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Fred R. Coulter—April 30, 2010
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Now when I was preparing the sermons for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the idea came to me and since I've given several sermons on this, and I'm going to give part of it again here today, I thought: How long does it take us—me to—to really get the point? Isn't it something! We can go for years and we can be close to it, we can understand many parts of it, but we don't get the whole point.
We've been fighting and arguing back and forth with the Protestants over law or grace, etc. The Protestant's version of grace is this: Since no one can keep the commandments—don't! Hey, that's freedom. It's bondage! 'All you Church of God folks out there, you're trying to earn your salvation by keeping commandments. You're under law.'
Even talked to one man—and I need to give a sermon on it. I did down in Arcadia, but it was too short, I need to give a longer on—which is the 'evangelical's bible.' It is so simple, it's only two verses: John 3:16 and John 5:24. That's all you need, close it up, and go home. What that is saying is, well, then God wasted His time with all the rest of the Bible—isn't it?
So are we under law if we're keeping the laws of God? That's why this book, Judaism—Revelation of Moses or Religion of Men, is really sorely needed. Let's look at it and see some basic principles today and let's see how—now note this—through the grace of God we keep the commandments. It's not grace or commandments, it is grace for commandment-keeping. Now what do I mean by that?
Now if you're an old mainline Protestant and you still have some of those things lingering in the back of your mind, you're thinking, 'What's he up to?' Now here's one place they'll turn. Let's come to 2-Corinthians 3 and they'll say, 'see, see, see'—right? And they don't know and they don't understand, so they misinterpret. As I mentioned at the conference, you may have heard it once on a sermon, but what I'm going to do I'm going to work up a study paper comparison, because the truth of the matter is this, brethren, that every single doctrine of the Protestants is based upon a wrong translation and misinterpretation in the King James Bible. Every single one!—which have all been corrected in the Faithful Version.
Someone will say, 'There goes Fred again. Who does he think he is?' Someone came up and told me one doctor in their church, one educated doctor of philosophy and religion, he said, 'Well, how can Fred Coulter write these things. He's not a scholar, he doesn't have letters after his name.' I said, 'Well, you tell him that's exactly what they said of Jesus. He's not lettered'—isn't that what they said? He didn't have THD, and PHD, all of those Ps and Ds and everything else.
Here's one they like to read all the time, so let's read it. 2-Corinthians 3:1: "Do we again begin to commend ourselves? Or do we, as some, need epistles of commendation to you, or epistles of commendation from you? You are our epistle, and are inscribed in our hearts, being known and read by all men; for it is manifest that you are Christ's epistle... [I want you to think about that. What is an epistle? A letter! You are something that Christ is doing something to you in the way of what? Writing!] ...ministered by us; you were not inscribed with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but on fleshly tablets of the heart" (vs 1-3).
- Now what does that mean?
- What does that entail?
- How is that done?
- What is inscribed?
Now notice Paul's attitude toward this. "Now we have this confidence through Christ toward God; not that we are competent of ourselves... [because everything we have comes from God] ...or credit anything to our own abilities: rather, our competency is from God…. [That's why we're all to grow in grace and knowledge, in truth and understanding, in love and God's Spirit.] …Who also made us competent as ministers of the New Covenant... [mark that—New Covenant.] ...not of the letter, but of the Spirit..." (vs 4-6).
'See, you guys that keep the commandments, you're under the law and you go by the letter of the law.' Not true! Yes, we do observe Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, but from sundown to sundown what is involved? How you keep the Sabbath. If you keep the Sabbath carnally, and say, 'Oop, the Sabbath has begun, turn off the TV.' You lay back there and think, 'Oh, boy, that game between the Yankees and the Red Sox, I wonder what the score is. Well, I think I'll turn on the news, the news wouldn't be hard to watch. I'll get the score there.' Or Sabbath comes and all you do is sleep and rest or read the newspaper, read a novel, don't even pick up the Bible, maybe you look at it.
