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Forsake Not the Lord
By Warren Zehrung - October 20, 2011 |
The
title of today’s sermon is “Forsake Not the Lord,” and we will find out what
that means as we go through the message today. I have a second title as I am
sometimes want to do. This second title is designed more appropriately for
the young men in the congregation, and the title is “Spit and Dirt.”
That might seem blasphemous to you, but you will find out how biblically
appropriate it is as we go forward in the message today.
All of us have been speaking about water,
its attributes and its qualities, all of its forms and so forth, snow, dew,
frost and we have a long list now from the Bible. I was surprised at how
many came up. I want you to add to that list ‘spit,’ which is mostly water
with a few enzymes in it to aid digestion. I would not mention spit except
that it plays such a significant part in the gospel message of Jesus Christ
We might think, ‘Well I have not heard
much about that.’ But another reason I am using that for a title is because
I do not want you to forget what I am saying today, because it is extremely important
Let us begin by turning to the Spit
Chapters in your Bible, and if you do not know what they are, they are Mark 7 and 8 to start with
Spit is one of those wonderful things
that God made that adds to our digestion and so forth, and I suppose some of
you do not know it but Jesus Christ was a spitter. As a young man He became
very proficient at spitting as some boys do. I have known girls, believe it
or not, that grew up, got married and never learned to spit. We are going to
have a very important lesson tied to this
Mark 7:32-34 Then
they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech,
and they begged Him to put His hand on him. And He took him aside from the
multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched
his tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha,"
that is, "Be opened."
It was as though Jesus was enacting what
was wrong. There must have been some obstruction of the vocal cords or the
throat and Jesus just kind of went, “Ptooie” and went through the motions.
We know that the man’s tongue was loosed and he began to speak plainly. It
is incredible but why would Jesus Christ stoop to those levels as I look at
some of the shocked faces out there when I speak of spitting and dirt. It
is something that Jesus Christ did. We would not do that in proper company
today, in fact I hesitated to mention it.
Mark 8:22-23
Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged
Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town.
Can you imagine Jesus Christ just going,
“Ptooie” right in the guy’s face in his eyes? He asked him if he saw
anything. Is Jesus Christ able to heal? Most of you agree, but some of you
know that you are being set up. Okay, how about this, does Jesus Christ
heal completely? I think so, but watch what happens.
Mark 8:23b-24
And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if
he saw anything. And he looked up and said, "I see men like trees, walking."
There was something wrong with what he
was seeing. Was Jesus unsuccessful in healing this man?
Mark 8:25 Then
He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly.
I believe that what happens right here,
is that this man had more than one thing wrong. He may have had a problem in
different portions of his eyes. Many things can go wrong with your eyes. I
think that this man had two things wrong with his eyes, maybe something on
the front like cataracts, and maybe another problem. I think that Jesus
Christ healed him twice. I think that there was a partial healing that took
place. It is interesting that Jesus resorts to these physical things when
all He would have had to do is issue a prayer.
I hear all of the time today, “God is not
healing anybody anymore.” Brethren, don’t you believe it. People are being
healed all of the time, but it is in God’s timing. We will see that God heals in glorious ways.
Today is the Last Great Day, and
it has a whole lot to do with ‘seeing,’ with blindness being taken away, and
blindness being removed. We saw just a moment ago in the offertory
message, Revelation 22:4. That is when everything is great and complete.
This is the last chapter in the Bible and what does it say? Think of the
world. Does the world see God as He is right now? No, the world is
blinded to God. This day represents when the world’s eyes will be
open, and when blindness will be removed.
Revelation 22:4
They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.
The world does not see God’s face right
now. Blindness has to be removed and vision has to be restored. Here is
something that you and I, and the members of God’s church have to be
especially careful of. Let’s not say, “I see clearly.” There is a degree
of humility in here, but we should admit that we do not see clearly, even
though we have been called. Even though these scriptures have been opened
up to us, there is a great deal that we are oblivious to and that we do not know yet.
