Choose Repentance

Wayne Matthews

August 31, 2013

Welcome brethren to the 7th Day Sabbath.

The title to this sermon is Choose Repentance.

In the last sermon, we looked at the rebellion of Lucifer, whose name was later changed to Satan. We recognized his attitude of "I will...I have decided to step forward against My Creator." Rebellion is a wrong attitude, a wrong way of thinking, which is sin. And we looked at the definition of the word, 'rebel,' which was 'revolt, be rebellious, go against'. 'Rebellion' can mean 'to transgress, the act of stepping forward,' and the word also implies stepping forward in bitterness, stepping forward because of a change of thinking, or to be against or in opposition to.'

We were encouraged not to start to justify our actions by making excuses like Adam and Eve did because that is a natural tendency of humans when confronted with a form of correction, that we tend to move forward and think that we need to explain in detail why we did such an action. We were warned that our natural minds upon receiving spiritual correction will start to justify itself. We looked at the attitude of Saul and his justification for going against God's clear instructions. He blamed someone else for his sin. We also looked at the planned deception of Ananias and his wife who lied to God, who lied to God's authority. We closed the sermon with the encouragement to choose repentance, to repent, change our thinking and accept personal responsibility for our sins.

Now we have fasted and have had time to read and reread the post from Mr. Weinland titled, 'Important Fast,' because God required us to look at ourselves, examine ourselves and to seek personal repentance. And I want to read components of that post. Part of the post reads...

[1] "This post will be candid and to the point, as we are being directed to “examine” ourselves spiritually, just as we are often admonished to do before Passover. We have experienced various fasts in God’s Church that have had some kind of focus associated with it, and always using the guidelines for fasting found in Isaiah 58. Certainly those guidelines will be followed in this fast, but with a quite serious focus – the most serious I have ever been led to direct."

And we know from Isaiah 58, another part of the post reads...

"Isaiah 58 is about examining ourselves in truth and in spirit before God – in deep and genuine humility, honesty, and desire to clearly see how we are standing spiritually. We are then to follow up by striving to change what is revealed to us that is not in full unity and oneness with God."

And that is the most important part is once we have examined ourselves then we must seek to strive to change, because that's the important part. As scripture says, we can have all faith but we then have to implement our faith and live it. In other words, we've got to implement change into our life, the way we think and the way we act.

Another aspect of the post was....

"I am now going to tell you what God is clearly revealing to me, and then I’ll address some examples of a few things that some need to examine more closely if they desire to continue in the quest to grow spiritually, become more at one with God, and continue into the Millennium."

Well, the important part of that, of course, is we all desire to grow spiritually, and the only way that we can grow spiritually is to take on correction, correction from God, because our natural carnal mind thinks selfishly. God doesn't, and therefore God, the power of His holy spirit, will change the way we think so that we can grow spiritually. And spiritual growth, of course, is that we begin to think more like God.

Another aspect of the post....

"Jesus Christ is working to cleanse His Church for the next phase of God’s work, which may well be the final phase (He has not revealed that as of yet). As addressed in the series of posts, “Extraordinary 4 1/2 Years,” God’s Church has gone through an important period of judgment. Just before that specific period of time ended, some few had already been judged and separated from God’s grace, spirit, and fellowship. Most of those individuals were part of the ministry. They did not “suddenly” choose to leave (as they seem to insinuate or even believe)..."

...because it is a self-deception if we believe, brethren, that people all of a sudden make a decision to leave. It's sin that cuts us off, it's an unrepented sin that has cut us off and that generally takes some time. It's not just overnight that that happens. It's an unrepented sin, it's something that someone has hung onto for a long period of time, and then as something comes along within God's Church, God reveals something and people can't handle it. And the reason they can't handle it is because of unrepented sin, they're holding a sin, they have not repented of that sin and therefore now something comes up and they just can't continue because of a previous unrepented sin. More in the post....

"...but God removed them."

It's God that removes people from God's Church. People can choose to leave but the reality is that God's spirit has left them some time back because of that unrepented sin.

"Due to wrong attitudes and a judgmental spirit toward God’s government (which is rebellion), jealousies toward others, and unrepented sin, God removed His spiritual favor (help and grace) [from them]. When God makes such a judgment, a person begins relying on their own reasoning (thinking about God and truth) because God’s spirit is no longer ‘in’ them, nor leading them."

And that becomes the problem. Another aspect of the post is....

"Over the past few months God has removed a few people from His ministry and His Church, but some have mercifully been given more time before the judgment to fully remove them is made."

And that is God's judgment – God's judgment – and God is the one that removes people from the Body of Christ. Continuing on....

"That brings us to this time of fasting, as this is the marker of time for God’s judgment of some, whether there is proper repentance and change, or not. God’s Church is being cleansed as we go into this fall Holy Day season.

Each and every one of us needs to fully seek God’s help to become more at one with Him and His Son. We all need to thoroughly examine ourselves at this time."

And this process of examining ourselves is something that we do each day, but during a fast it's a clear focus of examining ourselves. But while not fasting and living life, we still examine ourselves, we examine our attitudes, we examine our words and our thoughts on a daily basis and we bring them into subjection to God.

"To become more ‘at one’ means ongoing repentance which must be followed by actual ‘change.’"

Another aspect....

"If you truly value the priceless gift God has placed before you, then you will fight for it! Most of that fight is against self – selfish[ness], pride-filled human nature that must choose to yield to (and deeply desire) God’s government in (and ‘over’) one’s life. God’s truth, ways, and laws must govern our life!"

And that is a very powerful spiritual principle that we can actually meditate on more in our lives- the fact that we have to have God's spirit governing our lives, governing our thoughts, words, and actions.

Another part states....

"There is no place in God’s Church for division, rebellion, and evil attitudes.

So brethren, we are going to individually fast and seek to cleanse ourselves, to become more purely ‘sanctified’ before we come into God and Christ’s presence, as a body of people, in this special Holy Day season."

So the title of this particular sermon is based on repentance, which is 'Choose Repentance,' because we do have a choice and God has put before us a choice.

If we look back, many of us have already considered the aspect of the Apostasy. Following the Apostasy in December of 1994 and the scattering of God's people because of sin, God granted the gift of repentance to those He drew back into a relationship with Him. Many were given the opportunity to repent, but only a few chose repentance as their way forward.

We are going to look now at another aspect of rebellion, because really what it's about is a choice, a choice that we need to make and that we have, hopefully, already made, which is a choice to repent, to choose to repent.

If you'd like to turn to Numbers 16:1, which is about the rebellion of Korah. Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, the sons of Reuben, took men. Now, here we have Korah with a group of men. And they rose up, and that is they... 'to stand,' they stood up before Moses. So here they are, they're actually going against Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown. So now we have the leadership of Israel, the men that have been chosen to lead the various tribes and various sections of those tribes, they're now coming together to stand against Moses whom they saw as the authority of leading Israel.

Verse 3 – They gathered together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD? Well, this attitude really is, "We are all equal because we all have God's spirit; we are all the same! Who made you boss of us?!" is what they're really saying. And then another accusation by implication of the words, "Why have you placed yourself in charge over everyone?" In other words, "Why have you placed yourself..." – we could say that now – "Why have you placed yourself in charge of the Church?" Well this is, of course, a lack of understanding that God is the one who appoints authority within the Church. "Why do you act like you're running the organization? Who made you boss of me?" is the attitude.

Verse 4 – So when Moses heard it, he fell on his face: Moses recognized straight away that here we have the sin of rebellion and this is not going to go well by any means.