What is the spiritual way of keeping the Sabbath? Yes, you start at sundown—don't you? But the Sabbath is here, it's a blessing,
- a time to study the Word of God
- a time of prayer
- a time of meditation
- a time of learning
- a time of fellowshipping
And your whole focus is on God—is that not correct? Yes! And being baptized, you have the Spirit of God. So on the Sabbath Day—and especially like we're all gathered here together today—this is a spiritual event. The Sabbath is spiritual, not physical. Our gathering together is spiritual, because we have the Spirit of God. God is delighted in His people and His Spirit is in each one of us and here with us. Now you see the difference in keeping the Sabbath? One is carnal! One is spiritual! Maybe you go visit someone who is sick. That's fine! Maybe you go and pray for someone who's suffering and downcast. That's fine! All of that is doing what God would have you to do.
Let's come back here to Hebrews 10, and you all know this Scripture, you all know it, but we have missed the whole point. Let me ask you some questions:
- Is being led to repentance grace? Yes! 'the graciousness of God leads you to repentance'—isn't that correct?
- Is God the Father reaching down and calling you and drawing you, is that an act of grace? Yes, it is!
- Is bring you to repentance so you can be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit, is that an act of grace? Yes, it is, plus also it involves a covenant—doesn't it?
- When you understand the love of God and you love Him back, is that not a reciprocal act of grace? Yes, it is!
- When you study the Word of God and you know that through the Spirit of God and the Word of God, God is teaching you—is that not an act of grace? Yes, it is!
Let's come here to Hebrews 10:1—let's talk about the letter for just a minute. "For the law..." In this case it means the Old Covenant.
- Were they offered the Holy Spirit? No!
- Were they to keep it in the letter of the law? Yes!
- Did that change the conscience? No!
- Does the receiving of the Holy Spirit change the conscience? Yes, it does!
...the law, having only a shadow of the good things that are coming... [What are the good things that are coming? Everything including the New Testament and onward to the Kingdom of God and the return of Christ—right?] ...and not the image of those things, with the same sacrifices which they offer continually year-by-year, is never able to make perfect those who come to worship. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered? For once those who worship had been purified, they would no longer be conscious of sin. On the contrary, in offering these sacrifices year by year, there is a remembrance of sins, Because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins" (vs 1-4).
So then you have Christ Who came—right? God gave Him a body and He was there to do His will. Now what about Christ? What does it say there in the first chapter of the Gospel of John? Jesus Christ was what? 'Full of grace and truth.' Is that not correct? Yes, indeed! Since receiving the Holy Spirit is an act of grace and Christ is to be in us, we'll see a little later here also the Father—is that not an act of grace? Is that not part of grace? So what we're seeing, grace is like a big umbrella that covers us—right?
Let's come down here to v 15: "And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after He had previously said, 'This is the covenant that I will establish with them after those days,' says the Lord... [Now notice, is this the New Covenant of grace? Yes, it is!] ...'I will give My laws into their hearts, and I will inscribe them in their minds'" (vs 15-16). That is you as an epistle that Christ is inscribing His laws, His commandments, His love, His Truth, all of it together within you. That's quite a thing—isn't it? Is not all of that an act of grace? Yes, it is! So when we keep the commandments of God, brethren, in the New Covenant—what motivates us to do it? Because it's written on tables of stone?
Remember the courthouse down in Alabama and Judge Roy Moore? They fought over having those commandments chiseled in stone and on that monument. They all had marches and lawsuits and all of this thing about it. Most of those people who were for the Ten Commandments there chiseled out the fourth one—didn't they? Why? It was in stone, not in their hearts—right?
Let me ask another question: Did having the Ten Commandments there change anybody? Probably not! Now compare that with the New Covenant. God operates with grace to call you, to bring you to repentance, to bring you to baptism, to receive the Holy Spirit as a 'begettal' from God the Father and then with Christ in you (and we'll cover all of this in just a bit), He puts His laws and His commandments in our hearts, inscribes them in our minds. And here is the covenant transaction as a result of that:
"'And their sins and lawlessness I will not remember ever again'" (v 17). Now that's commandment-keeping by grace, by God's Spirit, through His Spirit. In leading us to these things God has done something that is very important.