John 9:41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
So to say, “I see clearly” when we don’t see clearly is very dangerous
This can apply to some of us in the Church
Isaiah 42:19 Who is blind but My servant, Or deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is blind as he who is perfect, And blind as the LORD’S servant?
To a large extent the Church of God has had its eyes open, but not to everything, and to everyone in the Church. Not one of us has perfect spiritual vision.
Isaiah 29:10 For the LORD has poured out on you The spirit of deep sleep, And has closed
your eyes, namely, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, namely, the
seers.
This certainly applies to Israel, as
Israel today is certainly blind. You and I were once totally blind, but we
have been called to be able to see a few things
I am going to touch on a matter that has
come before the Church of God and it has to do with the Holy days of being
watered down, not considered quite so important, not containing the
full meaning that we once thought they did
We do things with the English language
and we take a lot for granted. We know a lot of what we say is understood.
If you had asked me two weeks ago, “Where are you going?” I would have
said, “I am going to the Feast.” I would not have said, “I am going to the
Feast and the Last Great Day. We do not usually answer that way. I will
show you some examples where they asked Jesus Christ where He was going and
He said, “I am going up to the Feast”
This day, the Last Great Day of the Feast
is spoken of in Leviticus 23, with all of the other Feasts of the LORD. But
I started to say that it was very little understood. As far as I can tell,
the Last Great Day was not understood at all – not the meaning of it, or
what we are to do on that day? There is not a lot in scriptures about what
to do on the Last Great Day. The Jews were pretty good about Passover and
Unleavened Bread. All kinds of things happened on Pentecost, Trumpets and
Atonement, but when it came to the Last Great Day the Old Testament
scriptures are rather void of what it meant. I surmise or speculate that
perhaps it was not revealed by God to those in the Old Testament because it
didn’t apply to them and they did not, would not, and could not have
understood without God’s Holy Spirit the meaning of the Last Great day.
Joel 2:28
"And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all
flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream
dreams, Your young men shall see visions
The Last Great Day was just a day there
and they did not understand that Israel, and the people from the tribes of
Israel were to all die. Sure they had Ezekiel 37, and they knew about the
Valley of Dry Bones, but they could not put it together with the Last Great
Day, or at least I find very little evidence that they understood what it
was about. But, from time to time they tried to do it right, and that is an
example that we find here in Nehemiah 8:
Nehemiah 8:17
So the whole assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made
booths and sat under the booths;
Why did they make booths? Because the
scripture is very clear that for seven days you make booths and stay in them
during the Feast of Tabernacles, which is a temporary dwelling
Nehemiah 8:17b
…for since the days of Joshua the son of Nun until that day the children of
Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness
There was an extended period of time when
they did not keep the Feast of Tabernacles, and they did not stay in
booths. They were very happy to be able to keep the Feast. This was in a
carnal way, an Old Testament way
There are those that are saying, right
now, that the Bible makes no reference to the Last Day, or the eighth day
being the last day, or the Last Great Day. There is an effort to explain
what is meant by those verses as being yesterday [the seventh day of the
Feast of Tabernacles] being the great day, and the last day, of the Feast,
and today [the eighth day] being something else. This is something for you
to study, brethren. I am just going to bring some points out for you to
look at. I believe that the Holy Days of God are extremely important, and I
will lay the foundation for that in just a moment. As we read verse 18, I
want you to think about this:
Nehemiah 8:18
Also day by day, from the first day until the last day, he read from the
Book of the Law of God. And they kept the feast seven days;
We do not know what last day that is at
this point. But we do know what the first day is, that is the first evening
that we arrive, because God’s Holy Days start in the evening. According to
God’s Law they kept the Feast for seven days.
Nehemiah 8:18b
…and on the eighth day there was a sacred assembly, according to the
prescribed manner.
That is exactly what we are doing today.
