Which Laws, Lord?
Fred R. Coulter

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I found an interesting little clipping. Just to show you how much that men do not know, how absolutely insane that the theory of evolution is, and how absolutely incompetent are the astronomers to really figure out anything concerning the universe,

Andy Fraknoi is from the San Francisco Astronomy Observatory Society. He's on KGO radio quite a bit. He comes in and talks about the universe and talks about stars and things like that. I happened to think of him when I read this because in some of the things that he presents, he is just so absolutely arrogant that it's incredible. Nevertheless, he gives good information most of the time.

from: Hubble Finds Great Clouds of Hydrogen

The Hubble telescope out there in space.

The Hubble space telescope has surprised astronomers by discovering that the cosmos…

That is the universe. Cosmos is a Greek word also one that is used by the communists. So, you can tell that this is a liberal writer writing it.

…is strewn with vast, intergalactic hydrogen clouds.

Why does that sound very shocking? Here's the reason:

According to widely accepted theories of how the universe has evolved since the Big Bang, such clouds should have disappeared. There shouldn't be that much hydrogen loose in space and there is no known mechanism that would keep it clustered in such clouds.

The mechanism is called magnetism and the power of God.

"It is by far the most significant result of Hubble, which it has produced so far," said Edward Whutler, NASA Chief Hubble Science Manager.

A great discovery like this has one little teeny article, two little teeny paragraphs.

Talking about using the law unlawfully, here's a little ditty that someone sent me.

Just to Tickle Your Funny Bone

A doctor and a lawyer bumped into each other's cars causing a slight fender-bender. Each got out and saw the damage was very slight. The lawyer asked the doctor if he was okay. 'Yes,' he replied, 'but I'm a little shook up.' Whereupon the lawyer produced a whiskey flask and offered the doctor a drink to calm his nerves. The doctor took a long drink and handed the flask back noticing that the lawyer didn't take a drink. He said to the lawyer, 'Aren't you going to have one?' The lawyer replied, 'Not before the police get here.'

Moral of the story: Beware of lawyers! That ties right in with what I'm going to talk about today. Which Laws, Lord? Which laws should we keep?

Everyone was shocked when Magic Johnson admitted that he had the HIV-AIDS virus. Everybody was talking about it. On the news you couldn't get by without some big, long story of how great he was, this and that and all that sort of thing, and what a shame it happened to such a 'marvelous person.' I saw a little clip on ESPN where he was on the Arsenio Hall Show. He smiled, he was there and he was saying, 'Arsenio, I'm not a homosexual.' He smiled and all this sort of thing. Now, he's going to dedicate his life to being a spokesman for the AIDS virus. What he's going to do is he's going to go around and tell all these good little children—he's been saying all along how to succeed and do well, and follow my example and overcome, grow, change, change and all this sort of thing—the best thing to do is have 'safe sex.' So, he's going to be a chief spokesman for the one-millimeter condom.

I heard this on the Rush Limbaugh Show. A woman doctor called in and she said, 'What a shame it is that people never even think about that if someone you dearly loved came to you and said, 'I dearly love you and oh, by the way, let's have sex; oh by the way I have AIDS; oh, by the way I'm going to use a condom.' That's something to really think about!, Instead of saying, 'I'm a whoremonger'—which is what the Bible would call him—Magic Johnson is going around saying, 'Have safe sex or you might get AIDS.'

Then there was another basketball player who was autographing his book about the same time over in San Francisco: Wilt 'The Stilt' Chamberlain, 7-foot, 2-3/8-inches! He brashly, boldly and proudly admitted that during his basketball career he had sex with over 20,000 women. Let me repeat that, 20,000 women! He said, 'Well, you know, I did that before there was AIDS.' You see, whoremongering is whoremongering, regardless of what it is and that's what they both are.

Does that mean that because you have a good personality like Magic, and you can smile and think positive thoughts about the coming disaster of his death, one way or the other… This shows how the whole world is so absolutely turned up side down! What he ought to do is go around and teach: 'The only way that sex should be is within marriage to one husband, one wife and that you have abstinence by choice until you're married, and when you're married, you're faithful.' But no, he's going to go around to all these schools, all of these places and say, 'Y'all just have safe sex.'

It doesn't matter how good of a personality that a person has, it's what they really are that counts. What he really is, is not what he's portrayed, helping out people and doing this and that. There was a comment given in the newspaper that Magic Johnson was so great on the basketball court that he could have the whole world thinking that he was going to pass the ball, shoot the ball, or whatever it may be, and do just the opposite and no one knew it until it was too late. I thought to myself: That's exactly what he's done to the whole public with his private life. He's portrayed that he's something else over here, all the while he's a whoremonger.' The one I feel sorry for this the girlfriend that he shacked up with for years, who he just married this past summer. I don't feel very sorry for Magic Johnson.

The ones who have AIDS that I feel sorry for, are those people who get it by blood transfusion, or those people who get from a dentist or a doctor. I feel sorry for the doctors who have to work on those people, that they get it going the other way. As a matter of fact, there is one sure cure to get rid of AIDS out of the society once and for all. Quarantine all those that have it and teach everyone to follow the laws of God concerning sex. Over a period of time, AIDS would be gone and no longer a threat.

