Living Wisdom – Pt. 2

Wayne Matthews

October 5, 2013

Welcome, everybody, to another Sabbath. The title of this sermon is Living Wisdom – Part 2.

In Part 1 we established that God is the author of all knowledge, all spiritual knowledge as well. We established that spiritual knowledge, and spiritual understanding, and true wisdom, can only come from God, and it comes from God through a government structure, and therefore, true knowledge and spiritual knowledge comes from God through His Church. And then it is by the power of God's spirit that true spiritual understanding is given, and the ability to live wisdom is by the power of God's spirit. God's spirit is what communicates spiritual knowledge, spiritual understanding, and empowers the ability for someone to live wisdom, the ability to live love.

We saw that knowledge itself does not change a person. We established that we must first come to understand the knowledge given then we are to act on it by implementing it into our life. One of the main lessons we come to learn from being part of God's Church is that knowledge of and by itself is not enough.

The purpose of this sermon is to look at how we can apply and live spiritual knowledge which God has given to us. So let's pick up the sermon again... and we will pick it up in Proverbs 8:9.

Proverbs 8:9 – and it's referring to God's word and God's word is wisdom – They, the words of God, are all plain… they're all straight… to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge. We start to find knowledge once we are called; we need a calling from God. God needs to call us out of this world to draw us into a relationship with Him and into a relationship with God's people. We are drawn into the Body of Christ, and of course, once we are baptized and we have hands layed on us, we then have the power to understand knowledge. Then we start to understand the knowledge, that spiritual knowledge we are given, and we understand why it is true... and it is plain to us. It is plain to our thinking while God's spirit dwells in us. Now, when God's spirit is not in us it is not plain. God's words, God's way of living, the things that God reveals by the power of His spirit, if we don't have God's spirit, it is no longer plain to us. It is no longer straight. But if we do not have God's spirit, the truth is not clear, not understandable, and therefore, it cannot be lived.

Verse 10 – Receive/Take away My instruction/My correction. So God's word, His instructions is all about correction, because we are born with a natural carnal mind that needs adjusting. It needs correcting, because of and by ourselves we think pride; we are pride. And therefore God is saying here, 'receive My instruction.' Well, if we receive God's instruction, it's about a lifetime of correction, and not silver… it's not about the physical things of life… and knowledge, God's knowledge, rather than choice gold. God sets His word as our priority in our life, and that's what we need to do. We need to establish that God's word, God's correction, God's instructions, God's commandments in our life is what is our number one priority, and if we have a different priority and seek the physical things of life, well, God will leave us. He will take His spirit from us because we have not set out to seek God. We don't desire to have this wisdom, the very mind of God.

Verse 11 – For wisdom, spiritual thinking, the ability to think like God, is better than rubies… it is better than anything that is physically available to mankind. And all the things one may desire cannot be compared to her. Nothing can be compared to having the mind, the thinking of God. Wisdom has great value because it is all about the way of thinking, the way of thinking like God; and this spirit that God has provided, this ability to think like God, wisdom, is the only way that leads to spirit life. Because if we don't learn to live wisdom, live the way God instructs us to live through the power of His spirit, we cannot be given an everlasting life.

Verse 12 – I, wisdom, dwell/abide with prudence, and find out knowledge and discretion, purpose and intent. So it is by wisdom that we can work out what life is about. We can work out what the purpose of life is, and we understand that the purpose of life is to change the way we think from a natural carnal mind. By God's power we change our thinking to think like God. We begin to understand God's way of life and we begin to live it by implementing His instructions, His correction to our thinking into our life. By wisdom we know that we have a natural, selfish, carnal mind; we understand that. By wisdom we understand God's plan of salvation, and by this power, this understanding that God has given us, this spiritual understanding, we then observe the commands. Leviticus 23, we understand it. We begin to implement it into our life, and therefore, we keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days. By wisdom we know what sin is and we understand the penalty of sin. With this knowledge and understanding we then strive to live God's way of life.

Verse 13 – The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. So God is saying there that the fear of God is when we begin to start to learn how to hate evil. Now, we begin to see evil in ourselves, which is sin in ourselves, and we begin to see that pride and arrogance and an evil way, an evil way of thinking. Anything that raises itself up against God's way of life is sin. It is evil. 'And a perverse mouth…’ Anything that comes out of our mouth that destroys or hurts, God says He hates it.

If we fear God and respect God, we will strive to obey Him, and to obey God is to learn to hate sin. We will hate sin, more importantly, within ourselves. That's what life is about. We have to come to fear God by hating evil that is in ourselves. Wisdom is to hate sin in ourselves and every evil thought. Now, when we're living wisdom we are actually fighting the fight in our thinking. We are casting down those thoughts that come into our mind that we know (by God's power in us), that we know they are wrong thoughts. It is wrong thinking, and therefore, we set out to fight against ourselves...and that is living wisdom. When we are fighting the fight against ourselves we are living wisdom within ourselves. Wisdom is to hate pride in ourselves, in our thoughts.

Now, by nature we do not hate pride. By nature we do not hate sin. Now, though mankind will look at certain things in the world and he will hate them, of what other people do, but he doesn't hate the things that go on in his own thinking because there is a temporary pleasure in sin and man is drawn to those temporary pleasures. But a man can look outside, a man or a woman, can look outside of himself and see actions of others and he will say that he hates them, but he doesn't really look at himself and think that he hates what goes on in his own thinking.

Pride is when we take credit to ourselves, and this is something we have to learn. God has to give us the power, through the power of His holy spirit, to begin to see ourselves and to begin to see pride within ourselves. If we fight sin within our inner being, we are living wisdom. Now, this is a good guide for us to measure ourselves spiritually of what is our current spiritual condition. If we look at it from God's point of view – if we are fighting the battle, if we are fighting the inner man, we understand that God is with us. He is assisting us to see what we are really like, to see sin. Another measure of ourselves is what is our thoughts towards others? Do we have ill-will to anybody? The measure that God says, mainly in the book of John, which is we have to learn to love one another, and that is the measure of whether God is in us, because God is love, and therefore, we should be loving one another.

Now, if we hold ill-will to anybody in the Church or out of the Church we do not have the love of God dwelling in our thinking because we haven't come to see how God values all of His creation, all of mankind, and we have taken it to ourselves to not love somebody. We are in sin. So we're not to have any ill-will towards anybody.

And we'll pick it up now, verse 14 – and from this we can see what God's word said. God's word is 'counsel,' which is 'purpose and advice,' is Mine… it comes from God's word. True counsel, true advice, spiritual advice comes from God, from God's mind… and sound wisdom, sound thinking, I am understanding/discernment, I have strength. Now, we can look at that and say, well, from this we can understand we can have a sound way of thinking towards others and we can have a sound way of making decisions if we have God's spirit living and dwelling in us.

Verse 15 – By me, by wisdom, kings rule, and rulers decree justice. And if we look to that in the future, ‘By me, wisdom, kings reign,’ talking about Jesus Christ and also the 144,000 because they are going to be able to make decrees of justice, the rules; they're going to make right judgments because they have the mind of God. They are wisdom. They are living wisdom as spirit beings; therefore, they'll be able to reign and make decrees of justice. They will be fair in the way that God is fair. It will be right.