Verse 5 – And he, Moses, spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, Tomorrow morning the LORD will show, which is 'make known' is another way to put that, who is His, and who is holy, who is set aside, and who will cause him to come near to Him, to God, the one whom He chooses He will cause to come near to Him. Do this: Take censers, Korah, and all your company, and put fire in them, and put incense in them before the Eternal tomorrow: and it shall be that the men whom the LORD chooses, God chooses, he is the holy one. You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi. So what Moses is now saying is, "Well, you're stepping forward against us. You're taking too much to yourself. You're lifting yourself up." He's saying, "Son's of Levi, you are overstepping yourselves! You are lifting yourselves up in a position that God has already selected for someone else." It is God that chooses the ministry. It is not something a person decides for himself or chooses to lift himself up into that position. It's God that calls. It's God that places people into the ministry or into any level of authority. It's a decision that God makes.

Verse 8 – Then Moses said to Korah, Hear now, you sons of Levi and of course Levi being part of a priesthood structure.

Verse 9 – Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you/selected you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to Himself to do the work of the tabernacle of the Eternal. In other words the priesthood, is that not enough for you, that God's done that, and to stand before the congregation (Why are they standing before the congregation as ministry? Why?) to serve them? That was the purpose of the ministry. And of course, they were to serve God, to service the tabernacle and what was to take place around the tabernacle.

Is it enough, brethren, that the Eternal God, Yahweh Elohim, has called us out of this world to bring us near to Him in a spiritual relationship to serve His people, to serve one another in whom God dwells, is another way to look at that. Isn't it enough that we've just been called? How thankful we should be just for that calling! Have we recognized it? And that's part of what the post mentioned, is that have we really considered, have we really understood the great calling and the mercy that God has shown to us? Are we just treating it very lightly? Is it not enough that God has just called us out of the world, out of nearly 7 billion people?

Verse 10 – And that He, God, has brought you near to Himself. It’s about a relationship. Isn't it enough that God has just called us into a relationship with Him? That we can actually know God, understand spiritual information and to live some wisdom, live God's way? Isn't that enough for us?  You and all the brethren, the sons of Levi with you: and are you seeking the priesthood also? Well, this is really, what he was saying there, "Well are you wanting Aaron's role as high priest? Is that what really you are seeking? You're trying to elevate yourself? Are you going to choose that for yourself? Is that what you want?"

There is a spiritual 'type' of this to the ministry. Isn't it enough for you that God has selected you out of the congregation of Israel – The Church of God – PKG – to be an elder? To serve the congregation? Because that's the purpose of being ordained to the role of associate elder, elder, senior elder, evangelist, prophet, apostle. They're all...it's all a role of service, spiritual service that’s also to serve the people, to try to serve and support and encourage and help. And one of the greatest ways the ministry can serve the congregation is by being a right example of living God's way towards others – towards God and towards others. It is an honour to be ordained. Are we unthankful and want more? Higher office? More recognition from God? In our thinking are we seeking the role of high priest like what was being challenged there? Are we wanting more? And this was saying they had forgotten that God appoints the ministry. God establishes His government to achieve His will and purpose. That's what it's all about. That structure that God has outlined is all for the purpose of achieving His will and purpose which is the creation of Elohim. And God knows the best way for that to be achieved and that's why He's established the government that He has established within the Church.

Verse 11 – Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the Eternal: and what is Aaron, that you complain against him? And what they're really saying there is, "Well, what's Aaron done? He didn't choose this role. It was God that chose him for that particular role – so why is it all of a sudden you're turning against him? He didn't choose it. He didn't elevate himself; God appointed Him. He did not choose the role of high priest."

Now this, brethren, is a perfect time for Korah and the others to choose repentance. This is the perfect time because now they've been corrected and their attitude has been revealed and now they could have a choice, and they did have a choice, which was, "Will I now back down and go, 'Oh yes, I recognize what you have said, Moses, this correction that you've given,'" or will they not repent? So this was the perfect time to choose repentance and to call out to God for forgiveness and mercy. That was the time. But it didn't happen, of course.

Verse 12 – And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: but they said, We will not come up; "We are not going to follow the instructions, we're just not going to. We're not going to do what you require." Isn't that an incredible attitude? What an attitude! "We will not follow the instructions you give us, Moses!"

Now they turned it back on to Moses. So now they're going to go justify themselves and blame Moses for their attitudes. Verse 13 – is it a small thing that you, Moses, have brought us up out of the land flowing of milk and honey. Isn't this incredible! They're saying that Egypt was a land flowing of milk and honey and that it was Moses' fault they're actually out there in the wilderness and now they're blaming Moses, saying, "Well, why did you bring us up out of this wonderful land of milk and honey?" Which is of course not true. They're self-deluded. They're justifying themselves, when the promise that God had given them, which we had read previously, was that God had promised them a land of milk and honey because He was taking them out of bondage!

Carrying on there in verse 13... to kill us in the wilderness, that you should keep acting like a prince/like a ruler over us? "You just keep bossing us around. That's all you keep doing," is what they're saying. We can tell this is not going to go well for them with this attitude, because this is an attitude of rebellion, and when there is a rebellion, sin, there is going to be a price paid.

Verse 14 – Moreover you, Moses, have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance in the fields, of the vineyards: will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up. What they're saying is, "Face it, Moses, you haven't produced any results from what you said you would do. Moses, you have to poke out our eyes for us to not see what's really going on! You're going to have to make us blind! We're fully aware of what's going on here!" In other words, they're making a judgment against Moses, which is against God, because now they're accusing Moses, saying, "Whatever thing you said...you said you're going to bring us up, give us the land of milk and honey...well, none of that's come true, and here we are! It's your fault, Moses!" And of course they don't realize that they're actually blaming God.

Verse 15 – Then Moses was very angry and said to the Eternal, Do not respect their offering. Now, what he was looking to say there was, "Well, these people will come up with what they consider an offering. Whatever they do towards you, give to you, don't respect it." And then Moses says, I, Moses, have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I hurt one of them. We can look at this, brethren, another way: Giving a holy day offering to God during this upcoming Holy Day season while we have unrepented sin is a worthless physical action because God wants repentance. He doesn't want the offering in the sense of whatever we give if we have sin. But if we have unrepented sin, we're in big trouble, because the offering is worthless. God requires us to repent, come before Him in humility and to give an offering, whatever we deem that we can give. God will not respect the offerings while we refuse to repent of our sins. God desires that we choose repentance.

Verse 16 – And Moses said to Korah, You and all your company, be present before the Eternal, you and they as well as Aaron.

Verse 17 – Let each take his censer and put incense in it, and each of you bring his censer before the Eternal; two hundred and fifty censers. Both you and Aaron, each with his censer. So every man took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it and stood at the door of the tabernacle of meeting with Moses and Aaron. And Korah gathered all the congregation against them at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Now, they're coming up to them with Moses and Aaron there, and like it says, they're coming up against them because they're coming up with an attitude, and this is a self-righteous attitude and one that is against God. It's actually a sin of rebellion.

Now, the glory of the Eternal appeared to all the congregation. God now has manifested an aspect of Himself, His glory, which we're not fully sure exactly what that was, and that has revealed that God is present there. And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. Well, if we look at this in another way, brethren, God has asked us to separate ourselves from sin. That's what the post was about. It's about examining ourselves, which we have done, and now we have to choose to separate ourselves from sin. We do this by admitting our sin and repenting before God, who will forgive us. And that's what's being required. Well, here we see God is saying, "Moses and Aaron, separate yourself from the congregation."  Well, they were in sin; they were in rebellion. So what is being said is, "Separate yourselves from this rebellious attitude. Separate yourselves."

Verse 22 – Then they, Moses and Aaron, fell on their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin and you be angry at all the congregation? So the LORD spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the congregation saying, Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan... examples of getting away from sin, brethren. We are to flee sin, we're to separate ourselves from sin, get away from sin and areas that would draw us into sin – flee those things.

Verse 25 – Then Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. And he spoke to the congregation, saying, Depart now from the tents of these wicked men; touch nothing of theirs lest you be consumed in all their sins. Well, we're not to associate, brethren, with sin, because that's what can lead us astray. Because once we start touching sin or things that lead to sin it can only be a path down to destruction unless we turn away from it and flee from it.

