Depart from Evil

Wayne Matthews

November 17, 2018

We’ll start this sermon by looking at Job 28:28. And we’re going to spend a little bit of time in Job 28, but we’re going to start in Job 28:28. This is God speaking: And to man He (God) said, Behold, the fear of the Eternal... Now, that fear is respect to God’s word. Now, if we just break that down, the fear of God, we understand that the fear of God really is about obedience. Because if you respect somebody you would obey them, you would do that. So really the fear of God, the fear of the Eternal, that is wisdom. So if ever we as individuals sit down and think about “Am I wise or do I have wisdom?” well, there is the answer. If we respect God’s word and are obedient to it we are living wisdom. And, of course, we know that it requires God’s holy spirit to do that. But God explains what it is. God explains that obedience is the key.

So do we have wisdom? Well, if we are listening today or we’re sitting here today, no matter where we are listening to this we are demonstrating wisdom. Because in the end, when we look at these scriptures we’re going to look at, it’s all about evidence, proof of. The evidence of what we’re doing, well, we’re here today, we can say, “Behold, the fear of the Eternal,” which is the respect for God’s word which is obedience, “that is wisdom.” So any time we obey God keeping the seventh day Sabbath we are living wisdom. A marvelous thing. So this obedience to God’s word is wisdom.

...and to depart from evil is understanding. And that’s the title of today’s sermon, is Depart From Evil.

Now what that really is saying is what is the evidence that we are departing from evil? Repentance. So if we are in a state of repentance we are departing from evil, which means we have spiritual understanding. So the moment we choose not to repent we obviously lack understanding. Because we know we’ve been called. Great blessing. What’s a calling about? A calling is about these two topics. “The fear of the Eternal is wisdom,” so we start to obey God, and when people come through, many of you may have come through the website and you’re given a reply that says, “Obedience to the Sabbath and tithing,” well, that’s the beginning of wisdom. If somebody refuses to keep the Sabbath they obviously don’t have God’s wisdom. Because if we had wisdom we’d be tithing and we would be keeping the Sabbath and the Holy Days. It’s a demonstration of wisdom.

Well, this understanding, which is what we’re going to dwell on a bit more today, this “departing from evil is understanding,” it’s a spiritual matter. It’s about do we understand? So what do we have to understand? Well, firstly, we have to understand what we really are as humans. What are we really? We’re what we’re made up of. And I use the term often, you know, talking to people, “Well, you’re the problem.” Well, I know that I’m the problem. You all know that too. I’m the problem. I know my nature is the problem and it’s the way I respond to situations or it’s the way that I think. And this is about the understanding. I have spiritual understanding. I’ve got something that most people in the world (like you have it), they don’t have it. They can’t have it. They can’t have wisdom and they cannot have understanding. We have it.

And we can demonstrate this understanding we have, knowing what we know, who we really are, what we’re really like. Well, we understand what we’re like and we understand God’s plan for us, therefore, what will we do? Be in a state of repentance. That’s the answer. Simple, really, when you look at it.

If we want to demonstrate that we understand God’s word, we understand the purpose of life, that God has called us for a purpose, we understand our calling, what will we do? Well, we’ll demonstrate this understanding we have because we will be in a state of repentance. Now, we understand also that repentance is not just saying, “I’m sorry.” A lot of people can say that. “Oh, I’m just sorry.” There’s a lot more to this. This is about active fighting of a way of thinking. We have to actively fight this thought process.

Now, we all have these thoughts, different thoughts, well, it’s what we do with them. It’s the fighting is the repentance. We don’t want to be this way. Yes, we’re sorry that we did this and thought this way or let it go too far. Well, that’s a state of repentance. And that is understanding. So if we’re in a state of repentance we understand the purpose of life, what God has called us for.

If we understand the mind of God, the thinking of God, we will be in a state of repentance. We will understand our selfishness, what we’re really like. We’re the opposite to God, complete opposite to God by nature. And if we understand it, well, we want to fight against our selfishness.

Only God can give us the power of spiritual repentance. So how blessed are we here, and those few in the Body of Christ. And there were some that were mentioning this before services. This is a blessing that people forget. And when you look at it, if somebody chooses to leave the Church of God—PKG (to leave God, basically, is what they’re doing), if they decide to do that they’re not departing from evil they’re going towards evil. They’re not departing from it.

