PASSOVER PREPARATION # 3

Fred Coulter – March 8, 2003

This is Passover Preparation # 3 and we have come to John 14 and we have come down here through verse 16 and 17, and we covered about how the Holy Spirit works, and so forth. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 18. This may be just a little bit of review. “ ‘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.’ ” Now these are the words and the promises of eternal life. That’s why these are also the words of the New Covenant. “ ‘Because I live [now, He is talking about that He is going to be living eternally], you shall live also. In that day [that’s the day that they saw Christ resurrected], you shall know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you’ ” (John 14:18-20, FV).

Let’s go to Luke 24 and see what an astonishing event that was. This was the day that they knew. And then from that would spring, “You shall know that I am in the Father and you are in Me and I am in you.” And all the rest of the words of the New Covenant that we have to do with through John 17 are keyed on this sentence. That’s the whole key. Now notice what happened, verse 36 (KJV): “And as they thus spake [that is the two who came back from Emmaus and said, “We’ve seen the Lord.”], Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.” Now I don’t know how they felt. I don’t know how excited they may have been. I don’t know how their adrenaline glands may have went squish, you know, because when you see something startling that’s what happens.

But I can tell you this: as a kid when I was delivering newspapers I had to deliver to a mortuary, and also the apartments that were connected with the mortuary. So during the week I would go up to the apartments and I would deliver the papers and come down by the door which went into the apartments, then I would go into the front door of the mortuary and put the newspaper on the counter. But on Sunday they told me to go up around and down the stairs and down through the mortuary and then come and leave the newspaper on the front desk and walk out the front door and it would lock itself. Well you know it’s quiet in a mortuary, and I was curious. And here I am about twelve years old, I think it was. And so I come down the steps and I see these various parlors with the coffins in it, and so forth, so I look in one and I look in another and then I’d look at another, and just right at that time, and you know corpses will do this, they will groan and have muscle spasm. And that’s what happened. I looked in there and there was a groan and this corpse sat up. Man, did that scare me to death. Boy! And that’s the only way I can relate how they must have felt when they saw Him. And I ran down the stairs. I ran out into the foyer. I took the Sunday paper with everything that is there and I threw it up on the counter and it scattered all over the office desk and everything, and I ran out the door scared to death.

Well, can you imagine if you saw someone die and you knew he was dead, and you figured that even though Peter and John saw the grave clothes and everything, it was John who believed. The rest of the disciples didn’t even know. So here they’re all gathered together, it says in John 20, for fear of the Jews and then Jesus stands in the midst and said, “Peace be with you.”

“But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.” I guess. Totally astonished. Now this is “that day” that Jesus was talking about. “And He said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself: handle Me, and see…” And they did because in the first chapter of I John it says, “That which we have seen, that which we have gazed upon, that which our hands have handled, the Word of Life.” (I John 1:1, paraphrased). “…For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have. And when He had thus spoken, He shewed them His hands and His feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He said unto them, Have ye here any meat [anything to eat]? And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And He took it, and did eat before them” (verses 37-43).

And then He must have spent most of that night opening their eyes to the Scriptures, going through it. “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me.” Which then is a complete endorsement of all three sections of the Old Testament, you see. “Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures…” (verses 44-45). And as we’re going to see the function of the Holy Spirit for us today is to do exactly the same thing. That’s why it is important that we understand John 14, 15, 16, and 17 is the basis of our personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God the Father.

Now let’s come back here to John 14. Now I will mention again as I did last time, in the General Epistles book, you can go through the special word study section and go through all the places concerning the things we are to know in the epistle of I John. There are 47 things that we are to know as mature Christians. God does not want us ignorant. God wants our belief based upon knowledge. The knowledge then gives us the faith. And then this gives us understanding. And this gives us hope. And this gives us love altogether, you see. And that’s why I believe that today God has scattered the church so He’s going to put every one on a one to one basis between Him and Jesus Christ. Every person. And this is the way that you can grow the most. This is the way that you can overcome the most because now you can have that trusting relationship with Jesus Christ and God the Father with no man in between.

