The Season of Enticing - Pt. 2

Ron Weinland

December 8, 2012

Today we are continuing on with Part 2 of the new sermon series entitled; The Season of Enticing.  ...using that as an example of this season of the year with Christmas and the way that it's been portrayed as something that attracts, especially to children, and to adults, and so much of the economy that really hinges around this time of the year as well.  Incredible how it works!

But again, using that as an example of something here that Satan has been doing for 6,000 years, his season of enticing, concerning mankind and the way of mankind.  And so, anyway, in this particular sermon series here we're going in a particular direction that we're building up to, but there are things we need to understand as we're going forward here.

In order to better grasp how easy it is for Satan to entice mankind to move farther and farther away from anything that's true from God we've been focusing on our very base selfish nature.  Sometimes that's hard for people to address, and I think back, especially in the beginning of Worldwide, when I came in 1969, and sermons that would be given and sermons about human nature and about selfishness and there were times when people felt so down after hearing something like that, and you'd think, "Why?  We're being shown what we're like so that we know where the battle is."  But many seemed to take it personal, that it's like, "You're just telling me I'm bad and there is nothing good in me."  That's right! You've got the picture!  That's human nature!  That's why Jesus Christ made comment about and things are written over and over again that there is only one who's good, that good comes from, and that's God Almighty.  Everything else, when it comes to human beings and human nature, is totally selfish!  Everything we do in human life is totally selfish, and to understand that is a great thing!  To understand our nature is a great thing, is a blessing, because until you do you're in captivity, you're in Egypt and you don't understand that you are,  you think you're free.  We're going to get to that in a little bit.

The world thinks they have freedom, liberties.  No, they don't, they're in bondage and they don't understand that, because they have swallowed the enticing of Satan hook, line and sinker, and the total mindset is messed up, is sick and needs to be healed.  That's why God, over and over again, gives examples of the need for the mind, for mankind to be healed.  It's not about a physical healing of a physical body, it's about the mind and how we think.  And so we've been focusing on this in a very unique way because we have to understand where the battle is, and when you understand things like this then you better grasp why God is doing things the way He is, why He's been doing things the way He has for 6,000 years, and why He's even made a division in time for 6,000 years for man to multiply on the earth and what God is offering the next 1,100 years as a contrast between His way and Satan's way, so that man can truly judge, judge in truth.  We're only able to judge, properly, choices of life and ways of life once God calls us, before that man doesn't have the ability, he's in bondage, he doesn't know that.  He thinks he has a freedom of choice of religion and government and parties and everything else in the world.  No, he doesn't; he's in bondage and he doesn't grasp that.

So again, we were reminded of the most basic summation of our nature in 1 John 2 being 'the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life', and all it's doing is going through and talking about that which is the mindset of mankind, that which enters into the mind that we see in our minds, that we are able to receive into the mind and see where sin begins to work, and then that which is of 'lust of the flesh' when it actually comes out in actual sin, when it's acted upon.  But the sin actually begins in the mind, that's what Jesus Christ began to teach in the very first things He began to teach, showing there is a spirit of the law, that there is that which goes into the inward part of our being. It's not just the outward physical act that is a matter of sin, it's something that begins in the mind.  And so this matter, again,  of pride that sums it all up, the mind that would do that, that would lift things up above God, that would choose its own way.  Again, it's all a matter of pride, exactly what Satan did.

We're going to go back and look at something that's very basic just as a review of where we left off.  Proverbs 5, let's start where we left off last Sabbath, which is a type of a kindergarten example, if you will, very basic.  Maybe some countries don't know what kindergarten is but it's before you enter what you'd call regular schooling, primary school.  There is that which is preschool where they just get you used to going maybe half a day, children ages 3-4, sometimes I don't think they're quite that young, 4-5, whatever it is.  But anyway, this is that basic as far as God working with us and helping us understand here something in the very beginning, an example that's given so that we can better understand the most basic pulls of selfish human nature, because man should be able to understand this, simply, but it goes far beyond this as a physical example, that goes far, far beyond this because it goes into everything as a way of life, of how Satan entices mankind even, obviously, on a spiritual plane.

Proverbs 5:1 - let's start again.  We'll just read these verses once again here a little more quickly this Sabbath. My son, attend/pay attention unto My wisdom, so again, this matter of listening to God, listen to what comes from God, pay attention to what He says, and bow your ear to My understanding: it's the desire, that example of bowing the ear, of wanting to lean in a little bit to hear, to make sure you grasp and hear everything that's being said; it's that attitude and that spirit of mind that God says, "Listen to Me and consider..." So that you may regard discretion, meaning to fully think things through before acting, a matter of discretion, to consider, to weigh out things before you act, to take things into consideration, things that I tell you, and that your lips might keep knowledge...in that which comes out of us, our lips because the lips reflect that which comes out of the mouth and that which is expressed by the mind, and that we be able to keep the knowledge that God gives to us.

For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, so again, the need to recognize that which entices and allures.  So it uses a very physical example here, a strange woman, a prostitute as it were, someone who is trying to attract a man by wrong means and so forth, by things that are spoken, by things that are done by expression, we talked about last week things that are used in advertizing, how that poses even in magazines or on TV, there is a look in the eye that's like, "Here I am."  I don't know how they practice that stuff, you know, it's like, "Take me!"  That's what it says without saying anything; the eyes have a look and it's that... it's lust.  And sadly, men are drawn into it because of a carnal human nature and the way God made men.  Women may have a part of that but nothing like what men do because we're made differently, it's just a reality of life.  And so that's why it uses this example like this in this manner.

...and her mouth is smoother than oil: again, that which allures, attracts and draws. But her end is bitter as wormwood; so everything in life that Satan has done is like that.  Like I mentioned, the Christmas tree, it's not ugly, lights on a tree are not ugly, they are attractive, they draw people to it, there is something that adds to... putting gifts under it even more so, especially for a child, the desire to get something and that desire to receive and all the things that are stirred up in selfish human nature.  Satan's way is not made to look ugly, it entices and pulls, especially if you understand our basic nature - we're drawn to it, human beings want it, we desire it, 'the lust of the eyes', that's where it begins, 'lust of the flesh' and 'the pride of life' that is a result of it all, where it all starts, that sums it all up.

But her end is bitter as wormwood; sharp as a two-edged sword. Sin, going in a way different from God never produces anything that is lasting, happy, fulfilling.  It produces pain, suffering, hurt, everything that's bad in life.  It candidly hurts the mind, it distorts the thinking of the mind, it pollutes the way we think as human beings to where it makes it difficult - well, really impossible for a human beings to even understand and fully grasp themselves, God has to show it like we talked about last Sabbath. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold of hell. Because it's a matter of sin.  The punishment of sin God says is death.  It's not life, it's not eternal life, whether it be in a 'good place' or a 'bad place', it's not eternal life of any kind it's just death for all eternity unless man is able to be brought to a point of repentance and a change that can take place.

Lest you should ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, again here, this thing of contrast between God's way and the way that entices, as we talked about last Sabbath, in other words her way, that way, Satan's way is easily able to move you out of place, in other words, off the right path.  That's what this expression means, 'her ways are moveable'.  ...so that you cannot know them. And so people get caught in traps and they don't even understand how it begins and what's happening in the mind to know where to address it.  By the time you address the physical act, the outward portion, it's done!  You have to start in the mind, you have to be back into the recesses of the mind and where the thoughts come from, where the mind formulates ideas and ways and actions.

So it says, Remove your ways far from her, and do not come near to the door of her house: and so God wants us to be able to grasp where that which allures, that which entices away from Him comes from, because this is the example in everything in life that Satan has done to entice mankind away from God.

Let's turn over to Romans 7, because as we come to grasp some of these things more deeply we're going to come to grasp some unique things in judgment, of things concerning the Millennium that cannot ever be allowed to exist; they just can't be there.  There are things that have to be dealt with quickly on the earth because there are those things that pull away from God, and other things are going to have to be worked with.  But with all this in mind, of what we're discussing in this sermon series, that there are things in life that man simply doesn't have the ability to deal with, though after a time in God's Church, after a long period of time you may be able to deal with some things, as a whole, basic carnal human nature cannot.  And so because of that there are certain things that have to exist in the new age that have to be there all the time, because of new generations that come along and people that must learn, because everyone has to start out as a babe spiritually.  Everyone has to start as a babe, and you can't know and understand the things that are later on in life that come through experience and living God's way of life through time and the mind being transformed. So there are many stages from the time of begettal to the time that one is near birth into God's Family.

Romans 7:14 - For we know that the law is spiritual: that's what we're talking about, the law, God's way of life, it starts in the mind, it's something of the spirit.  It's not just an outward act, it is something that begins in the spirit, in the mind because it formulates the thoughts that lead to whatever is going to be acted upon, and so God's law is spiritual in nature, has to do with a way of life.

