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FEAST OF TABERNACLES 2006 – DAY THREE
Fred R. Coulter, October 9, 2006
Greetings brethren, welcome to day three of the Feast of Tabernacles
2006. Now yesterday we covered John the fourth chapter and showed the
comparison between reading the law in the book of Nehemiah and then
reading the law and teaching of Jesus Christ in the New Testament for
the Feast of Tabernacles.
Now what happens here in Chapter 8, it continues on in the Last Great
Day, as a matter of fact, Chapter 8, and Chapter 9 are all the things
that took place on the day portion of the Last Great Day, and there are
some significant things for us to learn from here. And what it teaches
us is really tremendous, and when we think about it there are also some
prophecies concerning Israel and concerning the rest of the people of
the world.
So, let’s come to the Gospel of John, Chapter 8:1. Now after all the
rest of them went to their houses, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives and
at dawn – so this is the day portion of the Last Great Day. Verse 2:
“…He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him: and He
sat down and taught them” and so this is what needs to be during the
feast – it needs to be a teaching feast; it needs to be one to help us
draw closer to God; one to understand the Word of God more, one so we
can grow in faith and grow in knowledge and grow in love and do the
things that God wants us to, to give us hope and understanding in the
Word of God, and to read the words of God that Christ gave to us – the
words of The Father. So this is important for us to really go through
and understand and part of the teaching that we have for the Feast of
Tabernacles and Last Great Day.
Now beginning here in verse 3 is quite an interesting thing as to
what happened [with] the woman taken in adultery, so let’s read it. This
is misconstrued by a lot of people and yet there is still a prophetic
significance in this event. Let’s begin here in verse 3: “Then the
scribes and the Pharisees brought to Him a woman who had been taken in
adultery; and after sitting her in the center,” in other words,
in the midst – there was a group of people that Jesus was teaching –
they brought her in through the crowd, put her in the center or in the
middle. Verse 4: “They said to Him, Teacher, this woman was caught in
the very act of committing adultery” very interesting statement isn’t
it? Let’s ask a question: how did she get caught in the very act of
committing adultery? How did they arrange that, what kind of entrapment
did they use? Okay, we’ll have some other questions to ask a little
latter on.
Verse 5: “And in the law, Moses commanded us that those who commit
such a sin should be stoned. Therefore, what do You say?”
Now they were setting a trap for Him so that He would go against the law
of Moses – that He would render a judgment that would say, “stone her”.
Now if He would have said, “Go ahead and stone her”, and we are going to
see there were some distinct problems, so if He would have fallen into
that trap – which He didn’t – then they would have come back to Him with
a scripture back here in Deuteronomy.
Let’s come to Deuteronomy 22 and let’s see what God’s judgment is
concerning adultery, Deuteronomy 22:22. This tells us exactly what Moses
said, that God gave to Moses to give to the children of Israel. Now
let’s pick it up here in Deuteronomy 22:22: “If a man be found lying
with a woman married to an husband, they shall both of them die, both
the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shall you put away
evil from Israel.” Well, that’s quite an interesting thing isn’t it?
So let’s go back to John the eighth chapter. So what they were saying
is correct, that they should die, and they should be stoned. We find
that in Leviticus the twenty-second chapter. Now let’s come back and
let’s analyze this a little bit. You see part of the things that we need
to do with the New Testament is learn the whole lesson that is given to
us in whatever section of the New Testament that we are dealing with, so
we understand what was going on, we put all the facts together, and as
we will see when we do Judge Righteous Judgment,
that’s the only way that it can be. So there has to be a proper
judgment.
So, let’s come back here to John the eighth chapter, let’s pick it up
here in verse 6: “Now this they said to tempt Him, so that they might
have cause to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down
and wrote on the ground with His finger. And as they
continued to ask Him, He lifted Himself up and said to them…” (John 8:6,
7).
Now before we continue on here let’s ask the question: what do you
suppose He was writing in the sand or in the dirt? A lot of people
thought “Well, maybe He is listing all the sins of those standing
around.” I don’t think so. What would be the most important thing in
this case that He would write on the ground? Now they had the woman, but
in order to do what was said in the law of Moses to stone them, what do
you need? You need the man and the woman. Because if she was caught in
the very act of committing adultery, how could they get her and bring
her and not bring the man? See? And I think that Jesus was writing,
“Where is the man?” Because see, they wanted to have a lop-sided,
askewed judgment so that they could accuse Him. So if He said, “Go ahead
and stone her” they would have said, “Well, now, the man is not here.