Verse 16 – By me princes rule, and nobles, all the judges of the earth. We understand that the judges of the earth in the future are, of course, the 144,000, and then after the Millennium there is another group of spirit beings that will be judges over the earth and they will be working to develop Elohim in the rest of mankind.

Verse 17 – I love… and that is not agape. It's a human desire… I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me. So this is about diligently seeking wisdom – and that's what we have to do within our lives. We've been called to this. If we apply the spiritual understanding of God's word we are living wisdom. The outcome will be positive and bring true peace. If we seek wisdom, ask God for it with a right intent, a right motive of why we are desiring this wisdom. God will give it. It's a promise. God has promised that He will provide His thinking to us if we seek Him diligently and we seek this wisdom for the right purpose. It's not for vanity or to elevate the self, but it is for the purpose of loving others, giving to others. That's the purpose of why we seek wisdom.

There is a spiritual principle that we can look at now in more detail, and that principle is we must seek what God has to offer. So we have to seek what God has to offer, and God has to offer His power, His spirit, which is the ability to live wisdom. So we have to seek wisdom by seeking God who is the author of wisdom. It comes from God. So if we're going to seek wisdom as spiritual understanding and the ability to live it we're going to have to seek God to apply it to our lives, seek God to give it to us so that we can live love to others.

If you'd like to, you can hold your place there and turn to Psalm 4:2 – How long, O sons of men, will you turn My glory/honour to shame/to disgrace? And how does man do that? By the way they live....by the way they live. How long will you love worthlessness, something that is vain and empty, and seek falsehood? They desire falsehood, they desire lies. Selah, think about it.

And what God is outlining here is well, mankind of and by himself, God is saying to him, "How long will you continue to seek after these vain things? They are worthless! What is the point of all these physical things you're going to seek after that? Why don't you turn to Me and seek what is true?" And mankind, of course, of and by himself cannot do that and he won't do that.

Psalm 9:9 – The LORD also will be a refuge, and that is a defence or place of safety, for the oppressed, for the afflicted, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name, God's name, will put their trust/their confidence in You. And that's what we do, brethren. We put our trust and confidence in God. We know He is the provider of what is spiritual. For You, LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You, those who search out, those that have been called – which is us, brethren. We have been given promises, and therefore, we are searching out God's way. We desire God's way, God's thinking in us and we will seek God...and that is the purpose of being in the Church, is to seek God, to seek God's way, to come to understand the way God is, the way God thinks.

Psalm 10:4 – The wicked in his proud countenance, something that can be seen on the face, does not seek God; they don't search out God or God's views on a matter, or God's ways. God is in none of his thoughts. What it's saying there is that mankind does not go to God to look out what is right and wrong. He does not care what God thinks about a matter. The inference is that the humble will seek to know God's way, what God thinks about a matter. And brethren, we, being called, are granted a gift of repentance and we come before God humbly because we desire to know the right way to live, the right way to think, the right way to live towards others and we seek it, but it does require humility, because in pride we won't go to God to ask or to seek God's way or His view on any matter. Anyone without God's spirit, they do not seek to know God's ways or views or directions in life.

And we can look at that from the point of human reasoning. And for example we can look at euthanasia. Now, the human mind will say that euthanasia can be justified, and the reason it can be justified is because when a person gets maybe really old, or maybe if they're suffering and they're in pain – and they don’t understand God's purpose for mankind – that they'll make a decision to say, "Well, in mercy we will destroy that life." Or, "Because they're too old, they're pretty useless. They're of no value to society anymore. Let's just put them to sleep. Let's be merciful to them." So that's man's way of thinking, of justifying breaking one of God's commandments, which is 'Thou shall not kill.'

Can be said the same for war. Mankind will go to war. Now, mankind goes to war because he's trying to deliver himself. He's trying to deliver his nation or his family or what belongs to him, in his view, where he was born, what country he belongs to, or what religion he follows – so he will take up arms to defend what is 'his.' But God says that we shouldn't take up arms and fight because He will be the one who fights for us. But mankind in his natural carnal mind can justify going to war, and yet clearly in God's word it says that we are not to go to war. We are not to seek to defend ourselves or fight for our country. If we were close to God and the nation was close to God and was following God's laws, God said that He would be the one who did the fighting. He would defend the nation. But mankind in his own thinking rejects what God says and takes it to himself and will strive to defend himself. He will take up arms to defend himself or his nation or his religion.

Psalm 14:2 – The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. Now, we know the answer, brethren. We know the answer to that one. The answer is the natural carnal mind does not desire God's ways. No one seeks God because their natural carnal mind is actually hostile to God. And those that say that they would seek God and do go out and set up a religion, it's not according to the way that God says because they live a lie. They follow lies. They willingly often go down a particular path and they actually know that certain things are wrong, but they will reject that because they're going down their own thinking. So there is no one that has sought God. It's only when God calls a person out of this world that anyone has the power to seek God.

Verse 3 – They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy, talking about sin, there is none that does good, no, not one. There is nobody of and by the natural carnal mind that does good. It's impossible! It requires God's spirit to do good. The only way that we can do good or live good or live love is by the power of God's spirit. Anybody in the world that is perceived to have been 'doing good' or 'living good,' giving to charities and all these different things on a human level, there is not Godly good involved. There is a human good. And if they were to come to understand, which they will at some point in time, that human good is done for a motive and a reason that is not Godly, but the carnal mind can't see that. It hasn't been given the power or the ability to see that that human good is actually selfish. Deep, deep, deep down it is actually selfish. God has not given that ability to the natural carnal mind to comprehend it, but by the power of God's spirit when we're called we can begin to see what is the motivation behind human good.

Now, one of the things that is obvious is that nobody seeks God and nobody wants to know about what God thinks – if you look at pornography on the internet. Now, mankind can stop pornography on the internet if he wanted to! If he wanted to. Anybody that runs a particular internet service or a service provider has a host system. They could vet it so that there was no pornography ever, so there was no pornographic websites ever, so they were not allowed. But mankind doesn't want to stop that because it's giving into the base nature of mankind, and pornography creates what? Money! It's all about money! It gains wealth! And of course, it's like anything in life, if there were no users, no consumers of it, there would be no pornography, there would be no need, but it applies to the base nature, basically, of men I'm sure, because that's the way men are and men find it very difficult not to be drawn by these things because the natural carnal mind is drawn to pornography and the one thing that man doesn't understand is that pornography destroys the very thinking of mankind, and in particular men. One of the things that it does, it places women as objects of use. Women become objects of use for men's selfish pleasures or desires and the mind goes and races towards women simply as objects, and therefore, it's destroying the minds of men. So if a person is involved in pornography and doesn't stop getting involved in pornography they look at women differently. They look at them as objects of use, and therefore, how can their marriage ever really succeed when they get married, because they have a perverted view of the way women are and what women should do because they've watched all this trash on the internet.

Now, if you look at it, drugs is the same type of thing. Nobody really tries to stop drugs although they say they do, but the reality is that it could be stopped tomorrow very quickly. Even with human reasoning, it could be stopped because if there was not users, if nobody desired to purchase it, if nobody wanted to have that feeling or sensation or whatever it does to the mind, no point in growing drugs or making drugs because no one would want to buy it. So what's the point of producing drugs? It's about consumption. The reason that people are making drugs and importing drugs across all different countries all around the world is because there are people that want to purchase it! Take away the purchase of it, take away the desire for it and there is no point in making it.