Today is a solemn assembly. Yesterday [the seventh day of the Feast of
Tabernacles] was not a solemn assembly
Jesus had brothers and sisters and they
did not believe that He was the Messiah. He was their big brother. I had a
man come and correct me one time, he said that they maybe were Joseph’s
children and they were older. I do not see any evidence of that, so when I
read in the Bible about Jesus’ brothers and sisters I think of them all
being his little brothers and sisters. They did not believe in Him. He
said to them that His time had not yet come. What does that mean? It means
that it was not yet time to be taken by the authorities, crucified, martyred
and killed.
John 7:6-7
Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always
ready. "The world cannot hate you,
None of them were converted at this time,
as some of the brothers were later
John 7:7b-8
…but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. "You
go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has
not yet fully come."
We see that from the time that Jesus
Christ was 12, He and His family were keeping Passover and the Feast of
Tabernacles.
John 7: 8b
…I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."
He did not say that He was not going, but
He said that He was not going yet. He was going to the Feast and the Last
Great Day. But He did the same thing that we do. We say that we are going
to the Feast of Tabernacles. It is understood by all of us in God’s Church,
who know Leviticus 23, that we are going to stay for the Feast and the
Last Great Day
Brethren, I submit to you that one of the
greatest blessings that God has given you and me at this time is a knowledge
and an understanding that He has given to His people, to His Church in these
last days. It is the knowledge of His plan, what He is doing, and how He is
working it out as His plan is revealed by each and every one of the Holy
Days
God’s plan shows us what He is going to
do. Maybe the young people take that for granted. When I was growing up I
knew about Christmas and Easter and it teaches you nothing about what God
has done and what He is going to do. It is confusion.
But once we learn what Passover means,
and Unleavened Bread, and what all of the different Holy Days, like
Pentecost, when the Spirit of God was given to the Church – those are in the
past – they have had their fulfillment. In the same way that we can see
that Passover has been fulfilled the day Jesus Christ died, Unleavened Bread
has been fulfilled. We read in Acts 2:1 that Pentecost has been fulfilled –
“was fully come.” We can know that Trumpets is going to be
fulfilled, and have an understanding of what it is. Atonement is going to
be fulfilled, and we know a lot of details of what is going to be entailed
in it. And, the Feast of Tabernacles, that we just celebrated, picturing
the great ingathering, the great harvest that is going to last a thousand
years. And, we can know something of the Last Great Day. The world out
there is oblivious to the fact that we are in here keeping one of God’s Holy
Days. They do not know what it means or anything
How did we come to know these precious
truths that we are taking so much for granted right now? Herbert W.
Armstrong, and his wife, Loma, read Leviticus 23 and they said, “The LORD
says that these are His Feasts, observe them, and keep them.” Early last
century, Herbert Armstrong and his wife, alone, began to keep the Holy Days,
including the Feast of Tabernacles, and I suppose the Last Great Day, I do
not recall him mentioning that specifically. They lived it year after
year. He understood very little after the first year. The second year
maybe they understood a little more. But slowly and surely, as he kept the
Holy Days, a pattern began to emerge and he saw Christ associated with
Passover. Then he began to get an inkling of what was going on with
Unleavened Bread and coming out of sin. Then Pentecost might have jumped
off the page at him. All of a sudden you think that if those had a
fulfillment maybe the others have a fulfillment also! Slowly but surely you
start filling in the blanks. Today you and I are filling in the blanks if
we are doing what God says, and if we are believing what God says in the
Scriptures and not rejecting God’s clear directions that He gives to us
Here is what happens. If God says, I
will just make this one up, “Take a left,” and we go down the road there but
the left is kind of steep and gravelly, but the road to the right is paved
and wide, sometimes we will say it is too hard to do it the way that God
says to do it, and we go the other way. Going the other way was pretty
smooth, and pretty soon we are justifying not having done what God has
clearly said to do
Be that as it may, the Holy Days reveal
to us unknown, unforeseen aspects of God’s Plan – what God is actually doing
and what He is working out
Let’s just run through them real quick,
because I want to show the ‘type’ and the ‘antitype.’
Passover – In the Old Testament they
could see the lamb. They could not see Jesus Christ the Messiah. You see
how the type and the antitype work.
Unleavened Bread – They could see the
flat, hard bread, but they could not see the sinless Messiah that we emulate
today.
