Understanding Difficult Scriptures #2

Jesus asked in Luke 18 that when He comes: Will He find the faith—that means the true faith—on earth? The answer is He will find a little bit of it!

We're going to see an onslaught when it comes to the time of those who are supposed to be, and are not, that this is going to happen:

Matthew 24:24: "For there shall arise false Christs… [there are four alive today who say that they're Christ] …and false prophets, and they shall present great signs and wonders, in order to deceive, if possible, even the elect."

Stop and think on that! Have we seen that happen to those who've been in the Church already? Yes! When they have signs and wonders, that will be convincing to a lot of people. But what we will find is this:

2-Cor. 4—here is going to be the apparatus and the way that it's going to be done and how Satan is going to work.

2-Corinthians 4:1: "Therefore, having this ministry, according as we have received mercy, we are not fainthearted."

That's for us! We don't need to be fainthearted. We need to have strength and courage to be able to understand what's going to happen.

Verse 2: "For we have personally renounced the hidden things of dishonest gain…"

Dishonest gain in the ministry! All you have to do is watch TBN and Daystar. I was watching it and Ken Copeland was on. It was all he could do to read part of a chapter in Eph. 3. It's apparent to me that he's probably beginning to suffer from dementia, because he had an assistant right there with him so when Copeland wasn't able to gather his thoughts, the assistant would have his input. That was quite obvious.

But everything with Ken Copeland is speaking in tongues and send your money, because he's such a poor pauper he's only worth $740 million. Where did he get all of that? "…dishonest gain…"

"…nor handling the Word of God deceitfully…" (v 2).

What was the first thing Jesus said when He was tempted by Satan the devil? Man shall not live by bread alone! That is every human being—young or old, male or female—but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God!

Remember when he said that there was no New Testament. Today, one of the biggest and most staunchest beliefs is that the Old Testament has been done away or it has been fulfilled! Or it's for the Jews! Well, the Jews are happy with that because that takes them off the hook for the New Testament.

• IF the Word of God comes out of the mouth of God, it's God's Word
• IF it comes through one of His servants, it's inspired by Him
• IF it comes directly from Jesus, it is Spirit and it is Life

"…handling the Word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the Truth…" (vs 2). That's what it has to be all the time!

• What is the Truth?
• Is it the Truth?

This is a key in understanding the Scriptures because we're also told in 2-Tim. 2 that we are to rightly divide the Word of God! That means to compare Truth with Truth!

When that is done properly, then you come up with the knowledge of God in the way that it should be. But the problem is when they have doctrines that they believe, and IF they don't believe them they're not accepted by the religious community, THEN they never bring it out. Or they falsify it.

Now, you've probably seen advertised lately the book: The Coming Golden Age by David Jeremiah. He's the son of a Baptist minister. He's in his 80s, and he's quite a prominent preacher. Now, Colonel Mike looked up his net worth and it is $54-million. He's just kind of a poor pauper compared to some of the others.

He did a good job in enumerating about the Millennium. He quoted a lot of Scriptures the correct way. So, I kept reading and saying, 'this is good, this is good,' and he understands about the Millennium. He knows Christ is coming, but he has the timing wrong. He believes in the rapture, which he has shifted over to being the first resurrection. But he doesn't understand about the second resurrection or the Great White Throne Judgment! And he doesn't mention baptism!

Remember, the key is this: You must have a correct baptism for the remission of sins in order to receive the Holy Spirit!

IF you don't receive the Holy Spirit and you think you are converted, THEN you fall into the category here of being deceived. Why have all the good Scriptures and do those right, but at the end say:

If you haven't accept Jesus, just do it right now. He'll come into your life and you're saved.

"…but by manifestation of the Truth, we are commending ourselves to every man's conscience before God. But if our Gospel is hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing" (vs 2-3).

Notice what he says in v 4, because this is what is happening. Now, today we have a lot of things coming against the Word of God.

Verse 4: "In whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe…" So you have to:

• believe completely in Christ
• believe in His Word
• believe in His message
• believe in the Old Testament

Now remember this with the Old Testament: the only thing that we don't do are the laws concerning temple worship and sacrifices!

God upgraded it to the temple in heaven above where God the Father is and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So, He didn't do away with temple or did He do away with sacrifice. It's a superior sacrifice of Christ and we pray directly to God the Father in heaven above, Who's on His Throne and Christ is at His right hand side.

"…lest the Light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we do not preach our own selves…" (vs 4-5).

You will notice, you watch all those preachers, every single one of them ends up talking about themselves! You watch them, every single one!

Verse 5: "For we do not preach our own selves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." So, they handled the Word of God deceitfully!

Now let's look at some other Scriptures here that are most important for us to understand.