That's why they had the Victorian Age. Remember one of the things in the 1950s and 60s, 'You people are old-fashioned prudes. You're living in the Victorian Age: touch not, handle not, look not.' No one asked, 'Why did the Victorian Age come?' It came because there was a ravaging syphilis epidemic that was just devastating the whole population! It was responsible for nearly 25% of the deaths of the population in Europe, including England. They finally got the point:

  • no sex before marriage
  • sex only during marriage
  • no extramarital affairs
  • no brothels
  • women cover up from the neck to the ankle to the wrists
  • look not
  • touch not
  • handle not
  • no one do anything unless you are chaperoned
  • Are we getting close to that again? Yes, indeed!
  • Where does all this attitude come from?
  • How is it that a society gets itself in that position?
  • Because they have said long ago that all the laws of God are done away!

That is what God said as Creator, has no meaning in our lives because we want to do what we want to do, and we want to have our sexual revolution and all this sort of thing. So, God says, 'If that's what you want, you got it.'

We can just do a little review. Remember what happened to Adam and Eve? They ate of the tree that they shouldn't have and they didn't believe what God said! The whole world became so wicked that by the time we come to the days of Noah, it says that 'the thoughts of man were only evil continually,' therefore, God brought the Flood upon the whole world to destroy every living thing, because morality affects the whole creation.

Then we come to the time of the first Laodicean. You know who the first Laodicean really was? The first Laodicean was Lot! He lived in Sodom. Just like a Laodicean today, he couldn't make up his mind. He was frustrated because of all the things that were going on. Just like a lot of people today, they see Magic Johnson on TV and they say that's terrible, but no conviction of their own.

Lot didn't believe God. Finally the angels came in and he was so involved in the system. He's called righteous, but he was still blind because he couldn't see. His morals were highly questionable because when the angels came and the homosexuals wanted to go ahead and seduce the angels—because they were good-looking men, as far as they could tell—Lot even volunteered his own daughters. Think about that! That's quite a thing! To volunteer your own daughters who are supposedly virgins.

So, the angels intervened, stopped that stupidity and made everyone blind to end that crisis. The next day, after sending the message out to his sons, 'Come on. You have to get out of here. God is going to destroy it.' Ah, no, no, no. You're like an insane man. It isn't going to happen. The next morning, the angels said, 'Hurry up and get out of here, Lot, you and your wife and your two daughters. Hurry and go and don't look back!' You know the rest of the story. 'Mrs. Laodicean' looked back! God meant what He said and Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt, which Josephus, writing in his day said, 'The pillar of salt is still there until this day.' Mrs. Lot was the first Laodicean because: Which law, Lord, should I follow?

Everyone wants the goodness and blessings of God. Everyone does, but they don't want to do what God says! It's kind of like taking your life and going down the wrong way on a one way street. You may make it to the other end, but you're going in the wrong way. Chances are you're going to have a wreck along the way. Have you ever tried driving the wrong way on a one-way street, especially if you're going 60 mph that way and they're coming at you 60 mph the other way? Then you wonder why you're hurt. In Deut. 5 we have where God gave the Ten Commandments.

Deuteronomy 5:1: "And Moses called all Israel and said to them, 'Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day so that you may learn them and keep and do them.'" We'll see later that there is a purpose and a function for law and that God gave these things for people's good!

It's just like people say with this AIDS thing that Magic Johnson supposedly has made a huge awareness of it—maybe he has, maybe he hasn't. What do they always do? They call for the government to do something! The government is not responsible for the private morality decisions of the individual. In a sense the government is because the government is not teaching the people what are the proper moral things based upon the Bible. Therefore, in that sense, they are responsible.

  • Is the government responsible because Wilt 'The Stilt' Chamberlain went out and committed adultery with 20,000 women?
  • What on earth did the government have to do with that? Nothing, it was his sole, individual choice!
  • What about Magic Johnson?
  • Did the government make him do it?
  • Could the government stop him from doing it? No!

Now they're going to test for AIDS all the basketball players, which tells you that maybe there's a little secret going on among all the basketball players that may be something that they don't want anyone to know, such as a secret homosexual ring among them. Very possible, because people do not want to do what God says. We find that right here.

Verse 2: "The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, all of us here, alive today. The LORD talked with you face-to-face in the mountain out of the midst of the fire" (vs 2-4).

  • Do you think that God meant business when He came down on Mt. Sinai?
  • Do you think that God was serious about what He was doing when He brought them out of the land of Egypt?
  • Do you think that God was serious when He brought them through the wilderness all that way?
  • Do you think that God was serious when He was going to give them the 'promised land'?
  • Do you think that God was serious when He sent the spies in there to spy out the land?

Imagine how God felt, let alone Moses, Joshua and Caleb when they came back and said, 'Well, they're tall people.' God says, 'All right, because I'm serious, you aren't going in.' They wandered another 38-years in the desert, all dying away, because they didn't think that God was serious. At the end of that 40-years, Moses is saying, 'Look everybody. We're all here and we're alive. I want you to know what God did. He "…talked with you face-to-face in the mountain out of the midst of fire."

Verse 5: "(I stood between the LORD and you at that time to show you the Word of the LORD, for you were afraid because of the fire, and did not go up into the mountain) saying, 'I am the LORD your God Who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me'" (vs 5-7).

