The Narrow Way – Pt. 3

Wayne Matthews

December 6, 2014

Welcome to this Sabbath, brethren.

We have been looking at the narrow way of life which God has called us to walk on. We understand that to walk in this way (this narrow path, God's way) is to be for God, and if we walk on the other way, the natural carnal mind, it is against God. One way of life is God's way, the other way is one of selfishness. One way leads to life and the other way leads to destruction or our death.

We have asked the question, "What path is it that we are on? What is the way or the direction we are heading in? And being part of the Body of Christ, the Church of God, we understand we have been called to walk on this narrow path, and this narrow path is actually obedience to God.

In Part 2 we looked at the fact that obedience to God's commandments is required for mankind. Now, we also understand that obedience to God's law is required for those that have been called into a relationship with God. Anyone that states that the law of God is done away, or the 10 Commandments are done away, is a liar and the truth (or God's spirit) is not in them. God states that the law is not done away and that we must keep it in spirit, therefore, anybody that states otherwise is in fact calling God a liar. We ended Part 2 by looking at part of Psalms 119.

The title of today's sermon is The Narrow Way, and this will be Part 3. The purpose of this sermon series is to look at how we can walk on this narrow path, which is God's way of thinking. The narrow path (the narrow way) is highlighted in God's word as "light" or the broad path (the broad way) is described as "darkness." So there is the comparison between this narrow way or the broad way, or light and darkness.

It is interesting to consider that when the Israelites were in captivity they were taken, or led out of Egypt by God, who used light to guide them. So we can look at this as an analogy.

Exodus 10:21. Now, this is cutting into the process of God delivering the Israelites out of Egypt, and this is actually describing what happened at the ninth plague. So this is the plague that takes place before God intervened and destroyed the firstborn. So we can learn from this action of what God actually did with regards to providing darkness.

Exodus 10:21—Then the LORD (the Eternal) said to Moses, Stretch out your hand towards heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt. Now, we understand also that this is pointing to sin, the darkness is symbolic of sin, and also Egypt is symbolic of sin, so this is a "type" of sin in the world today. ...that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt. So this is a quite thick darkness. It is not like a normal night because generally at night there is an aspect of light even at night-time because of the moon that God provided.

We can actually feel darkness of this world, which is the sin of this world. Sin is oppressive. It crowds in on you, and therefore, this "darkness that can be felt." It is so dark that you can't actually see your hand in front of your face. Sin affects an individual and others because of this oppression of sin; this darkness can actually be felt. Well, we actually can feel the effects of sin from others when they sin to us, but the problem we generally have is that when we sin we don't actually see the oppression that is felt by others. We actually don't "see" it. Well, this symbolically, we can look at this darkness, that they could actually feel it. It was so dark that it was almost overpowering on them, to see no light at all for a period of time.

Verse 22—So Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. So these three days would have been three-day portions and three night portions to make the full three days. So, normally, we understand, we have three night portions where God has provided light, an aspect of life from the moon, a reflection of the sun on the moon back to the earth, and then there's three daylight periods where the sun provides light. Well, here we have this whole period of time where there are no lights. For these three days it is thick darkness. It is pitch black.

I remember one time when I went down into a particular cave, and went right down, I think it was a couple hundred meters underground after going down into this cave, where there was light and there was a path you could walk on, and when you got to a certain location they then advised everybody not to be too scared because they were going to turn out the light so that you could feel the darkness. And when they turned it out, it was actually pitch black. It was under the earth so deep there was no light at all, not one aspect of light. And you can actually sense it, and it was actually a quite different feeling than a night when you turn the light out in a house and it's dark. This was pitch black and you could actually feel it; it honed in on you and you could not see anything. You could put your hand out in front of your face; there's just no light at all, nothing entering the eyes coming into the brain so that you could see. Now, that was pitch black. Well, this is what's actually taken place in Egypt so that the Egyptians are now feeling the effects of this three days of complete blackness.

Verse 23—They did not see one another. Well, that was exactly what happened in the cave. You couldn't see anything...like, nothing, you had no idea where anybody was in the sense of if anybody moved, you had no idea. You could see absolutely nothing. They did not see one another; nor did anyone rise from his place, because there's no point. You can't go out. There is no light. You can't even make out anything. And they did this, for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. They actually had daylight. Isn't this incredible? So during the daylight portion, the Israelites had light because there they could see; they could operate and move around.

So we can compare the world in darkness, which is now in sin. It is affecting them and they cannot "see." They can't see righteousness. They cannot see their own sins because without the law you cannot see sin. So, symbolically, here we have Egypt (the world) in sin, and yet they can't see, they cannot see any light. They cannot "see" the truth. It's absolutely impossible for them to see the truth because without God's spirit one cannot "see" the truth.

Now, the opposite here is the children of Israel. Well, we understand spiritually, symbolically, that the children of Israel point to the Church of God, God's children, the begotten sons of God. Spiritual Israel is in light, has the light, has the truth. So the Church of God—PKG has the truth, and everyone else has darkness (and I'm referring here to on a spiritual level). The world does not "see" the light. The scattered Churches that were part of the Body at some point previously do not "see" the light. They cannot see the light. They are, in fact, in darkness, and it's actually pitch black. They cannot "see" the truth because where God has cut them off they don't have God's spirit to be able to "see" the light.

Verse 24—Then Pharaoh called to Moses and said, Go, serve the LORD ("serve the Eternal") only, so this is like a "but" or "conditions apply." Now, I understand that when you see a TV ad and it says “you can do this” and “you can do that” and “you can get this and we'll give you this,” and in the small print down on the bottom it says, "conditions apply." In other words, there's a "but" or "only." In other words, you have to do something else to be able to qualify to get something else. Well, here it is that Pharaoh is using this "only" or this "but," so there is a condition applying. Now, his motive here is not to allow the Israelites to leave, to worship God. So here he is saying one thing, but he's got a motive and it's a wrong motive because there is a trickery involved here, which we will see here that Moses discovers and reveals back to him. Go, serve the Eternal, only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. So, don't take what is seen as the most valuable by the Egyptians, is the first point, their possessions, what the Israelites had, plus Pharaoh was being clever in his own reasoning because of the next verse. Let your little ones also go with you. But Moses said, You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings—why?—that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.

So here Pharaoh was being clever. He's saying, "Well, yes, go and serve your God," but don't take what was needed for worshiping God at that point of time, which was sacrifices and burnt offerings. Because here he is saying, "Well, go, and take your children as well," looking generous, but the reality was he was actually trying to hold them back from taking what they needed to do to worship God, which is what God had commanded. "Go serve the Eternal," is what Pharaoh has said.

So we can look at this also, brethren. Today where people are asking for time off to go and worship God, and people will say, "Well, yes, you can take time off to worship your God, but..." In other words, there's a condition applied, "you've got to do extra time now before you go." You might want a week off or eight days or ten days, whatever is required that you can do to achieve worshipping God in spirit and truth at the Feast. And they turn around and say, "Yeah, you have to do this, but you've got to work all this extra overtime before you go." Or others say, "Yes, you can go and worship your God, but..." There is a condition: "When you come back you won't have a job. You won't be able to earn an income." So the point here is that we must obey God, and if we lose our employment, well, that is exactly what God has asked us to do, which is stand for Him, stand for God. We may not have an income to support God's work in tithes or in offerings because of our willingness to obey God, to go and serve God and not to keep back anything from God. We will take the time off and if we lose our jobs, well, we lose our jobs. And if that's what's required of us by God, that's what we will do. We will go and worship God according to His commandments.