So another way to look at it: If you consider you’re going to an airline and there are two gates. There is a departure gate, which means you get on something and you leave it, you leave Cincinnati behind, you depart. You depart. Same here. We depart from sin, you depart from evil. So it’s a choice. You have to do something. You can’t just sit at home, “I’m going to depart.” No, you’ve got to do something.

Or there is an arrival. Well, you’ve all departed from your homes and you’ve arrived here so it was an action involved. Well, this is the same spiritually. Repentance is like departing, want to leave something behind; you want to depart from evil.

Repentance from sin is an outcome of understanding (if you understand what I’m really saying there). Well, we can demonstrate it. So somebody that is not repenting actively in their life every single day does not have understanding. They just don’t understand how evil we really are by nature. If we depart from evil by ongoing repentance we demonstrate spiritual understanding. Now, the opposite to that is that if we’re not repenting on an ongoing basis we lack understanding.

Now, if there is any time in our lives where we don’t repent on a regular basis it should be a warning that we don’t understand what we really are like by nature. This purpose of this sermon is to look at what God means when He states “Depart from evil.”

So we’re going to go back to Job 28:12—But where can wisdom be found? Which is a question, well, where do you find wisdom? And where is the place of understanding? Well, now God gives the answer. Man does not know its value. So wisdom and understanding has an incredible value. We have it. We have this. And it’s quite amazing, really, because during this last ten days or so we’ve had the opportunity to look at all these different works of copper art, different stones and gems, and here what Job reveals, God reveals through Job is that all of it is worthless junk. Really it’s worthless junk. It’s worth nothing compared to what you and I have. What we have cannot be valued...can’t be valued.

Now, the world thinks it’s stupidity, which we’ll look at. The world can’t have what we’ve got. So what we’ve got, surely we would cherish it. Like, if you had a big diamond, the most wealthiest diamond, what would you do with it? You would keep it safe. You would really protect it. Well, it’s the same with a calling. It’s the same with God’s holy spirit. It’s offered to us; surely we’re going to put some effort into protecting and guarding it, not filling our minds with worthless things. But that’s our nature.

So this value that we have mankind cannot have it because they’re not called. But we’ve been called; we have it and often we don’t value it the way we should. “Man doesn’t know its value.” And really what it’s saying is, “Man does not value God’s thinking.” Now, if they did value it they would obey God. But they don’t value what God says about matters.

The wisdom of God and spiritual understanding have no value to the nature carnal mind. They can’t comprehend the way we think because we have God’s holy spirit. God’s thinking, wisdom, is foolishness to mankind—you know the scriptures that say that—therefore...therefore, we have to be foolishness to mankind, to other people. We have to be. If we are living wisdom and we have understanding and mankind thinks it’s just foolishness, the wisdom of God is foolishness, they have to think we are fools.

And as I’ve said before you should be excited. If someone just calls you a fool and you belong to a cult, like, well, this is fantastic, this is brilliant news! Because you’re fulfilling scripture. If they think God’s way’s a stupidity and foolishness and they think I’m an idiot, whew, this is great! I’m heading in the right direction. I’m on the right path. But if they turn around and they think, oh, Wayne is just like them, whoa, big warning! Whoa. Wayne is just like them? I’m worried! But it’s exciting. If you’re different, it’s exciting. That’s what I’m getting to.

Continuing on: Nor can it, this wisdom and understanding, be found in the land of the living. So there is nothing in the way of the creation, animals, or anything like that. You can’t find God’s holy spirit and how God thinks. It can only be found in God’s true Church. It can’t be found in the Churches that are scattered. They had certain truth and they’ve lost it. They don’t understand it on a spiritual level. We do, therefore, we can rejoice. Because it can be found in the Church of God—PKG and nowhere else, and here we are.

So we have something. We don’t take it to ourselves but we have something that no one else can have because they weren’t called to it. But we’ve been called to it.