But it says here, Paul said ...but I am carnal; and that's something we all have to come to grasp no matter how long we've been in God's Church. And these were written 25 years after Paul was an apostle. Paul was an apostle for 25 years by this point in time, serving, growing, maturing, being transformed, his mind being transformed, and yet he explained something so basic here that we're to understand.  He said ...the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. It just means enslaved to sin.  You're not free yet.  Not a one of you is free yet from sin.  That's why you have to repent.  That's why you have to go before God on a continuing basis, sometimes as it were day by day asking God to forgive you of sin.  Because if you come to understand it, as you come to grow spiritually, you're going to see that there are those things that are inside of you, thoughts, ideas, or whatever, about someone else, something you would like to say but refrain yourself from saying, or something you have said that you should have refrained from saying, and on and on it goes when you mingle with the world.  About the only thing you can do is go hide in a cave somewhere and never grow...and then you just have war in yourself anyway.  Unless you don't have any contact anywhere in life with anything and you're just in a dark hole there is going to be sin, but even there you're going to have problems.

So it says  ...sold under sin, that just means to be enslaved to sin.  Now, some may think they're not.  Some may think that when you're baptized your freed from sin.  In a way, which we'll talk about because Paul talks about it, you are as you yield to a particular process, but the reality is of and by yourself, no, you're not.  In other words, you're not free of sin, you're not free of this enslavement that is so vast upon mankind that even within God's Church we still are enslaved, but we're blessed to be able to come out of it, we're in a process of coming out of it, of coming out of Egypt. It's a long process.  It's a lifelong process of coming out of Egypt, of a change, of a transformation.  But until we're in God's Kingdom, until we are changed there is still going to be sin, because we're enslaved to it, we're human beings, 'lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life' that will always be a part of your nature.  You can't  change that.

That's why sometimes we have to be careful in judgment because we have high expectations then, we think sometimes, for everyone in the Body and sometimes not for our self.  We forget that we all have problems, we all have sins, and we have to be careful how we judge.

For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I do not allow; or perceive, or understand.  I like what this word means here.  So he shows this conflict.  He says, for what I would, in other words, what I want to do, that I don't, in other words, do as I want.  In other words, you make choices of God's way of life and there is a way you want to live.  You made a choice for this way of life, you want to live a certain way all the time, God's way, we hear a sermon and that's the way we want to be, we want to live that way.  And then we leave, maybe in a minute after services we meet someone face to face and something comes up of the past or whatever or we're reminded of something that happened this morning on the way to services and all of a sudden we're in sin again.  One minute!  In the mind we've already sinned, but we don't want to and we want to think right, we want to be able to be right toward everyone, but these battles do happen, they're a part of life.  And in time they become less and less, but they are still there, our human nature is always there and that's the point.  So he's just going back and forth and saying there are things, in essence, that I've chosen to do, I want to do, I want God's way of life, and then I find that I'm not doing it, I'm doing what I really don't want to do.  That's all he's saying here.

So he says, For that which I do, in other words, choose to do, I do not perceive/understand...and not even that, for that which I do, even in anything in life, even apart from what you want to do, just in how you live your life. And sometimes we battle with that, we don't understand, "How can this be? How could...  How could we sin?  How could we, after all we know, continue to sin?  ...with everything we know and understand?"  If Paul hadn't written these things it would be pretty tough to understand human nature, to understand how these things can be, but he explains it and we need to understand it.

For what I would, in other words, want to do, that I don't; in other words, do as I want, but what I hate, that do I. So what do we find ourselves doing sometimes?  The very thing we hate, the very thing that gets us into trouble, the very thing we have to go before God and pray for forgiveness of, the very thing sometimes of relationships that we find ourselves doing, an argument, anger that gets stirred up, jealousy that's there, whatever happens in human life and all of a sudden it's back again.  And we think, "Surely we've got a handle on it!  We've repented before God and I don't ever want this to happen again, I don't want this conflict to happen with this individual again," and yet we find it popping back up again, things happen.  And we wonder, "How can this be?"

I like the way a couple of other translations state this.  I don't generally quote the Living, but in this one here it has quoted this fairly well.

Living translation:  I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right but I don't do it, instead I do what I hate.

How often in life have you found yourself doing that?  Now, if you're honest with yourself and the more mature you are the more you know that's true.  The younger you are, the newer you are in God's Church, the less you understand this and may have expectations of yourself in things you think you can do that you really can't.  And in time you will learn and acknowledge or comprehend more deeply, but that's the tendency of human nature.

Phillips:  In practice, what happens?  My own behavior baffles me, for I find myself not doing what I really want to do but doing what I really loathe.

Speaking of sin.  Why does sin pop back up?  Why does sin come back?  Why can't we live constantly a righteous life?  Because we're not in God's Family yet.  Because you're not a spirit being yet.  Because you're still carnal, sold under sin.  Because you still have this battle, a battle that you have to always fight, that you can't quit fighting.  A lot of people give up the fight, that's the problem.  You've got to keep fighting it!  You've got to keep fighting it; you're in a battle all your life.  You've got to keep fighting it but you've got to strive to fight it as well God's way, and therein is the battle, it's a part of life.  It's a lifelong process, constantly choosing God, allowing something miraculous to happen in the mind that God has designed to be this way - that every time you repent you acknowledge that God is right and you are wrong and you grow in character, despite your selfish 'lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life' selfish human nature.  That does not justify sin.  That does not give license to sin, because Paul talks about that as well, it is to be fought against, but you're going to have failings in your life, you're going to come up short in life, you're going to repeat sin in your life.

Verse 16 - Then if I do that which I would not want to do, I consent unto the law that it is good. God's law, God's way of life, it's good, because that's what you're choosing.  You're acknowledging that this is what I want, I don't want to be the other way, I want to repent of the other way when I sin in those things and I choose this way of life.  You do from baptism.  There is a way of life you choose and you fight for, at least hopefully and prayerfully that fight will continue and stay there, to fight against your own nature and to fight against the way you think, because your thinking has to change.  That's why I love the word 'repent'; in the Greek it means 'think differently'.  How awesome!  Think differently; don't think the way you normally think, think differently. How do you think?  We should learn to think like God, to be in unity and oneness with God, to be of the same mind with God, to want to be of a spiritual mind more than a carnal mind.  So there is this battle that goes on.

Verse 17 - Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. Because of our selfish human nature, in our selfish human nature; it's always there, it's always a part of us.  Oh, that we could be free from it!  Oh, that we wouldn't have to repent!  But that's why Christ died, because we are who we are, we are what we are and we realize, "I don't want this!"  And God gives us a long time at it so that we really learn to loathe it and hate it, so that we really choose in a very strong way in character and purpose and desire, "I loathe the way of human nature!  I loathe my nature!  I loathe selfishness that man has because that's the reason for every sorrow and hurt and pain and suffering in life!"  Peace and joy and all the things that God has told us we can have, is a matter of when we are able to do what is right, when we're able to live what is right with His help in us, from right motive.  And we don't experience that all the time though, we're not able to live that way all the time.

Even at the Feast of Tabernacles, the greatest environment of all, you're going to sin.  Eight days together with people, that can be good, it can be joyous, it can also be testing to human nature.  You break your normal routine of life and you're not even mingling in the world, you're not even having the same problems you might have in the world, on the job, or whatever it might be, and yet there is sin involved at a Feast of Tabernacles.  People have...  you think of all environments that would be the one where...

Even Ambassador College!  I think of Ambassador College, especially in Bricketwood, because compared to all three campus' at a particular time that was probably the most secluded as far as an environment was concerned, because it wasn't in a large city - neither was Big Sandy.  Big Sandy was a little bit secluded but by the time I came along in the early 70's there were already problems coming along because of what was being brought into it.  But in Bricketwood, because there was a more conservative approach, and probably some self-righteousness, a big dose of it, mixed in there as well in the overall spirit that was there, but still, you talk about an arena of protection, like the Feast of Tabernacles.  The Feast of Tabernacles, you really have no other time that you can experience something like that, where every day you hear sermons, and on the first day and the last day you hear two sermons in the day.  And you have this environment that's totally different, where people are freed from their jobs and so forth.  So it is a much better life to experience.  We experience, we have a taste of the millennial period, but the Millennium is not without sin, the Millennium is not without problems, and so things pop up once in a while.  It's the way it is.

