Living Who We Are

Wayne Matthews

January 27, 2018

Welcome, everybody. Thanks for taking the time to come this far, to the bottom end of the world. No, we're not in Tasmania and we're not in New Zealand, but we're a fair way down from Melbourne, really. But I do appreciate the fact that you make the effort to come down to be involved in this recording. It is appreciated.

The title of today's sermon is Living Who We Are, because often as God's people we forget who we really are, and therefore, there's a responsibility that's connected to the fact that we have been called and who we really are, which is members of the Body of Christ; we are begotten sons of God. Now, that carries a responsibility that we often neglect, or we just don't think about it. Well, today we're going to look at one aspect of living (which is the way we live our life) who we really are because we are not to live as the world lives.

This question of living who we are can be answered by some statements. The first one is: We are to be an example of God's way to others.

Now, it's an important thing, being an example, because the world will see us differently and they will remember all the things that we did. Now, human nature is generally people remember the bad things. So when we look at other people they may do 80-90% of what is considered "right" in the eyes of mankind, but you've only got to do one little thing wrong and that's what's remembered and nothing else. Therefore, our responsibility is even greater not to give them an example of being in rebellion to God's way of life because one day they'll remember, "Ah, now I know; now I remember why they did what they did, the way they acted." So we are to be an example of God's way of life to others.

The other side of it is: We are to walk in love, which is this sacrificing. We have to live a life of sacrificing, not only just for one another, not only of sacrificing our selfishness by that fight we're involved in, but living a sacrificing way to others in the world. That's what they'll remember, the sacrificing.

There have been a couple of examples where I've had a personal opportunity to live an example and it affects people and they remember it. They may not remember me in the future, but there have been times when Chris and myself have gone into a shop and someone has charged us wrongly. In other words, they've said it's worth $35 and I know it's worth $45 because I've already done the calculation in my mind. They'll register it and then you get the docket and realize something's missing off that docket. Now the opportunity is that you can turn around and go back in and say, "Look, you've undercharged me." Now, how many people do you think in today's world walk back in and say, "You've undercharged me by $10 or $20 or $30?" Generally the assistant is shocked! They're just shocked! They can't believe that someone would not take the advantage of the money, that they just walk out and forget it. Well, they're opportunities for us to live an example.

Now, there are many, many things in life where we can see it. For example, a classic is driving. We don't always win in that. I know that I don't always win in that, but that's an example, that one day they'll remember what happened and who was in the car. Sometimes they have an interaction with us. I've done things wrong where people have got upset and I've made them angry, so to speak, or they've chosen to get angry at the way I drive my car.

So these are ways to always work on being an example, living God's way of life. We're going to look at one particular aspect of what life is about, and if you look at the Feast sermons about what life is really about for God's people, it’s is experiencing good and evil. So we've been created with a mind that has this tendency always toward self-satisfaction, only it doesn't see its motives. Well, the other side of it is we have to experience certain things in life because we grow by that experience or we have an opportunity to grow because there's often times when we don't grow because we make a wrong choice.

So let's look at Exodus 16:4. This is the example where God provided something for the children of Israel (and it's physical), and we'll look at it on a spiritual level as well. Exodus 16:4—Then the Eternal (the LORD) said to Moses, Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven, which is this physical manna, for you. Now, we know today it’s spiritual food that comes through God's Church from an apostle; it is given to us, which is the truth. So we're fed. We have that opportunity to follow those instruction, which is the bread of life. We have that opportunity. Well, here it's physical; for us it's spiritual, truth that's placed in the Church.

…and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, which was over the six days. That was because this is really pointing to the Sabbath. The manna, really, in the way that it was provided was revealing the Sabbath to the children of Israel because they'd been in captivity for all that time and they wouldn't have known about the seventh day Sabbath because they would have been working. Well, here God is now providing them a way to identify which day He has chosen to feed His people, which is the Sabbath day.

…and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, over those six days, that I should test them whether they will walk in My law, or not. Well, this is exactly the same for us today. The children of Israel were tested by what they would do. They had a choice. Some failed the test and went out and tried to pick manna on a Sabbath day. Others would have done more than the quantity because on the Friday they were to choose two lots, enough to cover two days. Well, others would have probably taken three days. Yet everyone—human nature—had choices. So we've been called to walk in God's ways, but it's all about a choice. We have a choice to live an example, and it is a personal choice.

The reason for our calling is that God desires to see what we will choose when we face a test. What will we choose? That's what life's about, really. We know we've experienced evil because we have that background, all of us, have that background of choosing selfishness. That's all we could do. Well, we've been called now to make a different choice, which is to walk in God's ways. Well, walking in God's ways, that term, is to live a way of life which is in obedience to God's word. That's what walking in the truth is all about.

Leviticus 18:1. So life is about a test. We've been called to be placed in tests, where our life is a test, test and trial. Will we obey or won't we? Well, God gave the physical manna for Israel to test them to see what they would do and it pointed to the Sabbath. It’s the same for us. Truth is given to us and it is a test. Will we choose to listen, choose to obey or not? The choice is ours. Many choose to obey, some choose not to obey. It was their choice

Leviticus 18:1—Then the Eternal spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. According to the doings of the land where you dwelt… Now, this really is something physical where they were in captivity. Well, we look at it on a spiritual level. We were once in captivity. We were once in Egypt. Just like the children of Israel were in Egypt physically, we were in spiritual Egypt (which is referring to a darkness, really, which we'll get to). So they were then dwelling in a land that was filled with sin and they were now being called out of it. It’s the same as what's happened to us on a spiritual level. So it's the world's ways, you shall not do. So here they are, they're called out, and they're not to follow the ways of the world. We've been called out by a calling. We are not to do the things of the world. That's what this living example is about. …according to the doings of the land of Canaan where I am bringing you… So they're coming out of Egypt and they're going into Canaan which was the same as Egypt. They were held in a darkness, in a bondage. Well, the children of Israel were to come out and to walk another way of life, and that is to obey God, to live in obedience to God, to walk a different way of life. You shall not do those, to live in Canaan, which was the same, was riddled with sin, nor shall you walk in their ordinances, which is their laws, the way that they worshipped. They’re not to do that. We're the same. We've been called out – not to worship sun worships, Sunday worship, and all the other things that go on in life, having statues and idols and all those things. We're called out of that.

Verse 4—You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances to walk… Now, "to walk" is to live in them. It's a way of life, but it is a choice we have to walk in these ways. I am the LORD your God. You shall, therefore, keep, which is to obey My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, which is a man or a woman, he/she shall live by them. Now, this is really talking to us. I am the Eternal. So we have a choice. The choice is obedience, which will bring blessings (not physically, necessarily). There are physical blessings, but it’s spiritual blessings because if we obey God we have an opportunity for spiritual growth. So there's a great blessing—more truth will be understood, a greater understanding—or curses for disobedience, and in the end the choice was Israel's. We know what Israel did. They had a natural carnal mind. They really didn't have a choice in some ways. They could have obeyed things on a physical level, but really they couldn't understand the spirit of the law or the intent of the law. We are so blessed we do, therefore, we walk a different way of life than the world.