Pentecost – They could see those two wave
loaves, and they knew that one was cooked with leaven while the other one
[with the Wave Sheaf Offering, Leviticus 23:13] that represented Christ was
not cooked with leaven – but oil. They could not see, in the Old Testament,
that it pointed to the Church and God’s Holy Spirit.
You could go through Trumpets, Atonement,
Feast of Tabernacles, but what about the Last Great Day? It is hard to tell
about the Last Great Day as it is the least understood of the Holy Days,
especially when you are in the Old Testament.
When the Church shredded and came apart
in 1995, a book came out in print entitled, “The Temple, Its Ministry and
Its Services” by Alfred Edersheim. I bought
this book in July, 1996. The reason that I bought it was because I could no
longer trust what I was being taught from Pasadena. I had rejected
Pasadena’s false teachings – I did not believe the Trinity, I did not
believe that the Law had been done away with, and I did not believe all of
the heresy that they were coming out with. And so I said, “I am going to
have to rely on something else.”
I started grabbing at
straws. First of all I tried to find men of like mind. Then I said, “I am
going to have to really dig in and do some research.” So, one of the things
that I did, was to buy this book. This book has all kinds of interesting
things in it about what the priest did in the Temple and what the sacrifices
meant. It talked about how they dressed and when they did the sacrifices,
and all those kinds of things.
There is a ritual that is
talked about in this book, and those who are blurring the line between the
Last Great Day being yesterday
[the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles]
and the Last Great Day of the Feast being today, talk about this ritual.
The ritual that is spoken of is called a number of different things, like
the ‘water ceremony,’ but it has to do with going down to the pool of Siloam
-- which I have waded in. The priests dipped water in the golden pitcher
and they took it up to the Temple, and on each day they poured water about
the Temple. Nobody seems to be real specific about when and what was said
and so forth. But on the last day they did it multiple times, I think seven
times. They did it at the close of the day according to some experts. But
this ritual of pouring the water is not spoken of in the Bible nor is it
commanded by God. It was just a ritual that went on at the Temple. One of
the teachers at Ambassador College, when I was there, wrote this:
“During the time of
Christ’s ministry on earth the Jews drew out water from the pool of Siloam,
poured it on the altar every day, but on the Last Great Day of the Feast
they circled the altar seven times and poured out the water of Siloam the
last time. The waters of Siloam represented healing for the people. Jesus
interrupted their ceremony and identified the Spirit of God as the source of
eternal life (John 7:37-39).
It is interesting that
about nine years ago, United Church of God, aia came out with a study
paper saying that the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles is the Last
Great Day. They put the paper out and it was received rather quietly. I
did an extensive study just for myself, and did not speak on it at that
time, because it built up the Feast of Tabernacles and did not say a whole
lot about what was going to happen on what we had traditionally called the
Last Great Day. Men have spoken on it, and it has come up again recently,
and a couple of other men have spoken on it. One of the men in United that
has spoken on this subject is a man by the name of Steve Shaffer, a minister
in the United Church of God. He thinks, and said that when Jesus stood up
and talked about rivers of living water, that it took place as it was just
about to get dark when Jesus said it, but it was still yesterday on the last
day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and that Jesus did not say those words on
the Last Great Day.
We come to a point in our
lives where we individually should decide – because if we accept one track
and say this is when it was, what does it do to our understanding as we read
the Scriptures and as we try to understand the Plan of God and what God’s
meaning for the Holy Days is?
Here is something that we
can sink our teeth into.
Here is a quote from
“The Temple, Its Ministry and Its
Services” by Alfred Edersheim, and this is on
page 222. “‘It was the last day, the great day of the feast.’” “…It was
on that day [Edersheim believes that day to be the 7th day of the
Feast], after the priest had returned from Siloam with his golden pitcher
and for the last time poured its contents on the base of the altar.” But
this book of Edersheim’s speaks almost nothing about the Last Great Day –
because Edersheim did not understand the meaning of the Last Great Day
either. So they are more comfortable placing the water pouring ceremony
in the Feast of Tabernacles which the Jews have celebrated big
time. Any of you who have been to Jerusalem for the Feast have seen the
beautiful Succoths. Some of them are half of the size of this room with
pineapples, grapes, watermelons and it looks like you could not get all the
fruit into two dump trucks – there is so much of it! But on the Last Great
Day the Jews do not know what to do with themselves. This book is pretty
much like that. If you try to look up the Last Great Day or the eight day
in this book, you find very little information in there that will help.