Let's come back here to Romans 3 and we'll repeat just a little bit what I've given on some of these other sermons here. What got me started on this to do that sermon during the Feast of Unleavened Bread and record it to send it out to everyone, was Rom. 3:31. Note this: everything from Rom. 1:16 thru Rom. 8:39 is one long lesson on how we are made right with God through the grace of God and what He does for us. Now we don't have time to go through it all, but the third chapter the sum of it is this: You are forgiven and justified. Justified means being put in right standing through the remission of sins that are past, not future. Grace in Protestant-land is: 'If you've been justified, you've been justified once forever and you don't have to worry about keeping any law because you've been justified and it's over and done and fate-a-compli. Do whatever you do.'
That is just like the Catholics buying indulgence for future sins—is it not? 'Oh, but we're different than the Catholics.' How? You don't pay the minister, like they pay the priest. Now if you haven't gone through the series on justification, do it. The only means of justification is through repentance to God; acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ; and baptism, washes away your sins past; you are justified by the blood of Jesus Christ. Now what does that do? Now most Protestants need to really read Rom. 3:31.
Let's go back to Romans 3:30: "Since it is indeed one God Who will justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.... [Justification by believing in Christ and the acceptance of His sacrifice.] ...Are we, then, abolishing law through faith?…. [And this is what got me started to really think on this. We always say, 'Yeah, we ought to keep the law. Yeah, we ought to keep the commandments.' True, true, true! But why does the argument persist? Because we have failed to apply v 31, and understand that v 31 can only be accomplished through grace.] ...Are we, then, abolishing law through faith?... [Now the Greek here is 'me ginoito,' which means never let this thought come into mind. It is actually never let this be even beginning to be thought of. So that's why I translated it 'MAY IT NEVER BE' in caps, because that's the force of the Greek.] ...Rather, we are... [What is that?] ...establishing law" (vs 30-31). How? By writing them in your heart and in your mind it becomes part of your being, through the grace of God.
Now we come over here to Romans 6:1. So Paul goes through, shows the thing about Abraham, shows then about the forgiveness of sin through the blood of Jesus Christ, how we all came to have sin through the law of sin and death through Adam. By one man, sin entered into the world. Now we have redemption through Christ. Then he answers the question again:
Romans 6:1: "What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin, so that grace may abound?...." That's precisely what the statement that I gave you earlier effectively does. Since no one can keep the law, if you believe in Jesus you have been saved. What's the formula?
- You believe in Jesus? Yes!
- Jesus, I'm a sinner, forgive my sins. Yes!
- You're now born again, you're justified. Everything is done.
- Go do what you want. Oh, but you can't murder. [You're coming back and stealing a commandment—right?]
- Well, adultery under certain cases might be all right.
- Lying—well, it's awfully hard to tell the truth.
- Coveting—well, I can't get ahead in business without it.
- That Sabbath, though, boy, we hate that with a passion. Get all the missiles and destroy it.
No, what is sin? They don't even teach you what sin is. They teach you that after you have gone through this simple little Joel Osteen-sweetness, you're saved. They don't teach you that 'sin is the transgression of the law' and the Greek is even more emphatic. It is 'lawlessness.' There are two kinds of lawlessness:
- doing away with God's law entirely
or like the Jews:
- bury it with their own—Catholics do the same.
What does he say here? "Shall we continue in sin, so that grace may abound?... [There it is again, 'me ginoito.'] ...MAY IT NEVER BE!" (vs 1-2). We'll take a little break and we'll come back and we'll go through it a little more, so we'll understand how then we keep the commandments of God through the grace of God and there is not a fight between grace and law-keeping in the New Covenant.
