February 19, 2010

“. . . The Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found ONE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45-46).

The Passover -- CHRIST'S SACRIFICE BEGINS GOD'S MASTER PLAN

Dear Brethren,

In just a few short weeks is God’s Passover. And though most of us have been blessed to have observed it for many years it should always be a new one to each of us when we focus on its true ETERNAL VALUE AND WORTH— while realizing the fallible mortal human beings we are, and as such completely unworthy of partaking of its sacrificial symbols each time.

Though the meaning of the Passover should be thought of throughout the year in regard to our continual need, it becomes paramount as we see it approaching from a dead winter by the glorious beauty of springtime with the blossoming forth of trees and flowers with their individual beauty while hearing the birds bursting forth with their happy songs.

The symbolic message of Spring-time pictures a new beginning for it points to God’s Passover and RENEWAL of life! God’s true Passover that begins the Holy Days that reveal God’s Master Plan that pictures the ultimate salvation of mankind— from death to life.

And to make this possible our wonderful glorious Redeemer, Jesus Christ, paid for our sins with the required sacrificial offering of His life’s blood that then made possible for you and me – all of God’s true people— and ultimately all of mankind— to have and live a new way of life that will over time lead to the sharing of eternal life with our Father and His beloved Son Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:5-9).

What an awesome glorious and wonderful calling each of us has been given that has been made possible by the true Lamb of God, Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior.

The Lamb of God

Looking upon Jesus Christ as He strode toward him to be baptized, John the baptizer, said to those surrounding him:

“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!” (John 1:29; Exodus 12:3).

Aside from Jesus Christ, there is no human being who has ever lived a perfect life without sin, alive or dead! The apostle Paul clearly makes known that all mankind have sinned beginning with Adam and Eve:

“Therefore, just as through one man (Adam) sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (Romans 5:12).

Further he wrote: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Note: Due to Adam all mankind is UNDER the penalty of death. However, humanity is not under the penalty of sin for Adam’s sin, but for our own sins. Sin— but NOT human nature; this all mankind has. So humanity has not fallen because of Adam’s sin— fallen as the result of our own sins.

“And the wages of sin is death . . .” (Romans 6:23).

Jesus Christ Bore the Sins of All Mankind

God is LOVE (I John 4:8, 16); and because of His awesome love for mankind and desire to add to Their Family, made possible a means whereby mankind can come to know Them along with realizing their human purpose in life with the awesome potential within each one to develop in their own time, according to God’s Time Table, that will by God’s grace make possible our Spirit birth into His glorious Divine Family (John 3:1-8).

“For God so LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever [comes to] believe in Him should NOT perish but have everlasting life. For God did NOT send His Son into the world to CONDEMN [to pronounce judgment] the world, but that the world THROUGH HIM might be saved” (John 3:16-17).

Jesus Christ was the voluntary sacrificial offering provided by our Father to make possible the ultimate salvation of mankind.

“So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of the many . . . (Hebrews 9:28).

The apostle Peter makes the sacrifice of Jesus Christ very personal to the members of God’s true Church in His writings:

“Who Himself bore OUR sins in His own body on the tree, that WE, having died to sins, might live for righteousness . . .” (I Peter 2:24)

The apostle Paul wrote pointedly with each one in mind where all us were before— and because of having our past sins forgiven, that made possible the removal of the death penalty, we have been given a new lease in life filled with great and wonderful promise.

“And YOU, He made alive (Spiritually), who were DEAD in trespasses and sins, in WHICH YOU ONCE WALKED according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the POWER of the air, the spirit that now WORKS in the sons of disobedience, among whom also WE ALL once conducted ourselves in the LUSTS of our flesh, fulfilling the DESIRES of the FLESH and of the MIND and were BY NATURE children of WRATH, just as the others. But God, who is RICH IN MERCY, BECAUSE OF HIS GREAT LOVE with which He loved us, even when we were DEAD in trespasses, MADE US ALIVE together with Christ (by grace you have been saved (in a saved state, John 5:24), and RAISED US UP TOGETHER , and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus . . .” (Ephesians 2:1-10).

A Time of Preparation for Passover

The apostle Paul wrote of the continued need for each one of us to examine ourselves as to whether we are yet in the faith (II Corinthians 13:5; I Corinthians 11:31-32; Psalm 119:59-60). This examination is imperative realizing the penalty of taking the Passover unworthily (I Corinthians 11:29).

Unless we are very diligent to our dedication to God and His way of life to which we have been called to live it is very easy to begin moving away from it in one way or another.

This we have seen over the years as members of God’s true Church and it can happen to us as well unless we really know ourselves for the human beings we are and as such vulnerable to the many temptations with which we are surrounded.