Now that applies to everything in life, anything that is evil. If you wanted to stop it, you take away it's consumption, and therefore, people will soon give up on it. There'll be no need. No different than cigarette smoking. The tobacco companies, the reason that the government doesn't do anything about it, is it's taxed so heavily and there is revenue coming in. So if you were to take it away the revenue falls. If it's so bad and it's causing so many health issues, the regulation would be go to where the factories are, close those factories down, and go to where the crops are grown and destroy them. But man's not going to do that because there is a desire for consumption. People want it. They desire it. So people don't want to know God's way of life. They reject it. They don't want to consume God's way. They want to do it the way they want to do it.

Now we can go through another lot of Psalms. We're going to turn to Psalm 27. And Psalm 27, we're going to look at it from the point of view of applying the three areas that we've looked at, which is knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.

Psalm 27:1 – The LORD is my light and my salvation; so we'll look at that from the three areas.

Knowledge is: God is my salvation. So that's great knowledge to have. It is only through God and God's power that He can grant us salvation. So we can be saved because God in His mercy can save us. That's why. Other than that we can't save ourselves. It is God! Now, isn't that a wonderful knowledge to have, but nothing has changed within us.

Spiritual Understanding of this point is: God saves us from the penalty of sin, death, in and through His sacrifice for us, Jesus Christ our Passover. Now, that's when we come to understand it. So we're saved when we understand what sin is. We understand our mind – spiritual understanding – we understand that there is a penalty for our sins and that is death. And the only way that we can be saved is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which God the Father has provided for us.

Wisdom is: Living the spiritual understanding, taking the Passover as outlined in 1 Corinthians 11:23. So we can understand that and we can have that understanding, but if we do not then implement it into our life, it's still not going to help us. Having that spiritual understanding will still not help us because we're not living it. So to live wisdom in this example, what salvation is about, 'The LORD is my light and my salvation,' the wisdom is the actual living of the spiritual understanding, and that is taking Passover. And if we don't take Passover there is no life in us.

Let's look at 1 Corinthians 11:23 – Now this is living wisdom, when we actually take Passover in the right attitude. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, to the Corinthians, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me. Now that's what is required. We have to do it in remembrance of the very sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us.

Verse 25 – And in the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant/the new agreement in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. Isn't that incredible? Now, if we don't do that, if we do not take the Passover, we're not living wisdom, and if we don't take Passover, if we don't take it in the right attitude, in spirit and truth, we cannot have salvation.

Continuing on in Psalm 27:1 ...Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? Now, there is no one to be afraid of in this life – nobody on a human level to be afraid of.

Now, I'm going to get you to just hold your place there – we're already holding place somewhere else – but in Matthew 10 (and we have covered this not long ago)... Matthew 10:26 – Therefore do not fear them, mankind or anybody in authority, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

Verse 27 – Whatever I tell you in the dark, in the world, speak in the light, in the Church where the truth is given, and what you hear in the ear, anything of spiritual knowledge and understanding, preach on the housetops.

Verse 28 – And do not fear those who kill the body, which is mankind can kill the body. They can kill us physically, but cannot kill the life, the spirit in man, because God can resurrect that back to a life. But rather fear Him, God, who is able to destroy both life and body in gehenna, in a gehenna fire, which is a second death. And God is saying there that we shouldn't fear what man can do even though they can pressurize us and do all sorts of things to us and actually kill the body. It doesn't matter because God has the power of life and death and it's His decision whether the spirit of man will be resurrected back into a physical life at a second resurrection or whether it's going to be destroyed. It's God's decision, not mans. Man does not have control over life and death. God has control over life and death.

And why shouldn't we fear what man can do? Verse 29 – Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. God knows what is going on in this world – He created it all and He has a connection by the power of His spirit to all things, because God created them all through His great power.

Verse 30 – But the very hairs on your head are all numbered. In other words, God knows everything about us. This is talking about the fact that God understands every aspect of us, our thinking and everything about us, so we shouldn't fear any situation because God understands every aspect of our life, and therefore, we shouldn't fear anything that is going on. We should come to fear God in it and try to seek God's thinking on this matter or what is happening to us and why is it happening and what can we learn from it on a spiritual level.

Verse 31 – Do not fear therefore; you are more value than any sparrows. God knows us in great detail. We are not to worry about anything in life. We are not to limit God or underestimate His great love for us. All things work to our good, to those who love God, on a spiritual level, and the purpose of why things happen to us. We can look at it and realize that God is developing His thinking in us. Our purpose in life is to enter Elohim, so no matter what is happening in our life we should always stand back and look at it and realize God is working with us. What is it on a spiritual level that we can learn from this? And it may be learning patience. It may be learning faith. It may be trusting in God more, but it is about developing spiritual character. It's about changing the way we think so that we can think about things the way God views them.

Back to Psalm 27:2, if you did hold your place there. Psalm 27:2 – When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, which is devour/destroy, my enemies and my foes, they stumbled and fell. And the reason is, God intervened! That's why!

Verse 3 – Though an enemy may encamp against me… Who is the enemy that encamps against us, brethren? Well, we understand that it's the evil spirit world, that their desire is to destroy us, and therefore, they can encamp against us. This is taking in a physical army, which is an army surrounding David here. They're going to attack. That's exactly what happens on a spiritual level, is that we are under attack on a spiritual level, and the purpose is the evil world would like to destroy us. They'd like to destroy our thinking. The body is nothing...the body is nothing. It's the mind that we have to guard and protect ...my heart/my inner thinking shall not fear; Though war should rise against me, and we are at war! And that continual war is that broadcasting of that negative sinful thoughts that Satan and the demons broadcast to us, and their purpose of that is to destroy us, to have us earn the death penalty, to sin. That is their motive! They desire that we rebel or go against God, that we stand up against God and that we sin and that we fail to repent of that sin. That's what they desire! They desire to destroy us on a spiritual level! And David is saying that no matter what happens, if these enemies rise up against me,

In this I will be confident. The fact is God being in us. God is greater, so we should be confident that God is in us. God is with us. God is for us.

Verse 4 – One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek. So he's going to make an effort. This is the one thing he's going to do. He's going to put in the effort. His will and desire is to seek God. He desires a relationship with God and it's going to require effort. That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life. Isn't that what we want, brethren? We do not want God to withdraw dwelling in us. We desire to dwell in God's House and God dwell in us. We desire to be in unity with God. We desire spiritually to have everlasting life in Elohim. We desire to be in the Church of God and we're in the Church of God when we have God's spirit living and dwelling in us. We are then in a spiritual relationship with God. So that's what we desire. That's what we seek. We do not want God to cut the flow of His spirit off from us. We desire that God reveal sin to us all the time, because then when we see it, we desire to repent.

To behold the beauty of the LORD, God's character. God's beauty is God's character. And to inquire in His temple. We desire this relationship with God. We seek to know God, to know God's ways. We seek to understand and we seek to live wisdom. We desire to be in His House, the Church now, but we desire the Kingdom of God in a spiritual House. When Jesus Christ returns, or at some point in time, we desire to be in the Kingdom of God in Elohim.