Do you think God is serious with that? Yes, He is! That's why Magic Johnson 'the idol' has fallen, because he is not God: all flesh is corruptible, all human beings are corruptible and are going to die.

  • Why worship a human being that has the 'law of sin and death' within them?
  • Why follow a human being whose standard is secretly a whoremonger?

Makes you wonder about all that. One of the things that the Mafioso does, one of the things that criminals do is to give to charities, all because they don't believe this first statement, "…You shall have no other gods before Me"—period! Then it says:

Verse 8: "You shall not make a graven image for yourself of any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters beneath the earth. You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God…" (vs 8-9).

If God is God, why should He tolerate the worship of anything else as god, which is not God? But everyone wants to have their little idol, their little statue, their little whatever, or basketball player or football player.

God has something that He always does: "…visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me" (v 9).

The long and short of it is this: If you don't keep the commandments of God, you hate Him. People think that because God says, 'You shall not do this,' that God hates them. When all the time God is saying, 'Don't do that because it's not in your best interest or good, to do that. You want to come to Me,' God says, 'and have the blessings from Me? Here's what to do.'

Verse 10: "But showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold the one guiltless who takes His name in vain. Keep the Sabbath Day to sanctify it as the LORD your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger within your gates, so that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as you. And remember… [one of the reasons that we keep the Sabbath is] …that you were a slave in the land of Egypt…" (vs 10-15).

In other words, we keep the Sabbath as a constant reminder that out in the world we are the servant of sin; out in the world, we are the servant of Satan!

"…and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm. Therefore, the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath Day. Honor your father and your mother as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you in the land which the LORD your God gives you" (vs 15-16).

Yet, we have turned all of this over to schools, to daycare centers and to social services. I saw a heart-breaking account of a man who was accused of molesting and raping his own eight-year-old daughter. It wasn't true all the way along, but this stupid little bureaucrat down at the Family Social Services and the policeman were convinced that he did, when he said that he didn't. They perpetrated this thing by saying that there was semen on the little girl's undergarments, which was viciously torn and everything like that. The father said that when he first saw her at the hospital, that it just made him completely and absolutely sick. The truth was, there was semen on her undergarments. After two years:

  • having taken away the daughter
  • having put her in a foster home
  • having her twelve days from an adoption, never to be seen again by the parents

They finally got the DNA test to prove that it wasn't him. They've lost their home! He's lost his job! He's lost his savings! He's lost his standing! And the government says, 'We are sorry.' Furthermore, one year into it, after much counseling with a psychologist, the daughter finally admitted that it was the father who did it. All that was, was brainwashing by some ne'er-do-well, altruistic, Satan-inspired, psychologist, to brainwash and convince the little girl to do what they wanted her to do, so they could have a conviction.

There are all too many cases of that. I cried when I saw that. I did! I was upset! Then we get this story, 'Y'all have safe sex everyone. Magic is still here.' That's the time I'd like to have enough TVs to have a six-gun to shoot it every once in a while.

Why does God want children to honor their father and mother? That it may go well with you!

Verse 17: "You shall not murder." Yet, the land is filled with it. Why? Because the religionists say, 'Love the Lord. Don't keep any of God's laws. You don't have to do that bondage!'

Verse 18: "And you shall not commit adultery." If they persist in this attitude, as we've said before, and we've been just about right on the line, there is going to come a super-AIDS and it's going to 'lay them low' quickly.

Verse 19: "And you shall not steal. And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (vs 19-20).

We had a new neighbor move in and bought the house next door. Wonderful, wonderful, nice neighbors; we sent them a little planter over there, welcome to the neighborhood and all this. Two days later the police were out there carting the husband off, fingerprinted him and mugged him. They moved into the new house and put all the money down there, and then she informed him that she was going to leave him and take the house. Ha-ha-ha! What did he do? He beat her up! He probably shouldn't have beat her up, but he did. She had him arrested, carted off, and the only thing in the paper was spousal abuse.

One of the neighbors said, 'Have you heard? Have you heard?' Heard what? We didn't know anything about it except what they told us:

  • Guess what she has now? She's got another guy living in there and living with them already! it's insane!
  • You think the world is far removed? Well, this evil world is right next to you!
  • You think you can move some place and get away with it? No!
  • Do you think some place that 25 years ago was a wonderful place to live? Don't go there now! It isn't that way now!

Verse 21: "'And you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor shall you covet your neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his donkey, or any thing that is your neighbor's.' The LORD spoke these words…And He added no more…." (vs 21-22)—at that time.

Now all the people said, 'Oh, we can't stand this. We're gong to die!' They said, 'Moses you go speak to us. We'll listen to you.' Did they listen to Moses? No! They didn't listen to Moses.

Verse 29: "Oh, that there were such a heart in them that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever!" That's God's desire. God said that He doesn't even desire the 'death of the wicked.'

Now, let's find out, what is the purpose of the Law? Romans 3:19: "Now then, we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law…"

  • Who is subject to the Law?
  • Are we all subject to the Law? Yes, we are!

Any law that God has, we're subject to it; it doesn't matter what it is. If you don't believe it, stand out in front of a train and see if you can stop it.

  • Who is subject to the law?