So it’s not in man’s thinking, it’s not from something from intellect. It’s not in human intellect. It’s not in psychology. Now, the proof of this is if psychology – I’m not picking on psychology per se, but just from a point of view – if this wisdom and understanding was in psychology every psychologist would be a seventh day Sabbath keeper, they’d be tithing to the Church of God—PKG, and they’ll be keeping the seven annual Holy Days. Because they would, psychology would think that it’s wisdom, true? But it’s not. It’s human thinking. It’s what they think is intellectual and all the titles. But it’s not. So if they had it they’d be doing all those things. Well, none of them are doing it, that I’m aware of, but a lot of people, there may be some that are in God’s Church that have that qualification but it’s still human reasoning. Because we’re different. We’ve been called to examine self, not to look at other people and try and work out their problems. We’re called to work out our own problems because we’re the problem. Individually we are the problem.

And another one would be, well, if wisdom was in mankind, mankind would know what sin is. We know what sin is, the transgression of God’s law. And obedience to that is wisdom, so we have wisdom. We have repentance so we have understanding. So if the world had wisdom they would know what sin is. And if you talked to people and say what sin is they have no idea what sin is. Every religion has a different interpretation what they think sin is. God makes it clear that sin is the transgression of the spiritual intent of His law. That’s what sin is.

Verse 14—The deep says, It is not in me. It’s not in physical things. The sea says, It is not in me. So there is nothing in physical matter where wisdom and understanding is. It’s a gift from God. Wisdom and understanding is a gift from God and aren’t we blessed that God decided to give it to us. Well, wouldn’t we cherish it, that we’re so few that God’s given it to?

Well, I know a lot of people that have neglected it, just have lost the understanding about the beauty of a calling and the gift that God has given us.

Verse 15—It, wisdom and understanding, cannot be purchased for gold. So nobody can come and say, “Oh, I want to have wisdom and here is a million dollars to have wisdom.” Sorry, can’t help you. “Ten million!” Sorry, can’t help you. You cannot be a crazy like me. Money will not buy it. God has to call you and change the way you think. That’s what it is. And sorry, I can’t give what God alone can give. It’s not possible. No money can do it. No gold can buy it. I use the word “crazy” because I’m not really crazy, but just the world’s perspective.

It cannot be purchased with gold. It’s a gift of God. Wisdom and understanding are spiritual in nature and it’s all from God’s holy spirit. And we can’t transfer God’s holy spirit one to another. It is the power of God through His holy spirit to change the way we think. It’s in the mind that we think differently. Nor can silver be weighed for its price. Wisdom is so valuable.

So what we have here in this room and those listening that are part of the Body of Christ, the Church of God, what we have is so valuable there is nothing on this earth in the way of gold or jewels or whatever that can buy what we have been given as a free gift. What can you say to that? Isn’t that incredible? But we have it because of God’s great mercy. Nothing we did.

And when I say nothing we did I know what I was like before the age of my calling. There was nothing I did. It was the complete opposite, actually. There is nothing I have ever done, really, other than make choices.

We were talking before about choices, and it’s an interesting thing because we are free moral agents, and in life everyone faces tests. And a lot, a lot of people have been part of the Body of Christ, but something comes up where a choice has to be made, a choice. So there’s a choice. And choice means you can go that way or you can go that way. And generally this is pride versus humility. And often it’s correction. Correction may come through the minister or something else. Well, there is a choice – will I humble myself and go this way, God’s way, obedience? Which mean’s understanding is going to be connected. Or will I go this way? No, I’m right and they’re wrong. And they go that way. This way leads you somewhere, out of the Body of Christ. That’s where it leads you. This way, this continual choosing, leads you this way, which is part of the Body, the ability to have wisdom, the ability to have understanding because God is giving it to us because of personal choices that we make.

Now, I know a lot of people that have made choices and they’ve gone a different direction. And I know everyone sitting here has made a choice that way. It’s exciting, choices. And the choices of making... The ability to make choices is always going to be there but there’s going to be things happen in our life, that I can’t tell you about, that a choice is coming our way. And it’s a constant thing and choice has to be made. Will I obey God? Will I follow God? Will I recognize that I’m wrong? Will I recognize that I desire wisdom and understanding from God and I choose God, and therefore, we will remain with the ability to hear, the ability to understand? Because God has to give that too.

The only reason we understand the truth and know the truth is because of choices that we have made, which is connected to God giving us the ability of humility.

