PASSOVER PREPARATION # 4

Fred Coulter – March 15, 2003

This is Passover Preparation # 4 and we finished last time through John 14. We’re going through John 14, 15, 16, and 17. In chapters 14 and 15 we’ll go in much more detail than we will the others and in particularly John 17 because John 17 is Christ’s prayer and there’s not too much in the way of comment that you want to add to that, after all that is His prayer.

So let’s begin in John 15 (FV) and what we need to understand is this: that God wants us to have a direct living relationship with Him through the power of the Spirit. That’s what God wants, based upon faith, based upon hope, based upon love. That’s what God desires. He doesn’t want religion because religion then puts you into a corporate relationship with a church entity and puts you into a laity ecclesiastical hierarchical relationship with the church leaders. God doesn’t want that. He wants a direct, living relationship with Him by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, through prayer, through study, through how you live, how you think, how you conduct your life, in all of that. And within all of that you see, we are going to see as the Days of Unleavened Bread teach us that it is all a part of being perfected, and that’s the important thing we need to understand.

Now let’s begin in verse 1: “ ‘I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.’ ” So it is a collective work that they do together, as we showed last time, through the power of the Holy Spirit. “ ‘He takes away every branch in Me that does not bear fruit…’ ” Because you see, with a living dynamic direct relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ you are going to be continually growing, continually overcoming. He does not want you to stagnate. God is the one Who handles all of these things and these problems, you see. God is the one Who makes the decision ultimately. That’s why, as we’ll see a little bit later on when we come to chapter 16, that if someone is excommunicated out of a synagogue or out of a church that doesn’t mean they’re cut off from God. In some cases it may mean the opposite. So God is the one Who does the final work. No man is going to do this work of God because Christ is the vine, the Father is the husbandman, and: “…every branch in Me that does not bear fruit…” He takes away. “ ‘…But He cleanses each one that bears fruit, in order that it may bear more fruit’ ” (John 15:1-2, FV). And you might put there that is the whole purpose and object of trials.

Now around here, living in the wine country, you’re very familiar with the vines. And every year they trim back the vines. And you can tell how old the vineyard is by the size of the trunk of the grape plant. The bigger the trunk the older the vineyard and probably greater the quality of the grapes and hence the quality of the wine. But if you take a grapevine, of which we have one that we have for kind of an arbor over a little garden area that we have in our back yard. We just let it grow so we have shade and it covers so we have these 20 foot long vine branches going out. Well, every year bingo – here come all these new green grapes. But they never produce anything because the vine has not been pruned. So the pruning that God does is to get rid of human nature so that you can produce more spiritual fruit. And it’s so simple that He puts it in the terms of the vineyard.

Now let’s look at our part on cleansing. Let’s come to I John 1. We have our part. He stirs us up with the Holy Spirit. He takes away our sins when we repent. And here’s how we are cleansed. And the cleansing is not a haphazard thing. It is not a partial thing. If your attitude is right and you’re wholehearted toward God and you love God, it’s going to be a complete work. As we all need to realize we are all a work in progress. And every year, just like the husbandman goes out to the vineyard and he trims off all the old dead branches so that it can have new branches in the spring and hence new fruit, so likewise every year we go through the same process with the Passover, don’t we, so that we renew the covenant and we have that standing before God.

Now let’s pick it up here in I John 1:6 (KJV). And this becomes a very important thing in relationship to whether you have a personal one-to-one direct living relationship with God, or whether you play church, or attend church, or have religion, or whatever it may be, you see. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth…” Why? Because if you walk in the light you’re going to be doing something very profound.

Hold your place here and come to John 3, because there is something that you will always be doing regardless of your sin, regardless of your fault, regardless of your trial and difficulty that you are going through. Here is what you are always going to be doing: you’re not going to be walking in darkness. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 17: “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” That’s the whole goal of what God wants. Ultimately the unrepentant sinners will have condemned themselves. “He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” So you can’t be walking in darkness and saying that you have fellowship with God (you cannot be a Buddhist and have fellowship with God; you cannot be a Moslem and have fellowship with God; you cannot be a Catholic and have fellowship with God; and the Protestants probably have a half-hearted beginning fellowship with God, etc), because Christ is the way, the truth, and the life and there is no other way. And He also says what? “I am the light of the world.”