"…so that every mouth may be stopped… [no talking back to God; Paul is right] …and all the world… [everybody in it] …may become guilty before God. Therefore, by works of law there shall no flesh be justified before Him…" (vs 19-20).

Remember this: Nothing can substitute for sacrifice of Jesus Christ! It's the sacrifice of Christ that justifies you! Deeds of law are not the sacrifice of Christ. Therefore, they cannot justify you though you are required to do the Law. The Law is not Christ! The quickest, easiest, simplest, way to remember. Nothing can substitute for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ!

  • the Law was not designed to forgive sin
  • the Law was not designed to put you in right standing with God through the forgiveness of sin through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ

"…for through the Law is the knowledge of sin" (v 20). That's what the Law does. It tells you what sin is. It's what the Law is for.

Romans 4:15: "For the Law works out wrath…"—when you transgress it! A good example: Don't put your hand on a hot stove, you'll burn your hand:

  • When does that Law work wrath?
  • When you keep it?

or

  • When you break it?
  • When you break it, it works wrath!
  • When does the Law against adultery work wrath? When adultery is committed!

Ask Magic!

"…because where no Law is, there is no transgression" (v 15). If God had not given these laws, if God had not given His commandments, God Himself would not judge. Which laws, Lord?

Romans 6:1: "What then shall we say?… [because we have forgiveness and justification through Jesus Christ] …Shall we continue in sin, so that grace may abound? MAY IT NEVER BE! We who died to sin… [by baptism] …how shall we live any longer therein?" (vs 1-2).

Verse 15: "What then? Shall we sin… [What is sin? Sin is the transgression of the Law!] …because we are not under law, but under grace? MAY IT NEVER BE! Don't you realize that to whom you yield yourselves as servants to obey, you are servants of the one you obey, whether it is of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (vs 15-16)—very clear cut. That is absolutely true; you can apply this to anything.

Was Wilt 'The Stilt' Chamberlain a slave to his whoremongering? Yes, by his own admission! I'm not pointing out something that he has not publicly proclaimed to the whole world, written about, willingly autographed his book and said, 'Fine, nice to meet you, have a nice day.' One thing I can hope is that some day he'll repent.

  • Was he a slave to it? Yes!
  • Is a person a slave to drugs? Yes!
  • Do people become slaves to murder? Yes!

that's why there are serial killings

  • Whatever it is, do people become slaves to idols? Yes!

A Catholic can't even go by the front of the Church without genuflecting.
Verse 17: "But thanks be to God, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you; and having been delivered from sin…" (vs 17-18).

'Being made free from sin' (KJV), is not a good translation. In a sense it is, because if all of your past sins have been blotted out, which they are. But you are free from that debt that you owe God because of the sin. In that sense it is true, but you're not free from sin, in as much as that you will never sin again from that moment forward.

"…you became the servants of righteousness. I speak from a human point of view because of the weakness… [infirmity (KJV)] …of your flesh…" (vs 18-19).

That doesn't mean that they were sick with an infirmity. That means weakness, "…because of the weakness of your flesh…" Why do all of us still sin today?  Because of the 'law of sin and death' and the weakness of the flesh!

"…for just as you once yielded your members in bondage to uncleanness, and to lawlessness unto lawlessness, so now yield your members in bondage to righteousness unto sanctification. For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. Therefore, what fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end result of those things is death" (vs 19-21).

Yet, the 'do-gooder,' altruistic Satan-worshipping, communist-led and inspired bureaucratic people, who want to make 'safe sex' available in high school and to teach our children from kindergarten up, all about sex so that they can have already made perverts for the homosexual community by the time they get out of school. They want to give condoms to all of our children. We're talking about lives! We're talking about bringing God's wrath! That is the doctrine of Balaam.

What was it that Balaam taught Balak, the son of Zippor[transcriber's correction], to bring against the children of Israel? Bring them into sexual activity and God must curse them! Balaam said, 'I can't curse them because God won't allow me to, but you do that and God must curse them because of Islam. You talk about something diabolical, that's exactly what's happening in the school and societies today, all because some preacher got up and started the doctrine within the churches, 'Oh well, you don't have to do this Law. Just love the Lord.'

Verse 22: "But now that you have been delivered from sin and have become servants of God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end result is eternal life."
Now you have something to look forward to. What does Magic have to look forward to? Death! It is a death sentence. Since people all through the 60s and 70s did not get the message from God that it was wrong, therefore, AIDS has come. People are either going to learn that it is wrong and stop, or they're going to die; no two ways about it. It's the same thing that's going to happen concerning the laws of God and everlasting life. The same thing!

Verse 23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."

I do hope and I wish it may be possible—who knows, anything is possible—for Magic Johnson to ever repent. It's possible! I would frankly hope that he would. There's always the parable of the prodigal son. Regardless of what you have done, if you come to your senses and repent to God, there can be forgiveness! I wish that that would happen to him before he dies. Would that not be a good thing?

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Matthew 7:19: "Every tree that is not producing good fruit is cut down and is cast into the fire. Therefore, you shall assuredly know them by their fruits" (vs 19-20).