Why are you going against the law of Moses?” Because Moses said, both of
them shall die. So I think Jesus wrote in there, “Where is the man?”
Then He stood up and said, “Let the sinless one among you cast the
first stone at her.” Now that’s quite a statement, isn’t it? Well, then
“…He stooped down again, and wrote on the ground.” Very
interesting. Now notice, they still had some conscience. Verse 9: “But
after hearing this, they were convicted each by his own conscience, and
went out one by one, beginning with the older ones until the last.” So
at least they had that much of a sense of fairness. “And Jesus was left
alone, with the woman standing in the center” (John 8: 7-9). Of
course, all the people were standing around there watching this, so this
must have been quite an event. What a challenge to come up and bring a
woman taken in the very act of adultery, and of course very embarrassing
for the woman, and didn’t bring the man. So you see they weren’t judging
righteous judgment as Jesus said they ought to do back there in chapter
seven as we covered. This is why we are going to do several [sermons] on
judge righteous judgment during the feast.
Verse 10: “And when Jesus lifted Himself up and saw no one but the
woman, He said to her, Woman, where are your accusers? Did anyone
condemn you? And she said, No one Lord. And He said to her, Neither do I
condemn you. Go, and sin no more.” (John 8:10-11). So you see, this was
not a matter of forgiveness, this was a matter of judgment, proper
judgment, because He recognized that what she was involved in was sin.
Now let’s look and see, perhaps a prophetic understanding of this in
relationship to Israel, and Israel being the woman. Now let’s come back
here to Ezekiel the sixteenth chapter, and let’s see what God talks
about with Israel as the woman, and of course, remember that Israel was
married to the Lord. Now here in Ezekiel 16, we won’t go through the
whole thing, but this is where God told Israel, “I selected you out of
Egypt; I cleaned you up from your own sin, and I brought you into the
wilderness and courted you and married you, and after I married you,
after cleaning you all up, and blessing you with everything there was to
bless you with, and all the nations understood that you are Mine.”
So He says here in verse 14: “And your renown went forth among the
heathen for your beauty…” Now you can liken that to the time of Solomon
when it went out to all the earth and all the kings of the earth came
seeking Solomon’s wisdom, bringing him tribute of gold and silver from
the worldwide trading combine that he had at that time. This is talking
about the beauty, and then the temple being there and the beauty of the
temple, and the beauty of the gardens, and the beauty of the king’s
house. And remember when the queen of Sheba came up, she saw all of
that, and she saw how that everyone in his court all drank out of pure
gold goblets, and [she saw] the beautiful setting of all the tables and
the beautiful setting of the temple and all of that and it took her
breath away! She had nothing left to say. So that’s when that was
fulfilled.
Verse 15, but what happens – what happens to some many people when
God blesses them? They get carried away in their own vanity, and they
get carried away in their own selves. This is exactly what happened to
Solomon, and happened to all of Israel. “But you did trust in your own
beauty, and you played the harlot because of your renown…” so this is
fulfilled in a personal way by Solomon, who was king, and is fulfilled
in a national way by all the people who followed along and did all the
evil deeds of Solomon. And of course, playing the harlot, well Solomon
certainly did that with three hundred wives and seven hundred concubines
didn’t he? And in addition, he made all of the pagan temples for all of
his wives, and then he turned his back on God and worshiped their gods!
So he explained that what they did, they took all the blessings that God
gave them and they gave them to their lovers.
Now let’s come down here to verse 15: “But you did trust in your own
beauty and played the harlot, because of your renown, and poured out
your fornications on everyone that passed by; his it was.” Now this is
something! Normally harlots charge for services, here Israel in its
harlotry, gave money for the other nations to commit harlotry with them!
It’s unheard of.
Now he says here in verse 17, it says, “You have taken your fair
jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and you have
made yourself images of men, and you did commit whoredom with them, You
took your broidered garments, and covered them: and you have set my oil
and my incense before them.” (Ezekiel 16:17). Remember what happened to
Solomon, he burned incense to all the other gods, didn’t he?