Now notice: “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light…” Now we’ll talk about hatred a little bit later on here. “…Neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” Because he doesn’t want to change. Or as it could be: discovered. He does not want to discover that his human nature is inherently evil and poisonous by nature and that it needs to be changed. Now notice verse 21: “But he that doeth truth [that means practices the truth or does the truth] cometh [is coming] to the light…” Now this shows it’s a continuous ongoing thing that you do. You are doing the truth, you are practicing the truth, you are coming to the light, and Christ is the light, you are continually coming to Him. And this is what it’s all about. And this is what the New Covenant is all about and this is what our relationship with God is all about, you see. He’s coming to the light: “… that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John 3:17-21, KJV). In other words the fruits of the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:22); love, and hope, and joy, and peace, and longsuffering, and temperance, and goodness, and meekness and so forth, against such there is no law.

Now let’s come back to I John 1 and finish this section here concerning cleansing and so forth and how God does this. It’s really a wonderful and marvelous thing. And this is all a part of our relationship and standing with God. Now verse 7: “…but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light [and we might put in brackets John 3, because we are coming to the light], we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin [or every sin].” And that’s the whole purpose of the Passover, that’s the whole purpose of the words that Jesus is talking about – to cleanse you, but more important to keep you in a covenant relationship with God so that you have opportunity to have your sins continually cleansed through Christ Who is our propitiation. And that is the act of grace under which we live, you see.

“If we say that we have no sin [that is, we don’t have a sinful nature], we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” And isn’t it interesting that those people who believe that men are inherently good rather than inherently evil, they have no room for the truth of God. These are living things. The Word of God is living. It applies everywhere, at all times, in all circumstances. “If we confess our sins [and this does not mean to the priest, but to God], He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:7-9, KJV). That’s how the relationship with God works. That’s why Jesus said, as we’ll read in just a minute, “Now you are clean through the words which I have spoken.” because you believe them, because you act upon them, because you live with them and it’s part of your being. So that puts us in the standing with God that there is no condemnation of the fact that we have human nature.

Now that’s the individual work, you see. Now there’s the also the collective work. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, teaching them whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo I am with you till the end of the age” (Matt. 28:19-20, paraphrased). And it’s still being done through the Word of God. If we are preaching what God has spoken, then we are giving you what God would give you if He were to talk in your ear, you see, and likewise with the words of Christ and the writings of the apostles, because He said that, “You would be witnesses for Me to the ends of the earth.” And that could only be accomplished through having the New Testament written, because they didn’t get to the ends of the earth. They covered a gigantic area, but even they didn’t know until a few years before they died, with the exception of the apostle John, that time was going to go on way beyond their lifetimes. They didn’t know that until the last few years.

Now let’s come back to John 15 (FV). So this is why God does it. So when you have a trial or you are overcoming human nature and you have this spiritual battle within, know that God is doing this to cleanse you. That’s why there is repentance, that’s why there is prayer, that’s why we ask every day, “Forgive us our sins and our debts.” Now verse 3: “ ‘You are already clean through the word that I have spoken to you.’ ” Now how does that work? How do the words cleanse you? It’s accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now let’s look at two things in how that’s done. Let’s come to John 7 because the Holy Spirit is likened unto water. Let’s pick it up here in verse 37: “In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)” (John 7:37-39, KJV).

Now let’s come to Ephesians 5 and see what the Holy Spirit and the words do together and how it’s phrased here in Ephesians 5. Very interesting expression. And he’s talking concerning Christ and the church. Let’s pick it up here in verse 25: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify [it]…” So here’s what Christ is doing to the church: sanctifying her, or that is making it holy, “…and cleanse it [He said, “Now you’re clean through the words which I have spoken] with the washing of water by the word…” (Eph. 5:25-26, KJV). Very interesting process that takes place, isn’t it. Why? When you confess your sins and repent to God, you study the Word of God, you feel relieved. Have you ever felt greatly relieved when you really know that you have repented? What is that relief? That is a cleansing. That’s what that is.

So when Jesus said, “You are clean through the words which I have spoken to you,” now because of that then here is a direct living relationship. And from verse 4 down through verse 11, all of this is building to what we find in John 17. Now let’s begin here, John 15:4. I don’t mean to throw around so many scriptures that you get lost as to where we are. I don’t want to do that.