Verse 26—Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind. For we must take some of them to serve the LORD our God, and even we do not know with what we must serve the LORD until we arrive. So he's saying, "Well, we're going to take it all with us. We're leaving absolutely nothing behind because we don't really know how much is going to be required of us when we get there. It may be only small amounts of offerings or it may be a lot, therefore, we're not leaving any behind." So Moses is really saying, "We're taking everything and nothing will be left behind."

Well, it's the same for us, brethren, when we're confronted with worshipping God, because we don't really know what is yet required of us. We think we know what's required of us, but the reality is it takes time to come to understand what is required of us. The truth is we are required to give up everything. We are required to give up everything. So we come to worship God, and in the end we see that of and by ourselves we are nothing and that we have to sacrifice ourselves completely. We've got to be in a state of humility and continue to keep ourselves low in our thinking, to come to "see" that God is great and we are nothing; of and by ourselves, we are nothing. And when we come to see this we then come to see we are willing to give up everything. We are willing to sacrifice everything of self for God.

Verse 27—But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. Now, Pharaoh was left in his pride. His thinking was set because of his human reasoning. He had no intentions of letting them go, because if he had he wouldn't have said, "Yes, you can go serve Your God, but I'm keeping back the animals." In other words, his motive was one of trickery, trying to deceive.

Now, from this example we can see if we do not obey God, we move into the darkness of sin. Obedience moves us into the light. So we're either obedient to God or we're not. Obedience is the narrow way (the narrow path). Disobedience is the broad way (the broad path). Obedience to the truth is a light to our thinking. Disobedience to the truth is darkness in our thinking. If we are in the light, we are spiritually minded. If we are in the darkness, we cannot see spiritually.

Just some other points that we can look at also. The Israelites left Egypt on the night of the 15th and walked from the darkness into the daylight. Back to Exodus 13:21—And the Eternal went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, which is this narrow path. Symbolically, they're walking on this narrow path because they're following God, where God is leading them. ...and by night, so in the darkness, in a pillar of fire to give them light. Well, we walk in the darkness of this world because the world is darkness, but we have light, we have the truth. So we can actually follow God in the truth and He will lead us out of the darkness of this world, the darkness that we were in with regards to practicing sin. Because before we were called, we practice sin. We just lived sin. We lived darkness. ...so as to go by day and night. So God was leading them in light during the night time. So we, brethren, can also be led by the light, which is the truth of God, by night, in the darkness of this world.

Exodus 14:20. (Just over a page in my Bible.) So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of the Israelites. And it's talking about the light, which was God providing the fire. Thus it was a cloud and the darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other. So there was darkness on one side, which is the Egyptians, and on the other side there was light, which was night time, but it was still light because God provided the light. Well, it's the same for this world, brethren. There is darkness on one side. On the broad path there is darkness because it is in the world. It's covered in sin and it's pitch black, because they do not "see" any aspect of sin in themselves, because they haven't been called to it. But this fire by night, it gave light to the Israelites. Well, light, brethren, we understand is symbolic of following God, but also it is directing towards the truth. ...so that one did not come near the other all that night. Now, this is a key for us, brethren, that we don't want to be near the other. We don't want to be near sin. We don't want to be near the darkness of this world. And if we have the light, if we have the truth, that's what will separate us from the darkness, the light, the truth. So we, brethren, in the Church of God—PKG have the truth, therefore, we are separated. We don't go anywhere near the world. Now, the world sees that. They see that we're different, we're separate, and they don't like it, just like Pharaoh and His army chase after the Israelites. Well, brethren, it's the same today. Satan in his darkness, in his sin, chases after the Church of God. Now, he can only do damage to us as we yield to it or we yield to God's spirit. We're either yielding to the darkness – sin – or we're yielding to the light – the truth. And much of this is to do with our personal choices.

Egypt is symbolic of sin, which is spiritual darkness. Israel is symbolic of the Church, spiritual Israel, which has the light, the truth, the word of God. For us, brethren, it makes no difference at what time of the day it is because we walk in the light just as they did, but we walk on a spiritual level. So it doesn't matter what part of a 24-hour day it is, whether it's light or dark as far as the cycle of the moon and the sun. For us, it's always light if we stay with the truth, on a spiritual level.

Darkness should not be seen, nor have any effect on us if we walk in the light, if we walk in the truth. So this, brethren, we can learn from this because God is the one that provides light. God is the one who provides truth. Now it's a matter whether or not we're going to yield to God, yield to the truth.

Psalm 27:1—The LORD ("The Eternal") is my light, now, this is "shows the way on the narrow path." So it's God. We have to be following God because He is our light if we're yielding to God's spirit. ...and my salvation, that is through Christ. Whom shall I fear? So the comparison is that, well, if we're following God because God's showing us the way on this narrow path, to go through this narrow gate, "and is our salvation," because God is our Savior through Jesus Christ, "Whom shall I fear?" So if God is great and He provides the direction, He's called us and He's put us on this path to walk and He promises us salvation, life in Elohim, well, who should we fear? Who would we fear? Nobody and nothing. The only thing we should fear is God! There is nothing to fear in life because God is for us. We should learn to fear God. And to fear God is to keep His commandments. To fear God is the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning of coming to understand God's very thinking.

The LORD is the strength of my life. Why is that? Because God is for us. God is our strength. Of whom shall I be afraid? Absolutely nobody. So the answer to these very scriptures, which is David saying, well, God is his direction in life (because God shows us the way to walk), and God is his salvation (God is our salvation), and "God is the strength of my life," because without God living and dwelling in us what are we? Just natural and carnal, using human reasoning. So God is our strength, and therefore, we don't have to be afraid of anybody or anything. Because of God dwelling in us, we don't have to be afraid of the darkness, because we're yielding to the light. We're yielding to the truth. We're yielding to God's holy spirit.

Isaiah 2:5—O house of Jacob, symbolically pointing to the Church of God, come and let us walk in the light of the Eternal, "let us walk in the truth." There is only one way that leads to life and that is obedience to the truth, obedience to God's word, and that is to walk in the truth. That is what we're on. We're on this narrow path. That way of walking is the narrow path. This path is one of fighting against the self, fighting against our own selfish desires. Now, this is the key of being part of the Body of Christ. And the point of this is never to give up walking in the truth. No matter what is going on in our life, no matter how difficult things may appear to be, we always have to stay on this narrow path. We can't afford to veer over into the darkness. To walk in the light is to walk in obedience to the laws of God. And that is the key to being part of the Body of Christ.