Verse 19: “My meat which also I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and
honey, wherewith I fed you, you have even set it before them for
a sweet savour: and thus it was, says the Lord.” Verse 20:
“Moreover, you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have
borne unto me…” now think about that for just a minute. Remember what it
was with Manasseh, how bad he was? He was the worst king of all, and he
even caused the children to pass through the fire and offered them to
Molech and caused the children of Israel to offer their children in
sacrifice to Molech to burn them in the fire. But notice what God says,
“These are my children.” Now you think about that today in relationship
to abortion. All children belong to God. Now think about that, because
God says children are a gift from the Lord, and God is going to judge
for that.
Now we don’t pass them through the fire today, we do worse – we have
the abortion clinic, which is the temple, and we have the abortion
table, which is the altar, and we have the doctor who is the high
priest, and the sacrifice to Satan the devil of a live baby from the
womb of its mother. And the worst and most horrible kind of abortion is
the late-term abortion where it is a fully developed baby, and they
cause the partial birth abortion and the doctor makes an incision in the
head of the baby and sucks out it’s brain, and kills the baby. And do
you know what they do with the brains? They send them off to the gods,
the scientists, and they run experiments with them, and this is why they
want to have their stem cell research, so they can experiment with human
beings, experiment with the very fundamentals of life. And if God judged
these people for that think of what God is going to judge this nation
and this world for.
Now as I have mentioned earlier, there have been forty-four million
abortions in America, since abortion became legal. And as I mentioned in
the sermon I gave on the biblical truth about immigration, [there is]
almost one illegal immigrant for every abortion. Now think about that!
So you know God’s judgment is coming.
So he says, continuing in verse 20: “…which you have borne to me, and
these you have sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is
this of your whoredoms a small matter, That you have slain my
children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the
fire for them? And in all your abominations and your whoredoms you
have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and
bare, and were polluted in your blood. And it came to pass after all you
wickedness, (woe, woe unto you! says the Lord GOD;) That you have built
unto you an eminent place, and have made you a high place in every
street” (Ezekiel 16: 19-24). Yes, churches on every corner – and yet
look what is going on – so we have a great deal to learn here.
So this woman in John the eighth chapter can be likened unto Israel
taken in adultery.
Now let’s come on down here to verse 30: “How weak is your heart,
says the Lord GOD, seeing that you do these things, the work of an
imperious whorish woman;” quite an indictment wasn’t it? Caught in the
very act of adultery, yes. Verse 31: “In that you built your eminent
place in the head of every way, and make your high place in every
street; and have you not been as a harlot in that that you scorn to
hire; But as
a wife that commits adultery…” and that’s what we just read about. “…which
takes strangers instead of her husband! They give gifts to all whores:
but you give gifts to all your lovers, and hire them that they may come
to you on every side for your whoredom.” Verse 34: “ And the contrary is
in you from other women in your whoredoms, whereas none follows
you to commit whoredoms: and in that you give a reward, and no reward is
given to you, therefore you are contrary.” So God says, “I’m going to
judge you. I’m going to break you as a woman that breaks wedlock”
[paraphrased] (Ezekiel 16:30-38). And so that’s exactly what happened
here. And you read the rest of it. Read all of Ezekiel 16 and see as you
read it and compare it to what we have today. Toward the end of it, it
says they are worse than Sodom, and don’t we have such a homosexual
problem in the world today in all the Israelite countries, yes indeed,
we really do.
So when Israel comes to repentance, let’s come here to Ezekiel 36,
and let’s see when Israel comes to repentance – Israel is going to
repent. And when God brings them back as it is in the second
resurrection on the Last Great Day, and God gives them a new heart, and
gives them a new mind. Let’s pick it up here in verse 25 of Ezekiel 36.
And so God is going to do exactly like Jesus did, He is going to give
the judgment that in giving them a new life and being resurrected at the
second resurrection, as we will see on the Last Great Day, that He is
going to remove the judgment against them of being the adulterers. Now
verse 24: “I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of
the countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then I will
sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your
filthiness, and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. A new heart
will I also give you, and a new spirit I will put within you…” just
image what this is going to be like when this change comes you see. God
is going to fulfill His will and His purpose and this is what we are
told through all the Bible. And this is why we have John the eighth
chapter and this event there. “…I will take away the stony heart out of
your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my
spirit within you…” conversion “…and cause you to walk in my statutes,
and you shall keep my judgments, and do them. And you shall dwell
in the land I gave your fathers…”and so forth (Ezekiel 36:24-28).
Now after He does that what’s going to happen? Verse 31: “Then shall
you remember your evil ways, and your doings that were
not good, and you shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for your
iniquities and for your abominations.” And they will repent and God will
bring them back and give them salvation. So this is the message that we
have here in Ezekiel 16 as compared to John the eighth chapter.