Psalm 119:89—There are a lot of people who wouldn't want to follow this, because it has to do with Laws and Commandments and Precepts and things like this and all of this is the Truth of God.

Psalm 119:89: "Forever, O LORD… [What does that mean? It's always in existence!] …Your Word is settled in the heavens. Your faithfulness is to all generations; You have established the earth, and it stands" (vs 89-90).

So everything that we have comes from God and His Law!

Another very interesting thing in Dan. 10; something else that most people really don't understand. There are those people who say, 'We don't believe anything in the Old Testament.'

If you believe anything in the book of Revelation, you're believing in half of what comes from the Old Testament, because nothing in the book of Revelation can come to pass unless first everything in the book of Daniel up to that point takes place.

Here is where Gabriel came to Daniel;Daniel 10:19: "And said, 'O man greatly beloved, do not fear. Peace be unto you; be strong; yea, be strong.' And when he had spoken to me, I was made stronger, and I said, 'Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.' Then he… [Gabriel the angel] …said, 'Do you know why I come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia….'" (vs 19-20).

So, the world today is run by angels and demons. And here was a war going on where one of the leading angels of God—Gabriel—who was in charge of all of the prophecies concerning Christ and His coming, His birth. He said he had to go and fight against the prince of Persia.

"…And when I go forth, lo, the prince of Greece shall come" (v 20).

That didn't come for a couple of hundred years, and that was Alexander the Great.

Verse 21: "But I will show you that which is written in the Scripture of Truth…."

That actually means in the Hebrew: the Scroll of Truth in heaven! So, everything that we have written down here in the Bible is also in heaven.

Then he summarizes, "…And there is none who holds strongly with me against them, except Michael your prince" (v 21).

Let's also understand a couple of other things concerning the Word of God and the Law of God.

Psa. 19 contains New Testament doctrine! How much do we find in the Old Testament that actually comes into New Testament doctrine? An awful lot!

This is important to understand from this point of view. A lot of people say the Law has been abolished. That's one of the difficult Scriptures we'll cover here, because it's important to understand that none of it is abolished!

As I explained with the sacrifices and the things at the temple, it's been raised to a higher level: spiritual!Same way with the Laws of God.

Psalm 19:7: "The Law of the LORD is perfect…"

• What's wrong with the world today?
• What's wrong with people who don't have God?

They don't keep the Commandments of God, and they reject the Law of God, but it's perfect!

"…restoring the soul…" (v 7).

Now it is true. If more people followed the book of Proverbs in their life, the right and wrong, the good and evil, and everything it tells them there, then we would have fewer mental problems, we would have fewer physical problems, and we would be able to get along with one another better than we do now.

But look at it when everybody's breaking the perfect Law of God. If it's perfect, you can't do away with it. It's written in heaven in a scroll so it's perfect.

Verse 7: "The Law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple."

Now look, everything that everyone wants in their lives is success; it's found in the Laws of God.

Verse 8: "The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes. 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 8-10).

The next verse becomes important, because there are people so set that everything in the Old Testament has been done away. That's the way that people are deceived!

• their minds are blinded, as we saw by Satan the devil
• they make up their own mind of what is right and wrong

But they don't know what's right and wrong outside of the Word of God! Now, they may accidentally come across some of it. Notice why God gave the Law:

Verse 11: "Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward."

• Do people want blessing?
• Do people want God's rewards?

Yes!

Verse 12: "Who can understand his errors?…."

Without the Laws of God, you don't know right from wrong or good from evil. Satan has his way of right and wrong and good and evil, and that is 'the good of God is wrong and my evil is good.' That's what we have in the world today! Look at all the problems that that has caused.

"…Oh, cleanse me from my secret faults" (v 12).

Amazing! Every single individual has thoughts in their mind, which no one else knows except themselves and God. Many of those are sins from long ago. That's why in the New Testament you have baptism, and we'll talk about that in a later message how important that is.

Verse 13: "And keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; do not let them rule over me; then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression."

Now notice what David says; the sum result of this whole Psalm is a spiritual thing.

Verse 14: "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer."

• Who is the Rock? Christ!
• Who was Christ?
• He was the Lord God of the Old Testament Who gave the Laws
• He's the One Who inspired these Psalms

These things are all important for us to know when we come up against all of the things that we're going to look at.

Let's just have a little summary of the Sabbath we covered in part one. The Sabbath, if it's changed:

• What has to be changed?
• What did Jesus say about the Law and the prophets? He did not come to abolish until heaven and earth pass, there shall not one tittle from the Law past—that is everything in the Old Testament—until all is fulfilled!