And if we'd like just for a moment to imagine a path. So we're standing still on this very narrow path. In other words, it's only wide enough for one person, maybe two. It may be that wide, but it's a light. You can see this light and this light looking straight down this path and all you see is this bright path, this bright light way ahead of us. And we can see a gate at the end of this path, but it's quite narrow and we have to stay on it, because on either side is darkness, either side you can't actually see; it's pitch black. We cannot see. We don't know whether the drop down the side is one foot, two foot (maybe meters in various countries, or feet in other countries); it could be a hundred meters or a hundred feet. It could be miles down, like the Grand Canyon. It could be one kilometer deep. Who knows? It could be two kilometers deep either side. We just don't know because it's darkness. Therefore, it is so important to walk on this narrow path and to stay on it, not to veer to the left and the right, but to walk in the truth. So the point being is that if we see this narrow path and we're walking down it, and if we're following where God leads, we're leading to the light, this narrow gate down the end we can see, we enter that gate, which is like entering the Kingdom of God, being changed to righteousness, to be part of the Body of Christ in God's Kingdom, to be part of the Kingdom of God, to be in Elohim. So this is the path we're walking on.

Now, on either side is this darkness, which is the sin that can so easily overtake us. Now, if we do tend to wander into any aspect of the darkness, where we may lean over into the darkness because of habit that we have, or just simply the fact that we make mistakes because of our pride and our selfishness and our human reasoning, well, we know we can come back on that path because God has granted us the gift of repentance. So we need to stay very focused on following the light, which is following where God is leading us in the Church. Now, this aspect is, the learning to walk is learning to follow God, which is learning obedience, obedience to what God gives. Now, when we're on this path we have choices to make, whether or not we want to touch the darkness or try to feel it, because of our choices. Well, the key to this is learning to walk on this light path, which is follow where God leads. We can "hear" His voice, where He's leading us to, which is this gate up the end, "a very narrow gate to go through, and few that find it," because most people are in the darkness. Well, we've been called out of the darkness on to this path of light, which is God's truth, which is following God, which is this narrow way of light, following God, following God's word.

John 1:1—In the beginning was the Word, and we understand that word is "the Logos" or "the thoughts" or "the thinking of God," and the Word, the thoughts or the thinking of God, was unto God. It belonged to God. It was God's thinking and no one else's. So this Word existed, which is God's thinking existed, and the Word was God, because this Word (or this Logos, this thinking of God) was the way that God thought. So there is one eternal being here being discussed with this particular way of thinking, which is the Word or the Logos. This Word was in the beginning unto God. It was with God and with no other. So it is God's thinking. All things were made by Him (by God or by the Word from God's thinking). So God created all things, and without Him, or "it." It can be either. It can be "without God" or "without it," the Word, because it's referring to, "In the beginning was the Word," so it can be, "All things were made by the Word," and without the Word nothing was made that was made. In other words, it was God. God made everything. God created all things. We cannot separate God, the Word, because the Word is God's thinking. It's the way God thinks. It's the thinking (or the Logos) of God.

Verse 4—In Him, or "it," the Word, was life, so in God there was life, or, "In the Word," which is God's thinking, "was life," and the life, or the Word, was the light unto men. It's God's Word. God's Word is the truth. God's Word is the light.

Verse 5—And the light, the truth of God's Word, God's thinking, shines in the darkness. Where is the darkness? It's in the world; it's in man's thinking. ...and the darkness ("the world," "man's thinking") did not comprehend it. Because it can't! Because God's thinking is completely different than man's thinking. We understand that man was made carnal for a reason.

Now, why is it "that man could not comprehend it"? Because the natural mind cannot see spiritually. It cannot comprehend, it cannot understand God's thinking, because it's natural, carnal, and selfish, where God's is spiritual thinking (because He is spirit, God is spirit), and His way of thinking is love, it's outgoing, and it's a way of give. Well, man was made the opposite to God, complete opposite to God. The Word (the light, the truth) is from God and is spiritual in design and it reveals love. So the Word is God's thinking.

Now, the darkness is the opposite to God's way of thinking. Darkness is sin and is from a natural mind of selfishness.

Verse 6—Now it's cutting in to reveal part of what John the Baptist's purpose was. Verse 6—There was a man (John the Baptist) sent from God, whose name was John. John was born as a human, but God was working with John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, so John the Baptist was born and was given direction by God for a purpose. He had a particular role to fulfill, and that was "this man came for a witness." He was there "to provide evidence (to bear witness, to give evidence) of the Light." Now, we know that this "Light" that is being referred to is the Word of God, and the Word made flesh was Jesus Christ, who was the Word of God made flesh. This was the thinking of God in a human, the thinking of God in Jesus Christ. Why provide this evidence? Continuing on in verse 7—that all through him ("all through John") might believe, believe the message of who he pointed to and who he was referring to. He (John) was not that Light, "not the Word made flesh." So he wasn't "the Logos made flesh," but was sent to bear witness ("provide evidence"), to bear witness of that Light, which we understand was Jesus Christ.

Verse 9—That was ("He was," referring to Christ) the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. So once called to the light, the truth, the Word of God. Because that's the only way that somebody can be given access to the Light, it requires a calling.

Verse 10—He was in the world; the Word, the thinking of God was made flesh, it came into the world. The thinking of God was in a human, and the world was made through Him, to make other Elohim's. So it's still referring to Jesus Christ because it was through Jesus Christ that God was going to create a family, to bring others into Elohim. ...and the world did not know Him. They did not know the Word of God, the truth, the Light, Jesus Christ.

Verse 11—He (Christ) came to His own, which was the tribe of Judah (the people of Israel there which were the Jews at that point in time), and His own did not receive Him. They didn't understand who He was and they didn't receive Him or His message because of their natural carnal mind and the stubbornness of their mind.

Verse 12—But as many as receive Him (Christ), because they've been called to receive Christ as the Word of God, to them, which are the disciples of Christ, "to them," (and we are disciples of Christ), He gave to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. We believe He is the anointed Messiah. So we have been called, brethren, to receive Jesus Christ. And to us (the disciples, students of God), He has given us the right to become children of God. We are begotten sons of God. And "to those who believe in His name"; we believe what God the Father has done through Jesus Christ. We believe Jesus Christ is the anointed Messiah and it's through Jesus Christ that we can have salvation.

Continuing on, referring to those that have been called by God: verse 13— who were born, and that is "begotten" (begotten sons), not of blood, so we're not related physically, nor to the will of the flesh, nor to the will of man; not from man's desires. It's not by our human effort, but of God. They were called by God to become begotten sons, and it was not by their own human effort or human reasoning. They didn't work it out that this was the Son of God and believe that Jesus was the anointed Messiah by human reasoning. They were called to believe, just like we are called to believe.

Verse 14—The Word ("The Logos," the thoughts or thinking of Yahweh Elohim) became flesh, were in Christ as a man, and dwelt among us, so this, "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" through Jesus Christ, and we beheld His glory (Christ's glory), the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now, this is a key to understand, that He was full of grace, He was full of mercy and truth, because God's Word is truth, therefore, He was the Word made flesh. He was the Logos, the thinking of God made flesh. So He dwelt in the truth because He thought like God.

So we, brethren, have this potential. We can walk on the path of light and head on the path of truth, through this narrow gate, because our purpose in life is to take on the mind of God, to take on the Word (the Logos), the thinking of God in us. That is our desire and that's the transformation that must take place. We have been called to be transformed.

John 3:12—This is Christ speaking. If I (Christ) have told you earthly things, talking about physical things, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? "Now, if I tell you spiritual things that are from the thinking of God?"