Don't be in fellowship with those that are in rebellion, is another way to look at it. We shouldn't be in fellowship. If we know someone is being rebellious within God's Church we should separate ourselves from them. We shouldn't associate with rebellious attitudes. And by now, brethren, we should have enough spiritual maturity to understand when somebody is in a rebellious attitude, that it is revealed by what they do, but more importantly what they say. Anybody that speaks against the 57 Truths in the sense of speaking against God, speaking against God's truth, speaking against God's ministry, we know there is a spirit of rebellion and we, if ever affronted with those situations, we should step forward and go against that rebellion by saying, "Well, I believe what you're saying is wrong. That's not what we teach. This is not what God has placed into the Church," for example. And if there is no repentance there or no change there, we should separate ourselves from them. We shouldn't touch or get involved in it, and that is for our own spiritual protection.

And here God is saying, "Depart from this area. Don't touch anything of theirs," because God's going to destroy it.

Verse 27 – So they got away from around the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram: and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the door of their tents with their wives, their sons, and their children.

Verse 28 – And Moses said, By this you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. God is the one who does the works in His people in His Church. This is God's Church and God works with the Church through Jesus Christ. And therefore what Moses is saying there is, "There is going to be proof provided to you that God has appointed me to this role. It's not something that I've taken to myself. I am actually working for God. I am doing God's will not my own will."

Verse 29 – If these men die naturally like men, or if they are visited by a common fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me. What he's saying is, well, if they just die naturally from a natural cause, of old age or an illness or something, well obviously God is not involved with Moses, God is not the one who appointed Moses, and God did not send Moses to do the role, to lead them into the promised land. But if the LORD creates a new thing and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the LORD. Now there was going to be proof. So, it's one way or the other. If this event did not take place as Moses had said and the earth did not open up and everything fall into there and they were going to be alive when it happened, then, if it didn't happen Moses was not of God...but if it did happen we would come to see and all the congregation would know that God had intervened and God had appointed Moses and it was God that was doing this.

Verse 31 – Now it came to pass as he finished speaking all these words that the ground split apart under them and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up; them and their households and all the men of Korah with all their goods.

Verse 33 – So they, and all those with them, went down alive into the pit and the earth closed over them and they perished from among the assembly. Well, brethren, similar for us. They were alive and they fell in alive and the earth crushed them and destroyed them; in other words, they were cut off from the land of the living. They were cut off from life. We can also be cut off, brethren. We can cut ourselves off from God. We can actually disfellowship ourselves because of our actions, because of unrepented sin. So this is what the lesson really is. There was a physical example here – on a spiritual level we need to be careful that we remain alive spiritually and that we don't cut ourselves off from God's spirit by unrepented sin. So we are to choose repentance.

And that's what this sermon is really about, is encouraging each and every one of us to choose repentance. Let's choose to go before God in humility and continue to repent every single day, not just on a fast day that we had last week, but every single day of our life, that we choose God, we desire God's way, and we choose repentance as a way of life, we choose correction as a way of life. It's the way we desire to live. We want to be corrected, we desire to have our natural carnal mind washed clean, and that God's mind dwells in us.

Verse 34 – Then all Israel who were around about them fled at their cry, for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. Well, this is a great example where when this happened people then had the fear of God because they saw what happened. Now we, brethren, can see, for example, when people decide to disfellowship themselves and leave God's Church it should bring us into an area of fear, that that could happen to us, because if we don't repent of sin that is the actual outcome. Because when people leave God's Church, when they leave fellowship with God, what they're really doing is they're not admitting what they really are. They are not repenting of sin.

Verse 35 – And a fire came down from the LORD and consumed two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense. Here it is; this is a worthless offering. They were there with their incense, burners, and they were doing what they had to do, that was commanded, and God consumed them because it was a worthless offering...and it was a worthless offering because of unrepented sin, because of their attitude, the attitude they had.

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Tell Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, to pick up the censers out of the blaze, (the 250), for they are holy (the censers), and scatter the fire some distance away (the censers of these men who sinned by their own choices, because they didn't choose to repent) against their lives, let them be made into hammered plates for a covering for the altar. So they weren't going to be used for incense burners anymore. They were going to be hammered into plates and they were going to cover the altar, around the altar, because they presented them before the LORD therefore they are holy, and they shall be a sign to the children of Israel. The children of Israel, when they saw this happen, it was to remind them of what is the consequence of rebellion. The consequence of rebellion, the consequence of sin, is death. The wages of sin is death.

Verse 39 – So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned up had presented, and they were hammered out as a covering on the altar: To be a memorial/a remembrance to the children of Israel, a 'type' of the Church of God, that no outsider, who is not a descendant of Aaron, should come near to offer incense before the LORD, that he might not become like Korah and his companions, just as the LORD had said to him through Moses. And this spiritually can be looked at. Well, we cannot choose to be in the ministry; it is something that God does. We can't be an outsider in the sense of raising ourselves up and saying, "Well, this is what I want." Church of God – we don't vote for leadership. It's God that chooses the leadership for His will and purpose.

Verse 41 – On the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron… well, it doesn't take long. It doesn't take long for people's attitudes to change. And we can fall into this, brethren, of this complaining or murmuring against 'Moses and Aaron,' which is God's appointed authority ...saying, You have killed the people of the LORD. Now another way to look at this would be, "You have disfellowshipped some of the people!" Same thing, because they've been cut off. So now there is a criticism coming back to the leadership for decisions that have been made.

Verse 42 – Now it happened, when the congregation had gathered against Moses and Aaron, an attitude that we are to be on guard against, an attitude that we can form against God ordained authority. Often history has shown within God's Church that not everybody always agrees with a particular ordination, and that is because we take it to ourselves to reason why we think the person is not worthy of that ordination and we forget that God raises up the ministry from associate elder all the way through for His will and purpose. And brethren, we don't fully always understand what God is doing through each and every ordination. We just simply do not know or understand – but we often think we do and therefore we judge God's servants in saying and thinking that we don't believe that that person should have been ordained or saying that we think we should be in another position of authority or this person shouldn't be and this person should have been ordained in place of this one. We are taking the role of God, we're placing ourselves into the position of God, we're making God's decisions for Him! Isn't that presumptuous of us to think that way? Isn't that sin to think that way? Because we're stepping up against God just as Lucifer did.

...that they turned towards the tabernacle of meeting: and suddenly a cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared. Then Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of meeting.

Verse 44 – And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying...

Verse 45 – Get away from among this congregation that I may consume them in a moment. So now there is going to be a consequence for the congregations murmuring against God's ordained authority ...and they fell on their faces. So Moses and Aaron now fall on their faces because they know...they know the outcome of what's going to happen – is that if there is rebellion, it's going to be put down. God will not stand for sin. God will not allow for sin to dwell and remain in the congregation, an unrepented sin.

Verse 46 – And so Moses said to Aaron, Take a censor and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from the Eternal; the plague has begun ...and the plague is death. The wages of sin, the wages of rebellion is death.

Verse 47 – Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded and ran into the midst of the assembly; and already the plague had begun among the people: so he put in the incense and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living so that the plague was stopped. So what he had done was that he had gone out, he had done as he was instructed, and as he saw there was people dead he stood between the dead and the living. Well, this is about two ways of life – one is unrepented sin, and to be alive is repenting, repentance. We know that the incense is symbolic of prayers going to God. So we, brethren, can pray on behalf of others, and that's what the posting encouraged us to do. It wasn't just about ourselves, but it was also about others. It was praying that God would remove those that have chosen not to repent, those that are in a spirit of rebellion and are going down that path, that we have asked God to remove them from the Body of Christ as quickly as possible, because the only thing they can do is damage. They can only do damage to more of God's people and it's far better that they are removed from the congregation because the only thing they can do is harm others on a spiritual level.

Verse 49 – Now those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand, seven hundred, besides those who died in the Korah incident.

Verse 50 – So Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle of meeting and the plague had stopped.