This book [the Bible] however has some things that we can sink our teeth
into (I am holding up the Bible for those of you that are listening).
John, the beloved
Apostle, was the last one to write the gospel messages. He had Matthew,
Mark and Luke’s gospel accounts in front of him. When John wrote, he did
something very interesting. You all know it but I will just mention it for
the sake of those who may come later and hear this
John’s entire message is
written with the framework being the Holy Days of God. The four Passovers
of Jesus’ ministry are mentioned; the last one when Jesus Christ died.
Jesus Christ did die on Passover, but that is being brought into question
too. Even as we speak it is being brought into question whether Jesus died
on the correct day or not
John spoke about a lot of
the Holy Days and they are in his chronological gospel framework. That is
why John mentions times of the day, how many days on trips, and so forth
John’s writings are
inspired by God and He gave John the words to give to us. This day, the
Last Great Day, that we are keeping today is covered from John 7:37 all of
the way through to John 10:21. All this Biblical account occurred on what we
call the Last Great Day. And, we have the privilege to see what John wrote,
what Jesus Christ said and what He did on those particular days – and to be
able to understand their prophetic meaning with regard to the Last Great Day
in God’s Plan
Brethren, blindness is on
us, also on the Church of God in part, not just on the world. We are the
last people of the Church of God before Jesus Christ comes back and it is
important for us to get it right. It has been mentioned in this Feast:
“Anoint your eyes.” God says this to this present era of the Church, the
people of God right now
Revelation 3:18
"I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be
rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your
nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve,
that you may see
This is not said to those
people out there in the world, but it is said to the Church of God. Many
times the Bible says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear what these
words are.”
Are we, the Church of
God, able to retain the precious truth that has been given to us? There
are, in my estimation, clandestine and surreptitious assaults, if you will,
that do violence to God’s revealed truth. In addition to the Passover
timing coming into question right now – with a Study Paper on it. If
anybody wants a copy of the Study Paper I will give you the documentation
and the letter from one of the headquarters men that signed off on it.
The clear and obvious
intent of God’s Word, if our minds are open, is being twisted in some cases,
“By the slight of men and the cunning craftiness whereby they deceive.”
(Ephesians 4:14). Here is another example of this verse:
Some members are being
convinced on God’s Feast days – not to feast – they are being
told by that it is wrong to do so when those men say, “Do not eat a feast
meal on a high Sabbath with the brethren.” [Those
men do not understand the ‘type’ and the ‘antitype’ of God’s Feast Days.
Here is the type/antitype: Many people coming
together to a large well prepared meal on God’s Feast days is a
picture of God’s bountiful spiritual blessings being poured out in
His Holy Day Plan for mankind.] Jesus shows us and He tells us the meaning
of the Feast days, by His words and by His actions. If Jesus did something
on the Feast day, then we should follow what He did. We should walk in His
steps. Let me give you an example. Did Jesus need to be baptized? John
the Baptist said no, but Jesus said, “Allow me to be baptized.” Why? The
scripture says it was, “To fulfill all righteousness.” It was the
right thing for Jesus to do for a number of reasons. One was an example to
us, as we need to be baptized. Baptism pictures a number of things.
Baptism is totally necessary because of its symbolism. That is strange
because things that are symbolic are tokens and they are not real. But
baptism is totally necessary for salvation. But Jesus had not sinned and He
had no sins to wash off – if we use that picture of baptism. Water cannot
remove sin, water cannot wash away sin – it is strictly symbolic.