Fulfilled means to complete! What does that mean? Let's liken it to a house. What does that mean? Well, let's liken it to a house. Now, Jonathan is the best architect in Hollister. He draws the plans, gives it to the builder, and the builder builds the house. There are many things that have to happen.

• first have to have the foundation
• then you have to have the plumbing
• then you have to have the framing
• then you have to have the outside of the house done
• you have to have the inside of the house done
• you have to have a roof on it
• you've got to have all of the electricity and everything working right

IF you don't have it hooked up right, it doesn't work!

That's the same way with human life!  You have to have everything right, even in your physical body, for it to continue to live, and that's what God wants.

Now, the contractor finishes the house, and then he burns it down because it's done away. NO! He sells it and people move in and live in it.

That's exactly what it is with God's Laws and ways. When Jesus said, 'I didn't come to abolish but to fulfill,' that means to complete, to make them complete so we can live by them in the Spirit of the Law and led by something that we desperately need, which is the Holy Spirit of God!

Remember that about the house; when the house is finished the contractor doesn't burn it. That's why we have the whole Bible!

Now, let's come to Matt.16 and we will put a dagger in the heart of the basic fundamentals of Catholicism. IF you destroy the heart of it, THEN you destroy, because it's all built on lies and twisting of Scripture!

One of the reasons why there are Scriptures that are difficult to understand are those Scriptures that have been mistranslated or deliberately ignored or deliberately changed!

I'm going to read to you from the King James first.

After Jesus says that the Father revealed to him [Peter] that Christ He Himself was the Christ.

Matthew 16:18 (KJV): "And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter…"

Now, this is the fundamental thing that the Catholics have: that Peter came to Rome, which he didn't do!

Sidebar: There was another Peter who came to Rome in 42A.D. and that was Simon Magus. Not the Apostle Peter, because when you go to John 1:42 that says that Peter means a pebble, a small stone.

Using the analogy of a contractor, is Christ going to build a house on a small stone? No!

"…and upon this rock…"—Petra, Who is Christ! We just read it back there in Psa. 19: 'my Rock, my Redeemer'!

"…I will build My church…" (v 18). He didn't say he was going to build the Church of Peter. He's going to build His Church.

"…and the gates of hell…" (v 18).

That's interesting, because that feeds the doctrine of every burning hell! Bad translation! We'll get the right one in a minute.

"…shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven…" (vs 18-19). Wrong translation!

But they believe it! And furthermore, in the Parsing Guide and also in Strong's Concordance, it comes out in the future. No, it doesn't! I'll explain it in just a minute.

"…and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (v 19).

Now, let's read it in The Faithful Version, because The Faithful Version has corrected every one of these gross mistakes that we find in the King James Version and other versions.

Verse 19 (FV): "And I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven; and whatever you may bind on the earth…"

That's in the subjunctive meaning there are conditions! It just not carte blanche to bind or to loose anything you want to. The pope can come along and say, I changed the Sabbath to Sunday. Well, no, it was Constantine and then he backed the pope up.

But the Sabbath is built into creation! So, unless you can change creation, you cannot change the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day. That's why Jesus said, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall never pass from the Law. Where is it written? In the Scripture of Truth in heaven above, as Gabriel told Daniel.

"…will have already been bound in heaven…" (v 19).

Not future tense, not whatever you want, but only according to the Word of God! That's what that means.

"…will have already been bound in heaven…" The Greek is very specific here. It is in the past tense, perfect. So, nothing that goes against the Word of God will be recognized by God in heaven above.

If you have the correct understanding of this, the Catholic Church has no basis before God to represent God and to be a Church of God.

• look at all of the idols
• look at all of the practices
• look at everything that they have

It comes from paganism!

Because of the false interpretation of this verse, v 19, in binding and loosing, they take pagan practices, put a Christian name on it, and say, it's okay to do.

• What do we have with that?
• What do we have in the world?

The whole world has been fed the deceit that the pope has the power to do it, and he doesn't.

No man has any power to tell God what to do! Remember where we started? Paul said we don't preach ourselves, but:

• we preach Christ
• we preach the Truth
• we preach the things that are right from the Bible

• When the false prophet comes along, what is he going to call down from heaven? Rev. 13, he's going to call fire down from heaven!
• Won't that be convincing?

Remember:

• Satan can do certain miracles to a certain degree!
• if you follow Satan the devil, he will give you benefits

Until God says the day of reckoning has arrived! Then you find out there is the heart and core of Catholicism right here.

If this is properly understood, there is no basis whatsoever for the Catholic Church to claim that the pope is the vicar of Christ, that when he sits in the chair to make a decision and judgment, it is as binding as if God has spoken.

