirit of God reveals that to you!
"…Oh, cleanse me from my secret faults" (v 12). Not just make me a good person in the community. Not make me happy so everybody accepts me. "…cleanse me from my secret faults."
That's why God created the human mind and gave the spirit of man so we could think. He gives His Spirit so it can unite with our spirit, and God can begin the perfecting within us through conversion. That's how it works.
Verse 13: "And keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; do not let them rule over me…" What does it say in Rom 6? Sin shall not rule over you! If you have the Spirit of God and if you have the commandments of God written in your heart and in your mind. Why? What you are doing with that, then, you are developing the mind of Christ and the conscience of God, where then you can see where your sins originate from within! Even many people in the Church don't understand that.
Sidebar: I get reports of people still hating one another in the Church. One question for you: Do you believe, if you have that kind of heart toward anyone in the Church, that you will ever be in the Kingdom of God? You better examine yourself and repent!
"…then I shall be blameless… [How are we to be before God? Blameless!] …and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer" (vs 13-14).
If that is not New Testament doctrine, I don't know what it is. Isn't that amazing? What does it say? The one who says I know Him, and does not keep His commandments is a liar!
What does it say about the Holy City, New Jerusalem? No liar will enter in there! Who is the father of lies? Satan the devil! See what happens when people assume things and never read the Bible? Never really desire God to the point that God will lead you to repentance so you can enter into that baptismal covenant? In that baptismal covenant you pledge your death, if you don't complete the covenant! That's what it is.
Exactly the same as the Lord God of the Old Testament pledged His death to Abraham, after He had those sacrificial animals, and He walked down the maledictory trail. He knew He was going to die.
Only the death of God manifested in the flesh can cover the sins of all human beings. No other man could; no other woman could; no animal can. Why? Because He created all human beings, beginning with Adam and Eve! He's responsible for the whole world and all people. This is why John is writing what he's writing.
We're going to concentrate on law and commandments; however, I want you to go through and study all of Psa. 119. This is interesting; the Word of God is like this: You study it one time, and then you study something else, you study something else. Then you come back and study it again and again. That's why we go over and over it.
It must have been sometime in the past year, in studying through Psa. 119 it caught my eye that it says I all the way through. In most cases, when it's all I that's nothing but vanity. I counted them. In 172 verses there were 135 Is. It is I as a person, directed toward God, not I as a person am great. So, that's the difference.
- How many years have I been in the Church
- How many years have I been a minister?
- How many times have I studied the Bible?
- How many times have I read that?
The reason is, is because the words are Spirit and life. You learn and you learn.
It's like looking at a piece of dirt. You look at the dirt; get rid of it. Put it under a microscope—look at that! Take the smallest part of that and put it under a super microscope and there is still more there. That's the way it is with the Word of God. That's why it's a lifetime study.
Psalm 119:1—Cursed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the Law of the Lord. That's what that author would have you read it. No, it says:
Psalm 119:1: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the Law of the LORD." It is your guide. It doesn't superintend you, as he says, out here like a policeman. It guides you within by His Spirit.
Verse 2: "Blessed are they who keep His testimonies and who seek Him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways" (vs 2-3).
Notice this, this is fantastic! Amazing! Think about how many people are out there trying to make their lives better, do better, be better, be stronger, be smarter, be more beautiful, have more muscles and all of this sort of thing. None of that amounts to anything!
This is where life really is, right here, v 4: "You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently. O that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes!" (vs 4-5). He's complaining of the weakness of human nature.
Verse 6: "Then I shall not be ashamed when I have respect unto all Your commandments…. [each and every one] …I will praise You with uprightness of heart when I have learned Your righteous judgments. will keep Your statutes; O forsake me not utterly… [wonderful Psalm] …With what shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your Word. With all my heart I have sought You; O let me not wander from Your commandments" (vs 6-10).
Isn't that quite a difference from what he wrote here? This book is the satanic gospel of death!