Let’s go to the foot
washing of John 13 when Peter said to Christ that He was not going to wash
his feet. What did Jesus say? He told Peter that if He did not wash his
feet that he would have no part with Him. That is bad, as we all want to
have a part with Christ. That part has to do with the coming Kingdom of God
and being with Jesus Christ
I Corinthians 5:7
Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you
truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover was sacrificed for us
We know that Jesus our
Passover was slain for us. We know when it was, it was on the 14th
of Abib, and we can see that in Exodus 12:16. As far as I am concerned, end
of the study. That was the Passover Lamb without blemish. We can see that
Christ is the Unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth
I Corinthians 5:8
Therefore let us keep the Feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of
malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity
and truth.
The Bible tells us to
keep the Feast, with Jesus Christ in it with sincerity and truth. My
question to you is, “Do we keep Unleavened Bread with Jesus in it, or do we
keep Unleavened Bread with Jesus out of it?” They seem like small
questions, but it makes a big difference. It is important for us to have a
correct understanding of what God’s intent is
Does the Bible show that
Jesus Christ kept the Last Great Day; the one that we are saying comes after
the Feast of Tabernacles? Protestants and Catholics do not have a clue,
they do not care, and they do not know what it means.
Brethren, if only there
were some way to tie the words of Jesus Christ, when He speaks of living
waters in John 7:37, that has been [incorrectly] purported to have been
during the Feast of Tabernacles. If there were some way that we could tie
those words in with the eighth day, the day after the Feast, maybe we
would be getting somewhere. Maybe if we could tie those words spoken the
evening before, with the daylight portion of the Last Great Day without
question, something that we would be assured of, and when I am talking about
tying it together, I am not talking about some obscure ritual that we do not
have the details on that was kept 2,000 years ago, in a Temple that no
longer exists, by the priests which are no longer functional. If we had
something that was solid today, like the Word of God for example.
Matthew 13:13
"Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and
hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand
But Jesus spoke in the
same parables so that the disciples and you and I would understand. The
same set of words was a closed door to one set of people, but an open door
to us
Matthew 13:14-15
"And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you
will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not
perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are
hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with
their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their
hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’
Brethren, the Plan of God
is for us to see and to know. If only there were some way
that we could tie the words of Jesus Christ in the daylight portion of the
Last Great Day to the evening before, we might be a little more sure,
whichever way it is, that Jesus said ‘rivers of living water’ during the
Feast of Tabernacles or whether He was speaking of living
waters on the Last Great Day
John 7:37
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out,
saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
Herbert Armstrong said
that this living water had to do with God’s Holy Spirit – he was absolutely
correct.
John 7:38
"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will
flow rivers of living water."
What is Jesus talking
about? John guessed that we would ask that question
John 7:39 But
this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would
receive; for Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified
This is prior to
Pentecost when this is taking place.
As we study the word of
God, and the word of God is not broken, things start to fall into place.
Jesus said this with what John says is the last great day of the Feast.
Jesus just got through telling His brothers a little bit earlier, “I go up
to the Feast, but not yet.” In fact, before this we find Him in the midst
of the Feast teaching. What were those people doing who were keeping it
seven days? They were staying in booths, right? But what did they do on
this last day of the Feast?
John 7:53
And everyone went to his own house. [There was no longer a Scriptural need
to stay in booths.]
John did not accidentally
write that down. The seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles were over with,
and they could start sleeping in their own beds now. It is a little too far
for most of us to fly or drive to get back there. But we did not have to
stay in temporary dwellings after the Last Great Day began at sunset
yesterday
I have heard a number of
studies on this matter, and I have heard men make some bold statements, some
unsupportable and some of them very bold. I have seen and heard those who
would water down the Holy Days, prove over and over in a message like this,
that the Feast lasts seven days. That is not the question. I believe that
we all agree that the Feast of Tabernacles lasts for seven days, and not
eight. They have that part right in saying, “seven days in booths.”
Let us go to the next
morning, to the daylight portion of the Last Great Day. We are speaking
about Spit and Dirt.
II Corinthians 3:6
Who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the
letter but of the Spirit; for the letter of the law kills, but the
Spirit of the law gives life.