Since the false prophet is going to come from the office of the pope, we need to be really aware of what's going to happen. He's not going to come and say, 'I'm Satan the devil, the most evil thing that there ever was.'

You know he's going to come and say, 'Hey, I've got something really good for you.' He's going to come and he's going to be like an angel of light!

2-Corinthians 11:3—Paul writes: "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."

• How many minds are corrupted by Satan?
• What does it say of the prince of the power of the air? He works in the children of disobedience!
• What does it say that his power of deception is today? He deceives the whole world!

The power of the world, power of Satan, has got the world in his hands!

Stop and think about why Christ said where we began, that when He comes, will He find the true faith on the earth? The answer is very, very little!

Verse 4: "For indeed, if someone comes preaching another Jesus…"

That is what the Jesus of Catholicism is and the Jesus of Protestantism is, it's not the true Jesus!

"…whom we did not preach, or you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive…" (v 4).

Spirits come; spirits come along with it, which is also called 'speaking in tongues.' Spiritual things:

• feelings
• excitement
• emotions
• all of those wonderful things

but nothing spiritual from God!

"…or a different gospel, which you did not accept, you put up with it as something good. But I consider myself in no way inferior to those highly exalted so-called apostles" (vs 4-5).

That's what it is in the world today. If you don't believe like the Protestants teach, you'll never get on Daystar, or Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). If you preach against the religious establishment, sooner or later they're going to come and shut you down! That's what's going to happen in the end-time!

Right now, we've got the means of preaching freely through the Internet and all of this at the present time. But the time is coming when they're going to throw the switch and it's all over with. So, you might think about that if you're 'married' to your smart-phone.

Verse 6: "For although I may be unpolished in speech, yet, I am not in knowledge; for in all things I have demonstrated this to you. Now, did I commit sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the Gospel of God to you freely?" (vs 6-7).

Now, another thing, Daystar and TBN, all they do is ask for money; every single one of them. I keep up with them from time to time. I can only stand it for so long, but they all ask for money. Every one of them do.

Verse 13: "For such are false apostles…" There are:

• more false apostles
• more false teachers
• more false ministers

than at any time in the history of the world; so, you see what we're up against here!

"…deceitful workers who are transforming themselves into apostles of Christ" (v 13).

Just like this book right here—The Coming Golden Age—he did a very good job of explaining about the Millennium. But he never said, repent and be baptized so you can receive the Holy Spirit of God so you can enter into the Kingdom of God and help Christ rule the world in the Millennium!

So if you build the greatest house in the world, and you don't give them the key to unlock the door to get into it, go back to your tent.

Verse 14: "And it is no marvel, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light."

Now then, he's got a lot of workers for him. Remember what the pope said recently that we brought out: 'all religions in the world are paths to God.' That's not so!

Jesus said, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.' No other way!

So, the pope's true colors came out!

Verse 15: "Therefore, it is no great thing if his servants also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness—whose end shall be according to their works."

What's going to happen to the last pope? Lake of Fire! An angel is going to cast the beast and the false prophet, into a Lake of Fire.

• think of all the success
• think of all of the great things
• think of all the adulation
• think of all of the power of the beast
• think of all everything in the world

Then all of a sudden, Christ is going to finish out what He's going to do, and the first resurrection is going to take place. And VOILA!, all of those faithful ones will be resurrected at the same time.

As we find in Rev. 15, we will be raised and brought to a Sea of Glass.

• we're going to learn what we're going to do
• the wedding is going to take place
• the wedding supper is going to take place

Now then, a Mr. Watkins, I don't have his first name, but he's a minister in UCG somewhere in the Middle West, says that I am a false prophet because I teach that Pentecost is the first resurrection and the Sea of Glass.

Well, has he never read Rev. 15 where that we all stand on the Sea of Glass?

So you see, you even have to be careful in the Churches of God. There are those who believe in born again.

So, this doesn't cover as much as I need to cover, but what you need to do now, let's understand this and then we'll close and take a break.

With The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version we have Commentaries in the front. You don't see them with your smart-phone. When you have the whole Bible, they are always there. Same way with the Appendices that talk about:

• born again
• born of God
• when was Jesus born
• how to study the Bible

all of those things!

Then we have Appendix Z—an now put it into a book—The Apostle Paul's teachings on God's Laws.

We have 26 Appendix in the Bible for you to use and study to help you understand the Word of God. It covers all of the things that differentiates the Truth from the teachings of the world.

(break@44:53)

Let's continue with false preachers and false interpretations, and they do use the Bible. They use it sometimes where it is true, and then they use it other times where it's not true. Or there is a bad translation, and then you have to figure out what it really means.

So, let's now, that we have already done the pope in, as it were, let's look at the Protestants and look at one of their famous verses that they turn to and see:

• What does it really say?
• What does it really mean?