What does God require of us, brethren? Ezekiel 33. God requires us to choose repentance. That's what God requires of us. Ezekiel 33:10 – Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel, a 'type' of the Church of God, Thus you Israel say, If our transgressions and our sins lay upon us and we pine away in them, how can we then live? What they're saying is, "We are guilty! What will save us from the death penalty?"

Verse 11 – Say to them, As I, God, live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his ways, repent, change direction, and live. So if we look at this on a physical level God was saying, well, what He required was that people change the way that they thought, that they turn to God and His ways, they change direction and that they would live, physically. For us, brethren, on a spiritual level it's saying, well, God has no pleasure in the spiritual death of a person, of somebody that's sinned, but that the wicked, the sinner, turn from his ways, in other words, repent, think different, choose repentance, change direction and live spiritually! Stay connected to the vine! Stay within the Body of Christ! Stay in a relationship with God and His people. That's what God desires of us. Turn, turn from your evil ways; for why should you die, O house of Israel? God desires humility and repentance from us. God desires that we choose repentance at this time and seek a relationship with Him on a spiritual level.

Psalm 51:16 – For You, God, do not desire sacrifice, it's referring to animal sacrifices, or else I would give it. You do not delight in burnt offerings. It's talking about all the physical things that were required under the Levitical system.

Verse 17 – The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, and that word there is 'crushed,' a humble attitude, these, O God, You will not despise. God won't count them as worthless. What God requires from us is a change in our attitude. God requires us to repent in humility before Him, and of course the only way that we can repent is to be humble, because we have to lower ourselves, lower our opinion, and agree with God that God is right, that His way of living is right and seek Him, and that is humility, then we repent, we admit to God that we are wrong, that we have made error, that we have missed the mark. And from that we know that God has provided a way that upon that repentance, admitting our error, repenting before God that we've missed the mark, that we have not followed the instructions, that we have not obeyed His law in spirit and truth, that God says He will forgive us and that it will be forgiven and forgotten. We don't have to regurgitate it all the time and bring it up to God all the time. God says, no, we walk anew, we come up like a new man from baptism. Our sins are washed up clean and we can begin to walk anew, and we strive to change our thinking but we strive to change our actions as well...that is the beauty of repentance.

Luke 13:1 – This is a New King James version that I'm reading from. The title at the head, the heading of this Luke 13, is 'Repent or Perish.' There were present at that season some who told Him, Christ, about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled/mixed with their sacrifices. The people felt that the ones that had been killed had sinned more than other people. They had a wrong spiritual judgment, and what we can get from this is that we are not to judge with condemnation. We're not to judge others because things happen in people's lives, to think, "Wow! That happened in their life because of this sin, this great sin, and they're obviously sinning a lot more than what others are and so that's why it's happened." And Jesus answered and said to them, Do you suppose/Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the Galileans because they suffered such things? And this is human reasoning, because certain things happen to people's lives and then the human mind thinks, "Wow, they must have some really unrepented sin, that's why this is all happening to them!" But God is saying, "Well, no, do you think that the ones that this is happening to are worse sinners than the normal person that is out there?"

I, Christ, tell you, No: but, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Same outcome – death is going to happen.

Verse 4 – Or those eighteen, on whom the tower fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?

Verse 5 – I tell you, No: but, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Verse 6 – He also spoke this parable: A certain man had a fig tree, planted it in a vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. We can look at this on a spiritual level. Spiritually, God has called us, planted us into His field, into the Church of God, and He requires spiritual growth from each individual, each individual 'tree,' each individual person, but there is none. So there's no growth. It's the same as what is happening here in the example of this parable.

Verse 7 – Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and found none: cut it down; why does it use up the ground? "Why is it taking this space? It's not bearing any fruit. I've waited three years and nothing's happening! It's not giving any fruit. It's not bearing fruit, therefore, what's the point of it? Cut it down, remove it from the ground, the area that it's taking up. It's just simply taking up space!"

Verse 8 - But he answered and said to him… this is a sign of mercy …Sir, let it alone this year also, till I dig around it and fertilize it. It's going to be granted time to produce fruit. And brethren, can we see that God is requiring us to bear fruit and that what correction has been given to us of recent times is for the purpose of us producing more fruit, producing the way of God in us, in our thoughts, words, and actions? So this person here is saying, "Well, grant it more time." So God is showing more mercy to His Church and saying, "I'm giving time for repentance." Now is the time for repentance – Now is the time to choose repentance – Now is the time to produce fruit! We are given time to repent and change, to produce spiritual fruit. And if we look at what it was saying, what was being said there, the owner was saying, “Well, I've given it three years and it's simply just taking up space, nothing's being produced. It's not really giving anything.” But the other one is saying, “Well, hang on a minute, give it another year and I will dig around it.” Now, when it's being dug around, what is that, brethren, if you look at that on a physical level, what is it on a spiritual level? Well, it's about being corrected, getting its roots dug around, giving it a bit more air, giving it more fertilizer so that it can produce fruit.

Well, God has continued to dig around and fertilize His Church through the truth, through the power of His spirit. God has poured out His spirit and we should be able to see that, brethren, through the 57 Truths. We should be able to see that within God's Church! And we should, importantly, be able to see it in ourselves. Can we see how we have changed? Can we see what we were when we were first called to where we are today, what the difference is? Well, that is because the vinedresser has dug around us and has been fertilizing us with God's spirit. That's what's really been happening. And we've been given truth and we've had choices to make along the way and the choice that we've had to make is to accept correction and to repent and change.

Verse 9 – And if it bears fruit, well: but if not, after that you can cut it down. If we repent and desire to change, to think differently, we can grow and produce spiritual fruit, and if not we have to be cut down and removed. Well, that's what happens when disfellowshipment happens, brethren. Because often what actually really does happen is that we have unrepented sin in our life and we refuse to repent, we refuse to seek God's way of life in our thinking, and therefore, we simply die, and the best thing for us is to be cut down and removed from the ground, removed from the Church of God, because that is the best thing because there is no fruit being produced.

We'll now look at Romans 2:1 – Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, and that word is 'to criticise or condemn' anybody, for in whatever you judge another, whatever we criticize and condemn anyone else with you condemn yourself, we judge ourselves, for you who judge  practice such things. We are all guilty of sin but we shouldn't be out there judging other brethren or other people and condemning them with harsh judgment, because we are all guilty of the very same thing.

Verse 2 – But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth, according to righteousness, against those who practise such things. We are to judge ourselves on a spiritual level. And that's what repentance is about, judging ourselves, judging our own thinking, our own thoughts and actions.

Verse 3 – And do you think this, O man, you who judge, criticise and condemn, those practicing such things… generally based on our own standards, often, because the way that the human mind is that we set standards that are human standards rather than Godly standards or what God requires of a person... and doing the same… So if we're out there judging and criticising others for what we consider them to be doing – sinning – and we're doing exactly the same, it's actually a greater sin on our behalf because of the attitude we have of lifting ourselves up and looking down on others and imputing sin on to others. It's a greater sin, really. We're just the same. It says you're doing the same. We're becoming judges ...that you will escape the judgment of God? Do we think that we're going to get away with this self-righteous, judgmental attitude that we have, that we've developed, that we've chosen? Well, God's saying, no, we can't escape it, because the wages of sin is death. So what we have to do is repent of it.

Verse 4 – Or do you despise, and that is to look down on, the riches of His/God's goodness, His mercy, His forbearance, His great patience and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness/the mercy of God leads you to repentance? It's a gift of God. It's God that grants us repentance. And during this period that we've just covered, what God is doing is giving us the opportunity to choose repentance – it's a gift from God, that if we can just examine ourselves and humble ourselves as we have, that now from this point forward going up to Atonement where we humble ourselves again, that we continue to choose to repent, to reject our own selfishness and we choose God's way of life, God's way of living.