Now let’s come back to John 14 of the study paper on the Words of the New Covenant. “ ‘…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 we covered last time there is no way that you can love God if you do not keep His commandments. Now you may have a fuzzy warm feeling in your heart, but a fuzzy warm feeling is not the kind of love that endures unto eternal life. “ ‘…The one who loves Me shall be loved by My Father…’ ” (John 14:20-21 FV). Now underline that. God the Father Himself loves you. No doubt. No question about it.

Let’s come to John 16:26. He says this several times. Now this is important for you to understand, especially when you have a trial that you’re going through, or in the case that’s going to happen with a lot of us because we are getting to be not just senior citizens, but senior, senior citizens. And God has given us extra time and we are going to have to face the trial of our lives, which will be looking for the place of rest in the grave. And when you are in those conditions, when you’re old and grey-headed God says He won’t forget you. And when you’re in pain and suffering because you are looking at deaths door, God loves you, the Father loves you. Never forget that. And with Christ in you He is likewise suffering with you. That’s important to understand. God has not abandoned you. He loves you. Whenever you then are in a trial and you come to a point where you are at the very bottom, and as I’ve mentioned before all of us are going to come to that point. You might get the sermon that I did in the I John series, “When All Else Fails – God Loves You.” Men will fail you. The world will fail you. But God will never fail you.

Now: “ ‘In that day, you shall ask in My name; and I do not tell you that I will beseech the Father for you, for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God’ ” (John 16:26-27, FV). That’s why I have said that this whole section of the words of the covenant, John 14 through John 17, is based upon faith and love, hope and love, and then we will see in John 17, love and love. So always remember that.

Let’s come back here to John 14:21 (FV): “ ‘…Shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him.’ ” So not only does the Father love you, Jesus loves you. And as we’ll see a little later on that’s the very reason that He laid His life down for you.

Now verse 22: “Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, ‘Lord, what has happened that You are about to manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?’ ” See, because at this time they didn’t understand about the coming resurrection. But also this has to do with us. How does God manifest Himself to us and not to the world, because the world would say, “Well what right do you think that you have that you can say God is with you and not with us?” And here’s the secret. It’s a very simple thing. Verse 23: “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him…’ ” Now we have it there three times at least. We’ll probably see it again. But here we have three times the Father loves us, right? Yes. Keeping the Word of God is the key. Because a spiritual something, as we mentioned last time, happens to anyone who begins keeping the Word of God. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they are all called unto salvation. But God is no respecter of persons and those who follow His word, to whatever extent they do, will receive the blessing for following His word to that extent, whether or not they are called unto salvation.

Those who are called unto salvation then come into a different category. We come into the category that the Father loves us, that Christ loves us, and now we have a unique thing take place when we receive the Spirit of God. Let’s see it, the last part of verse 23: “ ‘…and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.’ ” Now the abode is a dwelling place. Now notice it is “We” and “Our” abode. Not “Me” and “My” abode.

Now let’s look at some other Scriptures here. Let’s come to I Corinthians 3. And this is what God delights in. Those who are converted and receive the Holy Spirit… And we’ll talk about the Holy Spirit here in just a bit because he explains then with the coming of the Holy Spirit how it is that both of them are going to dwell in you. Because the greatest of God’s creation is mankind, and the purpose of mankind. That’s why buildings are meaningless, temples are meaningless, rituals are meaningless, all of these things are meaningless. See, because God wants something greater than that. He has prepared us to receive His Holy Spirit.