So if we are committed to always obeying God and committed to always repenting it’s a choice. That’s what we desire. That’s what we want. That doesn’t mean to say it’s going to be difficult at times, because it will.

Verse 15—It, wisdom and understanding, cannot be purchased with gold, it’s a gift from God, nor can silver be weighed for its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. So what we have we should just be so excited. Just like when we walked into this room today, there is an excitement. And it’s why? Because we have something so valuable.

I was watching a Discovery channel and they had different groups of people going out with metal detectors. And they’d find this little weenie speck of gold and they were just so excited, like this tiny little speck and they’ve been going out there for three or four hours, di-di-di, and “Look! It’s a hundred dollars!” That is nothing to what we have and what God has given us. Because that’s the answer, God has given it to us.

So wouldn’t we be excited for what we have, thankful to God for what He’s doing for us compared to the metal detector and these people getting excited about nothing? Because it really is. They’re getting excited about nothing.

Verse 17—Neither gold nor crystal can equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewelry or vessels of fine gold. So we cannot transfer what God has given us. We can’t transfer it, can’t give it to anybody else. It’s like the truth. Those that, like me, have tried to explain the truth to somebody else or give the truth to someone else, you soon work out it doesn’t work. They can’t because God has to give it. God’s got to give truth. God’s got to give a calling. God’s got to give His holy spirit. God’s got to give us wisdom and understanding. So when we hear the truth and understand it we really should be excited and rejoice before God and be thankful that we still can...that we still can.

Verse 18—No mention shall be made of the coral or quartz, for the price of wisdom is above rubies. So we have something that cannot be valued on a human’s terms no matter what people offer. Can’t be given. Having the thinking of God, having God’s holy spirit dwelling in us cannot be valued in human terms.

Verse 19—The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be equaled in pure gold. From where does wisdom come? This is back to verse 20; And where is the place of understanding? So it’s the same question, really, in verse 12 that we looked at. So where is it all going to come from? Where does this come from?

Wisdom and understanding come from God Almighty. These come to us as a gift through the power of God’s holy spirit. And it is a gift. Based on our choices, too. There are choices to be made in this whole process, but it is a gift from God. So we have something that man cannot have.

Now, one aspect of understanding this topic, which is depart from evil, there is no evil in wisdom. There is no evil. There is no sin in wisdom because God is wisdom. He gives wisdom. And God can’t dwell with sin so God doesn’t dwell in evil so there is no evil in wisdom. So whenever we fail and make a choice to participate in evil or sin we’re rejecting God’s way. But it was a choice. It was our choice. Well, that’s the beauty of the gift of repentance, the ability to not say... Well, the ability to repent before God for what we have chosen.

Verse 21—It, wisdom, is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the air. Destruction and death say, We have heard a report about it with our ears. Verse 23—God understands its way, and He knows its place, because it comes from Him.

Now, if you go back to 1 John where it says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was unto God,” well it’s talking about the same thing. It’s the mind of God. It’s the Logos, the Word of God; it’s the thinking of God. It’s the way God is.

So this wisdom and understanding, God’s had it and God is giving it to us. Isn’t that incredible? When we really don’t understand God, really, to the magnitude. If He has existed forever, which our minds can’t comprehend, and what He knows and what He’s revealing to us as humans compared to what He really knows? We know very little in comparison to what God knows. And God over time for the rest of that time will continue to reveal what He knows. Because He’s existed forever you’ll never get to that point, because He’s always been there. So you’ll never get to know what God knows because He’s always been there and we’ve got to catch up, if you know what I mean.

Verse 24—For He looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heaven, to establish a weight for the wind, which is the air pressure, God did that, apportion of the water by measure. So God did all that. He created all those physical things. When He made a law, a physical law, for the rain, and a path for the lightning bolt, or the thunderbolt, verse 27—When He saw it and declared it; He prepared it, indeed, He stretched it out. And to man He said, Behold, the fear of the Eternal is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding.

Now, we have something like this. People can read this and it will mean nothing to them but it means a lot to us because we desire the wisdom of God and we desire the understanding of God. And the demonstration of it, the two parts, the first one is obedience. If we yield and listen to God and obey His voice we have wisdom. And we have understanding if we know our true state and we are repentant. So they are the two keys to understanding where we’re going.