2 Peter 3:1 – Beloved, I now write this to you, this second epistle; in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder. We're to remember to fight the fight against our selfish nature. Peter is writing this epistle for the purpose of stirring them up in their thinking.

Verse 2 – That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior: Knowing this first, that scoffers/mockers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts, their own desires. Now this 'walking according to' – to walk a particular way of life is to have a mindset, to be able to think a particular way, then the action is to walk, to live a particular way of life. So it's saying here that first these mockers or these scoffers will come in the last days, which we're in, and they'll walk according to their own desires (verse 4) and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? Where is the promise of the return of Jesus Christ? ...for since the fathers all slept, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. In other words, "Nothing's changed. It's just going through a normal cycle, so where is the return of Jesus Christ? Where is the promise of the return of Jesus Christ?" And that's what they're saying. And God is saying when people do that they become scoffers and they're mocking. And there are scoffers and mockers that mock God's Church; there are, and they exist.

Verse 5 – For this they willingly forget, now, this is the problem of the human mind, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: by which the world that then existed perished being flooded with water. Now we understand, brethren, that there were two periods that it could refer to. It's referring possibly there to the flood of Noah's time, but previously, there was an earth standing out of the water that God had made, and of course Lucifer and the angels were looking after that particular environment, and because of the sin, it was once again flooded with water, a complete covering. And you can read that, of course, the outcome, and then you see God refashioning the earth in Genesis 1. But here it's also referring to the fact that there was a period of time when the flood happened and God destroyed everything in that period but eight.

Verse 7 – But the heavens and the earth, which are now preserved by the same word, the word of God, God's very power, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition – destruction for ungodly men. And what it's referring to there is the second death. There is a time that there is going to be a time of fire where God is saying the earth is reserved for that period. This is set. It's something that's going to happen, and it's a day of judgment, a day of destruction for ungodly, those that refuse to repent.

Verse 8 – But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the LORD one day is a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.

And now it goes on and refers back to the scoffers and the mockers who are willingly forgetting. Verse 9 – The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some count slackness, that's human reasoning, but is longsuffering toward us… it's God's great patience in His great plan... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Now, God is patient. God's plan reveals His great patience towards mankind. The fact that He has allowed a period of 6,000 years for man to operate, to produce, reveals God's great patience. But He has a plan for mankind and that will begin to be revealed soon at the return of Jesus Christ, the beginning of God's intervention into man's life. It's a wonderful time, the return of Jesus Christ. But the mockers and the scoffers will say, "Well, where is that promise? Everything is continuing on as normal." And they're forgetting God's plan, that God has a purpose and a plan. The reason things are continuing on as they are is because it's exactly to God's plan, to His will and purpose.

Romans 6:12 – Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, rule our thinking, rule our thoughts, that you should obey it in its lusts. Because that's what it is, it's about those desires that we have, and we are to discipline our thoughts. We are to be transforming our mind, the way that we think.

Verse 13 – And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin… it's talking about our thoughts, words, and actions. We're not to present them for unrighteousness – don't allow that – don't give into sin, the "I think..." attitude or "I believe..." or "I will..." attitude… but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, spiritually alive, from dead works, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God, obedience to God and God's government, God governing our lives by the power of His holy spirit.

Verse 14 – For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law… we're not under the death penalty anymore based on repentance… but under grace… we're under God's mercy. We can be forgiven of sin by repentance because of the very death and sacrifice of our Passover, Jesus Christ. Isn't it a wonderful plan? Because when we understand sin, and it's only through God's Church that we can actually come to see what sin is, once that has been revealed to us by God's great power (and that God's Church teaches what sin is, which is anything that is in opposition to God's way of life – the sin of rebellion – which is anything that goes against God, God's thinking) we then have the opportunity to humble ourselves and come before God in repentance, that very gift of repentance that He has granted us. And once we come to God in repentance, God says in His great mercy He will forgive us, because that's what God desires. God desires that we repent, that we come to Him, and admit our error and our fault.

1 John 1:5 – And this is the message/promise which we have heard from Him/from God and declare to you, that God is light/God is truth… God's way is truth… and in Him/God is no darkness. There is no sin, no falsehood at all, there is nothing. There is nothing false within God.

Verse 6 – If we say that we have fellowship with Him/with God, that we're in a relationship with God, that we know Him and we are in a fellowship – in other words in unity with God, if we say these things, and walk in darkness, if we walk in sin or falsehood, we lie. It's straightforward; we're not. So if we have an unrepented sin and then we walk around saying that we have fellowship with God, we're in God's Church, and we have this unrepented sin, we lie and we do not practice the truth. We don't live God's way of life. We don't live God's way of thinking because we're holding on to this sin that we have. We're unwilling to repent of it. We have to practice the truth; to practice it is to live it. We are to live God's way of life.

Verse 7 – But if we walk in the light/if we walk in the truth, as He is in the light/as God is in the light, we have fellowship, a spiritual relationship with one another. What it's saying is we're in unity of God, we're in unity with God, with God's people, with God's Church, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, is cleansing us from all sin. It's an ongoing process. And because it's cleansing us of all sin, it's because of our repentance, the gift that God has given us to repent.

We are being atoned to God by our repentance. Our minds are being refreshed, renewed, because of this great power that God has to change our thinking – which is what a calling is all about.

Verse 8 – If we say that we have no sin, or have acted selfishly in any way, we deceive ourselves. In other words, we cannot see our natural carnal mind. That's what the problem is - we're self-deceived. If we say we don't have any sin at all and that we've gone a period of time where we have not sinned or stood up against God or rebelled against God in any way in thought, word, or deed, we deceive ourselves. We fail to see spiritually...which is a terrible thing! ...and the truth, God's thinking, God's way of being is not in us. That's if we say we have no sin, we don't have God's spirit. Because with God's spirit we can see that our natural carnal mind is hostile to God, and it's by God's power that He has given us that we see ourselves, we see our selfishness, we see what we do, we understand the things that we do by nature that are against God, and with God's spirit we can see it, and when we identify it we then can repent.

Verse 9 – If we confess our sins, in other words, agree that we have sinned, which is an ongoing process that we continually agree that we have sinned, He/God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, to cleanse us from sin. This is the new covenant, the new testament agreement. That's what it's about. The new testament was that we can be cleansed, we can have our sins forgiven, and we don't need animal sacrifices to do it. It's by God's great mercy and love towards us that He can grant us forgiveness of our sins.

Verse 10 – If we say we have not sinned, we make Him/God a liar and His Word, His mind, His thinking, His power, His holy spirit is not in us.

1 John 2:1 – My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin… we may not have this desire to sin. If anyone sins, which we all do, we have an advocate/a comforter with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And He Himself/Jesus Christ is a propitiation/atoning sacrifice for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the whole world… because they're all going to have that opportunity at some point in time when they're called into a relationship with God and they're granted the gift of repentance. They will also have the propitiation, or the atoning for our sins. They're going to be granted that opportunity to seek God and to know God and to see themselves, and therefore, granted the gift of repentance and come before God in repentance.

Sin can be forgiven and forgotten when we choose to repent, admit our sins. And that's what mankind will be called to at some point in time, but we've been called to it now. Jesus Christ makes it possible for God to dwell in us because sin is covered for us. And the Day of Atonement reveals that very process.

Verse 3 – Now by this we know… we have this boldness… that we know Him, we know God, we know God the Father, if we keep His, God's, commandments. God says in other parts of scripture, 'If you love Me keep My commandments.' Sin is simply when we fail to love, when we fail to love God, and we fail to love our neighbour. And who is our neighbour? Every other human being is our neighbour.

Verse 4 – He who says, I know Him, he who says I have a relationship with God, I understand God, and does not keep His commandments is not obedient to the spiritual intent of the law, the 10 Commandments, is a liar! And a liar is a sinner, and the truth, God's thinking, is not in him. Because if we go around saying that we know God and we are breaking the law, God's law, in the way of any part of God's law, it is rebellion. We are a liar if we say we have a relationship and we have unrepented sin. It's not true. It's not possible.