Now let’s come back to John the eighth chapter and it’s going to be
the same thing then, just like Jesus told this woman, He said, “Go and
sin no more.” Now of course there are going to be a lot of helpers
around. We are going to be there to help them, to teach them, to lead
them, to guide them, there is going to be everything on their side, but
let’s understand one thing for sure – God has not given up on Israel,
though He must punish because of what He said, and because God is
righteous and God is good and God is true. God will not be mocked and He
has to have the judgment, but then there will also be the mercy and He
will lift it all from them.
Now let’s begin here in verse 12 of John the eighth chapter. “Then
Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world; the one
who follows Me shall never walk in darkness,” and that’s what it’s going
to be when Israel is forgiven, they’re going to walk in the light of the
Lord. Now you see, when they came out of Egypt, they didn’t learn that
lesson did they? No, they had the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar
of light by night, they didn’t walk in the light of God which provided
for them – after He gave His Word they didn’t walk in the light of His
Word, they didn’t walk in the light of His truth. And when Jesus came,
they didn’t walk in the light of His teachings. He says, “I am the light
of the world; the one who follows Me shall never walk in darkness, but
shall have the light of life.”
Now let’s come back here to Matthew the sixth chapter and let’s look
at some scriptures concerning light, and concerning conversion, and
concerning darkness; because you see there is a lot of darkness out
there in the world today that we need to realize is about ready to
consume and awful lot of people. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 22.
Now, Christ is the light of the world, now if we have Christ in us, and
this is what He is talking about here in Matthew 6:22, that if we have
Christ in us, Who is the light and enlightens every man. Verse 22: “The
light of the body is the eye” you can tell an awful lot about a person’s
character and their purpose and determination by their eyes, the look in
their eyes and so forth. You have heard of deceitful eyes, lying eyes,
wanton eyes, all of those show and telegraph the meaning of the heart
and mind and the attitude of love and obedience or the attitude of lust
and self-serving, it’s all right there. Now Christ can discern it better
than any other man. We can discern a little bit of it, but every parent
knows what? They know when their children are lying. Why – because they
know what to look for. So verse 22: “The light of the body is the eye.
Therefore, if your eye be sound, your whole body shall be full
of light.” And of course, that’s full of the Holy Spirit, full of
truth and so forth. “But if your eye be evil, your whole body shall be
full of darkness. Therefore, if the light that is in you be
darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23).
And then here is another principle that we can apply to John the
eighth chapter concerning the woman taken in adultery, Matthew 6:24: “No
one is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and
love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. You
cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). You cannot serve God and be
committing adultery. You cannot serve God and be stealing and lying and
cheating and murdering. You cannot serve God and break His Sabbath. You
cannot serve God and take His name in vain. You cannot serve God with
idols. You cannot serve other gods and expect the true God to recognize
that as something good for you. See so you have the same thing here. So
if you have Christ and He is in you, you’re not going to walk in
darkness, but you will have the light of life, but as we know from the
different parables, you’ve got to keep the light going, you’ve got to
keep growing in spirit and truth and understanding.
Now let’s come back to John 8:13: “Therefore, the Pharisees said to
Him, You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.
Jesus answered and said to them, Even if I testify about Myself, My
testimony is true, because I know where I have come from and where I am
going. But you do not know where I come from and where I go. You judge
according to the flesh; I judge no one.” That is of the self – how does
He judge – righteous judgment with truth of the Word of God. “Yet if I
do judge, My judgment is true, for I am not alone; but I and the Father
Who sent Me. And it is written in your law that the testimony of two men
is true. I am one Who bears witness of Myself, and the Father,
Who sent Me bears witness of Me.” (John 8:13-18).
Now from here on it really starts getting [into] quite a
confrontation and [gets] quite interesting and very prophetic for our
day today. Verse 19: “Then they said to Him, Where is Your Father? Jesus
answered, You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you
would also have known My Father. Jesus spoke these words in the treasury
while
teaching in the temple; but no one arrested Him because His time had not
yet come” as we already covered. There was the proper time that God had
set and determined for it to happen, [and it] hadn’t come yet.