(go to the next track)
Now let's continue on with what we've been talking about here concerning how to keep the commandments of God. Let's come to Romans 9:30: "What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not follow after righteousness, have attained righteousness, even the righteousness that is by faith…. [This righteousness is accomplished through justification.] …But Israel, although they followed after a law of righteousness, did not attain to a law of righteousness. Why?…. [They didn't have the Spirit of God—but why didn't they attain to it?] ...Because they did not seek it by faith, but by works of law... [Now you will completely understand that statement when you get this new book, What is a Work of Law? or Judaism—Revelation of Moses or Religion of Men? How many have The Code of Jewish Law, and have read parts of it? That tells you what a work of law is and that they were seeking to make themselves right with God with that. But if followed the letter of the law, it really didn't matter what was in your mind.] ...for they stumbled at the Stone of stumbling, Exactly as it is written: 'Behold, I place in Sion a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense, but everyone who believes in Him shall not be ashamed'" (vs 30-33).
Now Romans 10:1: "Brethren, the earnest desire of my heart and my supplication to God for Israel is for salvation.... [We can say the same thing likewise concerning the Protestants. Some people may say, 'Boy, Fred, you're hard on the Protestants.' Well, are they hard on us? Are they hard on God? Yes!] (Now here's the truth): ...For I testify of them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge…. [And they do—'We love Jesus. We do.'] …For they, being ignorant of the righteousness that comes from God..." (vs 1-3). Which is a true statement, because as my Jonathan put it, because in his coming to the Truth and ready for baptism, he saw all of these kind of things in Protestantism. He said, 'When you do that nice little sweet Joel Osteen routine and 'you're saved,' they're trying to save themselves.'
And think about it, Who does the calling? God. If we say Jesus come into our heart and you're not repentant truly and you know nothing about what sin is or God is, are you not trying to save yourself? And who's doing the calling? You are! "...and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God" (v 3).
Here is the truth of the matter: v 4—connect that with Rom. 9:32, because this is a mode of writing called 'ellipses' in the Greek. 'Ellipses' means that the topic is understand by the context that came previously. And so therefore, the way it's written means you fill in the full context. Now's here's the way it reads in the King James Version: 'For Christ is the end of the law.' The before law is not there in the Greek. 'For Christ is the end of law.' What kind of law? What is the context?
Verse 32: "...works of law." And the King James there has 'works of the law'—does it not? That's where the Protestants make an error, because it was fatally mistranslated. They weren't humble enough like William Tyndale. William Tyndale was hounded to death, he translated the New Testament, the Old Testament, and finished the Old Testament while he was in Velarde Prison in Amsterdam waiting to be martyred. He wrote and said that because especially the Hebrew was new to him and they just had Greek and he only had Erasmus' second edition to do the New Testament. The Stephen's Text is Erasmus' fifth edition. He said that 'in some of the points that I have missed, I pray that those who are more learned than me…'—and I don't pretend to be more learned than him, but learned enough to understand the Greek in some ways that he was not able to, that when there is no definite article there, it's referring to something else. And what is the 'else' that it's referring to but the works of law of Judaism. Christ ended the works of law of Judaism. Ever read Mark 7? 'Full well you reject the law of God that you can keep your own commandments, your own traditions.'
Ended the works of law of Catholicism. Ended the works of law of Protestantism, because they have made their own law—there is no law. They all have a zeal for God. Ninety-two percent of people in America believe that there is a God. How many are in church today on the Sabbath Day? Yeah, they have a zeal for God. They intend well. They mean to do well. Those good old hard-shelled Baptists, boy, if they could get converted and that stubbornness be applied to the Truth, wouldn't that be a marvel to behold? Yes! So we're not against them, we're against the foolish interpretations and damnable beliefs that you can do away with the laws of God. When the truth is, if they're written in your heart and in your mind, how are you going to do away with it? No way possible!
So Christ is not 'the end of the law.' Christ is the end of works of law for righteousness to everyone who believes. That is the correct translation. So all of you out there in Protestant-land, don't get offended. Ask yourself this question: do I offend God?
