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Now let’s add some Scriptures in here for this. Keep your place in I John because we’ll be there but let’s come to Matthew 22:34. You know it’s amazing. Just like we read off that thing there… Most religions that use the Bible have their time worn paths which they trod every Sunday. And they like to have it in such a way that it’s pleasing to everybody. Well now you do this: you show me which person that Jesus pleased just to please the person. Not one.

Now verse 34: “But when the Pharisees had heard that He had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.” Now this must have been a sight – always gathering together to figure out how they’re going to answer it. “Then one of them, which was a lawyer [“Ok, we’ll trip Him up on this.”], asked Him a question, tempting Him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” See, because they wanted to nail Him for changing the law, right? “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” Showing that our devotion to God is a full-time complete dedication and devotion, you see. “This is the first and great commandment.” When we go through these I want you to keep in mind what we just read in John 14 and 15 – “If you love Me keep My commandments.” “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matt. 22:34-40, KJV). Now when you have something that is used as the base point for hanging something on, all the law and prophets then is dependent upon what? Loving God and loving your neighbor. Jesus said in another place, “Therefore whatsoever you would that men do to you, do you even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7:12, paraphrased). Contrary to what most people think about harsh commandments and that you can’t keep them. That is completely an impossibility because if you have the Spirit of God you can keep the commandments, right? Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Would He ask you to do something that is impossible to do? No, no.

Ok, let’s just ask some questions: Do you have another God before you? No. Do you have any idols? No. Do you take God’s name in vain? No. Are you keeping the Sabbath? Yes. Can you keep those commandments? Of course. Honor father and mother if they’re still living. Can you do that? Yes. Do not kill. Nobody’s killed. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness, and don’t covet. Are those impossible to keep? Of course not. So the argument that, “Why, God doesn’t expect you to keep the commandments today because no one can keep them” is really nonsense.

The comment was made that these two commandments are considered the golden rule and gold has the word God in it so therefore this is a godly rule. Very interesting way of looking at it.

Now then let’s come to I John 2. Now you see this is why in the proper original order of the New Testament the General Epistles come after the book of Acts and before Romans. Because when you read James, I-II Peter, I-II-III John, and Jude, you know you are to keep the commandments of God. However when you go from Acts to Romans and you start reading Romans, which is difficult to understand, you may begin to believe, because you do not understand it correctly or what the original really was, you may begin to believe that you shouldn’t keep the commandments of God. That’s not so.

I John 2:3, KJV: “And hereby we do know [now that is as affirmative as you can get, isn’t it?] that we know Him…” Now God doesn’t want us to be in doubt. “Maybe I know Jesus. Where are You Jesus? I think You are there.” No. Hereby we know that we know. Now that is the epitome of belief, isn’t it? You go from belief to knowing. And that’s the whole purpose that we’re going to see that God wants us to do.

Now notice here’s that little word again: “…if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (verse 4). Now those two verses are so basic and profound and powerful. What this does, it knocks into an absolute cocked hat all the so-called Christian professing religions in the world that say you do not have to keep the commandments of God. You can label them, without a doubt, they are liars. That’s what it says. That’s why John was one of the sons of thunder. See, going back to the “if,” it’s conditional. In other words this way, just like it says not only a liar if you don’t keep His commandments, you don’t know Him. “He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” If the truth is not in you, you don’t have the Spirit of Truth, do you? Because it’s called the Spirit of Truth, isn’t it? And the Spirit of Truth is what’s going to lead you into all truth and going to lead you into keeping the commandments of God. It’s all together. It can’t be dissected. You can’t have a perfect circle if you cut out half of it, can you? An impossibility.

Now notice he goes on and shows what is to happen: “But whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected…” So this love of God then is perfected even more. It’s something that is to grow, to be perfected. And by this growing in grace and knowledge and love and commandment keeping and so forth, the last part of verse 5: “…hereby know we that we are in Him.” No doubt of conversion, no doubt of the Spirit of God, no doubt of where you’re going, what you’re doing. “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked” (verses 5-6). And you go back and you analyze what did Jesus do, keep, say, pray, think, do as recorded in the Gospels and you have it.

Now let’s look at something else concerning love. Let’s come over here to verse 15. Here’s part of loving God. You cannot have one foot in the world, though you live there. And that means you can’t cling to the ways of the world part of the time and cling to God’s way part of the time. Now: “Love not the world…” that’s God’s job. He can love the world because He has an overall plan. This means we are not to love the world, “…neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” In other words if you put the world and physical things before loving God – you love the world. “For all that is in the world…” And boy, I tell you what, all you have to do is just turn on your TV and there it is. “…The lust of the flesh [you see a lot of that on TV], and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, [it] is not of the Father, but [it] is of the world.” Now who is the god of this world and feeds on and inspires this kind of thing but none other than Satan the devil? That’s why you’re not to love it. “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that [the one who is doing] doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (verses 15-17). There again is the contrast. That’s how important the commandments of God are.