Verse 5 – But whoever keeps His word, obeys, truly, and that is 'indeed,’ this is the proof, so this is obedience to God's law in spirit in truth, is proof that the love of God/God's thinking is perfected/is fulfilled in him. It's completed in him. In other words, God is doing the works in the person. By this, by this obedience to God's law, we know that we are in Him. We're in unity with God because it's God that does the works in us by the power of His spirit. So when we can look at ourselves and examine ourselves: Are we in obedience to God, to God's government, to God's authority? Are we subject to God's will in our life? Is obedience to God's law in spirit and in truth our intent? And if we are and we can examine ourselves, well, this is the proof that God's spirit dwells in us.

Verse 6 – He who says he abides in Him, dwells in God, continues in God's way of thinking, ought himself also to walk just as He walked. So there's the proof, brethren, because if God's in us we will live truth to others, we will live God's way towards others, we'll live God's way towards mankind. We are to walk just as Christ walked - anyone who claims to be in God or to live the same kind of life Jesus Christ lived, which is love, love towards others.

Drop down to verse 9 – He who says he is in the light, the truth, the way of God, the thinking of God, and hates his brother is in darkness, is in sin, until now, until that very present moment. So if we have any ill will towards anybody we are actually in sin. We have an unrepented sin. Failing to love – if we fail to love anybody – is sin, because failing to love is hate, hating his brother.

We cannot hold any ill will to anyone. If we do have or hold any ill will to anyone we need to choose repentance and flee from this sinful, spiritual attitude. Because it is an attitude, and when we examine ourselves in that, brethren, we'll see it's driven by pride because we think we're better than somebody else. We must reflect and live God's love at all times to everyone. If we fail to do so at any time we can ask God for mercy and go to God in repentance and seek God's mercy and God will forgive us if we have ever failed to love and whenever we do fail to love.

Now, we are guaranteed one thing going forward from this very sermon - there are going to be times when we fail to love...because the natural carnal mind just doesn't love others. It tries to elevate itself to make itself better and it will criticize and look down and condemn others. That is nature. That is man's way of thinking. That is selfishness. But God is saying, well, that's not what we choose, and we don't desire it, but it will happen. It does happen in our thinking. Well, we are so blessed that we can go to God and admit it, we can admit our own selfishness, and we can admit our pride before God and ask God to provide His spirit so that we don't think that way going forward.

Verse 10 – He who loves his brother abides in the light, truth, mercy, we have God's mind, and there is no cause for stumbling, no sin, in him.

Verse 11 – But he who hates, fails to love his brother is in the darkness… we're in sin… and walks or lives in darkness. We live, that's the way we live towards others because we have that mindset, and does not know, in other words, don't see spiritually, where he is going. Because it will lead to death if it's unrepented of, because the darkness/the sin has blinded his eyes. We can't see ourselves. Without God's spirit, we cannot see ourselves. We cannot see our sin.

Verse 12 – I write to you, little children, you, brethren, because your sins are forgiven you for His/Christ's name sake. So this is a message from John to new members of the Body of Christ, saying, "Well, because your sins are forgiven because of Christ, at baptism an ongoing repentance from that point is required." I write to you, fathers, older brethren, because you have known Him/known God from the beginning, the beginning of our calling. I write to you, young men, spiritually younger, because you have overcome the wicked one. We've overcome Satan. I write to you, little children, because you have known the Father. We started a spiritual relationship with God the Father. We are starting to get to know God, to know God's ways, and that no matter how long we are in the Church we will never fully come to know all of God's ways. We start with a calling. We begin to see ourselves, how different we are from what the way God says we should be; but to really see God, to fully know God, is something that is going to take a lifetime and a spiritual lifetime.

Verse 14 – I have written to you, fathers, because you have known Him/God from the beginning, the beginning of our calling. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, strong in God's way, and the Word of God abides in you. God's thinking dwells in you! You have God's spirit ...and you have overcome the wicked one, overcome Satan, which is an ongoing process which is based on the choice to repent. Whether or not we have chosen to repent or not is whether or not we are overcoming.

Verse 15 – Do not love, do not desire the world or the things in the world. We shouldn't desire Satan's system or standards. We shouldn't desire sin. We shouldn't love it in the sense of desiring to have it fill our life, to fill our thinking. If anyone loves/desires the world/the sin of the world, the love/the agape, the thinking of God the Father is not in him. So it is black and white. It's either we are thinking like God and hate sin or we don't. We're thinking more like Satan and taking a temporary pleasure from that sin.

What is being said is if we don't have God's spirit dwelling/living in us, we cannot love God and we cannot love our neighbour. It's also saying is that our number one priority is not the world and the world's way. We should have God as our number one priority. And that's what it's about. We either prefer sin, Satan's system, or we prefer righteousness, God's way of thinking.

Verse 16 – For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, these desires that is in the natural carnal mind, the lust of the eyes, what comes through the eyes into the mind, and the pride of life, that pride that lifts up thinking that we're better than others and we'll judge and condemn others – selfishness – is not of the Father but is of the world, because it's a way of sin, a way of get, which is in complete opposition, is opposing God – because it's the way of get, whereas God is the way of give.

Verse 17 – And the world is passing away… it's destroying itself, it's imploding in on itself, sin upon sin, and it's just destroying itself… and the lust of it… it's selfishness, it's desires… but he who does the will of the Father abides forever. We desire to obey God. We desire to repent of sin. We desire to think differently. And God promises that His will, which is what we desire, is that there is an opportunity to have life-everlasting. It will abide forever.

Verse 18 – Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that anti-Christ is coming, even now many anti-Christ have come… this is back in the days of John… by which we know that it is the last hour. Well, more so for us, brethren. We know that anti-Christ has come, and we'll look at that in a little bit more detail.

Those that are against Christ by refusing to repent, refusing to allow God and Jesus Christ dwell in them, are anti-Christ. I personally have known hundreds of people that are now anti-Christ. That's what God says; they are now anti-Christ. Everyone since the Day of Pentecost 31 AD that had God's spirit dwelling in them at some point in time, that were once in unity of doctrine, unity of spirit, in unity with the present truth, but has decided to turn against the truth, turn against God and Jesus Christ, has become anti-Christ.

Verse 19 – They, those that are working against Christ, went out from us, so they that were part of the Body of Christ - they have now left fellowship with God and God's Church, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest, by God, it's God that makes manifest someone that is anti-Christ, that none of them were with us. They were cut off from God's spirit at that time. At some point, they had it and now they've been cut off from the flow of God's spirit which makes them anti-Christ because they leave fellowship with God, and God and Jesus Christ can no longer dwell in them. They become anti – against – Christ.

Verse 20 – But you have an anointing from the holy one… we've had hands layed on us which has provided us the gift of God's spirit… and you know all things, and it's talking about know the truth, see spiritual knowledge, have spiritual understanding by the power of God's spirit. It's not that we know everything of God, but we know the way of God, we do understand aspects of God's plan, and we know God's ways....and it is about fighting sin.

Verse 21 – I have not written to you because you do not know the truth… we know the truth, brethren, in God's Church. That's what God's Church teaches. ...but because you know it… we understand it, brethren, we've been given spiritual insight into it by God's great power ...and that no lie is of the truth. And that is a wonderful statement. No lie is of the truth. Now, that's how we can easily handle matters in life – if we can just take that on board ourselves – and I've used it in my life because that's how sometimes we have to make judgments. No lie, nothing that is false, is of God, is of the truth. So we look at Christmas, Easter, all these different days of Satan, we can see it's a lie, it's all based on a lie, it's all false, therefore, it's not of God, and it has nothing to do with God because it has got nothing to do with the truth.