Verse 5 – For in the time of trouble, He/God shall hide me in His pavilion. So there is spiritual protection for us if we remain in the pavilion, in the Church of God, and nowhere else. We cannot be protected if we leave God's Church, because this is where God is. This is where God teaches. This is where God provides knowledge. This is where God provides spiritual understanding. This is where God pours out His spirit, to be in His Pavilion, talking about a spiritual level. In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. It's talking about spiritual protection; we're out of reach. To be placed 'high upon a rock.' It's being put up out of the way of the enemy. It's a spiritual protection that is being provided.

Verse 6 – And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around. So now because he's high and he's protected he's saying there that we can see spiritually. Because we're up, we're able to look around and see what's going on. We can see what is happening in the world and we can see what's happening within ourselves because we can see sin and we can see on a spiritual level what is taking place. Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy. Well, the sacrifices of joy is rejoicing in the fact that God is with us. We praise God. We give God all the credit. Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; in His dwelling place, which is in our inner thinking, where God dwells. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.

We can thank God that He called us out of this world and that we now can see spiritually. We can thank God that He has protected us and given us spiritual knowledge, understanding, and the power to live wisdom. It is a wonderful thing to understand this, to understand God's plan of salvation, to understand ourselves, to see ourselves as we really are compared to God, and the ability to live God's way of life by keeping Passover, which is living wisdom.

By keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread, that's living wisdom. By deleavening our homes, though we do it on a physical level we know it points to a spiritual deleavening of the mind, getting rid of sin...when we deleaven the house and we deleaven our minds by examining ourselves for sin that is living wisdom. When we look at it, we say, "Yes, you've got to deleaven your home." Wonderful knowledge to have. The spiritual understanding is that it's about the deleavening the mind. It's about getting rid of sin, examining the self, exploring the house, the mind, and when we find it, we cast that out. We cast the leaven out. We're deleavening the mind. Now, to live it is that we do it. So when we find the leaven, we find the sin in our life. We don't just leave it sitting there. We live wisdom. We get the sin and we cast it out. We repent. So when we repent, we live wisdom. We acknowledge before God that He is right and we are wrong. That is living wisdom.

So every time we go to God in prayer, brethren, and we repent, we are actually going through this process of knowledge, spiritual understanding, and then wisdom. We live wisdom. By repenting we are living wisdom.

Verse 7 – Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! ...in prayer. Have mercy upon me, and answer me.

Verse 8 – When You say (this is God)...When You said, when God said, Seek My face, seek God's face,

My heart/my inner thinking said to You/God, Your face, LORD, I will seek. Now here it is. This is David saying that when he was told to seek God, to seek God's ways, he said in his mind to God in prayer, "I will do it." We are to seek God. We are to seek to please Him.

Verse 9 – Do not hide Your face from me; do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation.

Verse 10 – When my father and my mother forsake me, on a physical level it's talking about there, then the LORD will take care of me. Physically and spiritually! Teach me Your way, O GOD, and lead me in the smooth path, because of my enemies. God teaches us His ways, we know, every Sabbath, on every High Day. That's when God teaches us. The most important part is in the hearing, in the sense of that we hear what God says, that by the power of God's spirit we take it to heart and we then implement it into our life.

So there is no point, brethren, in turning up before God every Sabbath and every High Day, hearing God's instructions and saying, "Oh, that's wonderful spiritual knowledge and it's wonderful understanding. I understand what's going on," and then go about the next six days of our life living with a natural carnal mind. It's a pointless exercise. We have to implement understanding. We have to implement wisdom by living it. We have to actually do it! So when we hear certain things in our life and God's spirit convicts us and we think, "Oh, I need to improve in that area," or "I need to overcome in that area," the most important thing is that we set out and strive to do it, strive to live it.

God leads us by the power of His holy spirit in a clear direction: His way of thinking, His way of love, His way of peace. And that is provided to us every Sabbath and every Holy Day. The opportunity is there. We've had conversations in various locations. People will say that somebody has left God's fellowship, but we actually don't know what the person's doing the other six days of the week. We have no idea...but God does! God knows what I do for the other six days of the week and God knows what you do for the other six days of the week, and then when we present ourselves and assemble together, God still knows what we're doing. He knows whether we're living a lie every Sabbath or we're living a lie every Holy Day by appearing or giving the appearance of being in fellowship with God and in fellowship with the brethren.

Now, brethren, these are things we should examine ourselves. It is very important that we continue the other six days of the week, that we come before God in prayer, that we come before God and study His word, and that we fight the fight in our minds all the time. It's not just a one day a week event. This is about living a way of life.

Verse 12 – Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries, to Satan. We don't want to be delivered into the hands of Satan. For false witnesses have risen up against me, and such as breathe out violence. They breathe out hate. And we know that the spirit world does that. They are about ill-will to us. They hate us. Saying as they hate us, it's with a passion! It's their whole focus. They hate us so much they want us destroyed. They want us to sin.

Verse 13 – I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.

Verse 14 – Wait on the LORD… we're to have faith, believe God… be of good courage! We should be bold in what we understand! We should be bold in the 57 Truths! We should be bold in the way we live life because that is the most important thing. It's not just knowing things. It's about understanding the knowledge, but more importantly be of good courage, be bold because God is living and dwelling in us and it's Him that does the works. We have to desire God to live in us ...and He shall strengthen your heart, your inner thinking. Wait, I say, on the LORD!

We are to wait on God. We are to trust God, believe God, and that He says He will do the works in us. We have to actually desire to live His way of life.

Psalm 34:7 – The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. It's God that delivers us. Now, this is great knowledge to have, to understand what is being said is very exciting. If we fear God – and to fear God is to hate evil. To fear God is to obey His Commandments. God establishes a spiritual protection around us. We obey God and we desire to obey God and that's what we're striving to do. God says He'll protect us. He will look after us. He will guard us because His desire is that we enter Elohim. God wants us to fight ourselves. God wants to give us the Kingdom. That's His desire! That's why He created us! So we're the ones that can go wrong here with our thinking, but God says, "Well, if you fear Me and respect Me you'll strive to obey Me. You'll strive to hate evil. You'll see the sin in yourself." So now we say the living of the wisdom is the fear of God. Fearing to go against God is living wisdom. Seeking His will in us is what we desire. So we are to fear God. We are to fear to go against God. We're to fear to sin. Now, if we fear to sin, we are being very wise, brethren. We are being wise. We're having God's thinking because God doesn't sin. God hates sin. He said before He hates arrogance and pride, so we're to do the same. Now, if we hate our own pride, we hate our own arrogance, we hate the way we are, we are beginning to live wisdom.

Verse 8 – Oh, taste/perceive and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! So we can taste or consume God's word. We can take in God's word into our thinking and then we will perceive/see/understand that God's ways are good. They are beneficial to our physical and spiritual wellbeing.

Verse 9 – Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints! Talking to us, brethren. We're to respect God's thinking and respect what He has set aside as holy, for holy use and purpose. That's us, brethren. We should respect one another because God is saying there we have to fear God and He's saying, 'O... His saints.' We are His saints so we should learn to fear to go against God. There is no want to those who fear Him. So to fear God is to hate evil. If we fear God we will not want on a spiritual level. If we respect God's word because He said He'll provide His spirit to us if we strive to live the truth and learn to hate sin. So God is saying we will not be in want on a spiritual level if we do that.