Verse 21: “Then Jesus said to them…” here again, He is telling them
the same thing “I am going away; and you shall seek Me, but you shall
die in your sin. Where I am going, you are not able to come” have no
power to get there. Verse 22: “Therefore, the Jews said, Will He kill
Himself? Is that why He says, Where I am going, you are not able to
come?” Now that’s quite something isn’t it? Yes, indeed, “… you shall
die in your sins.”
Now notice what He says. Now He begins to really bear down on them
and bring out the truth. Verse 23: “And He said to them, You are from
beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this
world.” And what did Jesus say in the final prayer for us? He said,
“Father, just as I am not of the world, these are not of the world, keep
them from the evil one.” See we are not to be part and parcel of this
world. They were from the world. Now if you are from the world, what
does that mean, who are you following, who is your god? Now we will see
that a little later as the confrontation gets a whole lot stronger here.
Verse 24: “That is why I said to you that you shall die in your sins;
for if you do not believe that I AM, you shall die in your sins” (John
8:19-24). Now He brought out the name of God. When He brought this out,
they knew exactly what He was saying, but they didn’t understand it
completely.
Let’s come back here to Exodus the third chapter, and let’s see that
those who knew the Scriptures, knew that this was one of the names of
God. Let’s come back here to Exodus 3:13: “And Moses said unto God,
Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and shall say unto
them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto you; and they shall say
to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto
Moses, I AM THAT I AM:” So when He says, “I AM” back here in John the
eighth chapter, they knew what that meant. Now they didn’t quite grasp
the whole significance of it, that He was God manifested in the flesh.
They knew that He claimed to be the Son of God, but now to say that “I
AM” fulfilled what the Jews were accusing Him of to make Himself equal
with God which is true and was not a sin.
Now notice, verse 14: “…and he said, Thus shall you say unto the
children …I AM has sent me… And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shall
you say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me unto
you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all
generations.” (Exodus 3:13-15). I AM – now I want you to remember that
as we continue on in John the eighth chapter because this becomes very
important and very meaningful. Now they didn’t understand it the way
that they ought to and they didn’t realize what it was and what they
were doing.
Let’s come back here to John the eighth chapter and let’s continue
on, verse 25: “Then they said to Him, Who are You?” to take the name I
AM “And Jesus said to them, The one that I said to you from the
beginning.” He told them from the beginning. “I have many things to say
and to judge concerning you;” see so when He says He doesn’t judge over
here, that doesn’t mean that He’s not going to judge at a later time,
and that judgment was coming. “…But He Who sent Me is true, and what I
have heard from Him,” as we have gone through and have seen that He only
spoke the words of God. “…These things I speak to the world. They did
not know that He was speaking to them of the Father” (John 8: 25-27)
because the Father wasn’t revealed to them. Now this is another proof of
what Jesus said that He came to reveal the Father that they didn’t know
the Father. And this also is absolute, conclusive proof that the God of
the Old Testament was not the Father, but the one Who became Jesus
Christ.
Now then, it starts getting very intense from here through the rest
of the chapter. And a lot of the things that we’re going to cover here,
covers a lot of the experiences that we are going to go through, and
some of the confrontations that we have come up against with the
religions of this world, and some of the confrontations that come up as
it was with the church at Ephesus that tried those who were false
apostles, and the church at Smyrna against the synagogue of Satan, and
the church of Philadelphia that resisted the synagogue of Satan – all of
those, keep that in mind as we are reading this and see the witness that
Jesus gave to them.
And we are also going to see something else, that a lot of these were
His disciples and they were trying to be His disciples and yet cling to
their satanic ways. Now you can’t do that. You cannot cling to your
satanic ways and be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Now let me make it
plain – you cannot keep Halloween and Christmas, and New Year’s, and
Easter, and Valentine’s Day, and Lent and all of those pagan days and
say you belong to Christ because you do not. If you do not keep
the Sabbath and holy days of God, you do not belong to God.
Now a lot of people keep the Sabbath, but not the holy days so you’re
only half belonging to God. And a lot of those like the Seventh Day
Adventists and Church of God Seventh Day, had better get their act
together, and they’d better get their noses in the Bible, and they’d
better understand what the Bible is saying and they better need to
realize that a lot of these things that Christ taught, like here on the
Last Great Day, have direct relevance to them. And what God is showing
is this, that in the final analysis when we come to the Last Great Day
fulfillment, as we will see on the eighth day, Satan is not going to be
around. There is never, never going to be an amalgamation of the things
of Satan and things of God after Jesus Christ returns to this earth! And
there is a lot that it says in here. So He declared Who He was, “I AM”.