From these scriptures we can establish God is the author of wisdom and understanding. It comes from Him. And nobody can just choose to think, “Oh, I want to have wisdom.”

When I was younger I was always fascinated in the book of Proverbs. And for whatever reason I was fascinated to try to grasp what the Proverbs meant, which is wisdom. Maybe it was pride; I wanted to be wise. That was probably the motivation. But I always read these things and I grappled with trying... I hope you use that word, grapple. I’ve got to be careful what I say. I battled to understand it and I’d read it and read it and read it and I had one of those little weenie books, they often had a book of Proverbs. It was this little red thing, that thick. You see them in second hand stores and all that and you normally can pick them up for a dollar. And it was just the book of Proverbs. And I would sit down on a bench and I’d read these things and go over them and over them and over them wanting to retain them so that I would be a better person. Driven by pride, of course; that’s why I want to be a better person.

But I could never understand. I could never retain them or never grasp them or never do them. Now, having God’s holy spirit, you can read a Proverb and go, “That’s me! That’s talking about me. I can see it. I understand it, what God is really saying,” because it’s spiritual. It’s not a physical thing. All of the Proverbs are spiritually motivated. It’s about intent. So it’s an incredible thing to have that power from God to be able to read the Proverbs and understand them. It’s an incredible thing. We have that power. And no matter how many Rabbi’s, and all these other people can get these and try to explain the Proverbs away the spirit of the matter will not be there. They’ll come out of certain aspects of things but they will not have the truth of the Proverbs. So we read Proverbs totally differently than anybody else because of the gift of God.

God understands its way and He knows its place, because it comes from Him, For He looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heavens, to establish a weight for the wind,

and a proportion for the waters by measure. When He made a law which is for the rain and a path for the thunderbolt. He saw it and declared it; He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out. And to man He said, Behold, the fear of the Eternal, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.

Now, we understand that repentance is the key to that. If we respect God’s word and seek understanding we will strive to be obedient to His word. And that’s an individual choice, whether we want to strive to be obedient. If we are given to understand God’s work in us we will strive to depart from evil.

So what that really is saying is when we go back and if we understand our calling, why we were called, well... Abbreviation – We were called to depart from evil. That’s what it’s really about. We’ve been called to learn to depart from evil, because you learn and you, “Ah.” And after a lot of years you go, “Ah,” you see things deeper. And you thought you’d overcome something but really only just scratching the surface of things.

If we see our selfishness we have understanding. If we really see what we’re really like we actually have spiritual understanding.

Let’s look at an example of a physical matter, and we’re going to then look at it from a spiritual matter. Exodus 31:1-4. Now, this came up because we were looking at different art and I remember seeing this gorilla, and there was a lion there as well, that someone had painted and it’d taken them a long time. And the way that they’d painted the hairs on the gorilla was with a dentist’s needle, a little fine needle, because they were so fine. And they took all this time. And I think it was worth, if I remember, it was $32,000 or something. Everyone’s saying, “Look at this,” and “Isn’t this incredible,” and all of the little fine details. And I’m sitting there thinking, “That is the mind of God.”

So when we look at things, we look at that painting, mankind strives and takes weeks and months and draws this drawing, and really it’s the mind of God being revealed. And they labor for it and you’ve got to pay all that money, yet God gave it to us, animals and all that, to look at. The incredible design of it, they’re amazing things.

So when we’re looking at diamonds and jewels and all of these things and fine art, the beautiful things, I found, anyway, the beautiful things are what God has already created and mankind is striving to copy it. That’s simple. God’s already designed it. The beautiful things, like rock formations and oceans and shells and colours, God designed it all. It all came from His mind. And yet mankind thinks he’s so intellectual and “I’ve got this gift that I can draw this gorilla and it took me three months. Aren’t I good.” No, it was a gift from God. The ability that person has came from God. It came from God.

The gifts we have came from God. Now, I have learned – took a lot of time, a lot of beatings and a lot of failures – I learn, personally, through visual, so I don’t fit into the education system because the education system is academic words. So someone can give me a book about how to strip that wall of and redo that, someone gave me a book, I’d look at it and say, “You’re joking!” So I go on to YouTube and I can watch somebody do it and I can do it. I can replicate it. Well, there’s a lot of people out there that are visual learners but the education system that we have today is all academic; it’s in a book.