Now then let’s come to I John 5:2, again having to do with the commandments of God. So you see when we partake of the Passover every year and we come back and analyze all of these things and recommit ourselves to God through partaking of the Passover, what we do we go back to the very basic fundamentals and reassure ourselves that through Christ and the Word of God that what we are doing is the right thing and that we are in covenant with God. Now can anyone be in covenant with God and live in sin? No, that’s a contradictory statement. That’s like saying turn on the water so I can stay dry. Turn off the lights so I can see. I’m going to bed at sunrise so…, see.

Now here again is one of these “know” statements: “By this [by this standard] we know that we love the children of God, when we love God…” Now doesn’t this sound an awful lot like Matthew 22? Yes. “…When we love God, and keep His commandments.” So in other words if you don’t keep His commandments you don’t love God. It’s that simple. It’s like we covered here before. And we’ll see that again when we get there. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments…” And of course that is the beginning relationship, you see. You’re keeping His commandments, but as we’ll see a little later on as we develop concerning hope and concerning love even further, that the love of God will develop into a deep and profound spiritual relationship between you and God. This is the beginning of it. Notice: “…and His commandments are not grievous” (I John 5:2-3, KJV). And that could read burdensome. In other words it’s not a burden to keep the commandments of God. What burden is it to keep the Sabbath? It’s a great blessing because God fellowships with you and you fellowship with God and you learn of His Word, and all of these things. It’s a great blessing.

Now let’s come to the little epistle of II John. Let’s pick it up beginning in verse 4. There are no chapters because it’s only thirteen verses all together. Verse 4: “I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth [again, Your Word is truth], as we have received a commandment from the Father. And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk after His commandments” (II John 4-6, KJV). I mean when you put all these statements together and really line them up how can anyone possibly have the gall to say, in the name of Christ, that you don’t have to keep the commandments of God. It is just like it says, that person is a profound liar. And furthermore Jesus said the truth will set you free – free from sin, free from doubt, free from worry, free from all of these things, you see.

Now continuing verse 6: “This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son” (verses 6-9). Very profound.

Now let’s look at just a couple of Scriptures in Revelation 12. Now this is important because these are prophecies concerning the end-time. And this shows that there are going to be commandment keepers in the end-time. Let’s come to verse 17 (KJV). This is right when the great tribulation begins: “And the dragon [which is Satan the devil] was wroth with the woman [who is the church], and went to make war with the remnant [the remnant means “the rest”, not limited to just a few but the rest] of her seed, which keep the commandments of God [at the end-time there are people who keep the commandments of God, correct? Right], and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Which means they preach salvation by faith. They preach what we are doing because what we are preaching is the testimony of Christ.

Now Revelation 14:12 (KJV), right toward the end of the tribulation: “Here is the patience of the saints…” Now patience could also be translated “endurance” because commandment keeping involves enduring, doesn’t it? “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” So it gets right back to the same thing that Jesus said, have God’s faith, have Jesus faith. That’s what they have. And if you keep the commandments of God you’ll be given the Holy Spirit of God, you will have the power to have the faith of Christ and of God.

Ok, let’s look at one more. Revelation 22, then we’ll come back to John 14 and make a little progress here. Now many translations have this: “Blessed are those who have cleansed their robes.” But that’s not what it is in the original Greek. That’s out of one of the spurious texts.

Revelation 22:14 (KJV): “Blessed are they that do His commandments…” So contrary to what most people say, most religionists say, “Oh you’re cursed when you try and keep the commandments.” No, you’re blessed if you do. Now notice what this does: “…that they may have right to the tree of life…” In other words if you don’t keep the commandments of God you’re not going to get eternal life. Do you think you’re going to live forever sinning in the universe? Of course not. That’s why Lucifer was cast down – because of sin. “…And may enter in through the gates into the city.”

Now let’s come back to John 14 here, and we are going to make a little progress. Verse 15, let’s repeat that again: “ ‘If you love Me, keep the commandments—namely, My commandments. And [see, here’s a result of your doing the conditional thing – keeping the commandments of God, loving God] I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that it may be with you throughout the age…’ ” (John 14:15-16, FV). Now I explained at the beginning of this about the proper translation of “Holy Spirit,” that it is the power of God. It is not a third person. And understand this: all Trinitarians are cults. And the Trinitarians call us a cult because we don’t believe in the Trinity. Now I’m going to have to write, one of these days when I get done with the New Testament, I’m going to have to write something on that. They are all cults.