Joshua 22. I've got a few scriptures today. Joshua 22:5. We'll come to a main point here in a moment, which is a comparison, which we're going to look at something very physical to understand something spiritual. Joshua 22:5. Now, this is Joshua speaking to 2½ of the tribes because they were now being warned by Joshua once they get into their location that they were to dwell, which God was going to give them. Verse 5—But take heed, or take careful heed; be diligent to be aware of this. Now, this is something for us. We need to be careful. So we're called into God's Church, which is like a promised land because the truth is there and it's the land of milk and honey (the Church), what's available for us to consume. Well, God says, you know, through Joshua here, Take careful heed to do the commandments and the law which Moses the servant of God commanded you: to love the LORD your God… Now, this is a big challenge. It all sounds easy, "Just love God and keep His commandments." That sounds easy. Well, to love God we've got to put God first in everything. So the beginning of it is the Sabbaths. Will we put God first? Well, we've chosen (that's why we're here today), we've chosen to put God first. That's the first choice that we've made so we're demonstrating our love for God because we're demonstrating we've put God first. We don't work on this day. We don't do a lot of other things on this day, physical things that we could do, but we don't do them because God commands us not to. Well, this is the demonstration that we're living an example to others.

Now, I remember in previous times when we would get dressed up Sabbath morning, because there used to be two services on a Sabbath, and that night, on the Saturday night we used to have Graduate Club or Spokesman's Club, and we would leave early in the morning, and get dressed up in the suit and everything. We knew that other people would think: "Wonder where they're going?" They never knew where we were going. More than likely, they’d think the races, possibly, or somewhere, but you don't put a shirt and tie on. It was like buying a coffee this morning. We went in to grab a quick coffee. I was the only one with a tie. We are different. They look at you: "You're different." Well, that's fantastic! It's good that people look at us as different or that we're a bit strange. That's a good thing because we're demonstrating that we're putting God first no matter what. No matter what they say, no matter what they criticize us in, no matter what they do, it makes no difference; we will attend the Sabbath service where we can. That's what we do.

…to walk in all His ways, that's the next challenge, which is to live God's ways at all times. It’s easily said, difficult to do because we have human nature. …to keep His commandments, which is about obedience, to hold fast to Him, which is to trust and believe in God, believe the truth, and serve Him with all your mind and with all your life. That sounds straightforward, but actually implementing this is a very difficult thing all the time because we have human nature and selfishness.

For us today it means being a living sacrifice, which means we're fighting our selfishness. We're sacrificing for the brethren and we're sacrificing for others that aren't in the Body of Christ. That's the example: someone is willing to yield to give to the benefit of somebody else on a physical matter. They can't understand spiritually, but we can yield. We always put God first. So we won't yield on this day as far as doing what they want; we will do what God desires of us.

So this yielding or living a sacrificing love to others requires God's holy spirit. We've covered a sermon previously where they don't have God's spirit, therefore, they can't live love. It's impossible.

We're now going through a stage here in Australia where they've brought in that they're changing the marriage act, where it doesn't matter now. It's not a man and a woman. It's a woman and a woman and a man and a man. So that's the laws. You often have an urge to ring up and say something, which I don't because you know they can't hear you. There was a program the other day and I felt like ringing up and saying, "Look, let's do a demonstration. There are three islands and we're going to put 10 men on that island, isolate them for 120 years. We're going to put 10 women on that island for 120, 130 years. We're going to put a man and a woman on this other island and we're going to come back in 130 years time, 140 years time and see what's there." Well, the answer's pretty straight-forward, really, isn't it? Like, that's not even a spiritual matter, that's just logical. That's just logical. Take 10 dogs, male dogs, and put them over on that land over there. How long will it take? 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, there are no dogs left. It's logical to us with God's spirit. You'd think it'd be logical to them, but it's not.

Ephesians 4:1—I Paul, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. So this is the challenge, about now walking a way of life, to walk worthy of it. Well, we're not actually worthy of it because we are natural by nature. Well, we're never going to be worthy because it's only by the grace of God we are here. It's only by God's grace we're in the Body of Christ and have God's spirit. We didn't do anything. If God hadn't called us we know where we would be, we'd be right back where everyone else is at the moment.

Well, we have to walk a particular way. What Paul is really saying here is we shouldn't be like the world. We've got to walk a different way and we've got to be an example to others. ...with all lowliness, which is this humility, and teachable attitude. So we have to have a humility to the world; not only within the Body of Christ, we have to have a humility to the world. We'll obey God and put Him first but we still have to have an attitude that's not lifting itself up in pride against others. When two people are there and they're talking about something and they're completely wrong there's a time to say something and there's a time to say absolutely nothing. There's no point. We have to judge those things.

So we have to be humble and teachable, and with gentleness. There's no use being aggressive about matters. We've got to be gentle the way we live our life toward others in the body and out of the body. …with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, which is allowing for the differences. Now, what's the big difference between us here and everybody else that hasn't got God's spirit? Well, that's the difference – they haven't got God's spirit. There's a huge difference: God's mind versus the carnal mind. It’s a huge difference. It's just poles apart. So we should walk a particular way of life. …endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, which is we believe the truth.

The way that we could understand this—and trying to give a physical example of how we are better to understand this—is light and darkness. Now, the Bible has a lot to say about light and darkness, but we must see darkness, complete darkness here on this side and light on this side, because that's what it's about. The darkness is our mind before God puts a little bit of light in it, because light is God's mind, God's thinking. Jesus Christ says, "I am the light, the light of the world." So we see like a tunnel – all pitch black and there's a little weenie prick of light and you see it growing a little bit. Well, that's our minds. So before conversion, before being called by God there is no light. There's nothing. It is pitch black. It can't see anything; it's impossible! Well, that's how the world is. Now, we won't judge them on that because the opportunity to have a little bit of light hasn't been given yet. Now, only God can give light. The natural mind in its darkness cannot "see" light. It's impossible. You can't see it. It just see's blackness, which is that selfishness.

Well, we've been called because God decided to give us a little bit of light that has the potential to grow within our minds and then over time by making right choices and the power of God's holy spirit what will happen is the darkness will be covered by light, to different degrees according to God's will. Some be more than others, and we should see that. We think we understand it, but I won't go into that, but everyone's different. Now, at some point God can turn around and say, "I know you," which is I know how you'll respond to the light. But when we're in this physical body, right through this whole period of time, it'll always have an element of darkness and we should see that. We should see that. Every time that we sin, whether it's through word or thought, it’s darkness creeping over the light. Now, if we could just visualize that and when we repent the light goes back on. It's like in a dark room, true, you turn the light on and you see! It's the same for us. So we, because of God's great mercy, have an aspect of light in our minds. It's a wonderful thing that we have this light.

The world cannot see or understand who we really are. We are the children of light. So the world can't understand anything that we're talking about today about light because all of the religions out there, if you were to turn around to the Catholic Church or the Protestant Church or the Jewish religions and say, "You're in darkness." They'd think, “What?” And only we, because of God's holy spirit, see the light. They can't see it. They wouldn't understand it. They think you're self-righteous. You're just, you know, a mob of big heads.

So God requires us to live this light that's given to us. We're given a down payment when we're baptized and we receive the gift of God's holy spirit; there's an aspect of light, which means we'll start by making the choice to keep the Sabbath. Now, a person can be called and they can be given God's spirit, and then they can decide not to follow the light. They can choose to stay in the darkness and regress, and the light will disappear, which is the flow of God's holy spirit will be cut off, and then it's darkness again. You can't talk to them, there's no light. So when we speak and we all get together there's light in this room. There's light in this room. Out there, there's no light, no light at all, and it's not because we're at the end of the earth. It's because of God's spirit.

So we are to live an example which is obedience to God's way of life because we have the light. How great was God to give it to us, to call us, which we don't fully always understand or see. Now, if we were to turn around and say, "Well, we have an aspect of God's mind," which is the light, "in us," they would say its foolishness, we're just really foolish people, you know, self-righteous people.