John 3:16—this is probably the most quoted verse by the Protestants that there ever was.

What it actually says has a whole lot more meaning than what they give to it.

John 3:16 (KJV): "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but [should] have everlasting life."

Now, it was just recently quoted by some of the Protestants instead of whoever believeth should be saved, they change it to whoever believes must be saved!

Then they tie that together with Rom. 10 that if you confess or profess the name of Jesus, you're saved instantly. They don't go back to Rom. 6, which talks about the need for baptism, because none of these verses really can work without baptism.

What's the first thing that the Apostle Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost after receiving the Holy Spirit? Repent and be baptized that you may receive the Holy Spirit, and that is for the remission of sins!

Now here it says nothing about remission of sins, does it? If you just believe. What do you mean believe? We'll get into that! Let me read from The Faithful Version.

John 3:16 (FV): "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten*Son, so that everyone who believes*(see explanation) in Him…"

You will notice the asterisk there. That to tell you that this verb in the Greek is a subjunctive. That whoever may believe in Him:

"…may not perish, but may have everlasting life" (v 16).

Now, this tells us that there are conditions. And this is the proper translation here.

• What are the conditions? Repentance!
• What is repentance? That is a complete abhorrence of your past behavior that you see are transgressions of the Laws of God!

You can't take a verse like this out of context and then apply it and say, this covers everything. No!

• Why did God give the whole Bible so you could throw it away?

or like I said about the house that is built

• you burn it down? No!

So, believing means you must continue to believe, not just profess, because a person can easily say, especially under pressure,

• Do you believe that Jesus was the Savior? Oh yes, I believe!
• Do you profess his name? Yes, I profess his name!
• What have you done?
• no repentance
• no baptism
• no understanding of the Word of God

"…believes in Him may not perish…" How would you perish? Lake of Fire! Second death!

"…but may have everlasting life." IF you will enter into Life, keep the Commandments, which means you could perish!

Now then, they miss the whole point of what follows afterwards. So, let's read it.

Verse 17: "For God sent not His Son into the world that He might judge the world…"—at that time; He'll judge the world later!

"…but that the world might be saved through Him" (v 17).

Well, the whole world wasn't saved when Jesus died. His sacrifice was the beginning of salvation for those who would repent and be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit!

But the whole world, when are they going to be saved? During the Millennium and the Second Resurrection!

So you see, you can't take these verses and VOILA! you have a fait accompli that you're converted and you're on your way to heaven, which it says right up here in:

Verse 13: "And no one has ascended into heaven, except He Who came down from heaven, even the Son of man, Who is in heaven."

Mary didn't go there. So, all what the Catholics do in praying to Mary, 'Holy Mary, Mother of God,' all of this.

Verse 18: "The one who believes in Him…"

That means believeth, participle, present tense, meaning you must continually be believing in Him. Is not judged. Why? Because if you believe in Him:

• you're going to believe His Word
• you're going to keep His Commandments
• when you sin, you're going to repent

so therefore, you don't have the judgment of not repenting coming upon you.

"…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" (v 18). Then he explains it very clearly.

Verse 19: "And this is the judgment: that the Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than the Light because their works were evil. For everyone who practices evil hates the Light…" (vs 19-20).

Isn't that what happens when people's sins are exposed? Oh, don't do that!

"…and does not come to the Light, so that his works may not be exposed… [no, he doesn't] …but the one who practices the Truth…" (vs 20-21).

• What is Truth?
• What did Jesus say it was? Your Word is the Truth!
• What does this tell us? You practice the Truth!

Now the King James says 'doeth.' But practices it!

Let's see what Jesus said about doing the Truth or practicing the Truth!

Luke 6:46: "And why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' but you do not practice what I say?"

• What did Jesus say?
• Where did we start? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God!
• Is that what Jesus said?

Verse 46: "And why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' but you do not practice what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and practices them, I will show you what he is like" (vs 46-47).

So then, here it's like building a house on a rock vs the one who builds it on the sand. So there it is, again and again and again!

• IF you believe, you will do
• IF you believe, you will practice

Now let's go one step further.

We'll look at that a little later, but I'll mention it right here. What did Jesus say? Every word that the Father told him to say!

So, when you reject what Jesus says, you're rejecting the Father in heaven above.

John 3:20: "For everyone who practices evil hates 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…" (vs 20-21).

That means is coming to the Light, meaning every day you are coming to Christ!

How do you do that? By prayer and by study every day, morning and night and possibly during the day is whatever you're doing.

"…comes to the Light, so that his works may be manifested…" (v 21). Now remember this: Jesus is not going to judge us by our faith or what we profess!