Continuing on in verse 19 - For the good that I would, that I want in my life, that I desire, I do not: by nature, but the evil which I would not, you don't want, you don't choose, you don't desire it, don't desire to be a part of your life, that I do.  So there are things we find that we actually repeat!  There are things we get caught up in in life, sometimes just because of...  Every one of us is different.  Every one of us have different proclivities.  Every one of us has a different mind.  And every one of us has had different upbringing that molded and fashioned us into what we are in society in the world and so forth, and we all have different strengths and different weaknesses - and candidly, even sometimes our greatest strengths can be our greatest weaknesses, that often happens in life.  And so there are things we have to address personally, each one of us, that God will reveal to us, of what we're like that needs to be changed.  But so often we find ourselves repeating things that are just a proclivity we have.

Verse 20 - Now if I do that that I don't want, it is no more I that do it but sin that dwells in me. So an understanding here, a realization we all have sin.  Sin dwells in us, 'lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life', it's just acknowledging what we are.  This is the way we are, we're going to stumble, we need a Passover, we need Him every day if we understand it properly.  We need our Passover every day of our life, and God has given us that, He's given us grace, He's given us blessings in being able to be forgiven of sin so that He can continue to live within us so we can continue to experience something unique, so the transforming of the mind, changing and growing and overcoming if we continue in the battle.

In verse 21 he says - I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. Even when you want to, even when you choose to, even when you have the best of intentions, you've just gone on a fast, whatever, you've been drawing closer to God, maybe several fasts, and all of a sudden you find yourself back in sin, something said, something done.  I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.  It's always there, always a battle, you always have to be on guard.  That's what being on guard is about in large part, being watchful, being alert against your own human nature, against the tendencies of the human mind, and then striving to do things, hopefully, as time goes along and as we mature, to fight that battle in a better way.

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: we know what this says but it's good to review it.  I delight in the law of God after the inward man.  So we delight about God's way of life and He uses this example, the inward man, having to do with the mind, that which God has given to us in our mind to grasp and comprehend about His way of life.  We delight in that, we love the things we learn in sermons, we love the things that God reveals to us when we come to understand more truth or build upon truth that's already there, and we become more in awe of God, we truly do, as time goes on.  So that's our delight, in God's way of life and the truth, but we can't be constantly being fed that 24 hours a day, we have to live in life and we have to learn to exercise the things we learn, and therein are some of the battles.

I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, so there is the law that's in our mind, of God's way of life that we agree with, that we want, that we choose, that we delight in.  Who doesn't want peace?  Who doesn't want to have good relationships all the time with people in the sense of right fellowship and that which is healthy in the mind and the thinking and be close to people, have great fellowship and so forth?  We all desire that!  But it says, I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, there is a battle, a war, and it needs to be recognized as that.  So this, that's a part of our nature, 'the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life' there is this battle going on because it doesn't agree with God, it doesn't agree with God's way of life.  Selfishness is the exact opposite of God and it's ever so important why God created us this way.

What an awesome thing, to be created to have selfish nature in a physical body with a physical brain that has spirit essence in it that can change, that this mind can be changed, it can be transformed.  The spirit world can't be.  Once those angelic beings were created they are what they are, and once they sin they are what they are for eternity, unless God brings it to an end, because it's spirit.  God made us different for a purpose, that's why we're physical - this is so awesome, it truly is - to experience these things so we can make choices.  God wants us to.

One of my prayers of recent time in the last couple of years, in one respect, has been a desire more and more to be at one with God in everything that God gives as a way of life, but not by - how can I say this - not because we 'suffer for wrong'.  Because sometimes, you know, you can correct a child for doing something wrong but that doesn't mean they agree with you.  There can be punishment, judgment, and you really don't learn to be at one or be of the same mind or be in agreement just out of punishment, or because of something you suffer as a result of sin.  So a maturing process is as we mature we desire to be of the same mind, to understand, to grasp and comprehend some of the very things we're talking about today, and the more that we do grasp and comprehend the greater at one we can become with God.  That's why it's been such an awesome thing, what God has been revealing to us, because this process of what we're living through, to be able to grasp some of the very things we're talking about, why we're made physical human beings is to the glory of God.  Yes, we suffer!  God has made physical human beings who have to suffer, there is no other way to become a part of the God Family except that this happen in physical life, even in the Millennium and the Great White Throne, so that we can suffer, so that we can make choices.  Not because of constraint - man never learns anything by being punished.  Candidly, man will surrender sometimes but it doesn't mean he's in agreement with you.

When the end comes and God puts down every government in the world and destroys nations and destroys people, destroys things of the Middle East and destroys things of Asia and so forth, different ones, He says, "I'm going to destroy those who are destroying the earth!"  There is going to be a lot of suffering, but that doesn't mean people are going to change their thinking and say, "Oh, I love You now!  I love You, God!  Because you've conquered me, I love You!  You've destroyed my world, you've destroyed everything I want out of life, I really love You!"  That isn't how it works!  They have to be taught!  They have to learn!  But to have government to bring things under control so that people can be taught the right way, this is why these things have to happen.  But to really come to repentance...?

You think people of Islam are going to come to immediate repentance and say, "Oh, I'm just so excited that we've gone through this!"  It's not going to happen that way; there are going to be battles, battles of the mind, because you can't....  Who of us, when we began to be called and drawn in a peaceful world, as a whole, changed right away?  I had to go through a lot of hard knocks before I'd even listen to God!  And if you lose your life in the midst of that, it's kind of over with, you have to wait until later on, the Great White Throne, and you're still going to be the same person but you're going to be able to be shown something very quickly, that you've been brought back to life.  You're going to be a little more attentive to listen and there is going to be the world established in such a way that man is going to want to see and want to listen at that point and it's going to be easier to teach, but it doesn't mean that they agree with everything yet.  It takes time to come into agreement with God - by choice!

And so those prayers that I referred to is not a matter of constraint that we learn but through God's spirit, that we come to understand His purpose, His plan more clearly so that we can be stronger in our choices to be at one with God, to truly agree with God in everything.  And that's why I'm excited about  this sermon series, to recognize certain things have to be changed in the Millennium, things that you might like or hold dear that have to be changed, that can't be allowed!

Facebook!  I know that I mentioned this a long time ago but I'm just going to give you an example - that's not of God.  I want to read you some things that they're finding out from psychologists and others now about Facebook that is really revealing what it's done to people.  There are certain things that really can't be allowed in the future.  There are some things that have to be totally taken away from mankind because man can't deal with it!  There are certain things in life that have to be changed, and so much of what man is attracted to now... and you think, "What am I going to do if I don't have the choice of 500 TV stations?"  I think of what it was like when we lived out in Kansas and we had this screen pattern that came on at a certain time of night, 10:00pm, whenever it was, and didn't come on until 8:00am in the morning.  There was a pattern, a noise that was there, and you had maybe one station we could direct these antennas to and try to get a town, it was Goodland, Kansas, from where we lived.  I think that's the only station we had, maybe we had another one, I don't remember it.  But the world today?  It's like everybody has to have dishes or a cable hooked up... I mean, if you have less than 200 stations you're really in the dark ages.

One of the things that really surprised us when we were traveling around Israel was in the Bedouin areas.  We were driving south one time; the north is agriculture all over the place, the farther south you go the drier it gets and more sparse.  By the time we got down to an area going south from Tel Aviv, we got down not quite half way toward the very southern tip of Israel to an area of Bathsheba, and in that area there it starts getting more sparse, you begin to see nomadic peoples.  You begin to see tents.  You begin to see people herding goats or sheep or whatever in the countryside, and just a little south of Bathsheba it even gets worse because you're headed toward the Negev Desert area and it gets very sparse down in through there, but there are still shepherds and people out there every once in a while.

But just south of Bathsheba - I'll never forget - there was this place and we wondered, "What in the world is that?"  There are all these, what looked like tarps and stuff...well, they were, they were tents and houses with animals all over.  We saw camels and sheep and all kinds of things out there and wondered, "What is this?"  And the closer we got - satellite dishes!  As a whole they all had satellite dishes!  It seems so strange, people living a nomadic way of life but having satellite dishes because of a desire to receive entertainment or whatever it is on TV or whatever it is people think they have to have.  There are so many things that have to change in that area of life it's not even funny...that can't even be allowed!  That can't even be allowed because it isn't good for man, because man can't handle it - even things that wouldn't be a matter of sin of itself, there are some things that just can't be allowed because the reality is mankind, as a whole, cannot deal with it, young people cannot deal with it, young people who are newly baptized cannot deal with it because it entices human nature - without Satan.