1 Corinthians 2:14, which we're going to touch on quickly. 1 Corinthians 2:14—But the natural mind/natural man, which is that darkness, the carnal mind of selfishness, does not receive the things of the spirit of God. So the natural mind cannot receive what God is talking about, cannot receive any of the light. It's not possible. Because unless you're called and God gives it you have no light in you, which is talking about truth in the mind of God. …for they are foolishness to him… So anything to do with the light, living God's way of life, is foolishness to mankind. Fancy giving up a day for God when you could be out working. 33% of all trade happens on a Friday night and Saturday, which is a Sabbath. 33% of all trade happens on that one day! But we give that up. We give up our jobs. We give up our income because we have an aspect of light in our minds. But to us that's what God requires; we do it because we have the light. But to mankind we're just fools; it’s foolishness to him, to mankind. …nor can he, which is that natural mind, he or she, anyone with it, know them. They can't know about the light. …because they are spiritually discerned. They can't know about the truth because we have to be in the truth. We have to have God's mind in us.

To know the answers of the question who we are requires God's holy spirit. Now, they don't have it so there's no use trying to tell people who we really are. We are begotten, begotten sons and daughters of God. Begotten sons of God! It's an incredible thing. Now, to be a begotten son of God carries a huge responsibility. Huge! Now, one of the things that happens often with us is that we don't realize that we carry God's name all the time. It never stops and there's never an example or a time that should not demonstrate that we have the mind of God. That's what we are called to live. We are called to live a different way of life.

Now, many a time, because of our words or actions, we blaspheme God's name. We should always remember that the natural mind will do that because they turn around and can say, "Well," something happens, "Ah, they reckon they're God's true Church. Sure!" Because of something we did or something we said. Well, we shouldn't be giving that opportunity for others to blaspheme God's name: "The 'member' of the Body of Christ, the Church of God—PKG. Sure!" That's blaspheme. We're creating blaspheme because of something we did. Well, we're not to give that example or opportunity to others. It's a big responsibility carrying God's name. We carry God's name.

The answer to the question who we are is spiritual and it is not physical. It's just something that the natural mind can't see. We're going to have to live it. One day they'll get to the point where they'll go, "Ah, now I know. I understand why." It’s a spiritual matter. It really is about our motive and intent, living love to all. Now, sometimes our actions may be perceived as not showing love to another person, but in actual fact it is because it's what God says love is.

We've often talked about the death penalty. Now, they won't introduce a death penalty. There was a program we were listening to coming down yesterday and they were talking about the rebellious youth. There's some youths that are so rebellious, you know, they put them in strait-jackets or put them in isolation in a room. Well, they've done a new survey that says that you shouldn't do that. You should be more compassionate. You should talk to them and reason with them. Yeah, sure. What does God say about a rebellious youth, you know, someone that just won't listen to their mother and father that is in absolute rebellion against God? What does God do? God destroys them to give them another opportunity later. But, no, man's more "merciful" because they think, "Oh, no, you only live once, and therefore, we've got to be merciful. We'll try to help them and we'll talk to them." Yep, well, that's going to go well. So they let them out and guess what happens? People get raped. People get murdered. It's a common thread with somebody that has that type of thinking. It's just a matter of time given the right environment they'll go back to what they've already chosen to do and just isolating them for a period or trying to reason with them, it just doesn't work. God says there's another away, they've got to pay a bigger penalty than just talking to them.

Now, to start to answer this question, really we need to understand the difference between what man is and what man can be, their potential. So what do we know so far? God created us as humans with the potential for choice, and we did not evolve from the slime. Now, we know that, whereas mankind doesn't know it. They don't want to believe it because of evolution and other things. But we were created as humans to experience good and evil, to make the choice for good, to experience evil, to know what it's like. We are mortal beings, mortal humans that can die. Yes, we can die, though God in His mercy has a plan for mankind, which is called a second life. In the main for those there is the Last Great Day, that last Hundred-Years.

We are either male or female. There are areas there where people get confused and there are lot of people saying now, "Well, in the new marriage act, what about transgenders, people that are male or female and they want to now transition to one or the other?" Well, they’re either one or the other. From birth they're either one or the other and that all goes back to the matter of self-control and regulating one's desires. It’s no different than somebody that wants to commit adultery, male or female. It's about regulating desires.

So both sexes have the same potential, which man doesn't understand. Men and women are equal, have the same potential spiritually. We can be in Elohim and the sex component of it doesn't make any difference; it's about the mind. Everything's about this mind and what choices we make.

We won't turn there but in 1 Corinthians it talks about that no man knows anything except the spirit of man which is in him. So we understand that. Mankind doesn't understand it. We understand we have the spirit in man. We understand that by itself its darkness and it's only by a calling that the light can start to be seen in the darkness. At this point we’re carnal, which we all were, without God's spirit, without any light in us. At this point we were just like everybody else, just like all humans other than Jesus Christ. We were just living life the best way we saw based on traditions and living life pleasing our self. Yep, we all walked in the darkness, every single one of us. And guess what the future is? Everyone's in darkness and they're going to be called out by a light, which is the truth.

We won't go into Romans 8 either, but it clarifies that we are natural. Yes, we're against God. We're in the darkness. There's no light at all. Then something happens, which is an incredible thing that's happened to us. Then something happens which is a rare and unique event all based on a purpose and a plan that God has for us as individuals, and when you look at the Temple that God is building, components are being built, but humans have that potential. Many of the rest of the building, which hasn't been built yet, is yet to come. But they're going to come from darkness to light, everyone. That's what the Millennium and the hundred years is about, from darkness to light to fit into a Temple where there is light.

Remember the scripture that talks about, "God the Father and Jesus Christ are the light of it." What's that really saying? Is it because they're bright? No, we just think about the physical temple. No, it's God's way, that that's all there is. It's everything's light because it's all about this mind that now is righteous. So it's a degree of righteousness that we have because God's placed it in us to make a choice.

So we have been called by God. Another way to say it is God invited us into a spiritual relationship with Him. We've been called out of darkness into a light. We should see spiritual matters that we didn't see before, which is what we do. We see things spiritually. We see 57 Truths, to a degree, that we never saw before and mankind can't see it. We see Sabbath. We see tithing. We see all of the truths that God has placed. We see an Apostasy. We understand what happened to God's Church. If you use the word "Apostasy" to mankind, they’d say, "The what?" You get the dictionary out to find out what it is because it's not a common word that you would know.

We're not going to turn there, John 6:44—No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. So we've been drawn out of the darkness into the light.

Turn to Jude 1:1. We've been granted a calling because of God's great mercy (to crawl out of this darkness that's there), and this light that God is giving us, which is the truth, which is His thinking.

Jude 1:1—Jude, the bondservant of Jesus Christ the brother of James, To those who are called, which is to us, sanctified, which is set aside as holy. We've been set aside as separate. We are separate. So that's who we are. Living who we are we have to live a separate way of life because we've got light in us. We've been separated by God the Father, and preserved/kept in Jesus Christ, which is we're kept in the light. He's the head of the Church; he's the Head of the Body. So we're being kept in the light by the power of God's holy spirit.

1 Peter 5:10, which is just confirming a calling, because this is where people that have been called go wrong. They forget their calling, what we've been called out of. We've been called out of the darkness and we don't want to go back to the darkness, but the history of God's Church is that many have gone back to the darkness because they've forgotten one thing; they were called out of darkness, and they've gone back to that confusion and darkness.