Now let's look at a conundrum. Let's come to Matthew 5. I know I covered this in one of the sermons, but let's come back here and review this again. The reason being is this: because when you come to something new or a new understanding of something, it needs to be repeated until we comprehend it—correct? Right! So we're going to do a little repeat.
You know this one by heart, but now we're going to look at the rest of it from a little bit different point of view and we can understand why Jesus said what He said. This one has been preached how many times in the Church of God? Matthew 5:17: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the Law until everything has been fulfilled" (vs 17-18). Heaven and earth are still here, the law is still here—is it not? Every change has not been an elimination from Old Covenant to New Covenant. Every change has been a graduation, an elevation. Now what do I mean by that?
They were to keep it in the letter, we graduate and it's elevated, we're to keep in the spirit—right? Circumcision was in the flesh—Old Covenant. That is elevated and superseded by circumcision of the heart, so that the Spirit of God may come in and the laws and commandments of God may come in. So then they read that and say, 'Well, when He fulfilled it, it did away with it.' Let's take a very concrete example we can look at.
Has the temple been destroyed? Yes! Were those prophecies fulfilled? Yes! Did not Jesus tell His disciples the same thing, when they said, 'Lord, look at these beautiful buildings.' He said, 'I tell you, there shall not be one stone left upon another.' They said, 'When, Lord?' Did it happen?
What is the graduation and elevation? We have access to the temple in heaven above. Is that not greater? Is that not through grace? Just think of it, brethren. Never, never, never be discouraged, because when you pray you come before the Sovereign of the universe with Jesus Christ at His right hand. They hear and answer your prayers. Is that not much better than grabbing a pigeon or a turtledove and run to the priest? Is that not much better than the codes of Jewish law, how to be justified on the Sabbath? Yes! Is that not much better than being a Catholic, confessing your sins and doing hail Mary and our fathers? Yes! The truth is, brethren, the Word of God—what does it say there in Heb. 4? 'It's powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing asunder the soul and spirit, the joint and the marrows, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.' That's what's working in you to expose the sin within that you may repent.
And what does it say then? 'Therefore, let us come' how? 'Boldly to the throne of grace that we may receive help in time of need. For we do not have a high priest who cannot empathize with our weaknesses, but one Who is tempted in every way that we are, and yet without sin.' What greater access could we have? Isn't that fantastic? Isn't that a marvelous thing? That's the hope of God! That's the work of grace! That's the gospel that needs to be preached. And that, brethren, is how, with the Spirit of God we have the strength to see the things that are coming and to not get overwhelmed with grief and sorrow and sadness.
We'll explain something here, v 19: "'Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least commandments... [One minister who used to be a minister of the Church of God said, 'Well, if you don't have a place to go to church on the Sabbath, it'd be all right to go to Sunday services in your area just so you have fellowship.'] ...and shall teach men so..."
What was just taught? He could have said, 'Well I know you're alone on the Sabbath, but that's a great time to study your Bible and grow in grace and knowledge and pray.' Like I tell people when they call up and say, 'Is anyone near me?' I have to tell them, 'Not yet, but someone has to be first.' All of those of you who go to Bozeman, Montana, to the Feast of Tabernacles and you see everyone who is there, you remember that, because John and Heidi Vogele were the first ones and that's what I told them. But the truth is, if you are alone, God the Father and Jesus Christ are with you, so you're not alone.
"...but whoever shall practice... [There's that word again—practice, practice, practice—right? Yes!] ...and teach them, this one shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven…. [Then here's a statement that the Protestants don't understand, many people in the Church of God do not understand, and this is what you would call a conundrum, because it seems to be contradictory.]: …For I say to you, unless your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way that you shall enter into the kingdom of heaven" (vs 19-20).