Verse 13—No one has ascended into heaven, "no one has ascended into heaven," so it's pretty easy to understand, but He (Christ) who came out of heaven, which is the Word made flesh. Now, they're going to struggle to understand this. They can understand one aspect, "no one has ascended to heaven." "Hmmm, no one has ascended into heaven"; can understand that. "But He who came out of heaven," the Word made flesh. Well, that's, now they're going to start to struggle. ...the Son of Man which being by heaven. Now they're going to really struggle, because here it is He's saying, "If I tell you earthly things and you don't even believe that, how are you ever going to believe something that is spiritual in nature? Something that has come from God's thinking?"

No one physical has ascended to heaven where God the Father is. This is a physical statement they could understand and come to commit to. But (now Christ is talking about the spiritual)..."But He (Christ), who came out of heaven," as the Word, the Logos, "was made flesh," dwelling in man," the Son of God who's origin or source was from the Father." Now, they're not going to understand much of what was said.

Verse 14—And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, which was impaled on a pole. Why? ...that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (age-lasting life). If we believe what He said (what Jesus Christ said) we will be walking on the narrow path that leads to life.

Verse 15—That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (age-lasting life). If we believe what He said, we believe the words that He said—because we understand that He is the Word made flesh—we will be walking on the narrow path that leads to life, age-lasting life, life that will not end once in Elohim. Because the point of all of this is that He was the Word made flesh, and therefore, if we believe in Him, we believe who He was and we believe the words that He spoke, which really was the thinking of God, we believe God.

Verse 16—For God so loved the world that He (God) gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, what He said, the words that He spoke, and believe that He was the anointed Messiah, that He was from God, because of God's thinking, should not perish but have everlasting life. Well, that word there, same word there, "everlasting-life," is the same word as in verse 15 that is translated as "eternal life," which is "age-lasting life," because once we enter Elohim life will not cease in that age. It's endless.

Verse 17—For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, which is "to judge or separate at that time," but that the world (mankind) through Him ("through Christ") might be saved. We're saved from death because of Passover. We are being saved if we walk in the truth, the Word of God. We are being saved if we believe, have faith in, and accept that Jesus Christ is our Passover sacrifice for our sins. We believe God. We believe Jesus Christ.

Verse 18—He who believes in Him is not condemned ("is not judged"); but he who does not believe is condemned ("is judged"); so this comes back to whether we believe and obey or we do not believe and disobey. So we're judged already. Why? Because, he has not believe in the name of the only begotten son of God. If we choose not to believe Christ we are judged by our choice, by our decision, the decision we have made, which is not to believe, not to believe the Word of God, not to believe God Himself.

Verse 19—And this is the condemnation ("this is the judgment"), that the Light, (the Logos, the Word of God, the truth, the thinking of God) has come into the world (in Christ), and men loved darkness rather than the Light ("more than the Light"); so mankind, because of his natural carnal mind, "loved the darkness more than the light," because their deeds were evil, because of mankind's thinking. Mankind desires sin and evil more than the truth. That's just the way that man is. Mankind preferred his natural selfish thinking based on human desires of self and "the pride of life," which is evil. Mankind, by nature, does not want to hear the truth, the Word of God. So mankind didn't want to hear Jesus Christ. And the group that were there with Jesus Christ at the time, were mainly of the tribe of Judah, they did not want to hear the truth. They did not want to hear the Word of God, because Jesus Christ was the Word made flesh. Mankind today is the same. Mankind does not want to hear that obedience to God's law is required by God. They just don't want to hear that. Mankind, by nature, loves to walk on the broad path of selfishness, the broad path of darkness. That is just natural and that's the way we were. We walked in darkness before our calling, and we were just acting naturally, using our own human reasoning, what we thought was right and wrong.

Verse 20—For everyone practicing evil, now, this is doing or exercising the mind in evil in sin. So if we practice it (this is just by desire, doing it), hates the light, they detest the truth, detest the words of God, hate Christ by their actions, and that is the proof. This is the proof that they hate God, they hate the light, they hate Jesus Christ, because of this practicing of evil. ...and does not come to (or "goes to") the light; they don't go to the truth, the Word, Christ. Why? ...lest their deeds ("their works" or "their actions") should be exposed. God's word will reveal what a person is really like. If we don't look at God's word we will not "see" what we are like, we will not "see" who we really are. And that's why mankind doesn't like to look at God's word, to "see" the truth. "Everyone practicing evil hates the light (which is "detests the light") and does not come to it." Why? "Because their deeds would be exposed," "be able to see the self," in other words. If we don't look into the word of God we will not "see" what we are or what God requires of us. God requires obedience. Well, if we're not looking at the word of God, how will we ever "see" it? We won't. So it's easy for the natural carnal mind just to ignore God's word; don't look at it, don't come to the light, just continue to practice evil.

Verse 21—But he who does the truth, now, this is the doer, which we have discussed before. The doer of the word practices walking in the word (walking in the truth), walks in obedience. So it's the doer. But he who does the truth (the doer), comes to the light, comes to the Logos, comes to the Word of God, comes to the truth, has the thinking of God or comes to the thinking of God. Why? ...that his deeds, his thinking and his actions, may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. So if we come to the light, if we come to the truth through a calling and we remain in the truth, in the light, that we will see our deeds, "that his deeds," that they, the deeds "have been done in God," because it's God doing the work. God dwelling in us, by the power of His holy spirit, His word in us produces righteousness. God allows us to "see" the truth. So when we come to God's word and we "see" it, we "see" that we need to be obedient, because we've come to the light, we "see" that our deeds (what we do, we clearly "see" them), that it's not us that does righteousness but it's God in us that does righteousness. And we "see" that the natural carnal mind is hostile to God and practices evil. That's the problem with the natural carnal mind. So we stop practicing evil. Although we sin, we don't practice it by continually choosing it. We actually choose to reject it, we draw to the truth, we draw to the light, we stay on the narrow path and we reject the darkness on both sides of the path. We want nothing to do with it. But when we stumble, we repent and we pick up and we stay walking in the truth on the path of light.

So we see that by staying on this path that God reveals to us that we will "see" clearly where we are walking, and that we're walking in the truth, because God is doing it in us. It's God's thinking in us that keeps us on this path of light.

John 8:12—Then Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me... Now, this "following" is "is obedient to God's word." ...follows Me (follows Christ, is obedient to God's word), because He was the Word made flesh, shall not walk in darkness, they won't practice as a way of life sin or evil. So this "not walking in darkness" is not practicing as a way of life, sin. We won't practice it. We will be fighting the fight in our minds. We won't practice evil. So here it is, that if we are called and we follow this path that Jesus Christ is walking on, we follow Christ—in other words, we're obedient to God's word—we will not be walking in the darkness, we won't be walking on the broad path, that wide path. We won't be stumbling off into the darkness. We won't be willingly or choosing to walk in the darkness, we'll be choosing to walk in the light. ...but has the light of life, as Christ dwelling in us gives us life, which is the same as the Word, the truth, the Logos of God living and dwelling in us, which is life!

So if we have Jesus Christ and God the Father living and dwelling in us we have the Word dwelling in us, and therefore, we won't be walking in the darkness.