1 Peter 5:10…but may God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, so we've been called for a purpose. So we've been given the light, where the rest of the world hasn't, for a purpose. We shouldn't forget it. We don't always understand what that purpose is during the transition of that time of being called from light to darkness, but the end result is eternal glory and it comes through Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 4:1—I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. So here we're being encouraged to walk a particular way of life, to be an example to others because we have the light and they don't. One day they'll understand why we do what we do because they'll have the light to see why we do what we do. We have been called to bear God's name. We carry God's name. It’s a big responsibility. We're being called to change the way we think naturally. So it's about the transformation of the mind. Our minds have to be renewed – so from darkness to light, the renewal.

Now, the only way it can happen is through this light, which has to cover the darkness over time. So although we're called in the beginning we see a little bit of light. So we see certain things and the more of ourselves that we see, because the light covers the darkness to degrees, we'll always have the element of darkness. But at some point God says, "Now I know you, that you will make those choices, that you'll keep choosing the light no matter what environment, no matter what test or trial you will go through in life."

So we're going to look now at about how we are to walk differently because of the light. 2 Corinthians 6:14, we'll start it. Do not be unequally yoked, which really is to be held by something, together with unbelievers. So don't be held to their way of thinking, the world's way of thinking because it's about believing and unbelieving. So we're not to be bound by other things that non-believers are trying to hold us with. We're to break away from that, to not to be yoked together with them from the point of view of what we believe, the way we live. We're not to live the same way of life. We're not to think the way the world thinks.

…for what fellowship has righteousness, which is the thinking of God, which is the light, with unrighteousness, or with lawlessness? There's no relationship there. There's no relationship with darkness and light. None. It's either one or the other. We're either living the light or living the darkness, only two choices. And what communion/what relationship has light with darkness? None. There is no relationship between the two; they're completely different. So if we're living darkness we're going to be demonstrating it through the way we live, the way we talk, our actions. The two don't mix. God's thinking does not mix with selfishness. So if we're living selfishness, we're living darkness. If we're living the sacrificing of self we're living the light.

We should see that we should have no relationship with sin. We're not to have a relationship with darkness. That's what it's really saying.

Verse 15—For what concord/what accord has Christ with Belial? None. Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? So we believe something different because of God. They believe something different because of their selfishness and Satan's influence. We are either living love or living selfishness. So they're clear comparisons.

Verse 16—And what agreement/what relationship has the temple of God, which we are, with idols? None. None, whatsoever. For you are the temple of the living God. It's because it's where God dwells; in other words, this is where God dwells. So we wouldn't be living the worldly way of living. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them; I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Now, what an incredible label to have. We are God's people, but we're only God's people if we live it, if we demonstrate it through our thoughts, words, and actions. Other than that we go back to our way of natural thinking.

Verse 17—Therefore, Come out from among them. Come out of the world's way of disbelief, not believing God. Come out of it! It takes time and starts with a calling. …and be separate. So to answer the question, "What do we have to do?" We have to be separate from the world, but not in self-righteousness. We have to be separate and one day the opportunity will be given to others to see that we are different and being here today we're demonstrating we're separate. WE are isolated. We are separate. We are different. We should rejoice in that.

Do not touch what is unclean. Do not go back and touch sin. Don't handle sin. Don't get involved in sin. Don't get involved in man's way of thinking. Listen to God and believe God. So don't touch it. Don't get involved in it. Now, when it says, "Don't touch what is unclean," a lot of people just think, "Oh, it's about unclean meats, 'what's unclean.'" No, it's talking about sin. Don't touch sin. Don't get involved in sin, the intent behind the selfish mind. Don't get involved in self-desires, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life," all sin, all darkness. Every one of those things is darkness naturally. It's what it is.

Well, if we don't touch, don't get involved in it, the world's ways of selfishness and sin, then God says, and I will receive you. Isn't that incredible that God'll listen to us? So if we do sin we repent. God says He'll receive us as part of the Body of Christ.

Verse 18—I will be a Father to you. So God will nurture us. What a father does is nurture, provides and nurtures. That's what God does for His Church; He provides and nurtures. …and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. So who are we? We are sons and daughters of God. Incredible thing to have.

The darkness of this world points to sin. Light is God's way and points to freedom and truth, freedom from sin. So we can't come out of the darkness, we can't come out of sin, unless God provides the light. Now, the light shows us what sin is because I remember growing up, for a period of time being forced to do the rosary and other things as a Catholic, and then went away to a Catholic boarding school for three years and had to go through the routine of various religious practices and learning and rituals. Then to come out of there – I was twelve – came out at the age of 16 and went home and my mother and father didn't really know me and I didn't really know them, to be truthful. I stayed with them for about three months and they moved towns again because my father's job required that and I decided I wouldn't come and my mum was shocked. She was absolutely horrified that as a 16 year old that I would want to not go with the parents, but I decided to go and board with someone else, some other young men were there and shearers and whatnot. So I stayed there.

Well, I gave up that practice of what mum did, the rosary and all the other things. There were times then when we wanted to get married and being a Catholic I went to the Catholic Church and my wife had no real religion. Well, they wouldn't marry us unless my wife became a Catholic. So we went through all of that component, which is all darkness, but the mind can't see light. The mind can't see light by itself. That's why you see all these various religions, and that's why now there's a Church that's scattered, why there are so many groups. They are all in darkness because it requires God's spirit to have any light. We make that transformation. We are free from the bondage of the darkness because we came out of it, "Come out of her My people." Well, only happens through a calling.

We're going to look at Exodus 14:13-20 because it covers a principle about a way that we have to live and what God has demonstrated to us about coming to understand darkness and coming to understand the light and how God used that as a demonstration for us to learn that we by nature are in darkness. This is a time period and it takes years to come into the light. Truly. We can start a journey of light, but it takes years to cover the darkness.

Exodus 14:13. Now, this is when Pharaoh and his army is chasing Israel. They've let them go, they've sort of changed their minds and realized, "Hang on a minute; we won't have much of an agricultural system, we won't have anyone building, doing the brick work. We won't have any slaves anymore. This is not good! Let's go and bring them back. It wasn't that wise letting them go," even though they've gone through 10 plagues, which the last one being death. It just shows you the natural mind in darkness. "The firstborn are all dead, but I think we'll go and bring them back." It's worth the penalty, in other words.

Verse 13—And Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Eternal. So what we have to do is stand still, which really implies, talks about us in the Church today. What is standing still in the Church today? Well, standing still really is waiting on God. Wait on God to provide the truth. We don't have to go searching all the scriptures and think we can "see" something or we think, oh, this is what's going to happen. Just stand still and wait for God to feed us the truth. We don't have to try to pre-empt things, "When's it going to start? What about 'this'? What about 'that'?" We don't actually have to do it. Stand still and wait on God, what it's saying on a spiritual level for us today.

…which He will accomplish for you today. So we're to stand still and see what God will accomplish. We're heading into a time where we're going to see what God is going to accomplish. What can we do? We can only live the light as examples. We're going to be faced in different areas of difficulty. I would encourage everybody to go back and read something on the website. There is a topic, I think it's under “Citizenship,” and it's about being a good citizen, and what does that mean. It's worth actually going through that and praying about it because it's something we have to live. It's something we have to live.