It is assumed that everything in the Old Testament is Judaism. Wrong! Judaism is a religion of men, contrary to the Truth of God. Though they have the framework of the laws, they bury it with their own. As Mordecai, I forget his last name, a converted Orthodox Jew, said that to follow everything—and he understands what I just explained to you about works of law, by the way, (Rom. 9 & 10) and also in Galatians the same thing—he said, 'When I was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, I was so involved with trying to keep every letter of the law that it became a burden and I couldn't think on God at all, but what law of Judaism should I keep.' Because they have a law for every waking minute of the day, which becomes total totalitarian oppression of daily life.
So when He says, 'the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you're not talking about the Ten Commandments. He's not talking about the law of Moses, He's talking about the traditions of the Jews.
Verse 21: "You have heard that it was said to those in ancient times, 'You shall not commit murder; but whoever commits murder shall be subject to judgment.' But I say to you, everyone who is angry with his brother without cause shall be subject to judgment" (vs 21-22). Where does murder begin? Begins in the heart. Just like Esau and Jacob. 'I'm going to kill him.' Like you said, 'That shyster.' One of his long lost relative's name is 'Bernie' [Madoff].
What are we talking now? A higher level of keeping—right? We understand that—don't we? "Now you have heard it said, 'Whoever shall say to his brother, "Raca," shall be subject to the judgment of the council.' But I say to you, whoever shall say, "You fool," shall be subject to the fire of Gehenna…. [Greater penalty, higher standard—right?] …For this reason, if you bring your gift to the altar... [Now apply this spiritually when you come before God.] ...and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift" (vs 22-24).
Now let's come down here to v 27, because then this also becomes a conundrum, something that is difficult to understand: "You have heard that it was said to those in ancient times, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you, everyone who looks upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart…. [likewise a woman toward a man. Now then He says this—which is contrary to the law—you're not to mutilate your body.] (What does He say here?): …So then, if your right eye shall cause you to offend, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is better for you that one of your members should perish than that your whole body be cast into Gehenna. And if your right hand shall cause you to offend, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is better for you that one of your members should perish than that your whole body be cast into Gehenna" (vs 27-30).
Boy! Now a Protestant would look at that and say, 'How can anyone keep the law? Therefore, don't keep it.' But why would He say mutilate your body, gouge out your eye, cut off your hand, cut off your foot, and you know as we were discussing you can take out both eyes, you can cut off both legs up to the torso, both arms up to the shoulders, and you can lie there in your bed and you can lust and commit adultery in your mind, or hate, or steal—right? Why did He say that? Because the New Testament and the Spirit of God gives you the ability to keep the laws and commandments of God through the grace of God so that you don't have to gouge out your eye or cut off your hand or cut off your foot.
You repent to God and His Spirit changes your mind, which is the source of murder and adultery and thievery and covetousness, and so forth—is that not correct? And then He gives you the ability to what? Keep the laws and commandments of God through the grace of God by having them written in your heart and in your mind. And how many years have we gone through all of this and we've never clearly focused in. It's like someone who develops cataracts. Up to a certain point they can see pretty well. Then when they have them removed and their eyes heal, they say, 'Woo, I can really see.' That's kind of what we're going through. We're getting rid of the cataracts. We're looking and seeing, yes, Jesus meant this, but that's not the solution. Mutilation of the body is not the solution. The change of the mind is the solution—right? Yes!
Let's come down here and see what else He says, v 43: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy'.... [That's a good patriotic thing to do—isn't it? Yes, indeed!] ...But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you" (vs 43-44). Now that's a tall order. You need the Spirit of God to do that—right? Don't you? You cannot fulfill this without the Spirit of God, which comes through the grace of God, and this is a law of Christ. He spoke it—right?