Since Magic Johnson is of the world, the world will hear it's own. They won't hear what God has to say, but they'll hear their own. He has a teammate called James Worthy. He's supposed to be some big basketball star, too. Last year he was arrested on two counts of soliciting for prostitution in Houston, Texas, while the team was on the road. It was announced on the radio and everybody knew it because it was on all on the radio, television and nightly news. Here's the game; it starts out and Jim Worthy is not there to start the game. At half-time he comes in and is able to start and the whole auditorium of 12,000 people stood up and applauded him. You talk about hearing their own, there couldn't be a better example of it.

It's the same way with this Kennedy 'thing.' He stands there and runs in Clarence Thomas and then he turns around and tells his lawyers, 'You do the same thing to this woman down here that's accusing my nephew of rape.' This world is so crazy.

Verse 21: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but the one who is doing the will…" Not just the commandments, the will. It says in John 14 that 'if you love Me, you're going to be keeping My words and these words that you are hearing are not Mine but the Father's Who sent Me.' So, it's will and words, not just which commandment, Lord? It's everything God has said!
Does anyone want to stand up before God and tell Him, 'Look, God. I don't want this and I don't want that and if You want me, You can do it my way, Lord.' NO! God says, 'If you want Me, you're going to do it My way, not your way.'

Verse 22: "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy through Your name? And did we not cast out demons through Your name? And did we not perform many works of power through Your name?' And then I will confess to them, 'I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who work lawlessness'" (vs 22-23). This is the same word that is translated 'transgressions' (1-John 3:4 KJV). In the Greek it is 'anomia,' against law: "…you who work lawlessness"

A person who is lawless, is a person who doesn't want God's laws. What is their favorite thing that they like to do with God's laws when the get rid of them? Put in their own laws!

Mark 7:9: "Full well do you reject the commandment of God, so that you may observe your own tradition." The tradition is anything that you devise to replace the Law of God. It's that simple. All of that is sin. One of these days, someone like Magic is going to stand up and say: 'O Lord. Look what I did.' God's going to say I never knew you. 'We did it in Your name. It was a good thing.' I didn't send you. Depart from Me you that work lawlessness.

Let's see some things concerning keeping the commandments which is very profound; very basic. That's why these seven General Epistles should come right after the book of Acts before you start reading the Epistles of Paul, and you know you have to keep the commandments of God. Unless you know that before you start reading the Epistles of Paul, you'll end up like all of these Protestants who don't believe you have to keep anything. They say, 'Which laws, Lord? Just love the Lord.'

1-John 2:3: "And by this standard we know that we know Him: if we keep His commandments." It's something that you know that you are doing and practicing.

Verse 4: "The one who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the Truth is not in him." It doesn't matter how pleasing the personality; it doesn't matter how big the smile.

They had this stupid program on. I just saw a little bit of it. Ed and I would enjoy watching television together; we're remote freaks. If we don't like the commercial, we kill it. If we don't like the program we switch to another one. I was doing that the other night. That's why I have my own TV. I'm relegated to my own corner with my own TV so I can switch channels or whatever I want to do.

I was flicking through there and they had this program on. I think it was that they were trying to get everyone to get on HBO, Showtime or whatever. They had this girl who had witchcraft powers. She would put her fingers together and make a guy change or disappear. Ha-ha-ha, it's all humor. The way you introduce sin is make it funny.

  • Who is the one who has been setting up the whole world for the New Age Religion?
  • Who is the one who has been setting up this society for all of the animal rights stupidity?
  • Who is the one who has been setting up the society for all of the eco-freak stupidity?

—which is a big lie that we are causing the ozone hole! It's because of the activity on the sun, the solar storms and all that and the increased magnetism coming to the earth.

  • Who is it that's been doing all of that?
  • None other than one of your most favorite, most wonderful, most beloved movie produces in all the world: Walt Disney, with all of his cartoons and all of his movies!

He puts out some pretty good ones from time to time, so you have to censor it. How many of the movies are like Puff the Magic Dragon? Who is the dragon? Satan! The dragon is nice, helpful and friendly. How do you think they get all of these things into the kids' minds. How do you think they brainwash them? From little kids up, with all these cartoons! Animals are not animals, they're people. Now you can't even ride a horse; that's cruelty to animals. You can't even wear a fur coat. Go freeze in Siberia, but let the animal live.

I have to tell one more on us. I had to move the refrigerator and clean behind the refrigerator. Have you ever done that? After 15 years it was dirty, dirty, dirty. I was down there scribbling around on my hands and knees and guess what I found? A mummified mouse! If you don't take care of things, your sins are going to find you out. There was a mummified mouse. I picked it up and I showed it to Delores and I said, 'Look what I found.' I thought that was really funny. She didn't appreciate it too much, but she laughed anyway. The point is, many peoples lives are like that. Nothing is done for so long and then finally they move off the spot and it's like moving the refrigerator.

Verse 5: "On the other hand, if anyone is keeping His Word, truly in this one the love of God is being perfected. By this means we know that we are in Him. Anyone who claims to dwell in Him is obligating himself also to walk even as He Himself walked" (vs 5-6).

Which commandments did Jesus reject? None! Almost an accurate statement. He rejected none of the commandments of God, but He rejected every commandment of man that was contrary to the commandments of God! What did Jesus say about the Law if you asked the question, 'Which law?'