Verse 22 – Who is a liar… it's a question ...but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? We deny that Jesus Christ is living and dwelling in us, and we do that by unrepented sin. If we deny Jesus Christ the ability, and God the Father the ability, to dwell in us, live in us, to do good works through God's power, we deny Jesus Christ in our life. He is anti-Christ, if we do that, if we have unrepented sin – because unrepented sin is what causes us to deny Jesus Christ… he is anti-Christ who denies the Father and the Son, and it could be added, ‘from dwelling in them.’ If we refuse to repent of sin, we deny Christ, we refuse to allow God's spirit to work in our thinking, we cut ourselves off from the flow of God's spirit, and therefore, we cannot do good works. It's impossible because everything would be done by our own strength, our own ability, our own power.

If we do not repent of sin, we become anti-Christ. We are working against Christ. Now sometimes it can be very difficult for us to accept that somebody that leaves the fellowship of God's Church, whether they're disfellowshipped because of the sin that is in the Church that is unrepented of and they have to be put out of the body by the ministry, or whether somebody disfellowships themselves by writing or whatever and they say, "Well, I no longer want to be associated or am in fellowship with the Church of God – PKG." Either way, doesn't make any difference; they are now anti-Christ. Anybody that has had God's spirit and refuses to repent and leaves God's Church, whether put out by the ministry or leaves on their own accord, they have become anti-Christ. God the Father and Jesus Christ can no longer dwell in them, and therefore, they are working against Christ. They're working against God's purpose, which is to create Elohim.

Verse 23 – Whoever denies the Son, and we deny the Son by refusing to repent of sin, does not have the Father either, because it's impossible because God the Father and Jesus Christ are at one, complete unity of the way they think, the way they are. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. So if we allow Christ to live in our life, we allow God the Father to live in our life, and we acknowledge and accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins.

Verse 24 – Therefore, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning… what did we hear from the beginning from God's Church? We heard the truth, the Word of God, the thinking of God. That's what we have heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, God's Word, truth, God's thinking, you also will abide/continue in the Son and in the Father.

Verse 25 – And this is the promise that He has promised us, eternal life.

Verse 26 – These things I write to you concerning those who try to deceive you, those who try to lead you astray, because this is what happens often when we have people in God's church and they have a particular attitude that they choose and they refuse to repent of the sin, they refuse to allow God and Jesus Christ to govern their life, they try to deceive others and get a following, basically. And the term there, really, is 'to deceive you.’ They try to get a following in the sense of not just starting up another organization and having a big following, but they try to get a person to follow their attitude, to get a 'following,' someone that agrees with them, to follow them out of a relationship with God and His Church.

Verse 27 – But the anointing which you have received from Him, God the Father, God's spirit, abides in you and you do not need that anyone teach you; and this is often being misinterpreted. It's really talking about we don't need anyone to be teaching us anything different than the way that God has taught us in His Church. So it's not about anybody in the ministry teaching you, and that you don't need to learn anything new. It's really referring back to the previous one about people trying to teach something that's different than what God's Church has already taught. There is nothing different that we should be listening to. God has placed truth in the Church. There is no need that anyone else come up and try to expand or minimize God's truth. What has been placed in the Church is what has been placed in the Church; we're not to add to or take away from what God has placed in the Church through our own reasoning or our own decisions. And that's what it's referring to, that we don't need anyone else to teach us something different than what God has taught us.

...but as the same anointing, God's spirit, teaches you concerning all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it is taught you, you will abide in Him. So if we stay in unity of doctrine, we dwell in God, we dwell in the thinking, the power of God - we have God's spirit.

1 John 3:4 – Whoever commits/practices sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

Verse 5 – And you know that He/Christ was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him/in Christ there is no sin.

Verse 6 – Whoever abides in Him does not sin. We don't practice or continue in sin because we are in unity with God and Jesus Christ. Whoever sins/Whoever practices or continues in sin has neither seen Him nor known Him, because if we had known God and we know God's ways we will be repenting, we will not be practicing sin, we will not be continuing in sin, because the moment we see it, we repent of it.

Verse 7 – Little children, let no one deceive you; he who practices/lives righteousness keeps the law, God's law. God's law is righteous. God is righteous. So anybody who obeys God's law in spirit and in truth is practicing righteousness, is righteous. That's what God says. A person that keeps and obeys God's law, He accounts them as righteous, just as He/Jesus Christ is righteous.

Verse 8 – He who sins, practices and continues in sin, is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifest that He might destroy the works of the devil, to cover sin.

We overcome sin by the gift of repentance and by God and Jesus Christ dwelling in us. It is a gift, brethren; repentance is a gift.

Verse 9 – Whoever has been born/begotten of God does not sin. Now, this can be read in another way also, on a spiritual level. 'Whoever is born of God who enters Elohim does not sin,' because God cannot sin. So once a person is born in as a spirit being into the Family of God, they will not sin, and His/God's seed remains in Him, because that's what it's about. It's about taking on the mind of God. ...and he cannot sin because he has been born/begotten of God. So there are two parts to this. One is entering Elohim as a spirit being. There is no sin. God is not sin. God cannot sin. There is no falsehood, no lie, and therefore, a person as an individual made as Elohim will not sin because he is born of God; he is god. The other part of this on another spiritual level while in the flesh is that if we're begotten of God, have God's spirit dwelling in us, God's spirit doesn't sin. It's the natural carnal mind that sins. So if we have God's spirit dwelling in us, we won't sin, but the times that we let down and we have our human nature, our selfishness take over, we sin.

Verse 10 – In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest; whoever does not practice righteousness, anyone who does not obey God, does not obey the 10 Commandments, does not follow God's government in His Church, does not believe the 57 Truths, is not of God, nor is he/she who does not love his/her brother/sister, and really what it's saying is that if we have ill will, brethren, we can't be of God because God is love, and by the power of God's spirit we learn to love our neighbour.

Verse 11 – For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. So it is about the way we think towards others. We either love our neighbour, we love members of the Body of Christ and we think love to them, we act love to them, we live love to them, or we fail to love. And it's straightforward, it is black and white. We either love or we fail to love.

Let's look at Ezekiel 18:30 – Therefore I/God will judge you, O house of Israel, and we can say that is the Church of God today, every one according to his ways… it's the way we are individually. So this judgment is an individual matter ...says the Lord GOD. Repent, turn, turn back, think differently, and turn from all your transgressions, your sins, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. So brethren, we are to choose repentance, and if we don't choose repentance and we don't turn back, it will be our ruin on a spiritual level.

Verse 31 – Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, all the rebellion, all the sin that we have, and get/make yourselves a new heart, a new inner attitude that we need, and a new spirit, and that new spirit, it comes from God. It is God's spirit. So it's talking about choosing an attitude, a way of submitting, a desire to have God dwell in us. It's a new heart, a new inner attitude and a new spirit from God. God says He will provide His holy spirit to us. That's where it will come from. And God says, For why should you die, O house of Israel. So why should we die spiritually? Why should we wither on the vine, brethren, when we can choose repentance?

Verse 32 – For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies. God doesn't want to see us wither and die. He doesn't want to take that vine and dig it up. He wants it to bear fruit.

So on a spiritual level we have to decide whether we want to be anti-Christ or not, and we have a choice at this very point. And that is part of the point of this particular fast that we've just completed and this Holy Day season we're going into – What is our choice? What is our choice in life? On a spiritual level do we want to choose to obey God and submit to Him or don't we?

Verse 32 again...For I/God have no pleasure in the death of one who dies, says the LORD God: therefore turn and live. And that's what God asks – He asks us to choose to repent.

We are a family and we are to actively love one another in God's Family. There is no place in the Family or in that expression of love towards others that ever reflects jealousy, envy, resentment, finding fault, a judgmental spirit towards others, being offended, forsaking fellowship, etc.

Brethren, we have choices everyday of the way we think, and by God's spirit, by God's power, we can think differently than the way our natural carnal mind is, and we can choose not to be envious, not to be jealous, not to have resentment, not to find fault in others but rather finding fault in ourselves. We should judge ourselves and not have a spirit of judgment towards others, and we shouldn't be offended by what somebody may say. Why would we be offended?