Satan doesn't have a great battle on his hands to entice mankind, it's pretty easy to keep the world deceived, it really is.  But he's a very powerful being because he's spirit and because he can communicate in the spirit way, through the mind, to entice and to draw, and that's why he's had such incredible control, that's why he's referred to by Paul as the god of this world.  And without Satan being around there are just certain things in life that just are not good for human beings, and we're going to begin making choices...and some of them are going to hurt because you're going to have to change your life even more so.  But if you can begin to understand that now you can get more of a bit of a head start on some of it, to understand why, to understand there are things that have to be changed in life, that are not good for human beings.  Because we are to be a part of helping to change this world, and to me that's an awesome thing!  To help mankind to understand where real enjoyment and happiness and good times really come from, because the world really doesn't have the 'good times' they experience with their hangovers in the morning, and with their becoming addicted to drugs.  That's not a good time and that happens to people.  But people think, in the world and society as a whole, that that's what gives them and helps enhance some 'good time'.  No, it doesn't.  It makes your life more miserable, more unhappy!  It's amazing what's happened to the world and to mankind, especially in this age of technology.

Verse 23 again - But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.  We're not out of captivity yet!  So that's why when we sin we're back in, we're in it, we're there, and that's why we have to repent, so that we can be out of it again and continue marching out of it, continue coming out of Egypt.  Because we're not out yet!  And even in the Millennium, just because of human nature, just because we're not in Satan's world any longer and we are in God's world with God's Government, with one Church on the earth, with one government on the earth, mankind's nature is still selfish and he's still going to be in captivity of sorts.  And we're not fully out of captivity until we're past the hundred years...then, only the God Kingdom, the God Family will exist, and the angelic realm.

Verse 24 - O wretched man that I am! I love this verse!  O wretched man that I am! For us to hate our base human nature but to love the inward man, that which God has given, that which is being molded and fashioned, that which we choose to be, that which we want to be that God is helping us to grow in, to be transformed into to become more at one.  The more we become at one with God, in unity and oneness with His word the more exciting life is, indeed, the more enjoyable life is.  And we grow in that, we're able to share in that with God, it's an awesome thing.  But to understand this base part of human nature, 'lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life', 'O wretched man that I am' - in other words, apart from God.

That's why I love this particular word here, O 'wretched' man that I am! Because it's the one thing that it says in Laodicea.  There are only two places that word is used, here and in the book of Revelation when it speaks of the Laodiceans, because it says they weren't able to see that they were wretched, miserable, poor, and blind; that means of and by themselves as a part of their human nature.  That's the problem of what happened after Philadelphia.  That's why the Church had an apostasy, because we came to a point where we thought spiritually, on a spiritual plane, we were rich and increased with goods.  We lifted ourselves up!  With so much knowledge that God had given us compared to what the world has a thing of carnal nature happened - lifted up in pride, in the truth!  What a paradox!  What a horrible thing!  And this may not be the right word...what a horrible contrast of events, of thinking that God never intended, but it's what happens because we're weak as human beings.

And so this word is used here and it's used there because we all have to be able to see, O wretched man that I am!  Apart from God!  That's why we choose God, we don't want this.  We don't want selfishness.  We want to fight against it.  We want to use everything we can to fight against it; problem is we just don't do that well sometimes either, sadly, probably most of the time, because of what?  Carnal human nature.  We want to do it, we want to be in the battle all the time, we want to fight it all the time but we find we don't.  Why?  Because of selfish human nature.  What a horrible thing!

O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? That's what we see in our life - death!  Apart from God!  But thank God - that's what he's saying here - thank God we have a Passover.  Thank God we don't have to be totally in captivity, God is bringing us out of it, we are coming out of it.  But we see what the world is like, it is totally in captivity, not even coming out of it.

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's how we're able to be delivered.  'Who will deliver me from this body of this death?'  Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ.  So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. There is this war inside, he just explained it. He says, "With the flesh it's going to be the law of sin because it's in my members. I'm going to do things, I'm going to say things, things are going to happen that I hate, that I don't want to be like, and yet I find myself doing them because it's there, and yet there is this other part of me that we battle in and we make choices..." And this is how the mind is transformed.  What an awesome thing!  Your mind is transformed by choices...by choices.

Let's take time to read that in Romans 12.  Hold your place here where we are, but just a few chapters over...Romans 12:1 - I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, to put self to death.  It's like what you do when you start with baptism; what do you choose to do at that time?  To bury your body, to put it to death, that's what you're picturing.  Your choice was to put the body to death, as Christ was put to death, and then you rise up as He was raised up, and you come up out of the water, it says, in essence here, to walk in newness of life.  And so we begin that walk, we begin to come out of Egypt, but we're not out of it until we're out.

...that you may present your bodies a living sacrifice; so it's a choice.  We choose God, we want God's way of life and we want to put to death the old self and keep him dead, keep him under the water.  Sadly, he keeps popping up his head.  ...holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable/logical service. This is how we should live, it's acceptable unto God and that which is reasonable, that which is your logical service.  We're in service to God's way of life. And be not conformed to this world: that's what people do, they conform to this world; conformity, it's a big thing, to be like the world, people don't want to be different. It's hard sometimes being moderate and living in moderation, because we don't want to be different from the world, we want...  that's the pull oftentimes of human nature; especially the younger you are the more that's the case.

And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed; I love this word, 'metamorphoo', like a butterfly in a cocoon and a caterpillar, the change from something that wiggles along the ground and isn't so attractive to something that's beautiful, awesome!  And be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, our minds can be changed.  That, to me, is one of the most awesome miracles that God has afforded mankind, to be able to have a mind that He can mold and fashion.  That's why I love the terms here that Paul uses about the creation; it's ongoing.  There was that which started 6,000 years ago when God remolded and refashioned - the earth was already here - and put man on it, but the creation has been ongoing for 6,000 years and will go on the next 1,100 years beyond this.  Speaking of the purpose of the creation itself is about us and what God is doing in human beings, the creation of a mind, Elohim, the God Family.  God can't create it by just instantaneously creating each one of us in the God Family, because that would be like what happened in the angelic realm.  Can't be done! But God does it through this process, free choice...when free choice is really given to us, of choosing between our way, Satan's way, and God's way, and making that contrast and then that transformation can take place.

...by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.  How do you prove it?  By living it.  The more you live it, the more you experience it, hopefully and prayerfully the more you embrace it, and as a whole that's what the Church and people in the Church have done.

I was having a conversation last night, just two of the evangelists were talking a little bit about some of this in part, about people who don't continue on, they don't continue to fight for this.  You've got to fight for it!  If you want it, you've got to fight for it, you keep fighting for it - and there are many battles within and without that will continue to happen in your life, and you just have to keep fighting.  And God will work it out!  God has a great desire for every one of us, that's why we've been called.  But I think of how many have just quit fighting, how many people through time just in 'PKG' alone.  We were talking even...one of us was having a conversation going all the way back in Worldwide and thinking of all the people that came and people have come and gone...and tons of people, not just those who stayed.  And then in 'PKG' I think of what happened, all the people who have come and gone!  There have been tons of people!  Incredible, what has happened.

...that you may prove what is that good, acceptable, perfect will of God.  So again here, what an awesome thing that we can prove it by living it.  The more we live it, we choose it - there are always choices being made - and as we choose God's way more and more character grows, this transformation takes place and qualities of God are molded and fashioned within us.  It can happen in no other way but by choice.

Romans 7:25 - I thank God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.  So if you yield to self, if you yield to selfishness, sin is going to be there.  If you yield to God, if you're able to fight that fight, and the more you grow in that unity and oneness with God the more we're able to be at one with God, indeed, with the mind.

Romans 8:1 - There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, so in the world there is condemnation, if we fail to repent of sin there is condemnation, if we're cut off from the flow of God's spirit.  But if we are repenting and growing then we're able to remain in Christ and Christ in us.  There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.  In other words, as your primary desire in life, as your primary choice, as your primary battle in life.  That does not mean that you will not sin, but this means that is your objective, that is your desire, that is your choice, that's why you are here every Sabbath, that's why you come before God every Sabbath, that's why you do the things you do faithfully before God, as much as we can in every way to fight the battles to become more at one with God. And in the areas where sin pops up we fight against it because our choice is not to live the way the world does but to live this way, to make changes, to be transformed.  That's what this is speaking of; you can't walk in both.  You're going to love the one and hate the other, that's the way it comes down.  Sadly, when people choose different things it shows what they love, it reveals what's inside.  That's why I talked about this period of time being a time that defines you.