• How's He going to judge us? By our works!
• What did He say to the seven Churches? I know your works!

"…so that his works may be manifested, that they have been accomplished by the power of God" (v 21).

That tells us an awful lot, doesn't it? Yes, indeed! Those things are important.

Now since we're here in John 3, let's come to the problem of born again and let's see what that means.

Now this whole part of John 3 becomes a very heart and core of what the evangelicals believe and even born again even some of the Churches of God believe just like the Protestants. But it's not so!

So Nicodemus came by night because he couldn't do it in the daytime, because he didn't want to be kicked out of the synagogue. Later he came and helped bury the body of Christ.

John 3:2: "He came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 'Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher Who has come from God; because no one is able to do the miracles that You are doing unless God is with him.'…. [notice Jesus answer, He really didn't answer it] …Jesus answered and said to him, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless anyone is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God'" (vs 2-3).

What did He do? He answered it by the ultimate outcome of believing in Christ your whole life.

Verse 4: "Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man who is old be born? Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born?' Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless anyone has been born of water and of Spirit…'" (vs 4-5).

So they claim that "…of water…" is baptism. There is water baptism, but water baptism:

• Is it a birth?
• What is water baptism? It's a symbolic death!

Now then, for all evangelicals, listen up! Maybe if you're not so stubborn you could learn something, because the truth is: IF we're not willing to repent of sin and we're not willing to really repent of things that we think and do that are wrong, THEN we are not converted!

Romans 6:1—Paul brings out about baptism: "What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound?"

That's what the Protestants believe. If you believe in Jesus you're under grace and it doesn't matter what you do. NO!

"…Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound? MAY IT NEVER BE!…." (vs 1-2)—that means don't let this thought come into existence!

One of the very critical reviews of the Bible said that was 'very well and properly translated, and carries the meaning of what the Greek means.

"…We who died to sin…" (v 2). How do you die to sin and still live?

It says born of water. That's not baptism. We'll find out what that means in a little bit.

"…We who died to sin, how shall we live any longer therein?" (v 2).

In other words, you cannot believe in Jesus and you must be baptized to receive the Holy Spirit, and IF you don't do that and IF you don't practice His words, your conversion is shallow and faulty and will lead to nothing! That's why people come into the evangelicals and leave over a period of time.

Verse 3: "Or are you ignorant…" How many are ignorant? That means lacking in knowledge!

"…that we, as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into His death?" (v 3).

Baptism is the key. David Jeremiah doesn't say be baptized for the remission of your sins. You rarely if ever hear it on TBN or Daystar. So, they're walking around in the false assumption and blindness of Satan the devil that they are saved and they are not saved any more than a grasshopper!

You are baptized into His death!

• What does that mean?
• Why baptized by full immersion?

Because that's a symbolic death! Not a birth, a death!

Yes, you come up out of the water but then when you receive the Holy Spirit you receive the begettal of the Holy Spirit. You are not born again, because we will see John 3 tells you the existence of being born again in just a little bit here.

Verse 4: "Therefore, we were buried with Him through the baptism into the death…"

If you believe that Christ died for your sins, His death is personally, individually applied to you when you are baptized properly!

"…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…"

Now newness of life means a change in living from living in sin to obeying God! It doesn't mean you are born again. You do not have a new life. You have the same life you had when you were put into the water and brought up.

But this is a covenant pledge on your part that you are dying to your sins! And you accept the forgiveness of Christ for the payment of your sins personally! Walk in newness of life means:

• we live by the Word of God
• we think by the Word of God
• our lives are regulated by the Word of God

Now if anyone says the Commandments of God are done away, think on this: Where does it say where the Commandments of God should be? In your mind! God with His Spirit after baptism writes His Laws and Commandments in your mind and in your heart!

Then if we love God with all our heart, mind, and soul and being, which Jesus said we need to do, are we going to willfully go out and deliberately sin and say, oh we have grace to do this; we can do anything we want? Nonsense! That's a message of Satan the devil!

Verse 5: "For if we have been conjoined…" Think of that!

I look at that this way: When you're in that watery grave, you are virtually laid right on the sacrifice of Christ!

"…conjoined together in the likeness of His death…" (v 5). That's what a covenant pledge is!

It's not everybody come forward and give your heart to the Lord.  Do you believe? Oh yes I believe! Of course, if you're convicted and you have a guilty conscience, you'll come up and say that. But you know how Billy Graham ran his campaigns? They had starter walkers. In other words, when he said all of those come forward, there were planters in there. That started to come up to get other people to come.

"…so also shall we be…" (v 5). Not immediately after baptism, but shall be in the future! When is the shall be? Resurrection! And we will say you are not born again until the resurrection!