Ecclesiastes 12:13. Now, this is Solomon's final conclusion after experiencing or trying everything he could in a physical life that he was leading, and that he had set out to live life to its fullest to try to come to understand matters. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. So the conclusion is, "What will bring happiness?" So what's the conclusion of life and everything he's tried? What will bring happiness in life? Because he's tried everything physical, so what's his conclusion? What's God's conclusion that has been given to Solomon to come to see? Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all, or this is the full duty of mankind, the purpose of physical life. So what will bring happiness in a physical life to mankind? To fear God. Well, to fear God is to hate evil...to fear God is to hate evil. And "to fear God is the beginning of wisdom." "And to keep His commandments." So the commandments aren't done away.

Now, based on this conclusion that Solomon has come to mankind cannot be happy. Because, one, they don't fear God, two, they don't keep His commandments. So all those people that turn around and say, "The commandments are done away," are not happy. It's absolutely impossible to be happy because they're breaking God's law. They're breaking even the intent of the law, the spirit of the law, because it's based on their selfishness. Their choices are based on their selfishness.

Now, to fear God would mean that they would keep His commandments. They would yield their spirit to God. But the natural carnal mind walks in hostility against God. So Solomon came to the conclusion, brethren, that we, if we desire to be happy physically and spiritually, we must learn to fear God. Now, when we fear God we will learn to hate evil within ourselves, and we will be striving to keep the spirit of His commandments. Now, the spirit of the commandments is to live love. Our intent and our motive is to love God and to love our neighbor. That's our motive. That's our intent behind all our thoughts, words, and actions.

Verse 14—For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing. Now, what's secret? It's in our thinking, whether good, which is of God, from God in us, and our choice to obey. Well, that's the good. Or evil, from our selfishness in the self. So everything that we think, everything that we choose to do, every word we speak has a judgment connected to it. It will be measured according to God's word. And there is a consequence for that. We will be held accountable for our choices in life. It is light or darkness (what we choose), we're going to follow the light or we're going to walk in our selfishness in the darkness. It's either good, coming from God because only God is good, so it's God's thinking in us, God's spirit in us, living and dwelling in us and we're yielding to it, or it's evil. It's one or the other. It's either God's thinking or human reasoning, human thinking. It's either obedience to God or disobedience to God. It's either holy because it comes from God and has God dwelling in it, or it's unholy, which is selfish, God's not there. The narrow path that leads to life or the broad way (or the broad path) that leads to destruction. So there's only two ways in life, brethren, it's either the narrow way or the broad way.

So we'll continue now by going to Psalm 119 and we'll pick it up in verse 17 where we left off. Psalm 119:17—Deal bountifully, which is "reward or prosper," with Your servant, so "deal bountifully," which is "reward me, Your servant," anyone willing to serve in humility, that I may live and keep Your word. So David is asking here for to be looked after, because he admits that he's a servant and he wants to do it in humility, "that he may live and keep God's word." Obedience provides life. That is David's will here. He wants to yield to God, that he can live a life on a physical level, but also live spiritually, "and to keep Your word," keep God's word.

Verse 18—Open ("uncover") my eyes, which really, for us, brethren, we need to be called. To have our eyes uncovered is to be called. So all those people out in the world that haven't been called, they cannot have their eyes opened, they can't have their eyes uncovered, they can't see spiritually because they're not called. Well, David is saying here, Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law. So we, brethren, have been called. We've had our eyes open and we can see wondrous things from God's law. We can see spiritual matters. We have been called to see spiritual matters, wonderful things, wondrous things of God's thinking. God's law is God's thinking. God's law reveals what love is so we can "see" God's thinking.

So how incredible is it that we, brethren, have been called, we've had our eyes opened, we've had our eyes uncovered so that we can see the wondrous things of God's thinking, the way God thinks. It is a marvelous thing that we come to "see" and understand mercy. Now, we can't see and understand mercy without a calling. People can say they're merciful, they believe that they are living mercy. Well, it's impossible. Without God's holy spirit we cannot live mercy. Now, to come to understand how merciful God is requires God's spirit, and it takes time for this transformation of the mind, of what we think mercy is to what mercy is. It takes time in God's Church. It takes years to come to "see" the true mercy and the true love of God. It's something that we have to experience in our thinking. It doesn't just happen overnight. It's not something we can just turn around and say, "Oh, I know what love is," or "I "see" love now," or "I see mercy." No, it's not like that. It requires God's spirit and the mind has to be transformed from what we think love is to actually "see" love on a spiritual level, what it is. Now, what is love? Well, "God is love," and "God gave His only begotten Son for the sins of the world." He gave up His own Son for mankind. Now, that is love, we're willing to die or put the self down to the benefit of others.

So when we're in the Church, when we're first called, we think we have sacrificing love. But we don't. We may have aspects of sacrificing love in our life based on God's holy spirit, because it requires God's holy spirit to have sacrificing love, but as we go longer in God's Church and we come to have greater knowledge and greater spiritual understanding so that we can live wisdom, we then come to "see" what love is, this putting down of self, this sacrificing one's own desires to the benefit of others (even though it may hurt us), that is love. Now, that is not easily done. That requires a commitment by us to God's word, to yield to God's word, to stay walking on this narrow path, to keep fighting the fight in the mind, to fight for sacrificing love, to yield to God's thinking, which is sacrificing love to others.

So we, brethren, have been called to walk on this narrow way, and the most important thing on this narrow way is to love and to learn to live mercy.

Verse 19—I am a stranger in the earth, so he's a sojourner. And we are citizens of another Kingdom. We are sons of God and we don't belong to this world. We don't vote. We don't get involved in the politics of this world so we are strangers in the earth. We are strangers on this earth. Do not hide Your commandments from me. So "Don't hide Your commandments on a spiritual level." We desire to "see" the spiritual intent of God's law. So although we are strangers on this earth because we're walking in the spirit of the law (therefore, we will be strangers, we're just sojourners passing through), people won't recognize what's really going on in our life, David is saying here, "God, please, do not hide Your commandments. Don't hide the spiritual intent of the law from me!" Because a person can just see the physical law, that's not enough. We have to see the spiritual intent of the law, why is the law the way it is, what is the intent or motive behind the law, and then we can take it on board. And the more important thing here is that we check our motive and our intent. Why are we doing what we're doing? Why are we thinking the way we think? And it's either one way or the other. It's either the narrow way, which is walking in the light, which is the good of God in us, or we're walking on the broad way, which is the way of selfishness and God's not involved in any way in the darkness.

Verse 20—My soul ("My life") breaks (is crushed) with longing for Your judgments at all times. So here is this desire that his life, inside there is this longing for His judgments, at all times. He wants to understand them. He wants to be able to implement them into his life. You rebuke the proud—the cursed, and that is "the arrogant, the proud, the insolent, the presumptuous." So those that are proud are cursed. They are cursed because of their selfishness, because of their pride, their arrogance, their presumptuous nature. There's a curse. There's a penalty for their sin. Because it's either we're blessed or we're cursed, and we've looked at that in part of the sermon series before, about walking on this narrow way, that if we're walking on this narrow way we will be blessed. And those that are cursed, which are the "blessings and cursing's," which are really an outcome or a reward for pride, will take place. So here it is saying, David is saying, "You rebuke the proud, the cursed," who stray from Your commandments. So we are either blessed for obedience or cursed, or the outcome will be provided which is a disadvantage for disobedience. There is a disadvantage for disobedience, which is the cursing's. In other words, we'll be rewarded for the choices we make.