I'll just be candid with some of you out there... you're not being defined very well.  Some of you who are not in regular attendance when you can be in attendance.  What's going on in your life?  What are you holding onto?  Why, when you're close, you're not in attendance with God's people?  What's happened in your life in the last few months?  What are you thinking?  What's going on in your mind?  Don't you understand the danger of what's involved there?  Those of you who continue to steal from God!  That blows my mind!  We've tried to address as many of those as we can - that either you're in or you're out!  That is not a small thing!  And yet people do it!  You can't practice it and live that on a constant basis and use different excuses out here of why you're not able to do it!  Amazing!  But those are choices and only you can make them.  And then we wonder why we're not being blessed in life and why we have certain battles in life...and we're going to have battles in life anyway, but I'll tell you what, if you do things against God you're going to have greater battles!  He's going to bring it to the surface!  Things are NOT going to go well for you in your life if you're trying to show or pretend that you're going through the motions of this way of life, unless you're really committed to it and doing what you're supposed to do, then indeed you can be walking in the spirit, but if you're just going through the motions as some cases of recent time that we asked them to quit fellowship with us because we can't have that, we can't have the sin of Achan in the Church of God!  I hate to do those things!  I don't like that!  And so it boggles my mind how we think we can, of all things, to steal from God!  Blows my mind!  That's such a basic principle from God Himself!  Who do we think we're kidding?  God see's it all and because of that you bring a curse upon yourself.

Now, I'll tell you what, leave the Church, put it all behind and you'll probably be blessed... by Satan, because he wants to give you more.  He wants to give to you if you just leave it all behind.  I've seen that happen.  I've seen people start to prosper more in some things - that have lied to God, cheated God - when they have left, better than what they were doing before...but now they'll never know what they would have had if they would have been obedient to God and what God would have given them...plus everything that is spiritual and true.  What do you hold in greater value in the first place?  What is your pearl of great price?  What do you really count as your riches?  The truth God gives to you?  And so we're tested in things like that.  But sometimes it blows my mind about human nature, but it just shows how much we deceive ourselves.  I'm surprised and I'm not surprised.

Verse 2 - For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free, free...we're going to come back to some of these things later on, from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, in other words, here is God's law, but the problem is man is weak, the flesh is weak, man can't keep God's law.  That's what the whole history of Israel is about.  They were given the 10 Commandments and they couldn't keep it, they couldn't do it, they couldn't live it.  And then God revealed on the Day of Pentecost, again, later on, because the law was given on the Day of Pentecost, He revealed later on the Day of Pentecost 31 AD that you have to have His spirit to live His way of life in spirit and in truth...and even then we find this, we find a battle, and we find we still sin.  But at least this is a beginning, this is where you can begin to do it.  Because we have to have help, we have to have help of God's spirit to live His way of life in spirit and in truth.

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: lived a perfect life, was able to be our Passover, was able to spill His blood to the ground for all.  Amazing!

Verse 4 - That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us: What is that talking about, 'the righteousness of the law'?  Well, part of it is through a transformation, but you know what the greater part of it is?  Faith.  It's faith in our Passover, faith in how we're able to be able to continue in God and God in us.  Faith in knowing and believing that Christ is our Passover, died for us, and that though we have this carnal human nature as soon as we repent it's forgiven, it's gone as far as God's concerned and you can have that confidence and that boldness before God because you choose Him, you want Him and you continue to move forward and you seek to do better and grow better in the things that you're having battles with in life, and some things you fully conquer and some things come back to your life once in a while because of who you are, what you are and what your battles are in life, and sometimes they raise their ugly head again, you have to go through the process and agree again, "God is right and I am wrong.  I don't want this!  I don't want this nature, I want God!"  And that's a part of growing, that's a part of a mind being molded and fashioned within us that can happen in no other way.  It's an awesome and a beautiful thing.

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. And so we choose this way of life, we want this way of life, we try to fight, we want to fight, we seek to fight for this way of life that God has given.  For they who are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; become more concerned...and that's a tipping point sometimes.  You know, you have to be... there is such a battle there sometimes and I generally see what takes place.  I've already mentioned a few, what begins to happen, people begin to be drawn more to the world and things they want from the world or to do in the world and begin to let certain fellowship and certain things go by the wayside and you start to feel maybe a little more uncomfortable around God's people.  And you think, "Why is that?"  You've got to fight it!  You've got to yield to a process working in you.

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; rather than fighting against it people allow themselves to become conformed to some of it; but they who are after the spirit the things of the spirit. So what does that mean?  Well, it's the most basic of things, Sabbath services, being with God's people when we have opportunity, if we're able to do so, the sacrifice that takes place, the basic things we give to God because they are God's, we recognize a separation of those things, and then a way of life that we want to live and we pray about, a mind-set that we want to have and a desire to think differently, a desire to treat people right and not to stay the way we are, and to recognize when something happens, when there is anger or there is resentment or there is bitterness or there is envy or there is jealousy or whatever things pop up in human life, to say, "I don't want that!  I don't want to hurt this person any longer, I don't want to hurt others.  I don't want to be a part of that."  So you want to walk in the spirit and you cry out to God for help to change because you don't want to hurt people, you don't like being hurt and you don't like to hurt others.  But if you don't care you're just going to continue to walk in the flesh and do what you want to do because you're so selfishly motivated if you're not careful.  So we've got to fight the fight!

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the spirit the things of the spirit.  I wrote in my notes, I didn't read this: "So what are you minding?"  You have to answer that yourself.  What is in your heart?  What is in your thinking?  That's what this word means.

For to be carnally minded is death; because it's a matter of sin that is unrepented of.  You know, people can get to a point in life where they just live certain things out of habit and don't even fight anymore, don't repent, and when that happens you get cut off from God's spirit, the flow of God's spirit and He can't bless us, He can't work with us.  But to be in Christ means we indeed are repenting of sin; He is our Passover and we're crying out to God about that, "Please forgive me of my sins through my Passover."  We believe in that.

And so the righteousness of the law comes through faith, it doesn't come through how well you're able to do it, yet you're to strive to do it, you're to strive to live what is right.

...but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Peace.  There is no war in peace.  There is no anger in peace.  There is no resentment in peace.  There is no jealousy, there is no envy in peace.  On and on it goes...

Verse 7 - Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: our carnal mind, our carnal being is an enemy to God, that's what it's saying here.  'Lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life' are an enemy to God's way of life because they're 'get', the way of 'get'.  Mr. Armstrong said there are two ways of life, 'give' and 'get'.  The 'give' way comes from God and only from God.  Man can't live 'give', the way that comes from God, you have to have God's help to live that kind of 'give', because mankind always has something attached to his giving.  Mankind ALWAYS... if you think that you can give of and by yourself without God's help God's way, you are sadly mistaken.  Human nature always has something attached to it, to get out of it.  And that just takes time to grow in those things, to understand those things.  That's what this world is all about, you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.  That's where compromise comes from, not justice, not righteousness and so forth, but compromise of things in life.

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, human nature, 'lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life', that's not subject to God.  On the contrary, it's an enemy, it fights against God.  There is a battle that goes on inside of us and we have to recognize it.

Verse 8 - So then they who are in the flesh cannot please God. In other words, if we're not striving to walk in the spirit, to live in this spirit, to be close to God there is no way to please God because we're just living life selfishly. But you are not in the flesh, speaking to us in God's Church, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. And how does that happen?  Because we constantly are repenting of sin and crying out that God continue to dwell in us and live in us.  And this is then how we are justified, this is then how God will indeed live in us.  Because He won't live in sin.  If there is sin, an ongoing sin in our life, we're not growing...we are not growing, we're just going through the motions and I've seen this through time in the Church, and sadly, it still exists in some small ways.  And hopefully people get a hold of those things.

Now if any man does not have the spirit of Christ, he is none of His.  Powerful, what he says.  If we don't have it dwelling within us then we're not His.  Those of you who have been around for a long time, lived through the period of Worldwide and on into... in Philadelphia, in the age of Philadelphia and then on into if you lived in the age of Laodicea and before the apostasy, you saw these things, you experienced these things, you may have been guilty of some of these things.  These things have happened in life.

Going on here, verse 10 - And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness.  Because of what God accounts to us for righteousness, that He will live in us because sin has been paid for through Christ, not us, not because we're able to live this way of life perfectly, but we're striving to, we're growing, we want to, we seek to, we want to be in the battle, we cry out to God for forgiveness of sin when it's there and it's gone, He forgives it.  It doesn't mean there won't be a penalty in your life but you'll be forgiven

But if the spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, and that's what it's all about, it's about His sacrifice so that He can dwell in us; that's why He died.  He died so that God the Father and Jesus Christ could dwell in us.  The beginning, the basic stage is for forgiveness of sin but the purpose is so they can dwell in us, because it's only by their dwelling in us can this mind be transformed and changed.

But if the spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you; He who raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken/make alive your mortal bodies by the spirit that dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the spirit, through God's spirit, through His help, through His favor, through His dwelling in you, do mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. So we seek to mortify, put to death, the error, the wrong, the carnal things that are in us - and that's always a constant battle - but growing, maturing.