It's just the way that it always is with human beings, when you're told not to think something, guess what happens? That's what they think! The reason they do that is because in dealing with human beings when you're told not to think something, you generally have to think of it because you're being told not to think of it, because that's what they want to do to you. 'Oh. I'm not here to harm you or hurt you.' But when God says something, that's a different case. When He says don't think something, don't do that.

Jesus said, Matthew 5:17: "Do not think…" Which means, don't even let it come into your mind; which means, if you don't think about it, you're not going to practice it.

Verse 17: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill." In fulfilling, there were certain things that were changed—not done away, changed—and superseded by a greater requirement from what was originally given. That is fulfilling. The word fulfill means to fill to the full.

If you have something, say a quart of milk, half-full or half-empty depending on whether you're positive or negative—but that's neither here or there with God—and you're told to fill it up, you fill to the full. That's what Jesus did with the laws of God.

That's the whole lesson of Matt. 5-7. What did He say about adultery? You've heard it said in past time by the ancients, 'You shall not commit adultery.' I say to you, don't look upon a woman to lust after her in your heart, to commit adultery in your mind with her, because you've already committed adultery! Is that not greater than the command, 'Don't go to bed with this woman?' Yes, that's much greater! Absolutely!

He adds to it, v 18: "For truly I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall pass away… [Are heaven and earth still here? Yes, they're still here!] …one jot or one tittle shall in no way pass from the Law until everything has been fulfilled." There are two ways of looking at that, as you know:

  • till everything that God has planned to do be fulfilled
    • Is everything done that God has planned to be done?
    • Is it fulfilled? No!
  • until everyone is fulfilling the Law

Here's what He thinks about doing away with laws. We won't get into those complicated Scriptures that tend to make people believe that they can do away with the laws. They can't do away with any of the laws of God anymore than they can stand up and shake their fist at the law of gravity and say it doesn't work. That's stupidity.

Verse 19: "Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so…" It's the false prophets that have caused the problems. A false prophet doesn't have to be a religious person. It can be just anyone who will teach anyone to do anything, which is contrary to the laws and commandments of God.

"…whoever shall break one of these least commandments, and…" the understood thought for the subject of the connective here is whoever shall teach men so… It doesn't matter who they are.

"…shall be called least…" (v 19). That means less than nothing. At least if you're a zero, you're something. A zero is something, but if you're less than nothing, you don't exist. He's saying that you won't be there. That's what He's saying.

"…in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall practice and teach them… [even the least of them] …this one shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I say to you, unless your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way that you shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven'" (vs 19-20). The way your righteousness exceeds that is that:

  • you have the Spirit of God within you
  • you have Christ to justify you
  • you have the grace of God to cover your weaknesses and sins
  • your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees

Why? Because you love God! That's why! You're keeping God's commandments and the scribes and Pharisees did not keep the commandments of God. They kept their traditions: 'Full well you keep your traditions that you may reject the commands of God.' Therefore, this is hard for someone to understand, especially if they think that the Pharisees and things were great law-keepers.

We will see what Jesus even said of the scribes and Pharisees and the religious leaders. What a shame:

  • they had the Law
  • they had the temple
  • they had the commandments
  • they had the covenant
  • they had everything that God had given them

In spite of all of that:

  • What did they want to do?
    • make their own laws
    • make their own traditions
    • reject God
    • do their own way

Remember this: Christianity did not come out of Judaism! Christianity has come out of the Old Testament, the Laws, Prophets and Writings of God, not Judaism. It came out of Judaism only in the sense that, to keep the commandments of God and following the Prophets and Writings of God, you must essentially divorce yourself from Judaism, which is the religion of the Jews. Here's why:

John 7:17: "If anyone desires to do His will… [we talked about the will of God (Matt. 7:21)] …he shall know of the doctrine, whether it is from God, or whether I speak from My own self. The one who speaks of himself is seeking his own glory…" (vs 17-18).

I cannot help but just in my mind visually seeing Magic Johnson and Arsenio Hall. Even Arsenio Hall was a little embarrassed. For him to be embarrassed is really going a long way. I don't watch Arsenio Hall. I can't stand it. I think it is the most vain, frivolous, stupid show that has ever been. If people want to watch it, that's up to them. There's no law against stupidity, I guess.

"…but He Who seeks the glory of Him Who sent Him… [Christ is seeking the glory of God the Father, Who sent Him] …is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Did not Moses give you the Law, and not one of you is practicing the Law?….'" (vs 18-19). Profound verse! Profound verse!

Christianity came out of the Old Testament. Christianity did not come out of or originate in Judaism! All those who became Christians, though they were Jews and following Judaism, had to divorce themselves from that. That's the agonizing period from the crucifixion of Christ until the destruction of the temple.

Let's see an example where the very question was asked: Which commandments, Lord? A lot of people want to have the blessings of God but not do what God says.

Matthew 19:13: "Then little children were brought to Him, so that He might lay His hands on them and pray for them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them…. [don't bother Him with these little kids] …But Jesus said, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven'" (vs 13-14).

  • they're believing
  • they're willing
  • they're wanting
  • they're anxious
  • they want to do what is pleasing
  • the 'law of sin and death' is not been stirred up in them

You can't quite say that today. Back then it was not stirred up in them where they're little walking hellions at two and a half.