The letter of the law
kills, and this needs to be kept in mind. Spirit gives life. These are the
words of God. We are talking about living water giving eternal life
We are now coming to
Jesus’ words on the morning of the Last Great Day
Pharaoh of Egypt, and
other significant rulers – there were a number of these powerful men… They
were ambitious, vain, and cruel. They liked to go up to the pyramids and
have someone chisel their name in the pyramid. Those names stayed
for thousands of years for all to see. Everybody did not have books where
they could print their names like we do today
The Assyrians had
conquests all over the known world. The Romans came right to Palestine
where this was going on, and they liked to put their names in the building
blocks of all of the magnificent structures build by such and such Caesar.
Chiseling their names was a lasting memorial to their great conquests
It came to be generally
understood and practiced, and it was a form of insult or personal injury to
take a man and demean him by writing his name in the dirt. [instead
of stone] When it rains his name is washed away and it is not there
permanently like Pharaoh’s. It was ugly and insulting to write somebody’s
name in the dirt. It was very humiliating and degrading when somebody said
that they were going to write your name in the dirt, especially if they
added to your name – your sinful deed.
Do you remember when
Jesus Christ was selecting His disciples and He came to Nathaniel.
Nathaniel did not know Jesus Christ. But Jesus went up to him, looked at
him lovingly in the eye and told him that He saw him when he was under the
fig tree. What did that mean? Nathaniel had prayed something, or maybe he
had vowed something to God
Jesus Christ knew
something that no living person on earth could possibly know. Jesus knew
what was in the hearts of men and what was in the minds of men (Mark 2:8,
Matthew 9:4). He knew men’s deeds when He needed to. God the Father
revealed those things to Him
John 7:46
The officers answered,
"No man ever spoke like this Man!"
Jesus Christ did some
wonderful and great things, and they were astonished by what Jesus Christ
said
Let us look at what Jesus
did on the morning of the Last Great Day
John 8:1-2
But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Now early in the morning He came
again into the Temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and
taught them.
Notice who comes along:
the Scribes and the Pharisees. They are important people, they are the city
fathers, and they are the educated city leaders
John 8:3-5
Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery.
And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, "Teacher, this
woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
"Now Moses, in the law,
commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?"
They were not interested
in stoning her, but they were interested in destroying Jesus Christ and His
reputation and His work
Notice what Jesus Christ
did:
John 8:6
This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to
accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His
finger, as though He did not hear
The scriptures do not
tell us what He wrote on the ground. I think that He wrote two things on
the ground. I think that He wrote some names on the ground. I think
that he wrote in the dirt: Hank, Smittie, Otto, and so forth
John 8:7
So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them,
"He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."
Nobody threw a stone, so
Jesus stooped down and He wrote something else. I think the second thing
that Jesus Christ wrote on the ground was a list of transgressions,
not specific, no man there could say, ‘Yes Otto did that’, or ‘Hank did
that’. I think that Jesus Christ just wrote a few things that Jesus could
connect with them alone. Like Jesus connected with Nathaniel. Anybody else
standing there would not have had a clue what it meant to hear “I saw you
under the fig tree.” It was the same thing here. I think that Jesus Christ
wrote something like “under the bleachers”, “back of the van”, or “down by
the river side.”
All of a sudden it
started getting a little too hot for these Scribes and Pharisees and they
started drifting away.
John 8:9-10
Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one
by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left
alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised
Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, "Woman, where are
those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
And the story kind of
leaves us standing there. What in the world was going on? Why did John add
this story first on the Last Great Day? There is clearly no question
that this is not on the Last Great Day.
These Scribes and
Pharisees were very important men, and they were the learned men of their
day. Many of them knew there scriptures very, very well. Jesus Christ the
night before had been speaking of the rivers of living water, and this
morning he is writing in the dirt an insult to some of these city
fathers. When somebody is writing your name there you start getting
uncomfortable, especially if there are sins that could be brought out
publicly that you do not want anybody knowing about. But it was also ugly
and shameful to have your name written there. You do not want your name
written on a “Wanted” poster or in certain places as it is degrading.