Now, many of us have had different thoughts and say, how will we handle certain environments? Well, we're not going to know until we're put into the situation. So we may think now that we have 20 tins of baked beans, for example, and we think we know what we're going to do when somebody knocks on the door. We think we know what we're going to do, but will we? What will we do? Because it's different when you're in the test. It's like Israel about the manna. It's the same thing. God wants to know what choices we will make. Will we live sacrificing love to everybody, not just to members of the Body of Christ? Will we? What will we do? Well, if we read that document, we'll soon work out, we'll realize that we've got a lot, but we're going to face these things. These things are coming upon us, brethren, that we have to live sacrificing love to everybody. We can't just turn around and say, "Ah, I'm using the light towards the brethren, but when somebody that knows very little and is in the darkness, when they turn up I'm going to go to complete darkness and be just like them. I'm going to treat them hardly and with difficulty." What is that demonstrating? Well, I’m not going to go into the answer of those things. But really, we have to demonstrate by example God's spirit in us. What will we do? Well, it's worth thinking about, worth praying about.

God is our provider, and if we lost the 20 tins of baked beans on day 1, does it really matter? Does it? Does it really? It doesn't matter. The truth, it doesn't matter if all 20 tins go. We've got these things to face, but it's best to think about them and pray about them now, that we are always this living example. Live who we are. Can you imagine how difficult it would be that if somebody comes and looks for our help and we close our hearts, our minds to that person, and then they turn around and say, "Ah, that's right, they're the Church of God—PKG people. Hard-hearted people!" We carry God's name. "Obviously God's hard-hearted too, obviously, because they are God's people and there they are, hard-hearted." So we've got to make sure we're living what God has called us to live, our calling.

So we have to stand still and see what God will accomplish, which is going to happen through the book. We're not sure how it's going to happen. We know at some point in time that we will be by ourselves, so to speak. We'll be by ourselves to live this way of life to others, to all. Whether we lose our life in that process, God's will be done. If that's what's required that's what we all do.

…for the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall again see them no more. So they're not going to be able to impact them anymore because God was going to intervene. Same for us. God will intervene and whatever happens to us is what happens to us. We don't have to worry about it. It says in scripture, "All things work to the good of those who love God and keep His commandments." Now, to love God requires God's holy spirit, requires the light. So no matter what happens to us, if we go a lot of days without some food, does it really matter? If we lose our life, does it really matter? All things, everything will work to good. It's that same thing about tests and trials to see what we will do, which is what happened to Israel. Same for us, spiritual Israel. Tests and trials are guaranteed because that transformation of the mind must take place and the only way to see that take place, to cover the darkness, is to choose the light. That's our choice. God will provide us the answer. Whether we do it or not, that's up to us.

Verse 14—The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. So we don't have to get there and get all upset and to work ourselves up and try to work everything out. No, we can stand still. We don't have to say anything or do anything; let God do His work. And you know what we're facing, which is exciting? I'm really looking forward to that day when I log on the Church website emails and the light is there. It's going to be incredible. I look forward, I yearn for that day. I know you do, too. Just to see one person where there’s light, that God has called them and the light comes on. Now, there's a little bit of light before they're baptized and you see they "see" something because God's placing it into their mind. They start to see something. It's so exciting.

Well, there was a period in 2000, between 2006 through to 2008, 2009, 2010, when there was a period where there were a lot of emails where the light was on. Do you know what? If you're in darkness, you can't see the light. So if you're carnally minded you won't read that email to see any element of light. Because? The carnal mind can't see the light. So it's only those with the light – us – that can see someone else that has the light. It all starts with the Sabbath and they're not willing to work. If they're not willing to keep the Sabbath and they're not willing to do tithes and offerings—some people don't work but they can still give offerings—the lights not there. I know people have said often, "Well, how do you know? You're standing still and you're waiting for God," which is what He tells us to do, stand and wait for God, "How do you know whether someone's being called?" Well, sometimes it can take a little bit longer to work it out.

But the light sees the light. That's the only answer I can give, really. The light sees the light. You hope that the light continues because it doesn't always continue. Some have the light; you see it, you see the process, and then something difficult comes up and you have to ask them certain questions. "What's your living conditions?" A lot of people misunderstand that, "What's your living conditions?" So, "What's your living arrangements?" Because you've got to find out, "What relationship are you in?" In other words, "Are you living with somebody?" Well, there's no baptism until you rectify that. Once you say that, some people can't cope, just cannot cope. The way is it's going probably going to get worse before it gets better.

So we stand still, wait for God to do His work and He will do it. The light is coming into thousands and thousands of minds and it is going to be so exciting! One of the most exciting things to see is the potential for an awakened brethren, where they start to see something. They start to see something. You know the light's on. We just hope it overshadows the darkness and the darkness doesn't cover it again. I think you understand what I mean.

Verse 14—The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace. The LORD said to Moses, Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward, to move in the light. Follow the light. Because at this point, of course, there is the pillar of cloud of day and there's a fire by night. So we should see that. It's about light. The pillar of fire by night – follow the light, which is what we have to do on a spiritual level.

But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea, which is an incredible event! And I, indeed, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians—And what will happen? —they will follow you. So they will follow the children of Israel through the Red Sea. So I will gain honor above Pharaoh and over his army, so they're all involved, his chariots, and his horsemen. So physical things like that are nothing to God. You know, people think, "I’ve got a big army and I've got 20,000 men. I've got all these chariots and there's only 5,000 people over there." Twenty versus five, the natural mind says, "Huh, don't engage in a battle," but God turns around and says, like He did with Gideon, "Three hundred's plenty." Against 26,000! Stand still and see what God will do. We are in the same position today, would you believe, as the children of Israel. Stand still and see what God's going to do through the book. Stand still and wait. Just wait for it, it's coming, and the light's going to be given to others like it has been given to us.

So God would gain honor over the people. Well, that's coming. That's going to happen again too. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Eternal. It's God that's got to do the work. We are a small group. We have some funds, but we don't have a lot of funds compared to the wealth of the world, but God will do it. God will do the work. He will call who He wants to call and He will deliver an outcome according to His will and purpose.

Then I will gain honor for Myself, because the credit's got to go to God, over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen. The credit's got to go to God. That's where we are today. We are at a point where the credit has got to go to God. We don't take any credit to ourselves. We are weak and pathetic humans with a little bit of light and we're going to wait on God.

And the angel of the LORD went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So now we're seeing a change where they were following the light. Now the light's moved and on one side there's darkness and one side there's light. It’s exactly the same for us today. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, so it's through the middle. There's a division. They've been separated. Just like us, separated for a purpose. …thus it was a cloud of darkness to one, the Egyptians; the world is dark. They couldn't see anything. …and it gave light by night to the other, to the children of Israel, spiritual Israel, the light is given to us. We see. We don't have to worry about the darkness because we see light. …so that one did not come near the other all that night, so that they can't join together. That's what we are. But unfortunately we let the darkness take over in our life. That's just who we are. That's one of the tests and trials we have to face, decisions have to be made.

Once called and baptized and we receive God's holy spirit we've got to walk a different way of life. 1 Peter 2:1. We are like the children of Israel from the point of view is that we are in the light, which is really pointing to God's holy spirit. It's God's power. You know, when you look at what happened it was God that did it. Children of Israel just had to do what they were told. Same for us. Stand still and stay in the light; don't go back to the darkness.

1 Peter 2:1—Therefore, because we've been called by God, we've been given an aspect of light, because we've been baptized and we made an agreement with God, because baptism covered the sins to that point in time that we were baptized. Every one of us were in the darkness. Well, once you're baptized you now have the opportunity, which we've had, to receive the light, God's holy spirit. So when we then have hands layed on us by a true minister of God there's a potential that God will place a piece of light in us, which is God's holy spirit, the light of the world, the mind of God in us. Well, now, therefore, because that's happened to us what has to happen? Therefore, laying aside all malice, all ill will to anybody, not just those we choose to love or not. We have to lay it all aside, lay aside the darkness completely. There's no ill will to anybody.