....For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; not from God, but you have received the spirit of adoption/sonship, whereby we cry Abba, Father.  And so there is that relationship that we are able to develop and grow in with God, a fellowship because we come to see ourselves, and candidly, the more you come to see yourself the more you love God.  Think about that.  The more you come to see yourself through God's spirit, through God's help, and in essence embrace what God has and the mercy and help He gives to you, the patience He shows you, the favour, the help, the forgiveness He gives to you, the more you grow in love to God...truly.  You truly do!  The love that's there becomes greater and greater and greater because you recognize something that is unique about God that is not in human beings.  We don't have it.  We're able to grow in it, we're able to begin to learn to exercise and express it amongst ourselves as we grow, but as a whole we do not possess it, it's something that comes from God...and candidly, that's what God shows anyway.

Grace; it's just like receiving all these things from God.  I've mentioned this so many times, the grace we receive. Grace means the patience, the mercy, the love He gives even when we have fought against Him, because that's how it starts.  It starts out that we're enemies to God.  He calls us out of the world and sometimes kicking as He drags us along, as the word in the Greek has to do with, and we're still resisting Him, but He loves us because He made us this way for a purpose and He knows what will happen as we begin to surrender and begin to see and make a contrast - if we choose Him and want Him - what takes place there and then that patience.

And then the forgiveness of sin, no matter how long you're in God's Church, as long as you continue to go before Him and you know this and you grow in that relationship, He just forgives you every time.  I think, "What an awesome thing! In order to bring us into His Family so that one day I won't have any of this in me - not a bit of 'lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life' when the change comes, when were no longer in this physical prison." It's kind of like a prison.  As long as you're in this body you're going to have sin, until you're freed from it.  And that's God's desire.  So we live in eternity, into eternity, into everlasting life in a spirit body always in oneness with Him, always Him and His Son always eternally dwelling within us; something the angelic realm does not have but we can.  That's what makes us Elohim.  Awesome to understand these things!

Verse 14 - For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. So if we are led by - which means you have to yield to that, you have to want that, you have to cry out to God to continue to lead you, to work with you, to forgive you of sin, because you want to follow Him, you want to be led by God, you want to be led by God's spirit.  That's why we addressed some of these things in the very beginning of this new 'day', when we understood what we were entering into, a desire to follow God, a continual desire, that that doesn't change, no matter what happens in life this is a way of life!  No matter what happens in life!  No matter if there are other surprises up ahead...and if there are other surprises up ahead...   My wife and I talk about this often...just like Jesus Christ said, "Will there be faith on the earth?"  What will happen to people?  I hope and pray that there are no more surprises along the way, that God doesn't reveal something else that we don't grasp and comprehend as far as present truth to this point in time - because we live in volatile times, of changes, of prophetic things that are unwinding very rapidly.  And why and how?  There are things we don't have answers to until God gives it.  So, present truth?  All my being, just as I did before May 27th, I believe this is that 'day'.  I believe we are in the 'daytime' portion now of that day.  I just hope the Israelites got up early in the morning and started marching quickly.  The sooner they did - if the analogy is going to hold true - the sooner these things will get underway.  Not that we want to see evil, but we want to see it get on with whatever has to take place so that some things can be done, so that people can begin to change their lives, so that indeed Jesus Christ can return and accomplish what has to be accomplished.

Ephesians 2:1...  again, so many things about our nature, and when we really grasp it more and more we recognize Satan's job hasn't been so difficult, but he's been here for a purpose, for 6,000 years to magnify this basic weakness, to stir things up so that we wouldn't have to live long periods of time for those things to come out in life, so that they can be magnified and the ugliness of mankind and selfishness can be seen profoundly so in the world in a faster pace.  Thank God we don't have to live for several hundred years at this stage.  And there are things to be learned from all that.  Thank God it's three score and ten as a whole, 70 years for the basic lifespan of mankind.

Ephesians 2:1 - And you has He quickened, or made alive, and those who are added, if it's in the context, who were dead in trespasses and sins; because of forgiveness of sin through our Passover.  Wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this world, in other words, there was no choice, that's just all that we lived, there was no ability to choose something different, everyone is in captivity, they don't understand that, they're walking according to the course of this world and generally it's receive and accept and adopt whatever they've been taught in their community, by their parents, and wherever they have lived, whether it has to do with religion or that part of the world, or whatever it is.  And that's the way it is all around the world with mankind, they accept what they've been given, they receive what they've been given from youth, until God calls us.

Wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, because he's always at the forefront, speaking of Satan, the prince of the power of the air.  An awesome thing, there wasn't until the time of Mr. Armstrong that we began to understand that more powerfully, when God began to reveal then the power of radio and the power to broadcast in the air and have a receiver to receive something, and then finally to understand the human mind can receive something of a spirit world because he's the prince of the power of the air that broadcasts throughout the world, Satan and demons do, to stir up this basic nature, the bad of the nature of mankind, of the way of selfishness.

...according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience: it's out there, it's working, it's a spirit. Among whom also we had our conversation, and the word means 'conduct', and so often indeed it does come out of conversation because that's what the word, how it comes out in action oftentimes and that's why it's translated sometimes 'conversation'.  Among whom also we had our conduct in times past in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, in other words, basically under the judgment of death because it was a matter of sin and there was no concept of anything else, though people think that they are living religiously, whether it be to Allah, or to God, or to Christ, or to whatever, whether it be Judaism, or traditional Christianity, or the Catholic church, or Islam, or whatever it is people have in their own mind they think they're doing right and think they're doing good, but they don't understand they're in captivity and they really have no knowledge hardly of anything about God whatsoever that's true, that's sound and right - to take this book and distort and twist everything as Satan has done, make religions out of it, religions that are totally opposite of each other, that have no concern and care about each other, that adopt things that are totally off the wall and people believe it.  Christmas?  Not in here!  "Oh, but, you know, it's okay, it's a nice time for children."  And Easter?  "Oh, it's in the Bible here, I've read it in Acts!"  People get upset!  I received letters and stuff when I made those comments in one of the books talking about how that there is no place where Easter is translated in the Bible, that it was in the King James and the word for Passover.  And people get upset and mad and say, "Yes, I saw it!  Easter is in the Bible!"  And they don't know history and where it came from, because people are in bondage and they just don't know, they're deceived.

Powerful, powerful being who has deceived the world and got them farther and farther and farther away from God...by enticing them farther and farther away from God.

Among whom also we had our conduct in times past in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; just living life ever how we wanted to without anything that was moral, as a whole, even when it comes to God.  There is one church, basically, that I grew up with some fellows that basically thought that if they went Sunday morning and counted on some beads they could just go back out and live the way they were before and they were okay.  There was no concept of changing anything, it was just you can go out and still do these things but just come back every week and confess some of these things and you just go right back.... and that was the concept.  Because I asked questions of one fellow and I couldn't understand that, it didn't make much sense...but that's what they thought, and it was like cleansing the conscience and you can just go back out and live ever how you want to live without any thought of changing.

Now, the dangerous thing in all this is this thing about the ability of man for good and evil, to decide for himself good and evil, because there are some 'seemingly things that are good' that man looks to but the difference is whether it comes from God, whether it's motivated by God's spirit, because even the good of man is always going to be a matter of something that is selfish and based on something that's not right and not true - even in their religion.  So sometimes there are things that people can try to do and strive to live by certain moral values but there is a judgment and a righteousness there that does not come from God, it's theirs and it's not motivated by God's spirit.  And those are some of the ones who have fought the most, in many cases, against God's Church, because it's like, "You mean  you believe you're the only true Church?!  ...and Saturday?  And you think that Easter and Christmas are wrong, that I'm doing something wrong by my keeping of Christmas and Easter... You condemn me?"  Well, we don't condemn them but because the fact you say it's not right and it's against God people get up in arms because they hate God's way of life, they hate the truth.  They can't help it, especially because of this world.

Galatians 5:16 - This I say then, Walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So if we were able to do that all the time, but that's the admonition, this is what we want to do, this is what we strive to do, this is why we repent, because our desire is to walk in the spirit, meaning that your desire is is that God continue to dwell in you.  To walk in the spirit means you have an understanding that you need Jesus Christ and God the Father to dwell in you and you in them, and to be praying accordingly, "Father, forgive me my sins, I don't want to be cut off from You, I want You to dwell in me and I want to be able to dwell in You and to continue in this fight."  That's walking in the spirit, fighting this fight.

...and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.  Some of this sometimes is difficult - it's showing a contrast here in the sense of way of life, of what you choose.  It does not mean you will not sin.  Or as one translation put it well...

[New Living Translation]: Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves, if you're walking in the spirit.