Here's the reason: "So that you yourselves may be the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?.... [Don't the Masons do the same thing, the Elks do the same thing, the Baptists do the same thing, the Catholics do the same thing? Yes! And even the IRS. Do not the tax collectors practice the same thing?] ...And if you salute your brethren only, what have you done that is extraordinary? Do not the tax collectors practice the same thing?.... [Then He gives the goal, v 48, the spiritual goal that we need to accomplish, which then is done spiritually.] ...Therefore, you shall be perfect... [how?] ...even as your Father Who is in heaven is perfect" (vs 45-48). Is that a tall order? Yes, it is! How is that done? Through the grace of God, the love of God, the Spirit of God, and practice, practice, practice—right? Yes!
So, if you just had the book of Matthew and up to chapter five, you would be stuck as to how that could be done. Wouldn't it be something if you walked into a pornographic movie, went in, turned the camera off, turned the lights on. 'All you filthy men, and women, get on your knees and repent right now; what you've been doing is wrong. You are to stop it, you are to cease it, you are not to do it.' Some may repent, some may get down and boohoo and others will say, 'Okay, I'll do this so I won't lose my head, but I have my books at home.'
Something has to change and it's the Spirit of God. In order to receive the Spirit of God, you've got to repent and be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit, which makes you justified. Now let's come back to Romans 6 and we will understand. You can't have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John without all the others. You can't have it without Romans. What did Paul write to the brethren in Corinth? Let's go back to Romans 6, where we left off there.
What did he write to the brethren in Corinth, so while you're turning there I'll be filling in a little. What did he say of his writings? He said, 'The things that I write to you are the commandments of the Lord.' He also said in another place, 'I teach the same thing in all the churches.' So what does this tell us? We need every one of the Epistles of Paul in their full context and they all complement each other and add to each other and build the full understanding that we need in loving God and serving God, and growing in grace and knowledge, and being perfected, as our Father in heaven is perfect. For all of us, that's going to be a lot of work, but with the Spirit of God that can be done.
Romans 6:1. Let's just review where we left off. "What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin, so that grace may abound? MAY IT NEVER BE!…. [Now we come into a very important part that is not understood in Protestantism the way it should and it's not understood in the churches of God the way that it should, especially as they are getting soft on the teachings of God and are leaning toward Protestantism.] ...MAY IT NEVER BE!" (vs 1-2). Emphatically!
In order to understand what we're going to talk about here concerning baptism and the significance of it and we discussed that at the conference and we have that material for all of those who attended the conference, which is this: baptism is a covenant death. A covenant is a pledge whereby you pledge your life, because we're to be blood brothers with Christ. A covenant is not enacted until the pledge has been presented. Christ presented His pledge—His crucifixion, His dead body, resurrected from the dead, to fulfill the promises to Abraham and the prophecies concerning the New Testament. Now then, when it comes time for baptism, we make a covenant pledge unto death. Now it is much cleaner than what Jesus went through, but the significance is exactly the same.
"We who died to sin, how shall we live any longer therein?.... [How did you die? Remember Paul said, 'The law revived and I died.' Well, if he died, how could he write that? No one has written anything yet from the grave. No, you die in baptism! Then what did he also say later in overcoming sin and overcoming self. He said, 'I die daily.' Getting rid of the old self, letting the Spirit of God change and convert the mind.] ...Or are you ignorant that we... [Including himself. Notice how many times that he included himself—'we.'] ...as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death?" (vs 2-3). What does that mean? You've heard the saying that when you repent the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is applied to you individually and personally. That is true, that's how it's done through baptism. You're baptized into His death.
"Therefore, we were buried with Him... [Under the water, that's why it has to be immersion.] ...through the baptism into the death... [Both articular nouns in the Greek. So as we were talking about baptism and the comment was made that if someone has been baptized in another church, didn't receive the Holy Spirit, should they be re-baptized? The answer is: You weren't baptized, you were dunked, because it is 'the' baptism for what? ] ...into the death... [Whose death? Christ's death!] ...so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, in the same way, we also should walk in newness of life" (v 4).