We can know if we fear God. If we fear God we will be obeying the instructions He has given, the 10 Commandments. We'll be learning to hate evil within ourselves. And by hating that evil in ourselves, we'll be fighting against sin. We'll be fighting those inner thoughts.

Verse 10 – The young lions lacks, is in want, and suffers hunger; but those who seek God, those who inquire of God's ways, shall not lack any good. We will not lack spiritual food. We are to seek God's will in our life. And that is the purpose of life, is to seek spiritual food, and God says He will pour it out to us. We won't be in lack. And it is not in lack, brethren! We should understand at this period of time, I believe, that God is pouring out more of His spirit to God's Church since this period has started. It has been quite incredible. The last 5½ years or so the knowledge that has been poured out is quite incredible!

Verse 11 – Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. Saying here, we're going to be taught by God how to fear God. This is the purpose of the Sabbath and Holy Days. That's why we come – commanded assembly – is to learn to fear God. We learn to hate everything in ourselves that goes against God's will, against God's way of thinking.

Verse 12 – Who is the man who desires life… now, we can look at that physically and also spiritually, because we desire life on a spiritual level. That's our purpose ...and loves many days, that he may see good?

Verse 13 – Keep/guard/watch your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Now, this is incredible! This is something that is very difficult for humans to do, and it takes years and years in God's Church and we still don't get it correct. Verse 13 is saying, 'Keep your tongue from evil.' We understand the human mind, what we think, and then it comes out at some point at different pressures. We say things that we shouldn't, and we should watch what we say. We shouldn't speak any deceit, anything that is false. Now, there are other scriptures we may get time to get to where it talks about the tongue and the control of the tongue. And if somebody has the ability to control their thinking, to control their tongue, they are actually a very mature person.

To start to live wisdom is to guard our minds, what goes into them, then to watch our thoughts, the way we think towards others. We either love or we hate; and to hate, of course, is we fail to love. We should watch what comes out of our mouth! So we can see from that scripture we should watch what we say, what crosses our lips. We are to be sincere, honest, truthful with all that comes out of our thinking, comes out of our minds through our lips.

We'll turn to Mark 7:14 – Then He, Jesus, had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them, Hear Me, everyone, and understand: There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him, make him spiritually unclean, but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. So it's talking about motive and intent of words, because it is the motive behind the words that is the issue.

Verse 16 – If anyone has an ear, let him hear! Now, what it's saying there if you look at this, the motive or intent of the words. Someone can turn around and say, "I love you." But that's only words. What's the real motive behind what is being said? Because people lie. Someone can say, "Oh, I really love you!" But what is their real motive? Their motive could be one of deception; they're trying to deceive a person into believing something false. So the words themselves are not really the issue. It's more about what the motive is behind the words.

Now, we should be able to see that on a level when you talk about politicians who turn around and say, "I promise..." "Read my lips..." "I'm telling you this..." and then three months later things have changed, and therefore, "I made a mistake," or they don't even admit to making a mistake. They virtually say, "At the time when I made that statement...things have changed since then, and therefore, now I've got to change what I said." That's why it's about the motive and intent. Now, we know the motive and the intent of the words behind politicians is one of getting votes and not one about being really honest about a matter. Everything is political.

Verse 17 – When He had entered the house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable.

Verse 18 – So He said to them, Are you thus without understanding also? Christ was talking on a spiritual level and they were still thinking on a physical level. Do you not perceive/do you not understand that whatever enters a man, enters into the body by the mouth, from outside cannot defile him, make him spiritually unclean, what it's saying. Now, this is not giving a license to eat unclean foods by any means, because it's what goes on in the mind. The motive and intent is what the issue is ...because it does not enter his heart, his inner thinking where intent and motive come from, but his stomach, into his body, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?

Verse 20 – And He said, What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. So it's what is spoken, but more importantly what the intent of the words are.  For from within, out of the heart of men, the inner thinking where the intent and motive come from, the carnal mind, proceeds evil thoughts/ill-will adulteries, fornications, things that are unlawful, unlawful relationships, murders, hate, ill-will, thefts, covetousness… that's greed… wickedness, depravity, deceit, lewdness, lusts, an evil eye, which is evil intent, the motive, blasphemy, pride, arrogance and being very opinionated, foolishness, thoughtlessness, where someone doesn't think about anyone else.

Verse 23 – All these evil things come from within, come from within the mind, from out of the mind, and they have an intent, and defile a man. All these evil intents make us spiritually unclean. All sin causes hurt to others; it is selfish. Sin is selfishness.

So we'll go back now to Psalm 34:14 – Depart/remove from evil. So we're to depart from evil, from wickedness, and do good. Now, we can only do good if God's spirit dwells in us. We are to depart sin. We're to depart evil. How do we depart evil, brethren? Well, we can avoid environments and those things, but we depart evil when we repent. That's how we depart evil. God can dwell in us then, and therefore, we can do good. This is a statement of great spiritual knowledge and understanding. Seek peace, so we're to desire, we're to ask God to have peace, the very mind of God. God's thinking is peace. It's the way God is ...and pursue it. So we're to pursue it. To pursue it is to fight for it! We have to fight for this relationship with God! We're to pursue peace. We're to seek it. We're to fight for it. How do we fight for it? By repenting and asking God to pour out His spirit into our thinking.

Verse 15 – The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, those who He's called into a spiritual relationship with Him, and His ears are open to their cry. So God does hear our cries, God hears our requests, God hears our prayers.

Verse 16 – The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, anyone that practices sin and is not willing to repent, God says that He is against them, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. Unrepented sin will earn the death penalty. The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears and delivers them out of their troubles. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, which is humility in the inner thinking, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. In other words, they've got this attitude of humility. They have a low estimate of themselves because God has revealed by the power of His spirit their true state, their true spiritual condition of the natural carnal mind. So it is required of us, brethren, that we are to be of a broken and contrite heart. We are to humble ourselves, to be humble. We are not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought. This natural mind will do that. It will lift itself up. With God's spirit we can see what we really are and that we do sin – but we do understand that we can repent.

Back to Proverbs 8:18 – Referring to spiritual things here...Riches and honor are with me, with wisdom. So spiritual riches and spiritual honour are with God. Having this wisdom, having this mind. Enduring riches and righteousness. Everlasting life is in Elohim. My fruit, what is produced, is better than gold, anything physical, yes, than fine gold, my revenue/my increase than choice silver. So we, brethren, if we can see spiritually, we can see that having the mind of God and understanding spiritual matters and living God's way of life is far better than having anything physical, anything on a physical level as far as wealth, gold, silver. They're of no value compared to the ability to think like God. And the reason is that one will last and one won't. The mind of God can last for everlasting life or eternity. That's God's gift. He wants to give it to us. The physical things, gold and silver, will perish. They pass away. 'The earth is passing away and all that's in it.' So why do we want to seek that which is temporary? We should be striving to seek that which is permanent, the very mind of God.

Verse 20 – I traverse/walk in the way of righteousness, which is God's way, in the midst of the paths of justice, that I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth… Well, we can inherit wealth, brethren, on a spiritual level. If we love wisdom, if we love God's thinking, God says we will inherit spiritual understanding! Isn't it wonderful? We will understand what God thinks about a matter. It can refer to this also on a physical level, that God says if you were to love wisdom on a physical level, to understand how to deal with people, that God says we will inherit wealth, because things will go better for us on a physical level. But we look at it on a spiritual level because we want to inherit wealth, true wealth, everlasting life. We want to inherit the very mind of God! ...that I may fill their treasuries/the storage places.  We want God's spirit to fill our mind, to fill our thinking.