Now I Corinthians 3:16 (KJV). Isn’t that interesting? If you want an interesting Bible study sometime, go through the different epistles and gospels and look up 3:16. They won’t all hit right on, but John 3:16 says what? “For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” I Timothy 3:16 says God was manifest in the flesh. I John 3:16 tells us how He loves us. Now here we have I Corinthians 3:16: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God…” That’s where God wants to reside before you’re resurrected. This is a spiritual operation. This is part of the covenant. When we take the Passover this is what God is telling us and this is what we are telling God that, “Yes, we love You. We want to be in Your family. Thank you for calling us. Thank You for forgiving our sins. Thank You for being gracious to us.” “…Ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” That’s where God desires to dwell. And as we will see when we go through the book of Hebrews, to have His laws written in our hearts and written in our minds, and that we come to have the mind of Christ. That’s what it’s all about, brethren. Everything else in the world, all the trials, all the difficulties, everything else is meaningless because unless you understand that, all the prophecy in the world isn’t going to save you. All the physical things in the world will not save you. It’s the Spirit of God. That’s what God wants. That’s where He wants to dwell. That’s what He’s concerned about.

“If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy…” So we are down to the nitty-gritty, aren’t we? And from baptism forward for those who truly receive the Holy Spirit of God, it is either – or. That’s what He’s talking about here. “…For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise” (verses 17-18). See, to truly understand the purpose of life and the purpose of God, that’s what’s important.

Here, let’s put into the equation Isaiah 66. And I think in view of the possible situation which may happen in Pasadena – because I remember when the proposition first came up where Herbert Armstrong said, “We need to build a temple for God.” How many remember that? “And we all need to sacrifice, and we all need to give extra money.” And I think we can all learn the lesson from the Bible, can’t we? Whoever builds a temple for God gets himself in d-e-e-p trouble. God was willing and obliged Himself to honor David and let Solomon build the temple. And He did put His presence in it, which is known by the Jews as the Shekhinah. But that’s not the ultimate. As long as the people would obey God, He would keep His presence in the temple. But God is not interested in a temple on the earth. Notice what He says. Here he predicted the destruction of the whole system. And this is only one of many.

“Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: where is the house that ye build unto Me? and where is the place of My rest?” Since God made us what is man going to do for God? That’s why God’s greatest delight is to dwell in us, because that’s why He made us. Not just in a building. “For all those things hath Mine hand made…” (Isa. 66:1-2, KJV). All the gold, all the stones, all the silver, all of the whatever paraphernalia they made for the temple, all the ritual, the altars and everything. God made everything to begin with. So you have all of that and you go back and read all the rituals. And you’ve seen the video showing the tabernacle in the wilderness, which is quite a wonderful thing to look at and see the way that that was done. And the temple, obviously, was a magnificent place, and so forth. But unless there is the Spirit of God, unless there is the love of God, unless there is the belief in God all of that is absolutely worthless and to be destroyed. And that’s why God destroyed the temple.

“…But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at My word.” That’s another way of saying, “You believe in God, believe in Me.” And then He says, “He that killeth an ox…” Now if you have a right attitude God would accept it, but that’s not unto salvation as we will see in the series on Hebrews. “He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck…” I tell you, isn’t that interesting? I wonder what these false lambs of God are to Christ but nothing but dogs. You think about that. Is it not even a greater sin to take the Word of God and twist it and pervert it and use it for selfish, carnal ends and means? Is that not even a greater sin than building a temple and ignoring God? Yes, it is. “…He that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood…” And that’s what was the abomination that Antiochus Epiphanies did. And furthermore, more than that, more than offering swine’s blood on the altar and just walking out, they made that a place for harlotry, and they took the Temple of God and wrote graffiti all over it. And God was saying, “You mistreat Me in My temple, I’m going to desecrate it because you’re desecrating Me.” “Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations” (verses 2-3). You go back and you read what Israel did to the Temple of God and how they just absolutely profaned it and blasphemed it and put in idols and all that sort of thing.

So he’s chosen a different way: “I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before Mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.” So then it comes right back to what God delights in. “Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at His word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for My name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but He shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed” (verses 4-5). We’ve all experienced that, haven’t we? And did this not happen with the apostles in relationship to the Jews? Yes, it did. Were they not chased asunder from the temple? Yes, they were. Quite a thing.