…all deceit. You know, that really is all lying, all intent of covering things up within our personality, or covering up anything. Be open and honest at our expense because the reality is that if we're open and honest there is an expense because we were in the darkness and by nature we have pride and we don't like to have our pride affected. We really don't. So by nature we tend to be deceitful. We don't want people to know that we're pretty pathetic, really, deep down. We do things in the darkness. We can't be seen, in private. Well, we cover that up. We're not really sincere. We're deceitful by nature.

So here we've been encouraged now that we've been called and separated and we have God's spirit, we should lay these things aside. It takes time, but we've got to put them aside – all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy… Put away any envy or jealousy about things. Now, really, what is envy if you look at it? I don't want to get into a future sermon about this, but God's given me the opportunity to look at this topic in a lot more detail. But the reality is if we are unthankful, envy will take its hold of us. Unthankful because when people get envious of situations—we often use the fact of ordinations—it means we are unthankful about what God has actually provided us to this point in time. Unthankful. God provides us everything. No matter what it is, if we think it's least or less we should be thankful for that because God has provided us everything. Well, that goes back to a calling, really, being really thankful for a calling. So, really, envy is about being thankful or unthankful. They're the options. If we're unthankful we will fall into envy or jealousy because we're not thankful for the environment that we are in now, the opportunity to grow. And really, if you look at it, we're in our environments for growth. In the Body of Christ, the Church of God, we're in these environments for the potential for growth, and God will use our environment (not that He placed us there, a lot of it's because of our birth or the fact that we've made choices in life). We're in these situations; God will work with us to learn a lesson so that we can be placed in the body now and in the Temple later on, so that we can then help others because this life is all about growing spiritually to help others. It's not about self salvation. It's about the potential and desire to help others in the future.

...and all evil speaking. So because of what's happened and we know about light and darkness God is telling us here there should be no evil speaking, no pulling down of anybody…anybody. Now, we've been through a period where (and we're now in one here in Australia), where evil speaking of authority is a common thing. Nobody thinks twice about criticizing the President of the United States. Nobody thinks twice! It's open slander and if you understand the media there are some that support him and will lie and be deceptive to support him, and there are others that will lie and be deceitful to pull him down, when God says you're to respect all authority. Whether it's good or bad, that's not the point. We have to live a different way of life.

So we're going through a situation now where the Prime Minister got rid of somebody else, because he went through the polls and said if you have that many polls where you're falling down you need to be replaced. Well, he's at that point now where he's at exactly the same point. His polls have all fallen. He's just the same as the other one and they're saying, "Are you going to step aside?" He's saying, "No, I'm not going to step aside." We're not to get involved in those things because this is about authority, all authority. We yield to all those authorities. So no more pulling down of anybody in authority, whether it's the Russian President. It's anybody! Not just that, but any authority, police force, anything that's over us for our benefit. Even though it could be good or bad we're not to get involved in those debates and pull them down.

Verse 2—as newborn babes, which we are, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby… So the opportunity for us is we're to come out of the darkness (which is verse 1), and as newborn babes, a little bit of light, we are now able to see the truth (which is the milk of the word; we see it), well, we can grow by it if we choose to. We go through those experiences in life so that we can grow. Now, that growth is darkness, light, growth, covering, covering, covering. That's what growth is. Spiritual growth is a change of mind, transformation of the mind. …if indeed you have tasted, which is lived or practiced, that the Eternal, the LORD is gracious (merciful). Now, we understand God was merciful in the fact that He called us in the beginning.

Coming to him (Jesus Christ) a living stone, rejected indeed by men but chosen by God and precious… Well, we in the sense have been chosen to God, not as part of the 144,000, but we were called, which is like a choosing. We've been chosen to live a different way of life, to be an example to others. …as living stones, because we're alive. Why are we alive? Because of the light, and without the life we are dead, dead to the world, as it is. "He's dead to the world." Anyone out there is dead to the world and they don't know anything different. They just live their selfishness. They've got little choice because you can't live a different way of life without God's holy spirit.

So, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, that's talking about us, a holy (separate) priesthood… Now, if you look at what priests do, priests serve. It's not about authority; it's about serving. It's about doing something for other people, a living sacrifice. …to offer up spiritual sacrifices… Now, what are they, which we've covered before? Well, there are two areas. One, spiritual sacrifices; we offer them up, which means we deny ourselves and we sacrifice our desire to benefit others. We sacrifice our selfishness to benefit others. That's one lot. The other lot is prayer. We offer up thanks to God. We express our appreciation for our calling. We offer sacrifices to God. We deny ourselves and give the glory to God. We can't take credit for anything in life. God does it through us, and therefore, we should be thankful, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Verse 7—Therefore, to you who believe, which means we believe the truth, we believe the word, he (Jesus Christ) is precious, for what he did, but to those who are disobedient, those that have no light, who don't believe, The stone which the builder rejected/the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone, and A stone of stumbling, a rock of offence. They stumble being disobedient to the word… They don't have much choice, but once we are called and have God's spirit we have a choice. …to which they were appointed. Well, this is saying, and people can misread this, "they stumble being disobedient to the word to which they were also appointed." We were appointed to obey the word. That's what we've been appointed to. Well, here we can disobey. We've been appointed to obey the word of God, but we've got to be careful because we can make wrong choices and become disobedient. We've been placed in the Body of Christ to be obedient.

Verse 9—But you, a chosen generation… It's not about pride here. Sometimes we misunderstand. We have been a chosen generation, a little small group that we are here in Victoria, a chosen people by God, a special calling for a purpose. We don't see it all. A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, we've been called to serve. That's our goal. That's what our purpose is, a holy (separate) nation… We are separate. Members of the Body of Christ, the Church of God—PKG are separate. Now, when we look at all the different scriptures we should be living it. We've got to make sure we're demonstrating it by our example to others, otherwise, we're bringing blaspheme on the name of God.

…His, which is God's, own special people. This doesn't sink in very often, that we are special to God, very special to God, not of anything that we have done, but it was God who gave us the light so that we could see darkness and come out of the darkness. Well, we're special to God because we're on a journey. He's building a Temple and we've got a place there. It's there for us. It's allocated to us if we choose to obey God and follow the light. …His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of the darkness into His marvelous light. So we've been called. We're called out of that mindset "to His marvelous light." It's incredible to see spiritually.

Verse 10—Who once, which is in times past, before our calling, were not a people, we were just part of the world, but are now the people of God. So that's who we are. We are the people of God, therefore, because of that we should live as being the people of God. Now, that's a responsibility that we need to take seriously. It takes seven days a week – not that you live or are awake 24 hours a day—but it's all the time. In other words, while we have waking consciousness it's all the time. Now, we're all going to stumble and fall, and we will not always achieve that example that we should be, but we should always remember that we need to begin to think and live as children of God. We carry a responsibility. That responsibility is to be obedient and to be a good example of God's way of life. …but are now a people of God who have not obtained mercy before, but now have obtained mercy, because of a calling because God gave us the ability to see spiritually.