The LORD possessed me/wisdom at the beginning/at the first of His ways, before His works of old. I/wisdom, the way God thinks, have been established from everlasting, from the beginning before there was an earth. So God revealed that everything has come out from His mind! Everything that exists has come out from God's mind, from His thinking, and it's all by design, perfect design.

Verse 24 – When there was no depths I was brought forth. When there were no fountains abounding with water.

Verse 25 – Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth; while as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, or the beginning dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there, and it's referring that God prepared the heavens...wisdom was there. When He drew a circle on the face of the depth, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He assigned to the seas its limits so that the waters would not transgress His command, when He marked out the earth, (verse 30), then I was with Him as a master craftsman. So it's all coming from God's mind. And I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, and it's talking about in the presence of God's mind. Wisdom is God's mind! Rejoicing in His inhabited world and delight was with the sons of men. So God's delight is in the potential for mankind, His plan and purpose for mankind. So God is saying that He was rejoicing in His/God's inhabited world and 'the delight was with the sons of men.' So God's joy was towards mankind because He could see the potential of mankind. What He had created was exciting because He was creating a Family.

Now therefore, listen to me, my children, for blessed are those who keep my ways. Blessed are those who live wisdom. Hear instruction, hear the correction because that's what we need, and be wise, and do not disdain/do not refuse this correction/do not refuse the instruction. We should hear what God is teaching us and we shouldn't reject it.

Verse 34 – Blessed is the man who listens to me, to God's thinking, listens to wisdom, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. So we should be, brethren, spiritually on guard. We should guard the doors of our minds. We should guard what goes into the mind. We should be spiritually alert about what the world is offering – which is nothing of any value – but we should also be alert of what God is offering us through the Church, through the power of His holy spirit.

Verse 35 – For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favour from the LORD. So ever who finds wisdom finds life. We find true life on a physical level, but more importantly we find true life on a spiritual level because it leads to salvation, being saved from what we are to enter Elohim.

Verse 36 – But he who sins against me wrongs/hurts his own life; all those who hate me… anyone who hates wisdom or hates God's view or hates God's thinking on a matter, what are they really saying? They love death because that's what the outcome will be. To go against God will just bring death.

Proverbs 9:6 – Forsake foolishness and live. So we're to forsake human reasoning because human reasoning is foolishness, and go in the way of understanding. So we're to start to implement this new understanding we have about how we should live.

Now the knowledge is, verse 7 – He who corrects/instructs a scoffer/a mocker gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. So we can see, that's knowledge. Well, that's interesting to know, that anyone who tries to instruct a mocker or a scoffer, tries to correct them, we just bring shame to ourselves, and if we try to rebuke a wicked person, someone who's sinning, we bring to ourselves harm. We harm ourselves. Well, what's the understanding behind that? We can understand, Do not correct a scoffer. Why? Lest he hate you; in other words, there is no point in trying to correct a mocker or a scoffer because he cannot and will not hear what you have to say on a spiritual level because he can't see, he can't hear, or understand spiritual matters or spiritual principles. When we were to turn up and try to correct a mocker or a scoffer we are doing it on a spiritual level – well, he doesn't have God's spirit (he or she); therefore, they can't hear us...therefore, what's the point? There is no point. We're just going to harm ourselves, work ourselves up over it. If we do try to correct him/her it will only end up being bad for us. They will hate us even more because they're not going to hear us. They're not going to change. They haven't got God's spirit. They can't change.

In other words, just don't say anything. Take the mocking and the put downs just like Jesus Christ did. Take the reviling because there is no point in trying to correct them. Think God – forgive them. In other words, don't retaliate, don't try to correct them, don't mock the mocker. There is no point. It is not our role in life to correct others but to correct our own thoughts, our own words, and our own actions. Now, that is wisdom.

So wisdom is we don't set out to try to correct others, to correct people that mock us or deride us or berate us. Don't correct a scoffer. Why? Because he's going to hate you more. Wisdom is we're to set out to correct ourselves, to correct our thoughts, words, and actions. Let's correct ourselves. God will work with the mockers in His time for His purpose. Not our job.

Another part – knowledge. Rebuke/Correction...Rebuke a wise man, someone with God's spirit, and he will love you. So this is the opposite. Why? So if we were to go to our brother alone and raise an issue that is sin, and we've had sermons covering that, what will happen is they will learn to love you because it triggers repentance. It causes them to return to a relationship with God. Isn't that incredible?

Spiritual understanding is to know why....why. So this previous one says, 'Rebuke a wise man and he will love you.' Well, why? Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. So here it's saying, 'Give instruction to a wise man,' that's giving instructions through sermons to someone with God's spirit, he/she will become even wiser. 'Teach,' give spiritual knowledge and understanding through the power of God's spirit, 'to a just man.' So 'teach knowledge to a just man and he will increase in learning.' He'll begin to understand the doctrine, and of course, all understanding, spiritual understanding, cannot come from another human. Spiritual understanding has to come by the power of God's spirit.

Verse 10 – The fear of the LORD, this fear of God, this learning to hate evil, is the beginning of wisdom,

and the knowledge of the Holy One, the knowledge of God, is understanding. As we begin to come to know God, know God's ways, we begin to understand spiritually what God is like, what He requires of us.

If we respect God's word and obey Him it is the beginning of wisdom. As we come to know God and His way of thinking we gain understanding of how to live wisdom, live as God lives.

Verse 11 – For by me, wisdom, your days will be multiplied and years of life will be added to you. Now, we can look at that on a physical level. There'll be blessings for obedience, and we can learn to avoid sin and to avoid evil. But also on a spiritual level, it's by 'me,' by this wisdom, by the mind of God, our days will be multiplied because we will enter Elohim and be given life everlasting. 'And years of life will be added to you' – isn't that incredible? That is God's promise. That is what He wants to give us.

Verse 12 – If you are wise, you are wise to yourself, and if you mock… we talk arrogantly or mock others… you will bear it alone… we'll bear our own guilt. Living wisdom is a way of protecting our life, physically and spiritually, but if we sin we earn the penalty both physically and spiritually. We are accountable for our own thoughts, words, and actions.

Let's look at the fear of God in more detail. Proverbs 8:13, we'll just quickly go back there...The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance, self-exaltation, lifting the self up, and the evil way, and the perverse mouth I hate. God is saying there the fear of God, this respect for God's way of life, God's thinking, if we have that we will learn to hate evil, and that is the beginning of this wisdom, because we begin to fear God. That is the beginning of wisdom, and if we do fear God, we're going to be hating evil, and the first thing we will hate is our own pride and our own arrogance.

Job 28:12 – But where can wisdom be found? ...and where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living. So it doesn't come from the natural carnal mind. Wisdom does not come from man's own thinking. It cannot be found from mankind. It has to be by the power of God's spirit.