"…so also shall we be in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man was co-crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be destroyed…" (vs 5-6)—because that's called overcoming!

You're overcoming the pulls of the flesh, the lust of the mind, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life! We're overcoming that.

"…so that we might no longer be enslaved to sin" (v 6)—that's a key thing.

It doesn't say you're going to be totally free of sin. No! You are not enslaved to it!  Because the Holy Spirit then will prick your conscience and remind you that IF you are doing something against the Laws and Commandments of God, the Holy Spirit will reveal that to you so you can repent. That's the whole thing of growing and overcoming in grace and in knowledge, and in perfection. What's the whole thing that God wants done? We'll see that! Can anybody think of one Scripture that says exactly what God wants? We'll look at it in just a minute!

Verse 7: "Because the one who has died… [in the watery grave of baptism] …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…" (vs 7-11).

This is what it means to be believing in Him and to be walking in the Light, right here.

"…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 11-12).

Now then, the next one we'll get into is being under grace and being under sin!  Give you a little clue: When you are baptized for the remission of sins and you walk in the way of the Lord, you're keeping His Commandments and you are under His grace, but you are within Law, you're not against it!

Sin is against law and you're within Law. IF you're under Law, you haven't had your sins forgiven, and sin rules in your mortal body! We'll explain that a little bit more when we get there.

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. For sin shall not rule over you…" (vs 13-14).

• that's what it was before you repented
• that's what it was before you were baptized

Sin ruled in your life! Every single thought virtually was sin!

What is sin? They never tell you what sin is! They say 'repent,' but they never tell you that sin is the transgression of the Laws of God! Sin is lawlessness, which is worse than breaking a law. Lawlessness means you make your own laws contrary to God!

Isn't that the way that it is in the world? Look at the world. I've got an article here that some homosexual minister in a Lutheran Church says: Transgender Pastor Claims Bible Wasn't Written for 2024! 'We don't need the Word of God!'

Perfect example of the end result of Protestantism not teaching to keep the Commandments of God and not teaching the Truth about baptism. You watch Daystar and TBN:

• How many there say to baptize? Very few, if any.
• How many say you've got to overcome sin?
• How many say you've got to keep the Commandments of God? None of them!

Because if you give people their way, they'll come to you.

Verse 15: "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? MAY IT NEVER BE!"

Then the rest of it shows you have to yield yourself to keeping the Laws and Commandments of God.

What does it mean to be born of water and of Spirit?

John 3:5: "Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly I say to you, unless anyone has been born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God."

Lots of times the evangelicals or different preachers stop at certain verses. All you need to do is read on and it will give you the answer.

Verse 6: "That which has been born of the flesh is flesh; and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit." Now, that connects with born of water and born of Spirit.

Born of water is your physical birth. When a woman gives birth, what's the first thing that happens? It's called breaking the water, because when you're in your mother's womb, you're living in water! It's called amniotic fluid.

When you are born, you need that water and the contraction of the mother's body and muscles so that you can come out, and you come out head first, face down. Breach birth is another story, we won't get into that.

Now, what happens? The bones for you to come out of the mother expand, and the hole that's in the top of the head of the infant, the head can shrink down so that you can come out.

You come out, and now you've been born of water. Now, what must you do? You must breathe. and that's why all newborns cry, because they're expanding their lungs so they can breathe.

Now, every single one of us are still breathing from that first breath that we ever took. God gives that to every single human being and every animal that breathes.

So born of water is not baptism, born of water is born of the flesh, physical life. To be born of Spirit, what do you have to have? You have to receive the begettal! 1-Peter 1 makes it very clear.

When you were conceived in your mother's womb, you were begotten. Then you were born of water, you came into the world, and here you are little baby.

God made mothers to give you the best nourishment possible from her own body. One of the reasons why there are so many sick children and cancerous children is because women are so selfish that they will not breastfeed their children, but they get the baby formula, and that's made mainly from soybean.

So that's why they're fat, they're weak, they're effeminate, and get sick and have cancer. Every time I see that ad for St. Jude's and cancer, it just blows my mind. All of that could be avoided if the mothers had real true love for their children and fed them by breastfeeding, and fed them good food, because breastfeeding gives the baby all the immunity of the mother right away. Amazing! No vaccinations! No shots!

1-Peter 1:1: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect strangers scattered in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia."

That was the territory of the Apostle Paul, so apparently at this time Paul was already out of that area and maybe perhaps even in Rome. We don't know.

Verse 2: "Who have been chosen according to the predetermined knowledge of God the Father…"You are chosen!

First you have to answer the call, because there's the called, the chosen, and the faithful! Three steps. You answer the call. What is that?