Ok, verse 17: “ ‘…Even the Spirit of the truth, which the world cannot receive because it perceives it not, nor knows it; but you know it because it dwells with you, and shall be within you.’ ” Now we’ll come back and look at that in just a little bit. “ ‘I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world shall see Me no longer; but you shall see Me. Because I live, you shall live also. In that day…’ ” Now notice this is a profound verse. “ ‘In that day…’ ”, and that means in the day when they would see the resurrected Christ. “ ‘…You shall know…’ ” Now with this verse we go from belief into knowing just like we did there in I John. “ ‘…You shall know, that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. The one who has My commandments and is keeping them, that is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him.’ Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, what has happened that You are about to manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. The one who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s, Who sent Me. I have spoken these things to you while I am yet present with you’ ” (verses 17-25, FV). Now then, we’ve got an awful lot here to reinforce what we’ve already studied, don’t we?

Now let’s see, because it talks about the Spirit, let’s come back to verse 16: “ ‘…I will ask the Father…’ ” What we are going to see is that the giving of the Holy Spirit is a joint project of Jesus Christ and the Father. “ ‘…I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that it may be with you throughout the age: even the Spirit of the truth, which the world cannot receive…” And the world cannot receive it because of many reasons: 1) Satan is the god of the world and he is that spirit that is working in them. They cannot receive it: 2) because they don’t want to repent even though they hear the Word of God.

“ ‘…Because it perceives it not, nor knows it; but you know it because it dwells with you…’ ” Now notice there is a distinction – it dwells with you. All the time that Jesus was teaching them and training them, and all during His ministry the Spirit of God was dwelling with them. Then He says: “ ‘…and shall be within you.’ ” Now let’s look at the first part here: dwells with you. Let’s look at some Scriptures which show the operation of the Spirit to come to anyone.

Let’s come to Revelation 5 (KJV). Now there is one Holy Spirit of God but God has seven Spirits that also do additional work for Him, which I think is a prelude to receiving the Holy Spirit within you. Now we find here in verse 6: “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts [living creatures], and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God [so mark the seven Spirits of God – we’ll look at the function of those] sent forth into all the earth.” Now what do these Spirits do?

Let’s come first of all back to Revelation 3:1 (KJV) and let’s see again where Jesus is the one Who is in control of these seven Spirits: “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works…”, etc. What do the seven Spirits do? Jesus controls them. They go forth into all the earth, as it says.

Now let’s come to Revelation 1:4 (KJV). We’ll see again it mentions the seven Spirits: “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne…” Ok. How do the seven Spirits work?

Let’s come back to II Chronicles 16 (KJV). Here’s how I think that the seven Spirits work. They do the work of God in finding out those who are seeking Him. Because it said they are sent forth into all the earth. What do they do in all the earth? What is their activity? Could they be likened to what we might say satellites? I don’t know, but we find here in verse 9: “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth…” Well we know that the eyeballs of God are not running to and fro in the earth. So this has to describe the work of the seven Spirits going to and fro throughout the whole world. Now that’s the only thing that we can connect with back there in the book of Revelation, the three places where it says the seven Spirits, and then there in Revelation 5:6 that they are sent forth into all the earth. Here’s what they do: “…to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” In other words looking for those who are seeking God. That’s why, remember the account of Elijah? We mention this every once in a while to show that God is doing more with people that we don’t even know of. Elijah was moaning and complaining to God that he was the only one left, and God said, “Now, now Elijah. I have seven thousand that haven’t bowed the knee to Baal.” How does God do that? He has to do it through the seven Spirits, which are the eyes of the Lord sent forth and that run to and fro through all the earth.

Now come over here to chapter 15. Let’s pick it up here in verse 1: “And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded: And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin…” Key profound verse: “…The LORD is with you, while ye be with Him; and if ye seek Him, He will be found of you; but if ye forsake Him, He will forsake you” (II Chron. 15:1-2, KJV). So this has got to be how God finds out who on earth that there are who are seeking after Him. God obviously is not going to be busying Himself with that. He’s going to let the seven Spirits do that. And when there’s someone who’s of a repentant heart then I am sure that the Holy Spirit comes to be with that person. The seven Spirits are the eyes finding out where they are. That’s not an operation of the Holy Spirit of God. These seven Spirits are separate and different from the Holy Spirit of God. But then after they find the one who is seeking God then God sends His Spirit to be with them just like Jesus told the disciples. The Spirit is with them. And the best way I can explain it is this: if you seek God…