Verse 22—Remove ("Roll away") from me reproach (shame) and contempt, for I have kept Your testimonies. Princes also sit, and that is "dwell in authority," and speak against me,

but Your servant meditates on Your statutes. So David here is saying that people, yes, will criticize him and there are people in authority and they speak against him because of what he is doing, because of his obedience to God, because he seeks to understand (by meditating) and talk about the way that God thinks on a matter. He doesn't lean on his own understanding, he chooses what God chooses. So he gets into God's law, he looks in God's commandments, he meditates on them, he thinks about them, he talks about them, and he dwells on them, and therefore, he 's criticized by others because of it. So he is God's servant, thinking about what God thinks on a matter.

Now, this is a key for us too, brethren, that whenever we have choices in life, what does God think about a matter? What does God say about a matter? Therefore, we choose what God thinks about a matter, this is the way to live life. Now, this is where this obedience to God's law comes in, because it's about a way of thinking. We're either thinking love and mercy or we're thinking ill will and hardness or revenge in the heart, getting even. So if we were to think about the way that God thinks on a matter we will first of all live love, which means we will sacrifice our opinions, we'll sacrifice what we want for the benefit of others, and we will extend and live mercy.

Now, to have mercy in our thinking is a great key. It's a great benefit to us, because if we have mercy, when we have mercy, we "see" ourselves...we "see" ourselves. Because we can't live mercy to another person unless we have seen our self. Now, when we see our self we see that we are not merciful, we have revenge in our heart. We always want to get even, we want justice for self. Well, learning to live mercy is a marvelous thing; can only come from God, because it's God's thinking, because God is mercy. God is all merciful.

Verse 24—Your testimonies also are my delight (my enjoyment) and my counselor (advice and purpose). God's word is his guide. It's God's word that guides him on this narrow way, this narrow path. So God's word is his delight. He rejoices in it. He would actually seek it out to see what God thinks on a matter.  "And my counselors"; well, we know what counselor's are, they are people that give advice. They give options to us. Well, if we use God's word as our counselor we'll be seeking God's word as our guide.

Verse 25—My life clings to the dust; revive me according to Your word. So this is "clings to the dust," this "My life clings to the dust," well, it can be two things. It can refer to the fact that he is physical, he understands that he is temporary, and it can also refer to being near death. "Revive me according to Your word," according to God's way of being.

Verse 26—I have declared my ways, and You answered me; Teach me Your statutes. Now, if we declare our ways before God, this is about repentance. Because when we "declare our ways," before God, God will answer us by providing us His holy spirit. So this is about us declaring our ways before God, which is coming to God in repentance; admitting the way we are, admitting that we are temporary and that we desire to live God's word, we want God's word to guide our life. So if we come before God in repentance God will teach us by the power of His holy spirit. He will teach us His way, by the power of His thinking, His Word, His Logos in us.

Verse 27—Make me understand the way of Your precepts; so shall I meditate on Your wondrous works. Now, the word "meditate" there is "to put forth effort in thinking, muse, commune, speak, or ponder." So it is about this thinking and then talking about it. And we can talk about it with God. Because we can actually think about matters and then commune with God about His word, how wonderful His precepts are, and ask God to provide us understanding on a spiritual level of the way of His precepts. And that's why we would dwell on it and that's why we'd think about it.

Now, this takes planning and this takes time. To take one aspect of God's law and to meditate on it, to think about it; what is the intent? What is the intent of the law here in this particular matter, and then to check our intent, and then go before God and to talk to God about how wonderful His law is, "His wondrous works," what He is doing in us in changing our thinking.

So what are the wondrous works of God that we can think on? Well, we can think about our calling. How wonderful was our calling? To come to understand the way we were in the darkness, and then God has called us into the light, into the truth. We can look at our conversion, this process that God is working with us in changing our minds, in transforming our minds. This is not about conforming, this is about transforming our thinking. This conversion, which takes a lifetime of one way of thinking, selfishness, ill will, pride, and being unmerciful (seeking revenge), that way which is the darkness, now this conversion of this new way of thinking, God's way of thinking on a matter which is one of love, sacrificing of self, the putting down of the self for the benefit of others (which can only happen by God's holy spirit) and mercy, to be able to think mercy, to be able to live mercy. Because if we don't think mercy, it's impossible to live it. So it requires God's holy spirit for us to come to "see" the need to live mercy...to live mercy, and to think it.

Verse 28—My life melts for heaviness; strengthen me according to Your word. Remove from me the way of lying, and grant me Your law, which is a direction in life, graciously, with mercy. So, "remove from me the way of lying," which is the natural carnal mind of selfishness, of justification. Because justification is lying, it's the defending of the self. So whenever we lie, we're just simply guarding self, we're protecting self, we're trying to build the self up. So if we lie about somebody else we just simply lifting ourselves up to put them down. It's still all about pride. "And grant me Your law graciously," with mercy. "Show me how to live according to Your way of thinking," because it does require God to do that, to be able to live graciously, to live God's law.

Verse 30—I have chosen (or "selected") the way of truth; so this is a choice that he has now made. He's been called to it but now he is choosing on a daily basis this way of truth. This is where our choice comes into it. We have a choice. We have a choice in this, brethren, whether or not we want to walk on the narrow path in the light (in the truth). I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me. And the words he's saying, "I have agreed with Your judgments. I choose the true way of life. I choose to walk on the narrow path." Now, another way of putting this is saying, "Your judgments, I have laid before me," which means he's considering them, he's thinking about them, they are like road signs or they're signs that you can lead life or walk on this path. So you can stay on this narrow path because of these road signs. Well, the road signs really are God's judgments, God's commandments. They point the way to live life.

Verse 31—I cling to Your testimonies; O LORD, do not put me to shame! "Don't allow me to be in confusion." Now, if we're in confusion, we're in the darkness, because God is not the author of confusion. And Satan is the author of confusion; he is the one that walks in darkness. He is in darkness. Well, we can walk in the light. Without the law that's what happens to mankind, they walk in confusion and in the darkness. So they have a life of darkness. That's what we've been called out of, brethren, to walk in the light.

Verse 32—I will run (or "guard") the course of Your commandments, "I will strive to live the commandments." Now, that's the battle that goes on in our minds, we have to strive to live the commandments, which is about the way we think. Because in the end it's just simply a matter of the way we think. ...for You shall enlarge my heart. God must provide us the thinking.

So in the end it all comes down to the way we think, the attitudes that we have. Now, brethren, attitudes are something that we have to check every day. And we find ourselves in different situations where often something may take place between two individuals and a discussion may take place, and we realize after the discussion that our attitude was wrong, that we chose to defend the self. And we do it  in so many different ways; we'll justify, we'll raise our voice, we'll say certain things. But in the end we realize, well, it's just simply pride. We are getting into these discussions because of the way we think, because of these attitudes.

So it requires God's spirit in us to help us to see what our attitudes are like, where we can see that our thinking is not the same as God's thinking.