(go to the next track)
Exo. 20—the Ten Commandments. We're going to cut right into the middle of the second commandment, after it says don't make and don't bow yourself down to:
Exodus 20:6: "But showing mercy to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments."
Verse 5: "…visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me." How do you hate God? By rejecting His commandments! By making idols! People can be ever so nice and present such a wonderful thing.
We were talking here and Darlene was telling me about this Rabbi Schneider, a Messianic rabbi, and he goes right down the line with the Old Testament. When it comes to the New Testament, here he is online with his prayer shawl and his coat. Then at Christmas time he is wearing Christmas things. Why? Because Christians are the ones who send him money! The Jews don't send him any money; same way with Jonathan Cahn. Always remember this: every false prophet has to have enough proof to sound convincing.
Deuteronomy 5:9: "…visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments" (vs 9-10).
Now you know why John wrote what he wrote. We're going to do a little quick survey through Psa. 119.
Psalm 119:17: "Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your Word." That's more than commandments, that's everything.
Most of these, who write like this guy does here know nothing about Judaism. They know nothing about what it is to be under law. They know nothing about what it is to be under grace. They don't because, what happens? See this pen? What caused it to fall? The law of gravity! All the laws and commandments of God are automatic. They are just like the law of gravity.
- if you keep them, you're blessed
- if you break them, you're cursed
That's for anybody in the world anywhere. Salvation is a calling, which is different from keeping the commandments in the letter of the Law. God expects that of the whole world and that's why He judges the whole world the way He does. He says that very clearly in Jer. 18.
- if a nation does good, God will bless it
- if a nation sins and does wickedness, God will bring evil upon it
I wonder if there would be such a graph as, you start about 1893 when they had their warning from the Catholics about Rome's Challenge to the Protestants (Appendix F, The Holy Bible in Its Original Order). I wonder if you could draw a line on how the lack of knowledge, lack of knowledge, lack of knowledge to our day, what that has done to the general population.
It's easy to condemn people like this, because it's obvious. My wife has been more right on things than being wrong. She's been wrong occasionally. She helps me a great deal if I give a sermon that she thinks is vanity, she will let me know.
Paul said that there are people who sinned without the Law. What does that mean? They sin without the knowledge of the Law, which means the law works automatically.
I got an e-mail from man who wrote and said, 'The population must be just rife with sin and terrible things going on, because in Fairfax, Virginia, the mayor of the city was arrested for having multiple male sex partners and passing out meth to everyone so they can have a great and glorious time.'
I looked at that and I thought I just wonder what it's like across the United States. Look at Colorado: 'We're cool; we smoke pot; we eat pot. We're wonderful people, we're losing our brain.' They'll never tell you that. Guess who is going to win Colorado? Hillary-Billary!
Verse 17: "Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your Word. Open my eyes so that I may behold wondrous things out of Your Law'" (vs 17-18).
Remember how we talked about it. It's all spiritually based. How many things can we derive out of the Word of God, if we:
- yield to God
- repent
- yield to God
- grow and overcome
- study
- apply it
- think about it
- live by it
- day-by-day
- month-by-month
- year-by-year
How much can we know? Think how much is in here that even we don't know, even though we know what we know. Amazing!
Verse 113: "I hate those who are double-minded, but Your Law do I love." In James 1 and 4 it talks about those who are 'double-minded, unstable in all of their ways.' Another way of saying it is two-faced.
Verse 114: "You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your Word. Depart from me, you evildoers, for I will keep the commandments of my God" (vs 114-115).
Wonderful! Think about what the author said in this book. Think about what I read. Compare that with the Word of God.
Verse 127: "Therefore, I love Your commandments above gold—yea, above fine gold. Therefore, I esteem all Your precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way" (vs 127-128).
That's something! Those are good words. It helps you; it gives you spiritual strength in a world where there is nothing but lawlessness on every side.