Verse 11—Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, these desires, which war against your life. So we are to fight our selfishness. That's what we've been called to do and the moment we give up on fighting our selfishness we return back to the darkness. And by fighting, which we agree with the light, we want to have more light in our life. …having your conduct honorable among the gentiles, which is anybody out in the world, all the unbelievers. Now, they are unbelievers because they haven't been called to believe. Therefore, we're not better. We're just different because we have the mercy of God being given to us. …that, when they speak against you as evildoers, which people do, not all, but some do, some that may know us, think that we're a bit weird because of things we do. They can't think anything different, really. Others may be supportive, which is fantastic to have that support, that they haven't judged and condemned us as evil doers to our face anyway. …they may by your good works, which is your good conduct, things we do, which they observe, because they do. They see everything. They notice everything that we do, "That that's what they do on Saturdays. They pack up and go off to the Feast of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles. They have the thing called 'The Last Great Day.'" They can't understand. Don't expect people to understand. They can't understand. Well, they observe these things.

I remember talking about my calendar. You know, I've often caught people standing in the room when I worked and I had a calendar with all the holy days marked on it and you could see them looking at this calendar. They observed that this weird person was going to go away on these days. There was no rhyme or reason why he's going away on those days. None! It's just odd time of the year, but there he's going off. Well, they observe these things and they would speak evil of me, which is normal. You don't take it personal; it's normal. "Evildoer. He's weird. He's not like the Catholics."

…they may by your good words, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation, when they are called, when they're given a little bit of light to start to see they'll remember what they observed, these people, what they did, and not just the Sabbath, many other things. There are others that are in the Body now that are in married relationship where a husband or wife observe their conduct. What a responsibility! What a responsibility that the other person's not converted, hasn't been given the light, and they're observing something and they see the person allocates 10% of their net income, and do it all the time faithfully. They observe it; I can assure you of that. When it comes to money, people are very observant about it and when people give offerings and when people save their second tithe faithfully and hold it in a separate account that the other person can't touch for their so-called holy day (holiday). They observe all this, but they're not given the opportunity to "see" it. They observe it.

Well, one day when they are called by God they'll begin to see spiritually, "Ah ha, now I know why they did it. It was God in them." No glory to us. "It was God who gave them the light so they could ‘see’ themselves. That's why they did it. It was God in them doing it." And you know what I believe? That people that have gone through that experience and observed that are going to do very well because they've got an example of faithfulness, and people will look at us and say, "Do you know what? If Wayne can do it, I can do it." That's the way we should think. "Do you know what? If 'any of us here,' if they can do it and they can do that with God's spirit, that little bit of light, hey, I'm in good condition. I can do it." Because we're the fools of the world. We're the fools of the world. We're the lowly of the world. We don't have a lot in money. We're not wealthy people. We're basic, ordinary people just like everybody else. God in His mercy called us and we can do it. With God in us we can do it, because of choices we're going to make. They're going to turn around and go, "Ah ha!" It's an exciting time. I wait for that day, I really do.

So our attitude towards others is so important. It’s so important that we're living this example.

1 John 1:5—This is the message which we have heard from Him, from God the Father, and declare to you: that God is light, and in Him, in God, there is no darkness at all. None. Now, this is a big responsibility that's placed on us when you read something like this. "God is light." He is righteous. There is no sin. There is no selfishness in God. God does nothing for self-satisfaction, selfishness. God is love. It's outgoing, a desire for the benefit of others, a desire that we in this room endure to the end, that we stand still and trust in God, not trying to deliver ourselves physically or spiritually. We trust in God. He's the one who's going to give us His spirit so that we can endure to the end if we choose to yield, remain humble and yield.

So there's no darkness in God at all. There's only light. Now we can understand when it talks about the end Temple, that the light of it is God and Jesus Christ. It's a spiritual thing. It's not about a bright light at all. It's about God's righteousness. It's God's way of thinking is in the Temple. The Temple is filled with God's way of thinking, the only way, righteousness. There's no darkness there at all. There's no sin involved. There's no sin in God's Temple because the mind's being changed and it can't sin. It's complete light. There's no darkness at all. Darkness is in there because of our physical nature. There's darkness in the Church of God because of us. We're the problem, not God. God is transforming us to be light. Exciting time!

Verse 6—If we say that we have fellowship with Him, which is a relationship with God, if we say that to others, and we do, and walk in darkness, in other words we live an example of what we saw before, which is we break the 10 Commandments by practice. We do it. We're not fighting against ourselves; in other words, we're living a lie, we're being deceitful, we're not being open and honest, we're conforming to the world so that they don't think bad of us. Well, that's walking in the darkness, walking in sin. We're nurturing our pride.

Well, if we say we love God and we're God's people, and yet we live another way of life we lie, we're lying to them, we're lying to God, and do not practice the truth. We don't live it because when you practice something you live it, you exercise it. So we're practicing the truth.

Now, there's many of the truths, if you want to go through the 57 Truths, there's many a truth there that requires practice…it requires practice. The Sabbath is one. It requires practice. You've got to do it and you've got to do it. There's no other way of life. In the end, that's it, it's the Sabbath, its 24-hour period, that's what we do. We've practiced it for many a year, and therefore, there's no option. It doesn't enter your mind to do the washing or paint the house that day. It becomes you; it's light. Well, there are many others. Men and women are equal. It takes practice. How's it done? By the way we live towards one another, women to men and men to women. I think the bigger responsibility there is probably on men, the dominant thinking of a male. It takes practice. It doesn't happen just like that. You think, "Ah, yes, that's the truth. Yep, that's me." No, it's not! It takes practice, years and years of thinking differently, which can only be done through God's spirit, the light coming in and transforming the darkness. So we can't walk in darkness. We have to practice the truth. It takes time. We got to put it into action. Tithing, offerings? It's a practice. You know what practice is. Someone says, "Oh, I'm going to run a marathon, but I'm going to practice first." In other words, you've got to do it. You've got to do it. You've got to do it. It’s the same in life, everything; stop lying, stop exaggerating. How do you do that? Practice it. Practice it. It’s not easy. It’s hurtful sometimes because we want to cover up our image and our pride. You've got to practice being open and honest, who "I" really am, who "I'm" trying to be. It takes time.

Verse 7—But if we walk in the light, which is walk in God's way of thinking, as He is in the light, righteousness, so as we walk in righteousness we walk in God's way of thinking about every matter, which takes time to learn, we have fellowship (relationship) with one with another, because we're demonstrating this sacrificing love to others, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin, which happened at baptism, but it can happen every single day if we are willing to repent.

Verse 8—If we say that we have no sin, in other words, we have no darkness in us, we think we don't have darkness, we deceive ourselves; we're kidding ourselves. We by nature are in darkness and we're being called out to be transformed, become light, become like God – righteousness. …and the truth is not in us. God's thinking is not in us because the truth is actually God's thinking, and therefore, if we believe that we don't have sin or we believe that we keep all 57 Truths in the right spirit of the matter we are liars and we are deceiving ourselves. It's not possible! It's not possible to keep all 57 Truths in the spirit of the matter, and the 10 Commandments. It's not possible with this darkness that is in us, part of it. It takes time. It takes practice. It means making decisions constantly.

I know Ron uses the one about fellowshipping. When you get in a big group and there may be someone that is more introvert, using a physical word—introvert versus extrovert. Shock! Horror! I think I'm an extrovert! I was told that virtually again today by someone out in the world, that I like to talk. I think I'm an extrovert. Well, there are introverts. Now, is one better than the other? No, both have sin. One feels more confident with themselves maybe and maybe says too much. Another one says nothing at all because they're introvert. It doesn't mean to say their thinking is right. But what do we have to do? Well, we have to fellowship with one another. So the introvert's got to make an effort – deep breath and go up and start to get engaged or engaging the extrovert, who will probably dominate the conversation, but that's not the point. The point is the effort. So for the extrovert like me I have to make an effort to shut up and not talk too much. I fail often, as you all know, but I'm aware of it and I'm reminded of it that it’s best you shut up and you'd stop talking. Well, the answer is I've got to make an effort. I just can't live my own nature. I've got to make an effort. Introverts, extroverts, those in the middle, effort is required.