Verse 33—Teach me, O LORD, the ways of Your statutes, and I shall keep it (the law) to the end. "As a consequence, because of what I have been taught." Here we have it, brethren, where we can say, we love God's way, we love the way of God's commandments, His statutes, and we desire God to teach us His law that we can keep it to the end, to the end of our life. We want to be able to live our life in obedience to God's law. Give me understanding, which is that spiritual understanding and discernment, and I shall keep Your law; indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart, which is this inner thinking, this inner being within our minds, the way we think. It has to be chosen deep down, the way we really think, which is about our intent. Make me walk in the path (the way) of Your commandments, for I delight ("I take pleasure") in it. Incline, which is "to turn," my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness; not to focus on the physical to please the self.

Here David is saying, "Well, I require your holy spirit, Father. Give me this understanding that I may keep Your law, that I may, within my inner thinking observe it with my whole intent (my heart). That's my desire! And make me walk in the path (or the way) of your commandments. Make this be my direction in life, to be checking my attitudes, checking my intent, the motive behind why I do what I do all the time. "Incline my heart," turn my heart, turn my inner thinking towards God's law, to use it as a guide "and not to covetousness," not to self, because that's natural. Turn away my eyes from looking, which is "to inspect or consider," at worthless things. So, "Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things." Well, what are the "worthless things," brethren, that we could look at? Well, anything that is of vanity, falsehood, applies to sin, anything that is sin or has sin is a "worthless thing." It is a vanity to do these things. Now, we can look at worthless things on TV without even realizing it, absolutely worthless, they add no value to our spiritual intent or our motive. They actually can confuse it because the world broadcasts evil; that's all they do, they broadcast evil. They broadcast evil attitudes, they broadcast pride. Well, all these things are "worthless things." So in the end there is very few programs that one can actually watch, because in the end, half way through it, you can see, "This is ridiculous." They're always focusing on about, mostly it's either sex, murder, or greed; all of these things, all about human nature. So we should turn our eyes away from looking at worthless things.

Now, this takes effort, takes a conscious thought, and it's not always easy. Well, here David is saying, "turn away from these things." Well, gossip, evil, anyone that's putting down God's Church; all of these things, false doctrine, false religion, false ideas, all are a vanity. They are all worthless things. They are empty because they're all based on sin. And revive (restore) me in Your path. So personal, sincere repentance is the only way back to God, because we have to be revived, which is restored back in God's way of walking. So this keeping the eyes on a worthless thing is walking on the broad path. And to stay back on the narrow path, or to get back on the narrow way or the walk in the light, the walk in the truth needs a revival, needs restoring which is done through repentance, this personal, sincere repentance. And then God will restore us back on His way of living, which is love and mercy.

Verse 38—Establish Your word to Your servant, who to fearing You. Now, the word "is devoted" is added there. So, "Who fears You." To fear God is to hate evil. So we, brethren want to be established in God's word, and we want to be God's servant. And we want to do it by fearing God. "Who is dedicated to fearing God?" That's what we choose to do. Now, to fear God, we understand, is to hate evil. Now, to hate evil within one's self requires a conversion. We have to see the effects of our selfishness, the effects of our evil, the effects of our attitude, how they hurt others and they are sin; we have to see those things. Now, we're not going to be able to see them without God's law. It's impossible for someone to come to fear God, to learn to hate evil without the commandments, because the commandments lead us, show us what sin is. They reveal what sin is.

Verse 39—Turn away my reproach which I dread ("which I fear") for Your judgments are good. Behold, I long for Your precepts; revive me in Your righteousness. Now, we understand to be revived is this repentance. So once we repent and once we are forgiven (as we forgive others) God will once again live and dwell in us and we will be revived in God's righteousness. And we understand we can only live righteousness by God's spirit living and dwelling in us.

Verse 41—Let Your mercies come also to me, O LORD—Your salvation ("Your deliverance") according to Your word. Why? So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in Your word. So this going into God's word, understanding that God's word should be our guide in life, we will then make right decisions. And as we have done in previous sermons we've looked at remaining focused, staying focused, "Seek first the Kingdom of God," which is all about having a right priority in life. Because if we trust in God's word, what does God's word say? "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness." Have the right priority in life. So this is the answer to anybody with regards to whatever they may think about us, or whatever they say, or whatever they ask us to do or not to do. We go to God's word and use it as a guide. And when God says, "Keeps holy the Sabbath day," well, we trust in God's word, we "Seek first the Kingdom of God," that's our priority, and therefore, it doesn't matter what anybody says. Anybody who reproaches us, anybody who criticizes us, anyone who judges us or condemns us or puts us down, it does not matter because we have an answer, which is, "I trust in God's word. I follow God." And who is greater in all of this? Who is greater? "Greater is He (God) who is in us, than he who is in the world."

The problem that exists is within our thinking. We often lose our direction in life. We don't "see" God in love and mercy. We just simply forget about all of that and we just simply live our live and rely on our own understanding. Well, when we get reproached, when we get reviled, we know we should not revile back, we should use God's word as our guide and "Seek first, Kingdom of God," which is to think about God's way of life first.

Verse 43—And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for I have hoped in Your ordinances. So shall I keep (observe) Your law continually, forever and ever. So this is David's desire. This is what he really wants to do, is to keep God's law in his mind. He wants to do it for the rest of his life, rest of his physical life. So he has hope in God's ordinances (in the law), and he doesn't want to have the truth (the light) removed from his mouth, from his thinking. Because he wants to be able to give the answer according to God's word, not from his own human reasoning.

Verse 45—I will walk at liberty—why?—For I seek Your precepts. "I inquire into Your precepts." So this "diligently seeking God" is by going into God's word and meditating on it and then to walk in the law...to walk in the law. "I will walk at liberty." Now, if we're on this narrow path, this narrow way down this path of light, we'll be walking at liberty, we'll be free from the darkness, free from sin.

Verse 46—I will speak of Your testimonies also before kings, and I will not be ashamed. So he is bold and confident in God's word, in God's way of life. I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love. Isn't this beautiful? "I will delight myself," this inner thinking, "in Your commandments," because the commandments reveal the mind of God, the thinking of God, "which I love." So if we love God's law, if we love God we will keep His law, and if we love what God thinks, the way God thinks, we will have this inner peace because of this love and reliance on God's word.

Proverbs 8. (Hold  your place there.) Proverbs 8:17. This is, of course, the mind of God, the thinking of God being revealed. I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me diligently will find Me. It's referring to wisdom, which is the mind of God, which is the thinking of God. So "I," this thinking of God, the Word, the Logos of God, the wisdom of God, "I love those who love Me." Well, David is saying he loved God's word. He loved it! Well, God is saying that He will live in that person because, "I will love those who love Me." Well, God will live in them. God will be able to live love out to the benefit of others. "And those who seek Me diligently will find Me." Because if we have God as our highest priority and we're diligent in putting God first, and studying, and praying, and putting God's thinking before all other human reasoning, before all other thinking, what God thinks about any matter, if we put that first, well, God says He will live in us because we've got Him as our highest priority.

Back to Psalm 119:48—My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments, which I love,

and I will meditate on Your statutes. Remember the word of Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life. So it's through God's word, God's thinking in us that gives us life, this narrow path that leads to life.