Forsaking fellowship is another aspect – why would we want to forsake assembling before God and being with God's people, people of like-mind.

More of the post....

"How much do we truly love one another and desire to be close to one another?"

So that is each and every one of us, can look at that, and continue to examine ourselves during this Holy Day season coming up. How much do we really desire to be with each other and desire to love one another? And to love one another is to sacrifice the self. Let's put ourselves out to the benefit of others. Let's deny our self for the benefit of others. Let's sacrifice the self for the benefit of others.

If you'd like to turn to 2 Corinthians 6:14 – Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers… this is talking about a spiritual connection, and if we look at the term 'unequally yoked' it's referring back to when you had two oxen that were going to be used to plow in the field, and if one was a different height than the other they were unequally yoked. It couldn't work together. They couldn't pull together because it was unequally yoked. In other words, you can't join the two together. So it reads, Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Why? For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? Or another way to put that, what fellowship, what sharing has righteousness? What sharing has God's way with lawlessness, with Satan's way, and what communion, what fellowship, what association has light with darkness? Well, we know, brethren, there isn't any, so what communion – that word is actually, what 'fellowship,' what 'association' has truth with error, with sin? None. They do not mix. They cannot share as they are opposite to each other. They are unequally yoked. They can't be joined together. So this is also referring to how we shouldn't be around an environment of sin because that will lead us away from God.

Verse 15 – And what accord has Christ with Belial? And it's saying there, 'Well, what agreement has Jesus Christ with Satan?' What has righteousness to do with wickedness – or what part has a believer, someone who is faithful, with an unbeliever, with someone that is unfaithful? Well, we can't be yoked, and we know that from experience, brethren, that we can't talk to somebody on a spiritual level when somebody does not believe what God has placed into our minds. They can't believe it because God is not with them. So we can't be yoked together in the sense on a spiritual level.

Verse 16 – And what agreement has the Temple of God with idols? So what is our mind with God's spirit have to do with anything false? Nothing! For you are the Temple of the living God as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among or in them and I will be their God and they shall be My people. What it's really referring to is that we should flee any sin or any environment of sin. And that's a choice we have, that we shouldn't be fellowshipping or sharing with anything that involves sin or that is associated or an environment of sin – we should flee it.

Verse 17 – Therefore, because of this, come out from among them, from among them, the unbelievers, and be separate, because we are, brethren, we are separate, says the Eternal. We're to think differently.

Do not touch, and if you look at the word 'touch' there, it's 'to handle' in our thinking, really. So we're not to touch it. We're not to handle it in our thinking, go down that path. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. So we should not be associated with sin or environments of sin.

Verse 18 – I will be a Father to you and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. So this is saying about a condition. This is actually God's conditional love, because God cannot love us if we dwell in sin, so the condition of God dwelling in us is that we flee sin and we don't handle sin and don't be yoked or associated with sin or sinful environments. We are to separate ourselves from sin and then God can love us by dwelling in us.

2 Corinthians 7:1 – Therefore, having these promises, which we have just read about, about God dwelling in us, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit… we're to flee sin… perfecting holiness in the fear of God. And we do that by repentance. So we flee sin by repentance, by avoiding those things that are sin in the sense of physical things, associating with them, but more importantly in the spirit, in our thinking, that we can flee all filthiness in our minds and we do that by repentance because God will forgive us.

Verse 2 – Open your hearts/your inner thinking to us; we have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one. I do not say this to condemn, to pull down, for I have said before that you are in our hearts… they were thinking of them all the time. Their inner thinking was their concern for the Corinthians, to die together and to live together. What he's referring to there is to sacrifice the self together. We're in this together, to live spiritually by allowing God to dwell in us.

Great is my boldness in speech towards you, great is my boasting on your behalf: I am filled with comfort, I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation, all the afflictions that he was suffering, that Paul was suffering, he was saying, “Well, I was doing that for a reason and we're sharing this together.”

Verse 5 – For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; outside were conflicts, inside were fears. They were uncertain about what environments they were going to have to deal with. Nevertheless God who comforts the downcast comfort us by the coming of Titus.

Verse 7 – And not only by his coming but also by the consultation with which he was comforted in you, and now what he's saying was he was comforted because of what he saw within the Corinthians. It's very encouraging when we see repentance ...when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your repentance, your zeal for me… they were wanting and desiring to follow Paul. They were desiring to want to hear from Paul, God's servant, so that I rejoiced even more. Paul rejoiced before God when he heard that the Corinthians had sorrowed to repentance on a spiritual level, because that's what it's about, repentance on a spiritual level – not just words. There were actions, Godly repentance.

Verse 8 – For even if I/Paul made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it, because this letter that he had written had triggered repentance towards God – that's what the important part was – though I did regret it. In other words, he was saying that he knew that he had to do it, that it was needed, but he would have preferred not to have to have written it that way. He preferred that he wasn't the one that would have to tell them of their sin, to reveal sin to them ...for I perceived that the same epistle made you sorry/disappointed, though only for a while, so it was only temporary.

Verse 9 – Now I rejoice, and this is "I'm glad! I rejoice in God!" because there is a beauty in repentance, brethren. When we see repentance, it is a beautiful thing, when we see someone that has godly sorry, true repentance towards God ...not that you were made sorry but that your sorrow led to repentance… they turned back to God, they learned to hate sin more in themselves, they hated what they were doing, they saw their sin. ...for you were made sorrow in a godly manner, true spiritual repentance, that you might suffer loss for us in nothing, for godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted! We should not regret repentance. We should take a joy in repentance, the fact that God in His mercy has revealed sin to us and that we repent. There's a joy in that because now we come back into fellowship with God and we allow God's spirit to dwell in us. It's a beautiful thing!

...not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world, selfishness and self-pity, produces death. So here it is: godly sorrow, repentance, leads to salvation. That's the purpose of why we have been called into the Church, which is a continual process of repentance, godly sorrow, and what does it lead to? It leads to Elohim if we stay on that path.

If you'd like to turn to Luke 15:1 and we'll conclude today here. And this is about repentance. Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him/Christ to hear Him. And the Pharisees and the scribes complained, they murmured, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them, because the way that Christ was He was mixing with all, and the Pharisees in their self-righteousness were saying, "Look, He's associating with those sinners!" And therefore they were judging Christ.

Verse 3 – So He spoke this parable to them saying, What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? That was the question He put to them. And when he had found it he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing, and that is 'glad, joyful, a very thankful attitude,' and it's referring, of course, to someone that repents. And Christ is using a physical example here to point to something spiritual. And when he comes home he calls together his friends and his neighbours saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost! Isn't that incredible? The beauty of finding that one, the joy of just finding the one.

Verse 7 – I say to you that likewise, there will be more joy in heaven, in the spirit realm, over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. So God is pointing here that there is great joy when repentance comes from the heart and the humility of a person, because they come back into a relationship with God.

Verse 8 – Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it she calls her friends and neighbours together saying, Rejoice with me, and this is referring to the Body, really, the Body of Christ. We should rejoice at repentance ...for I have found the piece that was lost.

Verse 10 – Likewise I say to you, There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. God rejoices at a person's repentance. We should rejoice at our own repentance, the fact that God has given us the gift of repentance, the fact that we can actually see our sin and that we can repent of it. We should be joyous. And God says He rejoices at repentance because when a person repents, they humble themselves, and now, of course, because of repentance, God can now live and dwell in them. That's a wonderful thing, the beauty of repentance, brethren!

The most exciting time in a converted person's life is when God grants us or anybody else repentance. And I often think about when somebody new comes into the Body of Christ, when God calls somebody out of the world to come into fellowship with His people, it is such an exciting day the first day that person walks in to fellowship. And why it's so exciting is because they have been granted repentance, the ability to see themselves, the ability to see God's plan of salvation!

How beautiful is repentance!

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1. Important Fast

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