So there is that which sinful nature craves, and sometimes it's just the absence of God and just doing things off the cuff like we always have and saying what just comes out of our mouths without thought, like it says in Proverbs, to consider, to stop and consider before you act.  So anyway, there is always that battle there, but our desire is to walk in the spirit, that's why we'll repent, because you are going to sin...but the sin should become less and less in our life.

Verse 17 - For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these are 'contrary', the word means 'to oppose', they oppose each other, they are opposite forces indeed, powerfully so: so that you cannot do the things that you would. In other words, same thing he said earlier in Romans, in other words that you want through choice. But if you are led of the spirit you are not under the law, meaning under the penalty of the law, that's what it's talking about here.  We're always, in essence, under God's law, we're to live by God's law and not just the law but even the spirit of the law, but again, it's a matter of whether we're being led by the spirit.  And that goes back to understanding, if we grasp our carnal human nature, that we are repenting and we are wanting God to continue to dwell in us, we're walking in the spirit, we are fighting against our sins and our sinful nature, you are crying out to God, you are being honest to God about your sins and saying, "'This' is what I've done, forgive me Holy Father through my Passover."

Verse 19 - Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; so it shows here when they're finally manifest, when they come out in the open, but they begin here in the 'lust of the eyes', in the mind, and then they can come out literally here in these things here it says...Adultery, fornication, a lot of these, candidly, it's amazing here, if we understand human nature, how many of these things revolve around a misuse of a sexual relationship that God created to be wholesome and right between a man and a woman.  Amazing!  But the basic nature of man is to totally fight against those and to do things in a different way because of that drawing power that's there just from a carnal human nature's point of view, and because of everything that we're bombarded with in society.

That's why there are so many things that have to be changed immediately, gotten rid of immediately in this world, obviously, and types of advertizing and so forth and things that are out there and the things that are done that are so sick that stir up sin.  That's what they do.  They stir up the enticing of human nature, and this world has never known such power!  Think about it.  This world has never, never known the extent of such power.  If you can grasp and comprehend that there are so many demons on this earth - and we don't know how many - and one great spirit being above them all, and they broadcast and stir up things in mankind, they constantly do that, and they have certain power.  Their power today has been magnified many, many, many, many, Many, MANY  times over because of technology...just as much as the ability, starting with Philadelphia, of God to reach out in a more powerful way to more numbers of people in different parts of the world through television and radio and so forth.  That power was magnified, and the ability to use certain things, even in the work of God - the printing press and so forth, those things that began to help the Church through time, be an asset. Things that we had access to, the ability to record and have things of recordings of sermons and the ability now a days to have that far... we have... can you imagine one day to be able to tell - and of course we need more help now too because of that exact opposite in how Satan uses it, and God's blessed us to have more access at our fingertips than what they did during the times of Paul or John or Peter and different ones.  They had to have personal contact and the ability to come in contact.

Today, look at the power that's out there – and look at how Satan has used it.  TV, radio, things in society, he has truly magnified his power many times over.  And that's an awesome thing if you understand it.  The internet?  Sick!  Totally sick!  It just needs to be shut down for a long length of time, it really does.  It'll be a blessing when it's totally shut down for a long length of time and only brought back when there are certain things to guide, to direct, to regulate, to teach...and many things that will never be allowed on it again, certain things of communication that have to be stopped, that have to be regulated because man can't handle it, man can't deal with it.

I saw a thing today where they're talking about some kind of crazy thing you can wear, a contact in your eye, and you're going to be able to get text messages.  And you think... huh?  That came out of Ghent University in Belgium.  Send them back to school.  Anyway, I think that's just all we need...it's not bad enough it's going to be ringing, it's going to be... you're driving down the highway and all of a sudden a text message, "Oh, a text message!".  I don't know what they mean by all this but that's what some of this.... you think, give me some private time in life, give me some ability to have normal communication.  It's a sad world we live in today in the sense that young people grow up and they don't have the ability to converse, they're creating new languages almost, they don't even have the ability of using the English language properly, or whatever language in different countries, because they don't even know how to spell!  And you think, this isn't good!

And we have to recognize that, that there are things that do need control!  ...that there are things of 'freedom' that aren't free, that instead they tend to bondage, they tend to Egypt, they tend to hurt, they cause suffering, hurt and pain, they restrict an ability of mankind that is beautiful and right and good when done the right ways.

So there are a lot of changes that have to be made in this world and that's why I love why this sermon is being given, this sermon series, to come to understand our base human nature, to understand why some things have to be changed, to understand that even though you may use something right in life that doesn't mean that it can be given to all mankind, because it isn't good.  There are things that just must be fully changed and never allowed in the next 1,100 years to make this world a good world to live in, a better world to live in by far, than what we have today, one that's beautiful for your children to grow up in and their children's children.

Verse 17 - For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary, they oppose each other: so that you cannot do the things that you would. And what you want through choice. But if you are led of the spirit, you are not under the law, the penalty of it, in other words, because you're asking for forgiveness and you want to walk in the spirit, you want God to be in you - and your thoughts and your mind will be more directed toward God's way of life and candidly, against sin as well because you'll be more alert and more on guard the closer you draw to God, the more you exercise matters of prayer!   I was thinking about that the other day here.  I was thinking even in prayer I'm afraid sometimes we go from one extreme to the other, striving for balance, but some things are given in certain times to learn certain things, so that we can learn certain things, so we can learn a balance, and then to practice that balance.

And I was thinking just a matter of prayer and a matter of praying over meals and stuff and how that it got to a point where people would pray in public or... and God said don't do that - or they'd be holding onto hands in circles and praying together.  And that's of the world, God doesn't say to do it that way.  Is it wrong for a family to be able to pray at a meal?  No.  But I'll tell you what happens with human nature, if you pray at every meal, to bless the food...and it turns into something physical and after a while it becomes like the beads, it means nothing, and it means nothing in your spirit to God, and you can teach your children the same thing.  So there are things to learn balance in.  So special occasions, yes.  We have special occasions amongst God's people, if we have a special meal, like on Friday night as a family.  That's a special occasion through the week, it's not going to become a matter of your own weak human nature to do something perhaps out of... like the beads - it become something that's more balanced and more genuine and real before God where you pray from the heart and you're able to reflect on something, maybe once a week like that, or whatever.  But if you get into certain habits of life sometimes it just becomes routine and means nothing.

So again, this matter of balance and not wanting to be...and wanting to get away from the ways the world is.  And I hope we're learning those things of balance.  There are times for some of those things and there is a time not to - the time not to is at every meal because it's like the world and it gets to a point where children are taught this repetitiveness.  It's like the spinning a wheel, you come by this wheel and you spin it and all these prayers... "Oh look at the prayers, they're going up to god!"  Whoever your god is... I can't comprehend those things but I can't comprehend the bead thing either, I didn't grow up with that, repeating the same thing about Mary.  Mary-Mary-Mary... whatever it is.

Verse 19 - Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, so we talked about how that sexual things are very much at the forefront.

...uncleanness, some of these things are translated... a lot of these words are translated, if you look at different translations, of things to do with misuse of sex, because it's so much a part of mankind, it's so much a part of the world, it's so much a part today of everything that's out there that's so abused and misused and it screws up the mind, truly, of people.  The word here for 'uncleanness', it just means what it is, if you're unclean, something that's unclean, dirty, foul, morally defiled.... morally defiled.  It can be things, literally physical but spiritual in nature... words that come out of people's mouths.  There are people today who just talk dirty, foul.

I was talking to someone the other day about how that they hadn't been around certain environments for a while and now they're back in certain environments and the way people talk, this individual said, and how they talk about women.  Men, how they talk about women...and it's just getting worse and worse and worse out there because the minds of people are so messed up, and it's so degrading how... what human beings do in their mind and how they think and what they allow to come out of their mouth.  It's just a sick world!

...lasciviousness, licentiousness, different things that this can involve, no regard for standard, rules, law, ignoring legal restraint, almost as it were at times to justify wrong acts.  You know, the mind is an amazing thing, how it can even justify wrong acts, wrong things, because the mind is deceitful to itself.

Verse 20 - idolatry, idol worship.  That's so much a part of the world today, every corner you turn, as it were, people worship...to the point it's really sick out there.  I hope we see that, whether it be in politics, sports, it goes too far!  It goes too far!  You think there are going to be people out there, multi-million dollar contracts and who is going to have the best football team and who is going to have the best baseball team and who is going to have multi-million paychecks... There are things that need to be changed.  Is it good to have sports?  Yes.  But not the way man has done it.  And for some it's going to hurt, going to be a little painful in the beginning, because you've gotten used to the way it is in the world and sometimes some of those things just need to be changed in the mind and realize this isn't really God's way.  Is it of and by itself bad or wrong?  No.  But what does it do to people and what does it do to the mind and what does it do to some of the recipients of some of those things?  There are some things that just have to change in the world!