Verse 15: "And after laying His hands on them, He departed from there. Now at that time, one came to Him… [notice the difference between the children and now here comes the opposite]: …and said, 'Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?'" (vs 15-16).

Everyone wants eternal life. No one wants to die, not even the Mafioso. That's the whole quirk with the thing with the Mafioso, why they have their Catholic burials. Somehow, even though they've done what they've done, if they bury them and do with the Church and pay the pope his dues, they'll make it in, because no one wants to die and die forever.

Verse 17: "And He said to him, 'Why do you call Me good?….'" As a human beings, though Jesus was God before He became human, He could not say He was God or that He was good, while He was human. As long as He had the 'law of sin and death' in Him, He was not good, though by human standards, He was totally, absolutely perfect. By God's standards He was totally, absolutely perfect, but 'the flesh profits nothing.' That's why He said:

"…'Why do you call Me good? No one is good except one—God. But if you desire to enter into life, keep the commandments.' Then he said to Him, 'Which?'…." (vs 17-18). That's the whole question we're asking today, which?

"…And Jesus said, 'You shall not commit murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother; and, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.' The young man said to Him, 'I have kept all these things from my youth. What do I yet lack?' Jesus said to him…" (vs 18-21)—you have to go above and beyond. That's what's required.

"…'If you desire to be perfect, go and sell your property, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me'" (v 21).

1-Cor. 13 told us that if you give all that you have to the poor and don't love God and follow Christ, it really doesn't matter, it's nothing.
Verse 22: "But after hearing this word, the young man went away grieving, because he had many possessions." That's the way it is with people:

  • Lord, I will do it if it makes me happy
  • Lord, I will do it if it's convenient
  • Lord, I will do it if I agree with it
  • Lord, I will do it if it doesn't cramp my lifestyle
  • Lord, I'll tell you what I will and won't do

We've listed all the commandments and someone is surely going to say, 'Well, He didn't mention the Sabbath. He didn't mention the Sabbath, did He?'

Mark 2—we'll get all the Ten Commandments. Of course, if you have the Sabbath and if you believe in the Sabbath then you have to believe in all the Holy Days. You can't have one without the other. You can't buy one shoe and say you have a pair. You have to have them both.

Mark 2:27: "And He said to them…" The scribes and Pharisees accusing Him of things that they thought were wrong, but weren't.

"…'The Sabbath was made for man…'" (v 27). That's why it was made. On account of man, because of man, because man needs the Sabbath.

"'…and not man for the Sabbath'" (v 27). Therefore, man cannot tell God what he will and will not do on the Sabbath.

Verse 28: "Therefore, the Son of man is Lord… [Jesus Christ] …even of the Sabbath." There is the Lord's Day. That is His day.

Let's cover two things that are very important that we need to cover, which is the thing concerning circumcision. This created great problems in the New Testament Church. I'm sure you're well aware of that. The Pharisees said, 'You cannot be saved—'ou dunatai,' which means impossible to be saved—unless you're circumcised.' They're stuck with a problem.

Gen. 17—Abraham walked with God from 75-years-old until his 99th year. Inclusive counting, that's 25 years, which is longer than a lot of people have been in the Church. I've been in the Church longer than that, but that's nothing to brag about. During those 25 years Abraham:

  • obeyed God
  • kept His commandments
  • followed Him
  • had faith
  • believed in Him

He was not circumcised. So, at 99-years-old, he was circumcised, all of his household, and at that time Ishmael was 13. When Isaac was born, he was circumcised on the 8th day, according to the command of God.

Exo. 12:43-44—no one was to eat the Passover unless they were circumcised. Did God do away with circumcision? or Was circumcision a temporary something until a higher and greater requirement came into place with circumcision? The first thing with circumcision, you exclude half the population, because they are female. Circumcision was only temporary and it was forecasted to be done away.

Do you know where the forecast of it was to be, not done away but superseded by a greater circumcision, which applies to all—male and female? The circumcision of the heart (Deut. 10)! Everything that God replaced with the New Testament was prophesied in the Old Testament to take place.

What was the first thing that God told David when David wanted to build Him a temple? I'll build a house for you! What did God say referring to the temple? 'Where is the house that you—as a human being—will build for Me? For the heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool and everything that you would build a house for Me with, all these things My hand has made' (Isa. 66:1-2). Who was the Chief of the corner of the temple that was rejected by the builders? Jesus Christ!

What was one of the first things that Peter told those religious leaders? The Stone that the builders have rejected, the same has become the Chief corner (Acts 4)—which was Christ. Showing, that in Christ the temple was going to be destroyed. We have that in the Old Testament concerning the temple. No great surprise that it was going to be gone.

The same way with circumcision, Deut. 10 tells us this is New Testament doctrine. It's interesting that the word 'deuteronomy' means the second giving of the Law.

  • 'duo' is two
  • 'nomos,' is law

The second giving of the Law!

Deuteronomy 10:12: "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God…" Can we not find that in the New Testament, 'Let us fear because our God is a consuming fire'? Yes!

"…to walk in all His ways…" (v 12). we're to walk even as He walked' (1-John 2:6[transcriber's correction]).

"…and to love Him…" (v 12). 'Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, mind, soul and being,' Old Testament/New Testament.