When it says, “We will make Our abode with him,” now let’s come back to John 14:23 and let’s look at that again – “We.” Now how are they going to do it? We’re going to see it’s by the Spirit of God. I’ll just summarize that here.

Let’s come to Romans 8. Through the power of the Holy Spirit there is the function of the Father. And we will see there is also the function of the Son because both “We will make Our abode with you.” So Romans 8 tells us the two aspects of the Spirit of God. Let’s pick it up here beginning in verse 9: “But ye are not in the flesh…” Yes, you are. You’re still here in the flesh, aren’t you? But that is before God. Because with the Spirit of God and your seeking after the things of the Spirit and not the things of the flesh, you are not in the flesh. See, because God is looking at you as His Spirit sons and what you will be at the resurrection, because He calls those things that are not as though they are.

Now notice as we’ve been going through, circle the little “if.” “…If so be [and God is the one Who knows, right?] that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” Remember, He said, “We will make Our abode with him.” “…If the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ…” Now notice the difference there. You have the Spirit of God, and you have the Spirit of Christ. Since the Father and Christ are one, this is one Spirit that they send but two functions of the one Spirit. “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you…” Do not confuse this with the seven Spirits of God, as we covered last time. That’s how God keeps track of what’s going on in the world, and those who are seeking Him, He originally begins dealing with him with those. Now that has nothing to do with what we are talking about here – the Spirit of God, which is of the Father and is of the Son and is in us. The seven Spirits God uses to deal with the world. The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ He uses to deal with us and in us so that He dwells in us.

Now let’s pick it up here the last sentence of Romans 8:9: “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” God doesn’t make any mistakes. Now there maybe some people who were baptized but never received the Spirit of God. That’s God’s decision because God knows the heart. “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin [that’s through the operation of baptism that you no longer serve sin]; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (Rom. 8:9-10, KJV). Because you are in right standing with God, and God imputes to you the righteousness of Christ. And that’s a tremendous blessing to be in that position, brethren, that God the Father will do this for you. That’s what’s so profound. And if you can just see some of those pictures of the universe and how absolutely marvelous and great it is, and to understand that the ruling Sovereign, God the Father, of this universe loves you and has given His Spirit to you. There can be nothing greater in life. All the physical circumstances and things that we go through aside from that are to be counted as nothing. Because in reality they are nothing. They are just temporary.

Now verse 11: “But if...” There’s that word again – go ahead and circle it. “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you [now then, that’s from the Father, isn’t it?], He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken [make alive] your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth [is dwelling] in you.” Now that is the function of the Father – to beget you with the Holy Spirit so that you at the resurrection will become His literal, bonafide, Spirit son and daughter. That’s the function of the Holy Spirit from the Father to beget you for eternal life for the resurrection.

The function of the Holy Spirit, being the Spirit of Christ, is that you have the mind of Christ. So we have the two aspects of the function of the Holy Spirit within us, you see, that you have the mind of Christ. And that’s the whole purpose what we will study in the book of Hebrews. That’s what it’s all about. Yes, we are going to have trials to overcome. Yes, we’re going to have human nature to overcome. Yes, the world is going to be contrary to us. Yea, and we’ll even see Christ promised us it would hate us. And after all, who needs friends in the world if God is your friend. I mean think on that for a while.

Let’s come to Philippians 2:1. This is why we are to grow in grace and knowledge so that the mind of Christ can be in us. The way you do that: “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ [that is considering all that Paul was going through as he wrote in the first chapter of Philippians here], if any comfort of love…” And notice it all gets back to love, and we’re going to also see that the Holy Spirit is called the Comforter, so there is the third function of the Holy Spirit. The first function is of the Father, the second function is of the mind of Christ, and we will see the third function is the Comforter.