And be careful when you start speculating amongst yourselves, of all the changes that have to take place, because I know that it can go way off base. So as God helps us, as He's starting to help us to focus on a few of the things, to realize it's coming, and He will lead us and show us as some of those things take place.

...witchcraft, a word that means...it's the Greek word 'pharmakeia', pharmacy, has to do with the use of drugs, medicine, spells, mixtures of things for wrong purposes and so forth.  Might even be like drugs today that people take in order to escape reality or in order to have a 'good time' or... and there are just a lot of things that have to change in that in the world.  We've become used to the way of the world to deal with pain, to deal with suffering, to deal with... even in the sick world, even with sickness, the place to begin is in the field.  There are a lot of things that have to be changed in the world, how things are done.  Obey God when it comes to agriculture, we're going to learn how to do those things.  Mankind is going to be taught God's way.  Not with all the chemicals and - almost slipped with what I wanted to call it - and some of that would be okay if it comes from cows in the fields, like manure that they put out there, spreaders, but some of the stuff that's put out there anymore... we're so messed up because of chemicals in our bodies, things that are happening to children, things that are happening, even with the human mind because of chemicals that mankind was never intended that he have in his body.

If there were things given today in clean and unclean laws there would be reams and reams of things written and it would be hard for you to eat, but the reality is they can't be addressed yet because this is not the time yet, so you still... there are certain things we just strive to do in a basic way before God.  But there are a lot of changes that need to be made and a lot of things that have to do with some of these areas.  We're not going to have to worry a lot about certain healthcare providers and money taken out for health insurance and all the things that are going to take place.  The world is going to be cleaned up, begin to go through a healing process, and mankind to learn to do things God's way and to live a healthier life just because of obedience to God let alone receiving intervention and help.

...hatred,  the word for 'hostility', enmity.  It's just everywhere you turn in the world.

...variance,  strife, quarrelling.

...emulations, a desire to surpass or outdo another, thing of competition.  There are some things of competitiveness - some of the words even and the use of them have to be changed in some of this.  But when it comes to a point of envy or jealousies or a desire to be better than someone else or thinking we're better than someone else...

...wrath, things that come, just the way people think.  It comes from a Greek word here that means 'whirlwind'.  I enjoy that, some of the words, where they come from - whirlwind, just a word that's used sometimes as rage, anger, out of control, just losing control.  People today just fly off the handle about things and lose control and especially when they're driving, you see a lot, road rage, and people are just crazy, people just yield themselves to craziness out there oftentimes, getting angry about anything that interferes in their life because things aren't going well in their life.  Because why?  Because of sin, because they're in bondage and they don't know it and that doesn't give them happiness.

...strife, another words meaning rivalry or selfish ambition - rivalry, that kind of strife, rivalry with people.  Where does that come from ?  That's what people have to learn.

...seditions, a word meaning dissension, has happened a lot in the Church.

...heresies, opposite opinions, factions as it is here.  This is how, these are how those kinds of sins are manifest in human life, things that we have to battle.

...envying, jealousy.

...murders, generally we just look at the outward part of it.  Again, with murders, think, "I'd never murder, I'd never take anyone's life."  And yet 1st John makes it very clear what murder is; if you don't love someone the way God says to love them you're a murderer.  Before God you're a murderer, that's the spirit, that's where it goes.  Live long enough, yeah, you would, and you would justify some of it too, because we do as a country.

...drunkenness, revelings, the word must means 'loud partying'.  It has to do with loud partying, some that can't go out to have a drink someplace unless the music is about to drive you nuts.  There are some places you can't go unless there is just noise to the umpteenth degree - an older person, drives them insane, a younger person, they seem to thrive on it.  I don't...  anyway, things like that, things that are just so messed up in this world and what people gravitate to, the way they think it has to be, the environment they think that has to be out there to enjoy life, to enjoy yourself.

...revelings, and the such like: of which I tell you before, as I have told you in times past, that they who 'do', and the word means 'to practice', as a practice, as to the way you choose to live your life, they who practice such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. These have to be changed.  Any part of these things that are a part of your life, a part of your thinking, these... this is where the battle is, these are the things you must fight against.  And sadly, people read through a lot of these things and think, "Well, I don’t have that, I don't have idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations... no, that's not a part of me."  No, you sure miss the boat, you don't understand the spirit of it.

Verse 22 - But the fruit of the spirit...this is what comes out if, and to the degree, God's spirit is there; love, God's love.  Not human love, not a selfish human love that you're going to love someone else and be kind to someone else and invite someone else because they've invited you. You do something for them and they do something for you.  It's just giving without expecting anything in return.  It's just giving because it's the way of life, it's with nothing back, with no motive of getting anything back.

...the spirit of love, joy, and that can't be faked.  It's only there as a result and to the degree of God's spirit in our life because we're fulfilled in this way of life, we are happy with this way of life, we wouldn't consider another way of life, this is it, this is what we hold onto with all of our being.

...peace, how valuable - Jerusalem - the meaning of the word and what God desires to give to us...Jerusalem, spiritually what it's all about, that He gave up peace when He created the angelic realm to the degree it was, knowing what was going to happen in the angelic realm.  He knew what was going to happen.  He knew what would happen.  God knew that by giving free choice, free spirit to spirit beings, He knew what would happen in time.  We don't know how long it took, but in time there are those who chose what they did and all for a purpose - all for a purpose - awesome!  The molding and fashioning, the creation of God.

...longsuffering, the things we can suffer through in life, patience, that we wait, that we wait upon others, that we wait for the change to take place in people's lives as they continue to yield to God's spirit; that desire to see them grow and overcome so we are patient, longsuffering.  But there are times we're responsible for drawing the line and saying, "No, not here, because that's the sin of Achan, that can't be brought into the Church, can't continue to do that, it can't be continued to be allowed."  So there are things that have to be addressed from time to time.

...gentleness, goodness, faith, in how we deal with each other in life, how we treat each other in life, how human beings and the relationships that are there.

...meekness, a teachable spirit, not allowing ourselves to get lifted up with things we think we understand.  And it still pops up out there once in a while, especially some of you who are new, don't ever let this happen to you.  Always have this spirit of meekness, that you are a student and you are not a teacher!  Don't ever even desire to be one, in that respect, as far as your spirit is concerned, it's not an easy path.  So in that respect, always desire that God teach you, to be of a meek spirit, a teachable spirit.  Because every once in a while, just to be candid out here, and some areas know about it and some areas know about it and some get involved in it, there are individuals who come along who all of a sudden think they have things of prophecy or certain things they think they have of understanding of the Bible when they may be three years old spiritually, four years old spiritually, five years... and I think, the point being is that there are some things we just have to be careful of.  Don't raise yourself up!  Don't lift yourself up and think all of a sudden you have things to be given to the Church or to be given to the ministry.  It doesn't work that way, it never has worked that way, but it's been that way in God's Church forever, from the beginning, that those things happen.  We have to understand how God's spirit works, in other words.  There is a way that God's spirit works...and that's not a matter of haughtiness, it's just a matter of a reality, and we can learn from that, that's a part of meekness.

...temperance, a word meaning moderation.  Moderation, in essence, how we live our life, that we are to be moderate in everything we do.  We are not to go to extremes.  We're not to be at the extreme right, we're not to be at the extreme left, even in matters of dress, how we dress and so forth in life.  There is moderation.  We're not to go to that which is extremely liberal or to that which is extremely conservative because they don't represent God.  That's not God's way, in the world, and those who even in religion begin to think that by a certain kind of dress, or whatever... There are those who get stuck in time, as it were, and they think that's righteous before God.  No, it isn't, moderation is what is right, the ability to judge things and what is right and balanced within society at that time.  Moderation.  And that's a task and you can grow through that process, you will grow through that process if you learn it, or as you learn it.

...against such there is no law. Awesome!  No law!  These are the things that are a part of the law, these are the things that reflect the fruit of the law, that reflect the way of God's life, the way of thinking.

And they who are Christ's have impaled to a stake, if you will, because of what Christ went through.  And they who are Christ's have impaled to a stake (which is what it means), the flesh, with the afflictions and lusts; that sacrifice, that willing sacrifice that we talk about later, just like putting the old man under the watery grave, the desire to put to death self.

If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit.  We're going to stop there today because we're getting ready to go into another facet of the sermon series...so good place to stop.

Again, just being hit over and over again here with the contrast: God's way/our way as human beings, and how that indeed there is that battle as long as you're in this human body, and the ability to be enticed, the ability to go astray, the ability to not obey God is a very strong power within us - without Satan even being around - even by itself...which leads to certain changes that must take place in the Millennium.

~~~end