Now, the opposite comes out here, The proud ("The presumptuous") have me in great derision, that means "scorn." They are criticizing David for His following of God's word, God's way. ...yet I do not turn aside from Your law, from the direction of life which is the one in obedience or one of obedience. So God's law is what should guide us on this path, and we shouldn't turn aside from God's law. We shouldn't turn aside. So anybody that says the law is done away or not required, they are lying, because here David and his relationship with God was all based on his love for God's law. And Jesus Christ came to magnify the law, to show it's true intent, to reveal what the purpose of the law was, which was to reveal the spirit of a matter...to reveal the spirit of a matter.

So no matter what situation we are in, brethren, we should look at the spirit of the matter, why we are doing what we are doing. What is really going on within our own thinking? Well, here David is saying people are scorning him and criticizing him. Does that sound familiar, brethren? Does that sound familiar? "Yet, I do not turn aside from Your law." Yet, we do not turn aside from following the truth, from walking in the light, from obedience to God's law. So no matter what anybody says, no matter what anybody criticizes us in, no matter what people do or say or think, it's all irrelevant, because they are really revealing they are proud...they are proud. Because anybody that criticizes someone else is proud. We know that we don't raise our voice, we don't pull anybody else down, because what is it? It's just a sign of pride...just a sign of pride.

So when people in our own family criticize us, pull us down in any way, or bring us to derision, or scorn us because of our "walking in the light," they are actually revealing pride. Now, we can know it but we won't judge them, we don't say anything, we don't do anything because it's not our role. Our role is to judge ourselves. It's to worry about our own pride.

So what do we do when people turn on us and speak evil of us? Doesn't really matter. We do not turn aside from God's law. We don't turn away from the light, because we can see this path we are on, which is in the truth, which is the light, which is the word of God, we're walking on it, we're following it, we're looking into God's word to see how to keep on this path. And we can see the narrow gate ahead of us, it's not far now. This narrow gate is just ahead of us. We can see it. But we can see the darkness moving in and crowding in on us more and more, and this path is very narrow. Well, we're going to stay on this path. We're not going to turn aside from walking in the light and following the light to go through that gate, to enter the Kingdom of God according to God's will, in the time order that God has set before us. So we're to stay on this narrow path just as David is saying. It doesn't matter what happens, people can criticize or condemn or judge, pull down, makes no difference, we will not turn aside from God's law, "from Your law."

I remembered Your judgments of old, O Eternal, and have comforted myself. So we can look back at what God has done and we can be comforted in this. We can be comforted that we know that God is for us. And it doesn't matter what happens in life—if we lose our physical life, does not matter—nobody can take our spirit life, what God is promising us, from us. We can lose it by a choice, by refusing to repent. So we can be comforted by God's word, by looking at what God has done. And what is God's judgments of old? Well, He's done everything in love and mercy. Everything! God has not changed! Everything has been done in love and mercy for mankind, even though mankind can't "see" it. Well, it's no difference for us, brethren. God has done everything in love and mercy for us.

Verse 53—Indignation, which is "horror," has taken hold of me because of the wicked ("the ungodly"), who forsake (leave) Your law. Now, this is about the wicked, really. To be considered "wicked" is to be disobedient. So the moment someone is disobedient to God's law, to the truth, not walking in the light, they are considered wicked.

Now, when you look back at this we can refer to this, many of us would understand aspects of this. Some of us have lived this "horror," and it has taken hold of us, this indignation, because the wicked (the ungodly) have forsaken the law. Well, this is exactly what happened with the Apostasy. It's an example of what happens when people leave God's law. Now, it started with a sermon, and that sermon was, really, doing away with God's law. It was encouraging people to be disobedient. It was encouraging people to be wicked. Now, some didn't "see" it, some did. For example, the sermon said that, "The Sabbath was no longer required as a part of salvation." Well, that was a horror to some. It was a horror for some, not for everyone. There was a lot that rejoiced in it; at that time somebody can get up and say the law is done away, "The Sabbath is no longer required," and that they rejoiced in it, that's incredible thinking! Well, to think like that means that they did not have the fear of God in them. They couldn't have it! Because to fear God is to hate evil. And to say that someone is to leave God's law, forsake God's law, that is actually evil. So it was a horror to some. And because of the Apostasy there was a scattering of the Church of God. And in God's mercy, and in God's love He did awaken a small remnant to form the Body of Christ, the Church of God. And that, we understand, was established on Pentecost of 1998, where God then established His love within His Church to form the Church of God—PKG. It's the forming of God's Church.

So the Apostasy was this indignation or horror, happened to some, but it was all about the wicked, for they had forsaken God's law. And it was a horror to see how quickly people turned away from the Sabbath and the Holy Days.

I remember a particular time where, when I was in Western Australia at the time, when there were some that were in horror about this very fact. And there was a lot of debate within the Church at that time. After the sermon (it was in early January when it was given in Australia) and there were people that were for God's law and there were people that were rejoicing that the law had been done away. Well, that caused a lot of distress within people. And I remember the particular time, that it was confusing for many about what they should do when people are saying, "The Law is done away." Well, it was a very difficult time to live through for those that were horrified, because of this ungodliness, for this forsaking of the law. But the end result was that God in His mercy, at some point in time, awakened my wife and myself, and we're blessed for that, and it wasn't early in the part of the Church from Pentecost of 1998, it was much later because we were left in the scattered Church. And in that, in hindsight, I now look at it and I know that I learned a lot of lessons. I learned a lot of lessons because of staying in my sleep. And as God began to awaken me and draw me out of the confusion, out of the darkness into the light, I learned even more lessons. They were burned deep in my mind about many things, things that I couldn't have learned by not being in that situation. We had to go through a particular situation in a scattered group for the purpose of learning lessons that make us who we are today. We remember God's law. We remember what God did, His judgments of old. Well, we remember what happened during the Apostasy (which happened in December of 1994), we remember that whole time to the time we were awakened and we look back on that and we are actually comforted by it because we "see" God's love and we "see" God's mercy. We've actually experienced God's love and we've experienced God's mercy, and we "see" it. And we "see" it because of God's spirit that He has provided to us.

Verse 54—Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. Which is the dwelling. God's law must be in our thinking to guide our choices. God's word must be in our thinking when we battle our selfishness. Now, we can't battle our selfishness without having God's thinking, the Logos living and dwelling in us.

Verse 55—I remember Your name, (or "renowned," or "greatness"). I remember Your greatness in the night; so he thinks about God's greatness laying down at night or walking around and meditating on it. He thinks about God's name, how the greatness of God. O Eternal ("O LORD"), and I keep Your law. "I take heed to Your instructions." So how do we keep God's law? By disciplining the self, by yielding our thinking to God's thinking. This has become mine, because I kept Your precepts. You are my portion ("my part") O LORD; I have said that I have kept Your words. This is what we committed to at our baptism, obedience to God's law. "I would keep Your precepts." So this is what we said, "God, I will keep Your precepts. I will yield to You."

Verse 58—I entreat Your favor with my whole heart; be merciful to me according to Your word. So God  has made it very clear that His word, His law is required to be kept. We are to keep God's law in spirit.

So we'll finish the sermon series, brethren, here, today.□

Table of Contents

Chapter 1