“…If any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies…” Now “bowels” means deep inner affection. You are affected by things deeply. “…Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded…” Boy, I tell you what, if he were resurrected today and looked at the church I can imagine what the apostle Paul would say. I imagine there would be a lot of strong and stout words from the apostle Paul very similar to I Corinthians where he would go through and many times he would say, “WHAT?” (Laughter) Yes, that you be likeminded. That’s the whole goal of what God wants, you see, to be likeminded with each other and to have the mind of Christ. “…Having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves” (Phil. 2:1-3, KJV). God has a purpose for each one. That’s why we are not to go around judging, condemning, criticizing each other, and all that sort of thing. Look, we all have enough problems ourselves we’re all well aware of without someone else having to heap upon us all their criticisms from those that are to be our brethren. As we’re going to see a little later on, God has brought us all together, and really when you understand it because of our backgrounds and where God has called us from, the toughest job is to love each other, isn’t it, because we are in a situation where we wouldn’t normally love each other because everyone loves his own. That makes it difficult. So in loving each other and coming to have the mind of Christ we all have a lot of work to do. As a matter of fact, it’s a lifelong project, isn’t it?

 “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” Consider the other, as Christ did. Then he says: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus…” (verses 4-5). That’s the function of the Spirit of Christ – to have the mind of Christ.

Now as we’ve seen in Hebrews it is to write His laws in our hearts and in our minds. Now if you want to follow-up on that you go through and study the whole Psalm 119. And I tell you if you study it the way you should it will take you a long time to get through Psalm 119, but I’ll just summarize it this way: I believe that Psalm 119 is prophetic of how Jesus Christ viewed the laws and commandments and statutes and judgments of God. And how then, if they are to be written in our hearts and our minds we also ought to view the laws and commandments of God. Because if they’re going to be written in our hearts and our mind by the Spirit of God so that we have the mind of Christ, so that we function by those things, so that we think with the Word of God, then Psalm 119 gives us the completed task.

And with that let’s just look at one verse there, Psalm 119. And this is my favorite verse in it because this is the summary of the whole thing. You know, it’s kind of like Solomon said in the book of Ecclesiastes: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments…” (Ecc. 12:13, KJV). Now let’s look at the spiritual thing concerning the conclusion of the whole matter of Psalm 119. Let’s pick it up here in verse 127. Now as you go through you will see that Psalm 119 is broken down in even sections of eight verses according to the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. And in Hebrew each verse begins with the Hebrew letter that is listed over the top of the eight verse section. And this was one of the songs of degrees that they would sing. But notice verse 127: “Therefore I love Thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. Therefore [here’s the conclusion of the matter] I esteem all Thy precepts…” Not only just Your laws and commandments and statutes. Every precept of God. Since God is perfect, and God is Holy, and God is love, everything that God does is right. “Therefore I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right…” And then what happens when you begin to have the mind of Christ? “…And I hate every false way” (Psa. 119:1227-128, KJV). Not the person – the way. Every false way. Why? Because that is sin.

Now let’s come to Hebrews 1 and see how that’s carried over concerning Christ, and why He is going to inherit the kingdom as the King. Let’s begin in verse 8: “But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity…” (Heb. 1:8-9, KJV). And as we will see, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, that’s why we get rid of leaven. It pictures sin. Because if we hate iniquity, we love God, don’t we. Don’t hate the person. Christ died for the person. And just remember, when you were carnal you couldn’t help it either, could you? So likewise, do not judge and criticize people in the world. You can judge and criticize their actions of iniquity and hate that. And if it gets to the point that they are doing things which transgress the laws of the land, well then the authorities of the laws of the land have the responsibility from God to take care of the problem. And God will work it out.

Now let’s come back here to John 14. So those are the functions of the Holy Spirit – of the Father and of the Son. Now with that then another function takes place, which we’ll see in just a minute. But let’s come here to John 14:24 (FV), because this is also a very definitive Scripture: “The one who does not love Me does not keep My words…” There is the standard. Up here He said, “If you love Me you will keep My word. The one who doesn’t love Me will not keep My words,” let alone believe Him. “…And the word that you hear is not Mine…” Now this is why the New Testament is so astounding.