"…and to serve the LORD your God… [How?]: …with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the LORD, and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the LORD your God, the earth also, with all that is in it. Only the LORD had a delight in your fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after them, you above all people, as it is today. Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stiff-necked'" (vs 12-16)

There is a command and a prophecy of the true circumcision of conversion. I imagine how many arguments that the Apostle Paul had in the synagogue over Abraham. You're not going to deny that he 'walked with God' 25 years being uncircumcised (Rom. 4). Here is the reason:

Verse 17: "For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, the mighty and awesome God Who does not respect persons nor take a bribe."

What are you going to bribe God with? 'I'll be a good boy, Lord.' You're not going to bribe God with that. 'I'll give you all that I have, Lord.' He owns the universe. What are you going to give Him that He hasn't already given you? 'I am an important person. I am a sports idol. You must regard me because I am the greatest,' whoever the name of the athlete may be.

Verse 18: "He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger…" Is this not a prophecy of bringing Gentiles into the Church? Yes, it is! Among other prophecies in Isaiah.

"…in giving him food and clothing. Therefore, love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve Him, and you shall hold fast to Him, and swear by His name. He is your praise, and He is your God, Who has done for you these great and awesome things, which your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons. And now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of the heavens for multitude" (vs 18-22).

Deuteronomy 11:1: "Therefore, you shall love the LORD your God, and keep His charge and His statutes and His judgments and His commandments always." That is may be well with you.

Colossians 2:2: "That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, unto the knowledge of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge… [none of this New Age nonsense] …Now this I say so that no one may deceive you by persuasive speech" (vs 2-4).

That's exactly what Magic Johnson is doing. You should have seen the poor, pathetic, stupid little teenagers marching right along like dutiful little soldiers. They sent the news media out to the high school. 'What do you think about Magic Johnson having AIDS?' Well, I think it's a shame that he has AIDS, but when I have sex, I'm going to have safe sex. What a bunch of stupidity; young stupid little teenage kids out there just following along with what they're told, you're going to risk your whole life on one millimeter of plastic? Nonsense!

Verse 5: "For though I am indeed absent in the flesh, yet, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, be walking in Him; being rooted and built up in Him, and being confirmed in the faith, exactly as you were taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Be on guard so that no one takes you captive through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ" (vs 5-8). That's what all of this whole stupidity is that's going to follow in the wake of Magic Johnson.

Verse 9: "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, Who is the Head of all principality and power" (vs 9-10). You can't go any higher than that. What else do you need?

  • you don't need a spirit, a fallen angel
  • you don't need an idol
    • a movie star
    • a basketball star
    • a rock star

You need Christ!

Verse 11: "In Whom you… [male and female] …have also been circumcised with the circumcision not made by hands…" Whenever anything has been superseded in the New Testament, it's not doing away, it's making it spiritual and more binding, the thing of circumcision, or the thing of worshipping in the temple.

Isn't it much greater to pray directly to God the Father in heaven above, than to go all the way over to Jerusalem and stand there at the Wailing Wall, rock like an idiot while you pray, stuff a little prayer on a piece of paper in between the rocks on the Wailing Wall? orTo bow to Mecca five times a day? Isn't it much greater to pray directly to the Father in heaven above? Yes! That's what the circumcision of the heart does.

"…in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ having been buried with Him in baptism, by which you have also been raised with Him through the inner working of God, Who raised Him from the dead. For you, who were once dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has now made alive with Him, having forgiven all your trespasses" (vs 11-13). That's what the circumcision of Christ does.

Romans 2:25: "For on the one hand, circumcision profits if you are observing the law… [Paul is talking to the Jews] on the other hand, if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision…. [that's the whole point] …Therefore, if the uncircumcised… [in the flesh] …is keeping the requirements of the law… [which you're not keeping, though you're circumcised] …shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision?" (vs 25-26). Yes, because it's of the heart!

Verse 27: "And shall not the uncircumcised, who by nature is fulfilling the Law, judge you, who, with the letter and circumcision, are a transgressor of the Law?" I know why those Jews hated Paul. I mean, for you to say that a Gentile, who is uncircumcised, is going to judge you, a Jew, whew! That's rock-throwing time at the Wailing Wall.

Verse 28: "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is external in the flesh; rather, he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God" (vs 28-29).

It's not a matter of doing away with the Law, because God hasn't done away with any laws. It's not a matter of which laws do you keep and which you don't keep. It's a matter of the application of all of God's laws in the spirit that is important!

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

  • Deuteronomy 5:1-22, 29
  • Romans 3:19-20
  • Romans 4:15
  • Romans 6:1-2, 15-23
  • Matthew 7:19-23
  • Mark 7:9
  • 1-John 2:3-6
  • Matthew 5:17-20
  • John 7:17-19
  • Matthew 19:13-22
  • Mark 2:27-28
  • Deuteronomy 10:12-22
  • Deuteronomy 11:1
  • Colossians 2:2-13
  • Romans 2:25-29

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

  • John 14
  • 1-John 3:4
  • Matthew 6
  • 1-Corinthians 13
  • Genesis 17
  • Exodus 12:43-44
  • Isaiah 66:1-2
  • Acts 4

Also referenced: Book:  Josephus

FRC:nfs
Transcribed: 06-26-16
Proofed: bo—7/27/16

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