The depths say, ‘It is not in me’; and the sea says, ‘It is not in me.’ It cannot be purchased for gold. Anyone that thinks that they can go out and gain wisdom or buy wisdom, buy the mind of God, it's not possible. It can't. It's a gift from God. Nor can silver be weighed for its price. It's so valuable that no matter what you had in a physical way of gold and silver, it can't be purchased. You can't go and buy it. And it can't be weighed and say, "This is its value." God's mind, God's thinking, God's way of living is priceless! Priceless because it's the only way that we can have true love, true peace, true life. It's the only way!

It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. Neither gold nor crystal can equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewelry of fine gold. No mention shall be made of it for coral or quartz, For the price of wisdom is above rubies. To have the mind of God is beyond anything precious in this life, anything precious physically, anything of any physical value. To have God's thinking is priceless!

Verse 19 – The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold, can't be measured in a value.

And look at what we've been offered, brethren! What rejoicing should we have? We have the ability to have the thinking of God, and yet out there all the billions of people haven't been offered it! They haven't been offered it by God, but we have, and it is priceless! And yet man out there thinks other things are valuable and yet we have the most valuable thing that is going to ever be given to mankind, the mind, the thinking, the wisdom of God.

Verse 20 – From where then does wisdom come? ...and where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the air. It cannot be found in man's thinking. Man's wisdom is foolishness because it's driven by pride, the way he sees it, the way he thinks it needs to be or it should be. Wisdom is, in fact, a gift from God.

If you remember back to the book of Acts when there was a time when the apostles were around working miracles and we saw that somebody wanted to buy God's spirit... but it can't be bought! But he had felt that that time, he had been baptized. He had felt at that time, Simon Magus, that he could buy it because he wanted it. He could see what was going on; he saw the power but he wanted to take it to himself. He could see people, the apostles, working miracles. Well, he wanted that power. And he wanted the power because he wanted God's spirit. He wanted that wisdom and understanding because he wanted to take it to himself for his own vanity. Well God's spirit doesn't work that way. It's the complete opposite! We have God's spirit for the benefit of others – no glory to self, no credit to self. It's God that is given all the glory because it's God that does the works!

Verse 22 – Destruction and death say, We have heard a report about it with our ears. We've heard about this wisdom. God understands its ways and He knows its place. Because it all comes from God.

Verse 24 – For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees under the whole heaven, to establish a weight for the wind, and apportion of the waters by measure.

Verse 26 – When He made a law for the rain… because there are physical laws. There are laws that are in place, physical things that can't be broken because they are laws that God has established ...and a path for the thunderbolt.

Verse 27 – And He saw and declared it; He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out. So the only source of wisdom and understanding is from God.

Verse 28 – And to man He said, Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. This is why we seek wisdom. We understand the need to depart/flee sin, flee evil. We desire to separate ourselves from sin, from anything that is opposite to God. We desire to become Elohim. So that scripture reveals much.

'Behold the fear of God,' this respect for God, putting God first as number one priority, 'that is wisdom.' So if we're to put God first in all our thinking, desiring His ways, now we're living some wisdom. We're being wise. And another part of it is, 'to depart from evil,' to flee sin, get rid of sin, 'is understanding.' And we can depart it in our thinking, but we can depart evil and sin through repentance. Well, that is great understanding to have. Isn't that incredible? What a gift we have!

The question we can ask: Have we and are we desiring to flee sin? Are we desiring to flee sin? Are we desiring to repent? Well, if we are we are living wisdom and we have great understanding.

Psalm 111:10 – The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and we understand 'the fear of the Lord,' one aspect of it is we are to learn to hate evil within ourselves, a good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever. If we have understanding, spiritual understanding, we will know what we are to do. We are to obey His commandments, the 10 Commandments. And it's not talking just on a physical level, which is required, but on a spiritual level. It is about the spiritual intent of the law, and when Christ was talking about what comes out of a man, He was talking about what comes out of our thinking, the motive, what drives the words. That's the important part. So we are to keep the Commandments in spirit and truth. Our attitude, our motive, our intent is how we keep the 10 Commandments.

Wisdom and obedience to God are interlinked and they cannot be separated. So anybody who says that they love God... of course, we know the scriptures say anyone who loves God and does not keep His Commandments, well, he is a liar, because they're not fearing God. They don't respect God. They're not living wisdom and they don't understand God's way of life. They simply don't because they're not willing to subject their own self to God's law, to God's commandments.

When we look around the western world today we can see no fear of God from the people, from the governments, or any part of society. Well, why is that? We know it has to do with the natural carnal mind, but God has also recorded why the western world has a proclivity to certain things, the way they think, and we're going to look at that in 2 Kings.

2 Kings 17:5. We'll start in... the reason we're looking at this is because there are societies that have strived to keep God's law in the physical way. Now, they don't have God's spirit so they can't keep it in spirit and truth but they can apply God's law on a physical level and there are blessings for that application on a physical level. When you break those laws, or when we break those laws on a physical level, there is a penalty. The blessings and cursing's chapter outline that on a physical level. Well, the western world has no intentions of following God's way. It set out, and its establishment originally was from Israel, and of course we're talking about the tribes of Israel, and they did have God's law on a physical level and some of the aspects of those laws have been carried into today's society. But today's 'modern society,' and the word 'modern,' it's like they think it's a progressive thinking. They're trying to do away with the principles of God's law. Well, where did a lot of that thinking start?

2 Kings 17:5 – Now the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. Now, Samaria is a region in the north Palestinian area associated with the northern kingdom of the 10 tribes of Israel, because at this point you've got Judah being under the Jewish nation (and one other) and you've got the 10 tribes up in the northern area. The kingdom was split after the death of Solomon during the reign of his son, Rehoboam, and they were ruled by Jeroboam.

Verse 6 – In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria, took him captive, took Samaria and carried Israel, the 10 tribes, away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

Verse 7 – For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They were in bondage and control and we know the story. God delivered them out of that bondage and control, but here it's saying that they were taken out from under that hand and it refers back to it and it says, and they had feared other gods, so now they're starting to 'respect' other god's other than the God of Israel, and had walked in the statutes, the appointed customs, of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel, and the kings of Israel, which they had made. Israel now has turned away from God's way, have now started to adapt the thinking of the gentile nations that God had cast out before them! And here they are. They're going back and inquiring of, "Well, how did you worship your gods?" And now Israel is starting to take on those customs.

Well, brethren, on a spiritual level we have been called out of the spiritual bondage, out from the control of Satan's thinking. We have entered a 'type' of the promised land by entering into a relationship with God, entering the Church of God because this is a place of protection, being in God's Church and having God's spirit. We have been called to no longer walk in the ways of this world, its customs, it's practices like Christmas, Easter, Halloween, to name a few. So we've been called out. We're not to go back and inquire of how do they worship God. People will say at Christmas they're worshipping God and yet God says, "No lie is of the truth." So we're not to go back into that, try to work out, "Well, how do they worship God? Let's adapt some of those ways to worship God." No, God has established very clearly the only way to worship Him – Sabbath, Holy Days – in spirit and truth.

God has removed these practices – Babylon, the ways of Satan – from our lives. He has cast them out before us so that we should not return back to them. We shouldn't go back to inquire of them! If we return back to them we are again taken captive in our thinking, taken back into spiritual bondage. So we should not go back and look at the customs of this world or even seek to follow any of the customs of this world.