Again, keep in mind that this is the daylight portion of the Last Great Day
The Scribes and the
Pharisees knew something else. They knew their scriptures very well. You
turn on your television – day or night – and there are religious channels
and these guys are spouting the scriptures over and over. They do not know
exactly what they mean, but they know scriptures. The Scribes and Pharisees
knew their scriptures, and they knew this scripture here in Jeremiah 17:
Jeremiah 17:12-13
A glorious high throne from the beginning Is the place of our sanctuary. O
LORD, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You shall be ashamed
The Scribes and the
Pharisees, who just had their names written in the dirt, knew as it
says here that you would be ashamed if you forsook the LORD. It was
commonly understood that it was shameful to have your name written in the dirt
Jeremiah 17:13b "…Those who depart from Me Shall be written in the earth,
Why? Here is the title of today’s message: “Forsake Not the Lord.”
When Jesus Christ wrote
their names in the dirt it was a common saying, and it brought back to mind
this scripture. It was an accusation, a statement, a fact that if they had
done these other deeds that they had done they knew that they would be
ashamed and that is what God said in Jeremiah 17:13. But notice what this
verse goes on to say:
Jeremiah 17:13c
…Because they have Forsaken the LORD, The fountain of living waters."
This act of Jesus Christ writing their names in the dirt, as Jeremiah said their names would be
written in the dirt, is a direct tie to Jesus
Christ’s statement the night before about fountains of living waters.
Again Jesus Christ, on the Last Great Day, shows Himself to be the source of living waters
John the beloved apostle,
under divine inspiration, clearly ties the words of
Jesus Christ in the Old Testament – spoken the evening before by Jesus
Christ – he ties those together. [John goes into minute detail to clearly
establish that Jesus’ words about Living Water were spoken on the Last Great
Day – and not during the Feast of Tabernacles.]
What are some of the things that Jesus Christ did on the Last Great Day?
John 9:1-3
Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His
disciples asked Him, saying, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents
sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him
That man went blind his
entire life so that God could work this miracle in him. Everybody was
astounded because it was unknown for anybody born blind to live their whole
life blind and to ever see
Jesus Christ talks about being the light of the world
John 9:6-7 When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay
with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay.
And He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated,
Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing
As we go through here we
see blindness being removed on the Last Great Day. John wrote these things
down, under the influence of God’s Holy Spirit to show us in part the
meaning of the Last Great Day. We know that the blindness of the world will be taken away.
We understand, and can
only touch lightly today, on the fact that the Last Great Day is that period
of time when God is going to bring all people up from the grave who have
been blind [to God’s truth] throughout history and they will see God
John 9:14 Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes
It was the Last Great Day, and it was also a weekly Sabbath this particular year
This is all about the
blind seeing, all about rivers of living water bringing about eternal life.
If we had time I would go into verses 31-33 where it speaks more directly about blindness.
Here is the meaning of
the day, and we can get that it is the meaning of the day because it is
Jesus’ words, they are recorded on this day, and they are not to be
misconstrued or misapplied
John 9:39 And
Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not
see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."
I have a little red flag
by that one brethren, because we say, ‘I see,’ ‘I know,’ and Jesus Christ
says that we are putting ourselves in jeopardy if we are not very, very careful. So be careful
John 9:41
Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you
say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains
Can we apply that to ourselves?
Do we know the Shepherd’s
voice? When Jesus speaks these words, do we hear? We do not need to revert
to men’s ideas of what took place in the Temple service 2,000 years ago, and
put our proof there. We can find our proof if we search the Scriptures, and if we trust God
John 10:4 …and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice
It always comes down to
the exact same thing. I do not care what we study, it comes down to we have
passed from death to life when we love the brethren. What do we do when we
love the brethren? We sacrifice for them and we lay our lives down
John 10:15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep
Brethren, we have been called to do the same.
WZ/pp/sl
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| Sermon: |
"Forsake Not the Lord" |
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