The apostle Paul wrote of this great danger while imploring us to always know ourselves and the dangers facing us:

“There fore let him who thinks he stands take HEED unless he falls (I Corinthians 10:12).

It is easy to think we could never fall! This is a time that we face the greatest danger! Over and over again we find written warnings to us in Scripture regarding the many dangers we face from Satan and his instruments as well as our own fallibility – falling short from making wrong decisions.

As such it becomes easy to get off track and begin to allow ourselves the unlawful liberty to drift, reason, and then justify ourselves for the wrong decisions we sometimes allow ourselves to make.

We do not always think of ourselves in this way for we are Christians and consider ourselves as always being on the right path. However, there are the many Scriptures that make known how human we really are and always we have to force ourselves to make the right course corrections while using God’s word as our compass.

For example consider what the prophet Jeremiah wrote about the kind of people we are; whether a true Christian, or any human being:

“O LORD, I know the way of man is NOT in himself; it is NOT in man who walks to direct his own steps. O LORD CORRECT ME (when needed), but with justice (or tempered with mercy); NOT in Your anger LEST You bring me to nothing” (Jeremiah 10:23-24).

Further, Jeremiah was led to write about all of humankind, including you and me:

“The heart is deceitful ABOVE all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the LORD, SEARCH THE HEART. I TEST THE MIND, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the FRUIT of his doings. . . . O LORD the hope of Israel, ALL who FORSAKE you shall be ashamed. Those who DEPART from Me shall be written in the earth, BECAUSE they have forsaken the LORD, the FOUNTAIN of living waters” (Jeremiah 17:9-10, 13).

Preparing for the PASSOVER is the very special needed time to reflect on our lives in light of what God led Jeremiah to write about the way we are as human beings, whether Christian or not!

It is a time of examining ourselves and trying to see whether we have been using human reason instead of the LIGHT of God’s Word to enable us to see whether we are still on track or whether we have drifted in some areas that are in serious need of being corrected.

The MARCH-APRIL Philadelphia Remnant Magazine

To enable us to focus more fully on the need to prepare for the Passover, it is my hope that each of you will read thoroughly our Philadelphia Remnant magazine that will be placed on our website. A printed copy of it will also be mailed to your homes.

The articles in it are for the most part focused on the Passover and designed to aid us in preparing for this most important time in the life of each of us as the true people of God.

We must be using this remaining time to be preparing ourselves to partake of those precious symbols in a most discerning manner in order to be counted worthy to continue to be under the BLOOD of the true Lamb of God.

Depressed Attitudes

I well know that when we come to see ourselves as we really are, the mistakes we have made, and the sins we have committed, can be very disheartening and leave us so depressed we do not feel worthy to participate in this most meaningful service.

Satan our adversary will take advantage of such an attitude and will add to it by making you feel you should leave the Church or decide not to partake of those symbols as being totally unworthy.

Christ makes known we MUST partake of those symbols in order to have His Spirit of life to remain within us (John 6:53-54).

Encouraging Scriptures

The key Scriptures that will lift us out of the depressed attitudes and enable us to involve ourselves in this most vital service is true repentance of those erroneous mistakes in judgment and then we will receive forgiveness as found in the Apostle John’s writings:

“If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, if we CONFESS our sins, He is FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE US OUR SINS, and to CLEANSE us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have NOT sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is NOT in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that we may NOT sin. And IF anyone sins we have an ADVOCATE with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He HIMSELF is the PROPITIATION for our sins, but also for the whole world” (I John 1:6-9).

Needless to say, this is NOT a license to sin!

As an example a fellow soldier, a Catholic, told me while going overseas in a large ship during World War II, that he could get drunk or do anything he wanted to do and all he had to do was to pray over his beads and that would make everything right again with God! Even then I could not understand his reasoning.

Jesus Christ told the woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more (John 8:10-11).

The very obvious and not so obvious sins are to be put under the blood of Jesus Christ through true godly repentance as the Apostle John was led to write to all of God’s people. And once they are forgiven by God they are removed from His memory as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:11-14).

Enduring Unto the End

Brethren all the years we have been blessed to be members of God’s true Church is truly a most wonderful blessing from our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. But this is not enough in and of itself for we must faithfully endure unto the end.

And to make this possible we must prepare for this coming Passover and each one to follow in order to make ourselves worthy to partake of those precious symbols that represent life to each of us.

At the same time we should also realize our efforts alone will not be enough to make ourselves worthy for we must also rely on the mercy and grace of God to make the real difference.

It is God’s Passover and we must think of it in just that way. It is a most wonderful blessing given to us as members of His Church to make possible everlasting life in just a few short years.

Until next time, your brother and servant in Christ,
Don Billingsley

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