Verse 9 – Also the children of Israel secretly did against the LORD their God things that were not right. So they had certain things that they were doing and they've gone back and they've inquired of them. They start to follow them ...and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city. So now they're building themselves like small temples and temples. They put in idols into areas.

Anything secret that we place before God in our thinking becomes an idol. Well, they've done a physical act. Well, God is saying to us we need to be careful that we haven't established idols and that we're not placing them into our thinking, putting priorities/things before God, is what it's really referring to. This is about what we have established in our thinking, what we have set as our highest priority. What are we placing, what idol are we placing in a secret place, in our minds? What are we placing before God? Anything that we lift up before God is an idol.

Verse 10 – They set up for themselves pillars/monuments and wooden images, and a lot of these were, of course, Canaanite goddesses and they had various ones to Astarte, etc... And Ba'al worship was another one...on the high hills and under every green tree. So under these flourishing trees, something that was very obvious, they put up these monuments and these idols.

And brethren, this is what we see today in the western world in particular. We see idols; we see monuments; we see these churches built up with idols, filled with idols. The church itself is an idol. People go to that place to worship God when that is not what God has said at all! That is completely opposite to what God has said. And so what we see today is the 'high places,' the churches all on the hills. We see idols everywhere! They're physical things you can see, but spiritually people have idols like money, the stock market. They're all idols. They're all in the thinking. They occupy the mind, anything that has been placed in our minds before God. Well, the world is riddled with idols in their thinking. Physically you see them, but it's also in people's minds.

Verse 11 – There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the LORD had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the LORD their God to anger, and they served idols of which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do these things.” So it's the same today, brethren, we see that they did these things. They worship the sun god. They worship Ba'al, and today it's exactly the same. The Israel of old did these things and it is now carried over to Israel today. People today do exactly the same thing only they don't comprehend that they're doing it.

Verse 13 – Yet the LORD testified/witnessed against Israel and against Judah by all His prophets, every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep My Commandments and My statutes according to all the law which I commanded your fathers and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.” So God has told them on a continual basis, Israel, what they were doing. God revealed to Israel what sin was. So God told them what their sin was and what would happen if they did not repent, if they did not turn. God told them clearly that if they didn't hear or hearken they would be taken captive.

Verse 14 – Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks… this is just pride. They're not going to listen to what God's got to say about anything… like the necks of their fathers which did not believe in the LORD their God. And they rejected His statutes and His covenant/His agreement that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them that they should not do like them. And what were they doing? Well, at that point in time they were worshipping the sun god. They worshipped planets. They worshipped idols. They had sexual rituals of worship saying that they were worshipping God, the god's of the nations around them. And there were lots of areas they sacrificed their very children as well. And of course, on a spiritual level that same thing happens today on a spiritual level.

Well, if you look at cultures like the Inca's and if you look at the insanity of the human mind, they built a big monument and they would have sacrifices. And the more that the weather didn't go for them or their crops didn't grow, or whatever was happening, their water wasn't right or it didn't rain correctly, they would offer more human sacrifices to their gods because they believed that their gods were angry with them, and therefore, they needed to offer more blood, kill more people. And there's even the water wells. What they did, they had these big areas of water. They used to put people and drop them into the water as an offering to their gods and pollute the water so that you couldn't drink it. Just the insanity of the human mind, but that shows you where a lot of this comes from, comes from demonic thinking, satanic thinking. Israel should have known better because God gave them the laws, His laws, the right way to live! And Israel today, mainly seen in the western nations, what do they do? They've rejected God completely and they're not interested in God's ways and instead turn to the ways of the nations that God had thrust out, because the western world now seeks other ways to worship God, turned to other ways to think, "Well, this is the way to worship God." Isn't that incredible thinking!

If you'd like to turn back to Psalm 25:4 – Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths, the right way to walk. Lead me in Your truth and teach me.. this is what we desire, brethren. We desire God to teach us His truth, to teach us and show us the way to walk, to walk spiritually… for You are the God of my salvation. The only way that we can have salvation is to be obedient to God, to follow God's truth. On You I wait all the day. So we desire God's spirit to lead, guide, and direct our thinking.

Verse 6 – Remember, O GOD, Your tender mercies and Your loving kindness, for they are from of old. God owes us nothing. We only exist, brethren, because God desires it. We exist and are in God's Church because of His great mercy to us. We are no better than anybody. We're no better than the Inca's. We're no better than any nationality, because of ourselves, we are nothing. We all have the same natural carnal mind. It's just God in His great mercy and His tender mercies, and His loving kindness has drawn us out. And this prayer here, this Psalm is saying, "God, remember... remember me. I'm only here because of Your tender mercies, Your loving kindness which has always been in existence." It's the way God is.

Verse 7 – Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to Your mercy remember me, for Your goodness’ sake, O LORD.

Verse 8 – Good and upright is the LORD, therefore He teaches sinners in the way. And that's what we've been called to. We have been called out of this world. We've been called as sinners and we're being taught in God's ways. When we sin we have the opportunity to repent. So God is teaching us what sin is.

Verse 9 – The humble He guides. If we humble ourselves before God, He will guide us, the way to walk. He guides in justice, which is right judgment, righteousness. And the humble/the teachable He teaches His way. He teaches the way of wisdom, the way to think. All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth. They're all spiritual. We can see spiritually. We can see God's mercy. We can see truth because He's called us and we walk in God's ways ...to such as keep His Commandment/His agreement and His testimonies. For Your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. So we acknowledge before God that we do sin, and we ask God to forgive us our sins.

Verse 12 – Who is the man that fears the LORD? Him shall He teach/direct in the way He chooses, the way God chooses. If we fear God we know that we'll learn to hate evil, and it says here that God will direct us. He will teach us in His ways, the way that God chooses to teach us.

God teaches us in many and various ways. Some lessons are to be learned by looking at other examples. Some lessons are learned by experiencing the lesson. So we have to go through the trial or the test and experience it, and by experiencing it, we have the ability to learn, to see spiritually because we've felt it and we know it. We've learned from it.

Verse 13 – He himself shall dwell in prosperity, spiritual prosperity. Anyone who fears God will dwell in prosperity, spiritual knowledge, spiritual understanding ...and his descendants shall inherit the earth. Anybody that is willing to fear God shall inherit the earth. And of course that's talking on a spiritual level. We'll inherit the earth as spirit beings.

Verse 14 - The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, those who respect God, who learn to hate evil, and He will show them His covenant/His agreement on a spiritual level.

So we should consider the point, this very point: If we fear God and obey Him we will keep His Commandments in spirit and truth. We are then learning to hate evil. By nature we do not hate evil; we do not hate sin. Because of a calling we have been given, we now can learn to hate sin, and God reveals to us His agreement with us, and His agreement is with us is if we strive to overcome by the power of God's spirit. If we enter the fight and continue to fight God says in His mercy that He will grant us life everlasting. The agreement is that if we stay in the faith we can inherit life everlasting in Elohim.

This is the spiritual secret that the world does not know of because God has not revealed it to them, but God has revealed this secret to us, the secret of His agreement with us. So this spiritual secret that the world doesn't know is about learning to fear God, learning to hate evil.

So we will finish up there, brethren, and the next sermon we will change topics, but we'll continue on the same thing about understanding wisdom and the principles that come out of the book of Proverbs.

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