• you desire to repent
• you desire to get baptized
• you desire to make your life right
• you are tired of living in sin
• you are answering the call

When you're baptized, you're chosen! You receive the Holy Spirit of God!

"…according to the predetermined knowledge of God the Father, by sanctification through the Spirit, unto obedience… [there's that word that the evangelicals and Protestants don't like] …and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who, according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again…" (vs 2-3).

So when you receive the Holy Spirit, that is a begettal that is not a birth. We'll see that in a minute.

"…begotten us again unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (v 3).

1-John 5—let's see what it says about begettal and proves being begotten again. So, when you are converted and receive the Holy Spirit, you are not born again, you are begotten. We'll see the result of born again in just a minute.

1-John 5:1: "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ… [that's a little bit like John 3 16] …has been begotten by God…"—not born again!

Because Peter clarified it that we are begotten again.

"…and everyone who loves Him Who begat also loves him who has been begotten by Him" (v 1).

Verse 2: "By this standard we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God: that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. Now then, everyone who is begotten by God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world—our faith" (vs 2-4)

Let's see what he says now concerning being born of Spirit.

John 3:6: "That which has been born of the flesh is flesh… [we covered that] …and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit."

As you come out of the watery grave does your body change from flesh to spirit? No! It's not a birth. It's a begettal! With the laying on of hands you receive the Holy Spirit of God in your mind.

Verse 7: "Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'It is necessary for you to be born again." That is to see the Kingdom of God!

Verse 8: "The wind blows where it wills, and you hear its sound, but you do not know the place from which it comes and the place to which it goes; so also is everyone who has been born of the Spirit."

In other words, if you have been born of the spirit you're composed of spirit and you can become invisible like the wind.

Now, after Jesus was resurrected who opened the door for Him to come in? Nobody! He walked right through and there He was. They were all frightened. What is this? And He did it the second time.

"…so also is everyone who has been born of the Spirit" (v 8).

If you have been born again you are a spirit being! If you have been baptized properly upon repentance and brought up out of the watery grave, and have hands laid on you and you receive the Holy Spirit you are begotten again with the Spirit of God.

Then we are to grow in faith and in knowledge. What's the whole goal that God wants? Let's look at it here. Let's come to Matt. 5, which Jesus told us right at the beginning of his ministry.

And why we are to keep the Commandments of God in the spirit and not in the letter.

John 5:48: "Therefore… [here's the conclusion] …you shall be perfect, even as your Father Who is in heaven is perfect."

• that's the goal of God
• that's why we are to endure to the end

The perfection comes through

• living
• praying
• studying
• understanding the way of God

All of that is the perfecting.

• for casting sin out of our lives
• for making the right choices to do what is right:
• to love God
• to love the brethren
• to love each other

That's all part of growing in grace and knowledge!

So that as you read 1-Cor. 15 where it talks about the resurrection. One will resurrected from flesh to spirit. It will be in a moment in a twinkling of an eye!

Only God can do this. That's the main thing that the Protestants miss.

• How is God perfect? Never sins!
• How is God perfect? In love!
• How is God perfect? In everything that He thinks!
• How is God perfect? In everything that He's created!

Like he told Abraham, 'Look at the stars.' Just think how surprised Abraham is going to be at the resurrection.

I think of that just all those who are resurrected. Then I think Christ is going to take them over to the edge of the Sea of Glass, and they're going to look down and see all these armies coming. Christ is going to say:

Abraham, you see those armies down there? Most of those are from you.

• all the ones from Ishmael
• all the ones from Jacob

Then we have all of the Gentiles, which are not from you. Now we're going to start the Millennium. And all of those who come into the Kingdom of God during the Millennium will be your children.

Quite a thing!

• don't believe what the Protestants tell you
• don't believe what the Catholics tell you
• they are just renamed pagans

Scriptural References:

• Matthew 24:24
• 2 Corinthians 4:4-5
• Psalm 119:89-90
• Daniel 10:19-21
• Psalm 19:7-14
• Matthew 16:18
• 2 Corinthians 11:3-7, 13-15
• John 3:16-17, 13, 18-21
• Luke 6:46-47
• John 3:20-21, 2-5
• Romans 6:1-15
• John 3:5-6
• 1 Peter 1:1-3
• 1 John 5:1-4
• John 3:6-8
• Matthew 5:48

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Luke 18
• Ephesians 3
• 2 Timothy 2
• John 1:42
• Revelation 13; 15
• Romans 10
• 1 Corinthians 15

Also referenced:

• Book (secular): The Coming Golden Age by David Jeremiah
• Book (truthofGod.org): The Apostle Paul's Teaching on God's Law

FRC:bo/po
Transcribed: 12/4/24

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