Example: My grandson, he is good mathematically and he’s a visual learner because of my genetic disposition. I’m a visual learner, he’s a visual learner. So he will get the answer to a mathematical equation and they’ll fail him because they want to see how he got to it. You with me? Like, they want to see proof of how you made this. He goes, “Well, I know 2 and 2 are 4 so the answer is 4.” “But how do you get there?” “Don’t know.” Because he’s seen it, he knows. Well, I’m the same.

Woodwork, anything like that, I can look at it, watch the YouTube, build a shower, build a basin, mix concrete. I never read a book. I hate reading. I don’t read. But I can watch somebody and go, “Ah, I know how to build that shower now and I can built it.” But the world’s system doesn’t allow for people with visual learning. It just doesn’t. So I know that people know things because God allows them to know it, whereas people take it to themselves. That’s the world.

Well, let’s just have a look at a physical example because it demonstrates that everything comes from God. Physical abilities come from God. Nobody should take credit for their genetic disposition or the way that they can draw or ever how clever or intellectual they are. Nobody should take any credit at all because gifts come from God. God allows these things.

Exodus 31:1—Then the Eternal spoke to Moses, saying: See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the spirit of God. So this ability that this person is now going to be given came from God. Prior to that he never had it. But it’s God’s power. This is not God’s holy spirit, to think differently, but this is an ability to think a particular way.

Now, within God’s Church, in history, shows that there was a lot of people with musical ability, incredible musical ability. They could play violins or play the piano. Well, I am tone deaf and I know beats. They tell me there’s a beat going 1-2-3-4. Well, being dyslexic I go 1-4-2-3. I have no musical ability. My wife doesn’t like standing next to me because I sing out of tune, I sing out of note. And she says, “Why don’t you read what’s there?” Well, I struggle reading. But I can’t read music.

Well, other people in times past have taken it to themselves and then it’s a big competition about how musical someone is, leave God out of the picture. That’s a disaster. That’s the worst thing any of us could do, is leave God out of the picture. So if someone can write a formula for a computer, should never take it to self. Yes, it requires work and it requires study, but do not take it to self. Because I would say, “Aren’t you blessed that you can read music,” because I can’t make head or tail of it. It means nothing to me. We have a saying in Australia, “It’s Dutch to me.” Don’t mean to offend the Dutch. I can’t understand a word of it.

So all these abilities we have came from God. All the glory goes to God. And here is an example of somebody that now God is going to give a physical ability to. I have filled him with the spirit of God, so it’s not the holy spirit but a power of mind, the power of intellect, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge... What’s that about? Not spiritual like we have. ...in all manner of workmanship. So it’s something physical that he’s been given. Great blessing. Don’t take it to self but God’s going to give it to you. Because the creation, everything in the creation came from God’s mind. ...to design artistic works. So I was looking at this gorilla, this scripture jumped into my mind, because that person’s been given something, this artistic work. Incredible. I couldn’t do it. ...to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, because there’s a reason why, there is a purpose why this ability’s been given. Because we’re looking at this physically first. ...in cutting jewels for settings, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship. So we can establish from this that the ability, this is for a spiritual purpose that God was going to do, building temples and that, that physical abilities were given.

Let’s look at this spiritually. Spiritual abilities have been given and it’s us. Isn’t that incredible? So we can apply this scripture and just look at it physically. Well, let’s look at it. “I have filled them with the holy spirit.” What for? There is a purpose. “I have given them wisdom, I’ve given them understanding.” Why? What’s being built? A spiritual temple. That’s what’s being built. So we’ve been given something special in this room and those listening, something that is incredible, can’t be valued, because this, really, is just a physical example of something spiritual.

There is a temple being built and we’re part of it, because there are stages in it. We’re part of it. And our time is now. Our time is now. This person was able to do all these things. We’re able to do things that others cannot do because we were called. We’ve been given the holy spirit for a purpose. And that’s the key, the purpose. The purpose is: depart from evil.

The world cannot depart from evil. They don’t even know what evil is, really. We know what evil is. We’ve been called. We’ve been given this ability, just like this person here. Ours is spiritual. We have a spiritual ability to depart from evil. The choice is whether or not we’re going to do it. Because in the end it is a personal choice whether we want to.