Verse 29: "Remove from me the way of lying…" The carnal mind is deceitful above all things. The human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9).
They've run surveys and they have found that the average person lies three times in eleven minutes, either to themselves about something, or to themselves about other people, or to themselves in conversation with other people. 'Hi, how are you doing?' I'm doing fine. But to himself he thinks: I never want to see you again.
"…and grant me Your Law graciously" (v 29). How are you going to have Law and grace together? Look at that. I wonder how he would explain that.
Verse 30: "I have chosen the way of Truth…" The way of lying is the way of the world. Is the whole world deceived by Satan the devil? Yes! Is that the way of lying? Yes, that's the way of the world!
Verse 30: "I have chosen the way of Truth… [Your Word is Truth, Your righteousness is Truth, Your commandments are Truth] …I have laid Your judgments before me."
Verse 32: "I will run the way of Your commandments for You shall enlarge my heart." That's interesting. Run, anxious to do it, wanting to do it. Not just walk in it, but run.
Verse 33: "Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep Your Law and observe it with all my heart. Make me to walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in them" (vs 33-35).
Verse 37: "Turn away my eyes from seeing vanity; give me life in Your way."
This Psalm is broken down into segments, as you look at it, of 8 verses per segment. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet and each segment, at the top you will see has the Hebrew letter. Each one of these verses in Hebrew begins with that letter. Because this is called a Psalm of degrees, the singers at the temple were required to memorize this so they could sing it. It's hard for us to remember 4 or 5 verses, let alone memorize the whole thing in Hebrew and then sing it.
Verse 43: "And take not the Word of Truth utterly out of my mouth, for I have hoped in Your judgments."
That also tells you something else. If you sin and go against God, and continue to do so, and don't repent, you're going to lose what you had. This is why we have the Sabbath, because we need to be refreshed every Sabbath. If you go without keeping the Sabbath and just working, if you did that for six months, I wonder how much you would lose. Don't know, I'm not going to experiment.
We've seen it in people who have done that and what happens? People have said when I talked to them, it's kind of like there is a blank behind the eyes, nothing there.
Verse 44: "So shall I keep Your Law continually forever and ever."
What is this fellow going to do? If we are acting as prosecutors, and we've taken him to court, and we put this in evidence…
Verse 47: "And I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I have loved…. [think of what that is in saying they are all done away] …And I will lift up my hands unto Your commandments, which I have loved, and I will meditate on Your statutes" (vs 47-48).
Think about how good and right God is. How loving and kind and wonderful that He is. Think about everything that He has made. Atheists don't realize it. Everything that God has created has His stamp of creation on it by design, whether it's a speck of dust, a living creature, an insect, a bird, or human beings.
How do they know who you are? They have genetic testing! How did you get your genes? 23 from your mom and 23 from your dad! So, we have 46 genes and chromosomes. I've thought on that many times, working on the book and writing and publishing it and thinking about it later on. (Book: From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born?)
How did God make it so that in the process of creating new human life, that from the father comes 23 genes and from the mother comes 23 genes, when everything else in your body has 46? That's an amazing thing.
It's like trying to answer: What is gravity? Don't know, but it works! What is electricity? Don't know, but it works! I don't even think we've had a grasp of how great, marvelous, fantastic, awesome, wonderful… I don't think there are human words good enough to express what God actually is, if we were to be in His presence. That's why we've got to be changed from flesh to spirit. After the resurrection is when we're going to learn more than we've ever learned.
Verse 59: "I considered my ways… [you think about what you're doing] …and turned my feet unto Your testimonies. I made haste and did not delay to keep Your commandments" (vs 59-60). Yes, because written in our hearts and in our minds that gives us: do this, do that, do the other thing.
Verse 66: "Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I have believed Your commandments."