“ ‘Dwell in Me…’ ” So it’s a living and dwelling relationship. It’s direct because He is the vine and we are the branches and we are dwelling in Him. I mean you can’t get any more direct than that, can you? No. “ ‘Dwell in Me, and I in you.’ ” And as we’ve seen that’s by the power of the Holy Spirit. “ ‘As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself…’ ” And that’s interesting because it means the impossibility of having the power to produce any spiritual fruit on your own. It can’t do it of itself. “ ‘…But only if it remains in the vine [and He’s the vine], neither can you bear fruit unless you are dwelling in Me.’ ” So I want you, as we go down, circle the word “dwell,” “remain,” “dwelling,” because all of those are reflective of the same Greek verbs.

Verse 5: “ ‘I am the vine, and you are the branches.’ ” And many people never understand that and come up and proclaim that they are God. You know like Yahweh ben Yahweh, remember that down in Florida, what 15 years ago? He ended up that he really thought he was God, and he authorized other people to kill people that he didn’t like. No, “I am the vine, and you are the branches.” You know, the Pope ought to learn that. He’s not in place of Christ. As a matter of fact he’s another plant. You might say the wild vine, not connected to Christ at all.

“ ‘The one who is dwelling [there it is again] in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit [all the fruits of the Spirit, all the things we need to do]; because apart [or that is, severed] from Me you can do nothing.’ ” (John 15:4-5, FV). That’s why no one can do the work of God without Christ in him. Now many have tried to do the work of God. Let God do the work in you, and then let Him do His work through you if that’s what God wants.

Now let’s look again at this situation concerning “dwelling in Christ.” Now sometimes dwelling in Christ we find ourselves in a nonproductive way, don’t we? And that also fits into the parable that the ten virgins, they all slumbered and slept. And this shows that there is sometimes need for a revival. Luke 13:6: “He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold [Look] these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it [why does it take up the space in] the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it…” So sometimes we need some digging and dunging. And God will inspire us to do that if we go astray from God for an extended period of time. Now notice here it’s three years he’s been coming. But the digging and dunging also shows the mercy of God, that He doesn’t want to give up on us. And you might say that the man who owned the fig tree in the vineyard was God the Father, and the man who was tending the garden was Christ. See, so Christ says, “No, don’t cut this one off yet, don’t dig it up yet. Let’s dig and dung.” So if you need a little “d-n-d” in your life, dig out the sin and dung in the Word of God, as it were, for a spiritual fertilizer to get you to produce some good things. “…And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down” (Luke13:6-9, KJV). So this ties right in with the parable concerning God the Father, because when we started out here it says, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away.” So this is of God the Father.

Let’s come here to John 15 (FV) again and let’s continue on in verse 6. Now here again we are going to see some more “if’s.” And as I have been mentioning, as we go through circle the little “if’s.” Verse 6: “ ‘If [there’s one of them] anyone does not dwell in Me, he is cast out as a branch, and is dried up…’ ” And we’ve seen this operation take place within the church of God, haven’t we? Yes, indeed. See, the scattering can be likened unto the hoeing and dunging. And how are the fruits going to be produced then? What is going to happen, and if you are not in Christ, see: “ ‘If anyone does not dwell in Me, he is cast out as a branch, and is dried up…’ ” And we’ve seen that happen to people too, haven’t we? Because in the history of the church that I read in a book by Gipp (and he is a staunch Baptist that believes that there is absolutely nothing wrong whatsoever with the translation of the King James Version), but he has a good insight in the churches, which is this: Churches start out evangelical, that is, like going and preaching the gospel to the world and so forth. And then they grow. They reach a certain stage of growth. And then they begin developing into institutions. That is, they begin building buildings and schools, and people are attracted to these things because it’s an institution. Well that happened to us, for those of you who were in Worldwide Church of God, correct? Yes. And it became an institution and people were attracted to the institution rather than being called of God. So you had a lot of branches hanging in there that weren’t rooted in Christ, but they were rooted in the institution and in the corporation. And they were not only members but also ministers, because then the ministry became a job rather than a service to the people, you see. And it was for the value of a living and paycheck rather than for the value of teaching people the way of God. So there has to be these pruning and trimmings. There has to be these hoeing and dungings because that’s the way we are going to be tested and tried and proved, or disproved.