So let's not deceive ourselves that we think that who we are, that we're okay. Introvert, middle, extrovert – none of that is okay. We all have to work. We all have to fight our nature of selfishness because introvert, middle, extrovert all sin. There's sin involved in all of it because it's about pride. So let's not ever think that we're doing okay. We have sin and if we deceive ourselves and think that we're doing okay God's thinking, the truth, righteousness, is not in us. We're relying on our selfishness.

Verse 9—But if we confess our sins He, talking about God the Father, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Isn't that incredible? We just got to be aware of our failings, our sins, and go before God, and He is faithful, He will forgive us. He will forgive us and He wipes the slate clean. We're no longer under the penalty of sin, which is death. We can walk in righteousness as long as we're fighting self and trying. So God is merciful—how incredible is that—it doesn't matter what we do.

There was a phone call the other day where somebody mentioned along the lines that they think they might have gone too far and basically saying they've committed the unpardonable sin. My answer was "That's not right. That's not true. The fact that you're worried that you have tells me a lot. It tells me you're concerned about your actions. And if you're concerned about your actions and you're willing to repent it's not an unpardonable sin." God can forgive everything, I mean, everything! Murderers. You think, someone, a murderer, and God can forgive them. The apostle Paul. He was a murderer; he can be forgiven because that's the beauty of human life with a mind, the spirit in man, God's spirit, the light: darkness and light. The light can overtake the darkness so at a point in time God says, "Now I know you. This is the role that I'm going to live through you, and in the end you'll be part of the Temple." You will be light like God is light and Jesus Christ is light. Isn't it a beautiful thing? There's only light in the Temple of God. There's only righteousness in the Temple of God. There is no sin.

Verse 10—If we say we have not sinned, we make Him, God, a liar, and His Word is not in us. So we are dwelling in darkness often because of personal choices that we make. That's the way we're made, to experience good and evil. We have the ability to experience good, God living and dwelling in us. Only God is good. God living in us, the light, is the good. So we have that opportunity, and at this point time the world doesn't have that opportunity now, but it's coming to that point. The day that we see somebody walk into this room or another room where God's people are, where the light is, and we know that they have the light, I know we will rejoice. It's going to be an exciting time, a real exciting time. Most of us here have had experience where somebody has come in to the light, come to the Church, and it's exciting! It's an exciting thing.

But when the light gets taken away and they no longer dwell in the light we feel for them. They're not condemned; we feel for them that they made that choice, that they are no longer living in the light. They can't share what we're sharing, the glory of God's truth. They can't share that. They think we're fools. I'm going to say they think it. They think they know we are fools. That's what's going on. One day hopefully the light will come back on and they begin to believe what we believe.

1 John 2:3 in just winding this up. 1 John 2:3. Along with Romans 8 this is incredible scripture for me personally. I get a lot out of this particular scripture because it was one of the very first scriptures that I tried to show somebody else that you had to keep the 10 Commandments, which was you have to keep the Sabbath. I remember having the Bible there and I remember the young man that was there and I got the Bible and I said, "Look! Can't you see that?!" Well, I had a little bit of light then and he had none so he could see nothing. He didn't understand it. But this means so much to me personally because this is part of my calling, the early days of my calling.

1 John 2:3—Now by this we know that we know Him. So by this we can now tell we've got some relationship with God, we've got a little bit of light, if we keep His commandments. Now, to me that's just so straight forward. The 10 Commandments. We know the Sabbath. So you say you know God and you don't keep the Sabbath?

Then I went on to the next one: He who says, I know Him, and does not obey/keep His commandments, is a liar, that went down well, and the truth is not in him. So in other words, anybody who doesn't keep the Sabbath, there is no light in them. There's none. You know, call a friend a liar because he wasn't keeping the Sabbath. I wasn't baptized at that point. It was in the early days. Now there's no point because I understand light and darkness. I understand there's no point. Actually, I've got a bigger responsibility personally that I live the light, because one day he'll observe what I'm doing and one day go, "Ah, now I know why Wayne was the idiot he was." So, same for us, brethren. We've got to live a way of life. We've got to live who we are. And how do we do it? We obey God and we don't live a lie and we have the truth in us. What a great blessing!

Verse 5—But whoever keeps/obeys His Word, truly the love of God is perfected in him or is being perfected in him. So it's a maturity. So this is what's happening to us, every one of us. Everybody in God's Church, including God's apostle, is going through this process. It's the light taking over the darkness. We've all got some level of darkness, but, see, the love of God is being developed in us. Therefore, when we get into the future our responsibility is to allow God to live in us, to be faithful, and to yield to God's thinking, not to have our own thinking about what we should do.

So God is working in us. …by this we know that we are in Him; we are in unity with God's thinking if we love one another as brethren and we love others because one day they're going to be given that opportunity. What a terrible thing that it would be that someone would turn around and say, "I know them! They didn't live like this. They didn't live what God said they were to do. You know, they were bitter and angry people! How can that be?" No, we've got to live a different way of life. We've got to live who we really are, begotten sons of God.

So, by this we know that we are in Him, we're in unity with God's thinking. He who says he abides in Him, ought himself to walk, talking, referring to Jesus Christ, ought to walk just as he walked, just as Jesus Christ did. Jesus Christ suffered. He suffered. He took a lot of ridicule, but he lived God's way. He lived God's thinking. So what will happen, do you think? The darkness can't comprehend the light! It's impossible. It can't see it and there are many scriptures which we won't get to today that cover that. The darkness cannot comprehend the light. Now, Jesus Christ was the light of the world. Jesus Christ came into the world as the light, and it says, "the darkness did not comprehend it." They had no idea who Jesus Christ was. The world has no idea who you are – none, none whatsoever. They can't because the darkness cannot comprehend the light.

Now, we only have a little bit of light. I like to think of it about like a big tunnel. Its pitch black and there's a little, wee speck of light coming towards you. That's us because we're in the darkness. The world, we're in darkness here, but we're in the light. It's a beautiful concept to remember.

Well, we've got to let our light shine. Remember, there are other scriptures that talk about nobody lights a candle and then covers it up so that it can't be seen. It's about light. It's about God's righteousness; God's thinking in us has to be lived out to the benefit of others. That's what sacrificing love is all about.

Verse 6—He who says he abides in Him, ought himself also to walk just as he walked.

Verse 7—Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which is all about love, which you have had from the beginning. It's always been there. For those that were given that opportunity to see, it's always been there, to live love to others.

Verse 8—Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true to Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away… We're coming to that time where more of the darkness is going to be passing away. It's going to be a beautiful thing and when you look at it there is a scripture that talks about Satan, which is darkness, can deceive mankind because he transforms himself to reveal that it looks like it's light. So Satan's way's look like it's light because of deception because of what he does. So deception can overtake us, so that we can be living what we think is light, but it's actually darkness because the motive is wrong.

So the pressure is on us, brethren, because the darkness is passing away because we're moving towards the light, and the true light is already shining and it's been here for a long time, nearly 2,000 years. "The light came into the world and the darkness did not comprehend it," referring to Jesus Christ. Well, the light has continued since 31 AD and we have an aspect of that light. Isn't that exciting! So the burden, the responsibility lies with us. We have to live who we are. We have to live the light.

And with that, we'll finish.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1