What happens when you really believe? First of all, what's the greatest commandment? Loving God with all your heart, mind, soul and being! Is that not something that has to be developed and continuously prayed about and studied about? How do you love God that way? With all your heart, mind, soul and being! How can you love God when you throw everything away? (Reference to Andrew Farley and his book)
Verse 69: "The proud have forged a lie against Me, but I will keep Your precepts with all my heart. Their heart is gross like fat, but I delight in Your Law" (vs 69-70).
I don't know if any of us today would have the mental capacity to memorize every word of this in English and just start right down the line. Look at how much is here.
Verse 72: "The Law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver."
I've often thought about that. If you could picture this: here's a dark room and here's a table, and on it is a big stack of fine gold. All around the base of it are silver bars and the light is on it. Here's another table over here with the light shining down on it and here's a Bible. You bring someone into this room and you say, 'The choice is yours, you can have either one. Do you want all this gold and silver or do you want this Bible over here?'
A person would think, 'I wonder what I could do with all this gold and silver.' They ought to be thinking. 'If I had this Bible over here and understood it and live by it, I could live forever.' Which is worth more? Bible? or The gold and silver? In today's world, gold and silver is snapped up like nothing.
Verse 73: "Your hands have made me and formed me… [through the genes and chromosomes that God created] …give me understanding so that I may learn Your commandments."
Everything about you physically God has made. We were all little babies at one time. Can't remember that, can you? If you can remember back to two years—I think Jonathan remembers back to two or three years old. I can't! I don't know about you. I can't go back more than about 6 or 8 and it's sketchy.
But you were alive then as a little infant. You grew and you didn't look like anything like you look now, some for better, some for worse, that's how it goes. Nevertheless, that shows that God's creation is always in process and progress, physically and spiritually. Right now we're in a generational change. God is going to have to call some more people because He's going to have a harvest of all of us old folks. That's the way it goes.
No one, except Christ, has been resurrected from the dead to live forever! Yes, Lazarus was brought back to life.
Sidebar on Lazarus: Why did Jesus do that? Even the disciples wondered, 'Lord, why didn't You run back there and help Lazarus so he wouldn't have died?' Jesus deliberately stayed away so Lazarus would be dead.
Jesus said, 'Lazarus is dead.' Then He came back and Martha and Mary said, 'Lord, if You would have been here, he wouldn't have died.' He said, 'I am the Way, the Life, and the Resurrection.' Where was he buried? Over here in this sepulcher! 'Let's go out there.' All the Jews thought, Jesus wept and everybody's going out wailing and weeping and everything like that.
He gets out there in front of the tomb and they say to Him, 'By now he stinks.' Of course, he would, yes. Why did Jesus resurrect him? Simple, short prayer: 'Father, I thank You that You hear Me always.' How's that for a long prayer? 'But I say this for the sake of those who are here. Lazarus, come here!'
There he comes, all the grave clothes, taking off the napkin over his face and he's all wrapped up in all of the embalming stuff that they do. Why? Because He wanted Lazarus to be in the first resurrection!
How many disciples were in the upper room? 120! You can be sure Lazarus was there and Mary was there and Martha was there. Jesus' mother Mary was there and his brothers were there. The 70 were there and the 12 were there. See how we get 120?
Jesus wanted Lazarus to have salvation, but also to demonstrate the power of the second resurrection that if you die, and you have not committed the unpardonable sin, you will be raised for an opportunity of salvation.
Verse 86: "All Your commandments are faithful… [commandment keeping and faith connected (Rev. 14:12)] …they persecute me wrongfully; help me!" How many times a day do you ask God to help you? Anytime you need to!
Verse 92: "Unless Your Law had been my delight, then I should have perished in my affliction." How about that! Delighting in the Law of God. Andrew Farley, what do you have to say to that?
Verse 96: "I have seen an end to every purpose, but Your commandment is exceedingly broad." Goes on and on and on.
Verse 98: "Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients because I keep Your precepts. I have held back my feet from every evil way, so that I might keep Your Word" (vs 98-101).