Now let’s come back here to the book of Matthew. Hold your place there in II Chronicles because we’ll come back there in just a minute. Let’s come to Matthew 7:7. Here is a promise of God, which ties in with what we’ve been talking about earlier: “Ask, and it shall be given you [there we’re talking about prayer again, aren’t we?]; seek, and ye shall find…” Now we just read that these eyes of the Lord go to and fro through the earth to find those who are seeking Him. This is how an ordinary person anywhere in the world, if they want to know about God, if they just ask and pray, “Oh God where are you? I want to know about you.” The seven Spirits are the ones who do the work to then convey this to God so that if they are really repentant and really want to know about God then God will send the Spirit to be with them. That’s the start of a calling. If they continue seeking (and lo and behold there is a Bible available to almost anyone who wants it in the world) and they start looking in the Bible and they start seeing there are things that they need to do. Everyone will have an experience similar to that. For example it was said that in trying to find God, went to different churches: Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and so forth. Finally went out to a park one afternoon and said, “God, where are You? I want to know where You are.” And at that point God did something. You may not have realized it, but He did. I can say the same story. You can say the same. Every one of us can say the same thing. Now notice verse 8: “For every one…” Notice that is all inclusive, isn’t it? That’s not eliminating anyone. “For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matt. 7:7-8, KJV).

Now let’s come back here to II Chronicles 15 and let’s see what happened because this is very profound. And it also has to do with entering into a covenant with God which is what we are studying here, the words of the New Covenant to eternal life that we are to follow, you see. So let’s continue on in verse 3. Azariah said to him: “Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.” You could apply that to individuals in the world. How many people are out there just in the same way? They don’t have the true God. They don’t have anyone to teach them, and they don’t have the law of God. “But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD …” That’s why there’s going to be a big harvest through the tribulation. See, they’re going to turn to the Lord. “…Unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought Him, He was found of them. And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity. Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak…” This is a call to repentance, isn’t it? Yes. Now you respond to God. “…For your work shall be rewarded” (II Chron 15:3-7, KJV).

“And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin…” Now that’s repentance, isn’t it? You destroy idols. “…And out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa” (verses 8-10). Now this third month was probably somewhere around Pentecost, which goes back to the time that the Ten Commandments were given, and so forth. So there’s great meaning in all this as we go through.

“And they offered unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. And they entered into a covenant…” You see, that’s what we enter in to when we are baptized. And every year when we keep the Passover we renew it. And we do so, so that we will not fall victim to what Asa did, as we’ll see here a little later. “…They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers [now notice] with all their heart and with all their soul; that whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death [here in this case they had no choice about it, right?], whether small or great, whether man or woman. And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets. And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought Him with their whole desire; and He was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about” (verses 11-15). You could say in the New Testament “and God gives you grace.” God gives you rest from your sins. God gives you rest from your enemies.

“And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels. And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa” (verses 16-19). Then what did he do? He entered into a covenant with Ben-hadad, the king of Syria. Now when he did that then again another prophet came.

Let’s come over to verse 7, chapter 16: “And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him…” Now notice what happens when you turn back. Notice when we come over here and compare that with chapter 15, verse 2, “If you seek Him He will be found of you, if you forsake Him He will forsake you.” So there’s a lesson for us today too.

“…Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God…” You can draw many parallels there too with our spiritual life, if we go back relying on physical things and so forth, going back into the world and not trusting in God. “…Therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the LORD, He delivered them into thine hand. For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth [we read that], to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. Then Asa was wroth with the seer…” Now that happens lots of times when a person comes up and shows his sins to someone. He was mad. “…And put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time” (II Chron. 16:7-10, KJV). And then it shows what happened.

^“And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign” (verses 11-13). Now you have the whole picture here with this from coming to the point of seeking God to the point of rejecting God.

Well, we’ll pick it up there next time.

Passover Preparation  # 2

Scriptural References

1. John 14:10-12

2. Romans 1:16-17

3. Romans 10:8-17

4. John 20:30-31

5. John 14:6-9

6. Acts 4:5-13

7. Hebrews 1:1-3

8. John 14:11-14

9. Mark 11:20-26

10. I John 3:18-24

11. I  John 5:14

12. John 14:2-3, 7, 11, 14-15

13. Matthew 22:34-40

14. Matthew 7:12

15. I John 2:3-6, 15-17

16. I John 5:2-3

17. II John 4-9

18. Revelation 12:17

19. Revelation 14:12

20. Revelation 22:14

21. John 14:15-25

22. Revelation 5:6

23. Revelation 3:1

24. Revelation 1:4

25. II Chronicles 16:9

26. II Chronicles 15:1-19

27. Matthew 7:7-8

28. II Chronicles 16:7-13

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