- change the way you live
- change the way you think
- change the way you walk
- change the way your whole life becomes transformed from the inside out through the Spirit of God
Verse 5: "For if we have been conjoined... [Put together. Picture baptism as this: You go into that watery grave and you're right there with Christ—conjoined. Just as He died for sin for all of mankind, you die to your sins and Christ's death covers your sins and then you come out and walk in newness of life.] ...For if we have been conjoined together in the likeness of His death... [And here's the promise, because it's a covenant and your pledge is your death in baptism. Christ's pledge was His literal death on the cross and burial and resurrection, so we're conjoined to that.] ...so also shall we be in the likeness of His resurrection." That's what perfection is all about.
Here is where perfection is finished. We'll talk a little bit about perfection of Christ if we have enough time, because you're going to be surprised. "Knowing this, that our old man was co-crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be destroyed... [Showing it's a process—might be. Showing that it is work.] ...might be destroyed, so that we might no longer be enslaved to sin…. [Now notice he didn't say you won't sin. But not enslaved to sin.] …Because the one who has died to sin has been justified from sin. Now if we died together with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has any dominion over Him. For when He died, He died unto sin once for all; but in that He lives, He lives unto God. In the same way also, you should indeed reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God through Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal body by obeying it in the lusts thereof" (vs 6-12).
So it shows it's a progress, shows that it's a fight, shows that its overcoming. Go back and read v 1 again: "What then shall we say? Shall we continue sin, so that grace may abound? MAY IT NEVER BE!" (vs 1-2).
Verse 13: "Likewise, do not yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin; rather, yield yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God…. [Now here's v 14, never lifted out of context (sarcastically)]: …For sin shall not rule over you because you are not under law, but under grace." Now the King James says 'the law.' Wrong. It is 'law.' Don't rely 'works of law,' Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, any of it. And justification under law never converted the heart. Now your relationship with God is not under law. Grace has superseded and graduated you to a higher level. Grace has not done away with law and you are not under law meaning that you only come to the temple, you only come to the tradition, you only come to the law, and you do that—no, you have died in Christ and you come to God.
Now all the blessings of God, His Spirit, His understanding, His writing of His laws and commandments in your heart and your mind to lead you and guide you, and then we'll have to next time get into the thing—I'll continue this again—Christ in you, the Father in you, the Spirit dwelling in you, imitate God. How can we be imitators of God without the Holy Spirit? Can't do it! You see what a high level that is then. You understand? Do you grasp that?
Just like the example I gave concerning the Sabbath. How do you keep it? It's the quality of the spirituality of your keeping it, which is important—right? Christ in you! Same thing, that's what it means. You are not under law for justification, but you're under grace, because the whole thing through here is justification, your standing with God.
Now then notice what he says. "What then?.… [He repeats v 1—doesn't he?] ...Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? MAY IT NEVER BE!" (v 15). Then he shows the struggle of overcoming. The truth is, unless you have the Spirit of God you can't overcome. You can only go so far. You can only do so much, because all of this takes the Spirit of God.
There's so much more we can add to it, but I hope this helps you understand even more what a tremendous and wonderful thing it is to be under the grace of God, to be able to keep the commandments of God through grace. Now add to that, when you get the sermon about Health and Healing and how we need to forgive others and let our minds be released from these secret strongholds of sin still buried deep in our minds, when you combine those two together, you are going to understand the freedom in Christ.
Spiritual References:
- 2-Corinthians 3:1-6
- Hebrews 10:1-4, 15-17
- Romans 3:30-31
- Romans 6:1-2
- Romans 9:30-33
- Romans 10:1-4
- Matthew 5:17-24, 27-30, 43-48
- Romans 6:1-12, 1-2, 13-15
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- John 3:16
- John 5:24
- Mark 7
- Hebrews 4
Also referenced:
Books:
- Judaism—Revelation of Moses or Religion of Men (coming soon)
- What is a Work of Law (coming soon)
- The Code of Jewish Law by Solomon Ganzfried & Hyman Goldin
Sermon: Health & Healing
Sermon Series: Justification
FRC:lp
Transcribed: 5-17-10
Formatted: 5/18/10