How's that for having the Law of God written in your heart, mind, soul, and being to guide your steps. It's the Spirit of God that's leading you. It's not the commandments that are supervising you.
Verse 109: "My life is in my hand daily, yet, I do not forget Your Law." Another way of saying, 'I have free moral agency and choose every day, yet I do not forget your law.'
I had a man write me an e-mail, and say, 'I've studied Psa. 119 many times and I never get all the way through it. Finally I listened to it on afaithfulversion.org all the way through and I got through it.' Sometimes you can do that.
Verse 131: "I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for Your commandments." How totally opposite of doing away with the Law is that? Passionate! Zealous!
Verse 132: "Look upon me, and be gracious unto me, as You are known to do for those who love Your name."
Verse 134: "Deliver me from the oppression of man, and I will keep Your commandments."
Verse 136: "Rivers of water run down my eyes because they do not keep Your Law." That's about what we're coming to in the world today.
Verse 142: "Your righteousness… [all the commandments are righteousness] …is an everlasting righteousness, and Your Law is the Truth." How are you going to get away from that?
Verse 143: "Trouble and anguish have taken hold upon me, yet, Your commandments are my delight."
Verse 151: "You are near, O LORD, and all Your commandments are Truth."
Verse 163: "I hate and despise lying, but I love Your Law." You think we've given enough evidence in this court case against The Naked Gospel? Yes!
Verse 165: "Great peace have those who love Your law, and there is no stumbling block for them."
Verse 172: "My tongue shall speak of Your word, for all Your commandments are righteousness. Your hand help me, for I have chosen Your precepts. I have longed for Your salvation, O LORD, and Your law is my delight" (vs 172-174).
There we have a quick survey of Psa. 119. There is so much more there. I imagine you could study this nearly every day for a month and still learn more.
Let's look and see what Jesus said. You want to follow what Jesus said? Remember John 14-17 are all powerful things that we read every Passover. I imagine that Andrew Farley would say he loves God and he loves Jesus. But he is sincerely deceived and has written nothing but error and sin.
Notice Jesus' qualification for loving Him. John 14:15: "If you love Me, keep the commandments—namely, My commandments."
Did He do everything the Father told Him to do? Speak everything that the Father said He should speak? Yes, He did! There it is.
We've covered an awful lot and read an awful lot of Scripture today. We will pick it up next time in 1-John 2. I don't know how long it will take us to get through major portions of that epistle, but I think it's very important for us living in the society we live in today and the state of the world and the state of the churches, state of our lives that we need to stay close to God. It's important that we go through these things.
Scriptural References:
- 1-John 2:2-3
- Matthew 24:12
- 1-John 2:3
- Proverbs 14:12
- Romans 8:7
- 1-John 2:3-6
- Psalm 19:7-14
- Psalm 119:1-10
- Exodus 20:6, 5
- Deuteronomy 5:9-10
- Psalm 119:17-18, 113-115, 127-128, 29-30, 32-35, 37, 43-44, 47-48, 59-60, 66, 69-70, 72-73, 86, 92, 96, 98-101, 109, 131-132, 134, 136, 142-143, 151, 163, 165, 172-174
- John 14:15
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Revelation 20; 12:17; 14:12
- Proverbs 16:25
- Matthew 19
- Genesis 15; 22
- Romans 6
- Jeremiah 18
- James 1; 4
- Jeremiah 17:9
- John 14-17
Also referenced:
Books:
- The Naked Gospel by Andrew Farley
- Judaism: A Revelation of Moses or a Religion of Men? by Philip Neal
- From a Speck of Dust to a Son of God: Why Were You Born? by Fred R. Coulter
Appendix F, Rome's Challenge to the Protestants (The Holy Bible in Its Original Order)
FRC:lp
Transcribed: 8-23-16
Formatted: bo—8-26-16
Copyright 2016—All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner. This includes electronic and mechanical photocopying or recording, as well as the use of information storage and retrieval systems.