And sometimes when you meet people who have been cast off as a branch and have withered up, and you meet them and talk to them (maybe you meet them in the mall, you’re shopping, or in the grocery store) and it is just like talking to a dead branch, isn’t it? And sometimes – even the comment has been made by some who have known severe cases of this – that you look into their eyes and their eyes are virtually dead. So these are living things that we are going through.

So if you are not dwelling in Christ… There’s that word again. We can circle that. We are going to have a lot of circles, aren’t we? Well, make some squares, some circles, you know what ever you need, some underlines. “ ‘…Cast out as a branch, and is dried up; and men gather them and cast them into a fire, and they are burned.’ ” Now verse 7: “ ‘If you dwell in Me (the branch and the vine), and My words dwell in you…’ ” So that’s where it has to be because that’s the whole purpose of the covenant, isn’t it? Isn’t that the whole purpose as to why God has called us? That’s the reason we renew the covenant so that the words of Christ can dwell in us, because humanly speaking without the Spirit of God there is no place in our minds for the Word of God, because our carnal nature is made of such a way that unless we are converted there is no room for God.

Now let’s go to Hebrews 10. “My words dwell in you.” Now there’s a way that they get there. And I’ll tell you one thing, you never have the Word of God dwelling in you unless you study it, can you? How do you get what is in your mind unless you put it in there. I have not baptized anyone yet and attached a funnel hole so that after they are baptized we can stick a funnel there and just run it in. It doesn’t happen. It’s a process. It is a perfecting. That’s why it is a living relationship. But here in Hebrews 10:16 it says: “…This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them…” And you might put – if you desire them. God isn’t going to force it upon anyone. He’s given that choice to us. If we choose to do so He will write them in our hearts and our minds. Now notice in verse 17: “…and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more [animal] offering for sin.” That’s the meaning of it because you have the sacrifice of Christ. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh…” (Heb. 10:16-20, KJV).

See, so this again shows a living relationship. And if the words of Christ are dwelling in us, or living in us, and they are written in our hearts and our minds by the washing of the water of the word through the power of the Holy Spirit by prayer, by study, by faith, and by living God’s way, that’s the whole process of what you call conversion. Now that’s different than belonging to a church where you zoom in and in 45 minutes all is said and done and you are out the door and that’s it until next week. That is distinctly playing church. It’s not what you do when you come into the assembly of the building called a church, because you as part of the vine are the church. It’s what you do constantly with your life every day. So this is quite profound. Quite profound.

Back to John 15:7 (FV) now: “ ‘If you dwell in Me and My words dwell in you, you shall ask whatever you desire…’ ” And of course that has to be according to the will of God. You don’t ask God to sin for you, if I could put it that way. You don’t ask God to do something that, if you did, would be sin. You don’t say, “God, kill my enemy.” You say, “God, I commit to you the judgment of my enemy.” It’s a different thing, isn’t it? God will take care of the enemies. I’ve had enemies come after me. God has taken care of them in His own way. So this “whatever you desire” has to be according to God’s will. But the greatest desire that we need to have is what? What is the greatest desire? To be in the kingdom of God, right? That’s the greatest desire above everything else. “ ‘…And it shall come to pass for you.’ ”

Now verse 8: “In this [or herein, or by this means] is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be My disciples.’ ” And of course we’ve already covered that. There’s the individual fruit of personal growth and overcoming. There’s the individual fruit of doing the work that God wants done by those who are teachers and leaders and so forth.

Now, once the fruit has been produced let’s not make a mistake. Here’s the Laodicean mistake and it has disastrous results. Luke 12:15: “And He said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness…” And boy, that’s something we need to be aware of today more than anything else, because there’s more things out there you desire that can be had that you can get. So if you have them don’t set your heart on them. Be thankful, appreciate them, take care of them, thank God for them, but don’t set your hearts on them because they’re all temporary. “…For a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” Boy, is that talking about our age or not? Yes, it is. “And He spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully…” See, so when we have an increase in fruits or growth or whatever, let’s not do as the rich man did. Instead of giving credit to God and maybe perhaps giving it to those who had need, he became very selfish. It’s like the one man that I related to you that I was riding in his car, which was a Rolls Royce, the big expensive model, and he looked at me and said, “I don’t believe in tithing.” I about fell on the floor. Very similar attitude here, isn’t it?