Now let’s continue on, John 8:28: “Then Jesus said to them, When you
have lifted up the Son of man, then you yourselves shall know that I AM,
and that I do nothing of Myself. But as the Father taught Me, these
things I speak. And He Who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left
Me alone because I always do the things that please Him” (John 8:28-29).
Now this is also a requirement for us.
Now let’s come here to the Epistle of 1 John chapter three. Let’s see
that this is important. Let’s see that we can do the things that please
God. If you keep the Sabbath, and if you keep the holy days, and if you
are growing in grace and knowledge and the Spirit of God is that not
pleasing to God? Yes, indeed. If you’re faithful to the end and you die,
and you graduate from this life into the grave, your place of safety,
and God says that He delights in the death of His saints that endure
unto the end; is that not pleasing to God? Yes, indeed. So we can do the
things that please God. Does it not please God when we pray to Him, when
we yield our heart, and our mind, and our soul, and our being to Him?
Yes it does. Does it not please God when we love Him with all our heart,
and all our mind, and all our soul, and all our being? Yes, it does. How
many people on the face of the earth do that? Very few. Don’t you think
that that is pleasing to God? Yes, indeed.
Now let’s pick it up here in 1 John 3:18: “My little children, we
should not love in word,” that is just mouthing the words or in message
or whatever, “nor with our tongues; rather, we should love
in deed and in truth.” Isn’t that something; love has works, and true
love is based on truth. That’s why God is love and God is truth. So if
that is coming to us, then we can love in truth can’t we? Yes. “…In deed
and truth.” Now verse 19: “And in this way we know that we are of
the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him,” now think about
this. This is something we are to know. “And in this way we know
that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him,” now
that is something isn’t it. You see, too many ministers condemn the
people of God all the time; rather, they should be uplifted and inspired
with the Word of God. And so if there is any correction that comes
along, they’ll be willing, they’ll be ready, they’ll be anxious to
change. And of course, if you are reading and studying the Word of God,
and God’s Spirit is convicting you of sin so that you can repent, that’s
the easiest correction that comes, is it not? Yes indeed, because God is
dealing with you. You can have your hearts assured before God.
Now verse 20: “That if our hearts condemn us,” that is because we
have sinned – sinned a sin not unto death we can repent of, “God is
greater than our hearts, and knows all things. Beloved, if our hearts do
not condemn us, then we have confidence toward God.” That’s why we need
to repent of our sins everyday. We need the grace of God everyday. We
need to walk in faith, and believe in hope, and live in love everyday.
We can have confidence toward God. We know His word is true. We know He
lives. We know He exists. We know Jesus Christ is our Savior. We know
that whatever He tells us to do when we do that, that it’s pleasing in
His sight. Verse 22: “And whatever we may ask we receive from Him
because we keep His commandments and practice those things that are
pleasing in His sight.” (1 John 3: 18-20, 22). Just like Jesus said He
always did the things that please the Father.
Now let’s continue on and see how this is to be just in the same way
as it is with Christ. Verse 23: “And this is His commandment: that we
believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and that we love one
another, exactly as He gave commandment to us.” You see, so that’s what
all of this is to do. Think about it for a minute. We better learn to
love each other the way Christ loves us because that’s what we’re going
to need when we enter the kingdom of God right? So if we learn that now,
it’s going to make it a whole lot easier isn’t it? Verse 24: “And the
one who keeps His commandments is dwelling in Him,” that is in Christ,
“…and He in him; and by this we know that He is dwelling in us: by the
Spirit which He has given to us.” (1 John 3: 23-24). So we need to know
that we have the Spirit of God – assure our hearts before God, have
confidence in God, have that steadfast faith and love and belief and
hoping always in the promise and the blessings of God.
Now let’s come back here to John the eighth chapter. Let’s continue
on here, verse 29, Jesus said, “…I always do the things that please Him.
As He spoke these things, many believed in Him.” Oh, people love to hear
great sounding words don’t they? Oh, yes. Verse 31: “Therefore, Jesus
said…” now here comes a test! There is always going to be a test isn’t
there. And how many have failed the test? Look at the Protestant world,
look at the Catholic world; look at the Churches of God that are failing
the test. But here is the test: “Therefore, Jesus said to the Jews who
had believed in Him, If you continue in My word, you are truly My
disciples” (John 8:29-31). Now, we’ll look at that here in just a
minute.
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