“And he thought within himself…” He didn’t pray to God and ask for guidance, did he? Now we’ve all done it, haven’t we? We’ve all thought within ourselves and made our own decisions without praying about it and what happens? It doesn’t come out right, does it? “…Saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow [store] all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul [You’ve got it made buddy.], Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” Now we’ve seen that on the stock market recently, haven’t we? Everybody poured their money into all of these things and it was all a lie, and all ballooned up, and many people said, “Hurray, I’ve got it made, I’m going to retire.” And bam, it’s gone. See, a very similar thing. “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” Who are they going to go to? And a rich man never wants to leave it but he can never take it. And even the Pharaoh’s who figured, “Well, I’ll take it with me in my pyramid.” The thief figured out how to get in and take it anyway. At the funeral of a rich man someone said, “Well how much did he leave?” And someone looked at him and said, “All of it.” See, so then here’s the lesson: “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself [that’s how he is], and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:15-21, KJV). So you have to be rich in faith. It doesn’t matter what your personal wealth is. See, personal wealth is not going to get anybody into the kingdom of God. Spiritual riches will.

Now let’s come back to John 15 (FV). So if you bear much fruit give God all the credit because you couldn’t do it without Him anyway. And besides, you know, if we understand that we’re just sojourners here in the earth, and that is we just have custodianship over what has been given. In other words we’re just stewards. God owns it anyway. You can hold and possess gold and silver but God says, “All the gold and all the silver is Mine.” You can own lands and properties and houses but God says, “The earth and the fullness thereof is Mine.” So if we produce fruit spiritually then that is a great and marvelous thing and so shall you be the disciples of Christ.

Now let’s come to verse 9. Notice then how He gives us hope through His love: “ ‘As the Father has loved Me [now you can’t have any greater love than that], I also have loved you; live in My love.’ ” Now that has the same meaning as “dwells.” We have dwell, remain, dwelling, dwelling, dwell, dwell, dwell, now we have live. Live in My love. That’s the ultimate of what we are to do, you see. That’s what the perfection of things that we go through are to do. When you go through sorrow and difficulty and problems and traumas and desperations, that is all to teach you the value of the love of God, because then you realize that the love of God is the only great and remaining and lasting thing that there is. Isn’t that true? Yes, indeed.

Ok, verse 10: “ ‘If you keep My commandments…’ ” Now that goes right back to chapter 14 and verse 13, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” “ ‘If you keep My commandments, you shall live in My love…’ ” Because it’s an ongoing thing. You know, I John 5 says, “Herein is the love of God, that we love the children of God and keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous” (I John 5:2-3, paraphrased). This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. “ ‘…And [you] live in His love.’ ” And that’s the hardest thing because we as human beings have a nature that is bent on carnality and hatred and sin, and so this is a complete opposite thing that God is expecting us to do, which He knows that we can’t do without His Spirit, and that we can’t accomplish without living within Him and always remaining in the vine, you see. “ ‘ …Just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and live in His love.’ ” So that’s the relationship.

“ ‘These things I have spoken to you, in order that My joy may dwell in you…’ ” So we’re going to be dwelling in Him, His Spirit in us, His words in us, and now His joy in us. “ ‘…And that your joy may be full. This is My commandment: that you love one another, as I have loved you.’ ” And He said that back in John 13:34. So the commandments fall in this order: love God with all your heart, and mind, and soul, and being; love the brethren as Christ has loved them; love your neighbor as yourself; and love your enemy. Now there are the four descending orders of love from God. And all of those require keeping the commandments of God, you see. And that’s to bring us the joy, that’s to bring us the love.

Now here then becomes the epitome and the ultimate of it, verse 13: “ ‘No one has greater love than this: that one lay down his life for his friends.’ ” He’s talking about Himself and what He is going to do. How He is going to do it. Proverbs says a friend loves at all times. Proverbs also says the wounds of a friend are to be desired rather than the kiss of the enemy because it’s to help you.

Now verse 14: “ ‘You are My friends, if …’ ” There’s that word again. We’ve got actually four of them. Verse 6, verse 7, verse 10, and now verse 14. “ ‘…If you do whatever I command you.’ ” I mean this is a great and tremendous thing. We are the friend of Jesus Christ. Abraham was called the friend of God. We are the friends of God. You know, why should you ever be discouraged and down to the point that you are ready to throw in the towel and give up when you realize that Christ is your friend. No, never. And that’s all a part of the New Covenant and the relationship that we have with God.