So we can establish that physical abilities, knowledge, and understanding about things comes from God. It’s a gift. It’s something God allocates out. The same principle applies on a spiritual level that spiritual wisdom, spiritual knowledge, spiritual understanding all come from God for a purpose. We take nothing to self. We know where it came from.

God’s holy spirit demands growth and the outcome. So if we ever... I’m into measuring. This is not... This is one of my many weaknesses. But I am into measuring and it can be a bad thing. That’s my personality, my disposition; I tend to measure things. Well, I do try to measure self. And one of the things we can, we can measure our spiritual condition, if we just stop and think about it. And the measure is, “Am I departing from evil?” Are you departing from evil? Well, that’s the measure of whether we understand or not.

We understand our calling. What does God require of us? The gift He’s given us of His holy spirit, wisdom and understanding, well, measure it. “Wayne, am I repentant? Am I overcoming my selfishness? Am I doing that?” If I’m not I’m not using the ability and the power that God has actually given me to achieve this. Because I know I can do it if I rely on God and then turn to Him in repentance. God is so loving and patient. So this departing from evil is a measure of whether or not we truly understand.

Our prayer life is another one. We go through different stages in prayer life, but a lot of it it’s about what are we relying on? Do we rely on God or do we rely on self? They’re connected in the sense of prayer life. Because rely on God, prayer life is strong, not self-reliant. Bad prayer life or low prayer life means self-reliance, relying on self, going to do it myself because of habit and personality.

So there are measures in things that we could look at and say, where am I at? Where am I at in these things? Because in the end there is a choice involved here. God wants to give us His sprit. God wants to give us more understanding. It’s a matter of whether we really want it, the choices we make.

We understand that God has given us the gift of His holy spirit because it’s about the transformation of the mind, and that happens by repentance, learning to think differently about things. And over time there are certain behavioral things that I’ve adjusted, that I’ve learned that you don’t do that anymore. And when I was first called that’s the way that I did it and now this is the way that I do it. Because over time we grow, we change, we think differently. Over time; but it does take time and we overcome our nature.

Romans 12:1, which you all would know well. And by nature we always think naturally. That’s just by nature. And if we are in a state of repentance we will soon learn to stop and think, stop and think about this; what am I really doing? What is my motive behind what I’m doing?

Romans 12:1—I beseech or urge you, therefore, brethren (Churchies), by the mercies of God, because it is by the mercies of God. We only hear because of God’s great mercy towards us. ...that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Now, most people wouldn’t know what that really means. But what that is is sacrificing or denying self...denying self, departing from selfishness, departing from evil. Selfishness is evil. We have to learn to depart it. What do we have to do? We have to do something; it’s an active thing. It’s something we have to choose.

So we’ve got to choose, well, to present ourselves a different way. We’re to deny ourselves and deny self, what we want for things. And it applies to many things. Just doesn’t apply [to] meals, it applies in many, many things, particularly in relationships, denying self. It takes effort. It takes thinking. It takes habitual doing of things, a choice that has to be made. But it requires God’s holy spirit to even be aware of these things.

...holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. So this sacrificing that’s being spoken of really is about denying our selfishness, deny self.

Verse 2—And do not be conformed to this world, which is don’t blend into the way of thinking of the world, fashion, the way fashion, our thinking. So don’t go the way that they do. Now, there are many things in the world, which we will get to, which the world would call good evil, and evil good. And scripture warns about that. Well, we have to be careful we don’t get caught up in it. Because the world today would say certain relationships are good and that I would be classed in a particular category. And I’d say, well, you’re calling something evil good, because they say that relationship is good. And God calls it evil but they call it good. We have to be careful of those things. And there’s many things, not just that. There are many things that the world will call good that God says are evil, and I want to just quickly look at some of those.

Sunday worship is evil. (That’d be called hate speech in Australia.) But it is! Sunday worship is evil. Certain relationships are evil. Now, people, when you look at it, people would say they go to Church on a Sunday – that is good. And we stand back and say that’s evil. See, they’re reversing it, what God says is evil, to them. It’s evil to us but they’re calling it good. Well, we have to be careful we don’t get drawn into certain things, certain programs, certain way of thinking, certain way of speaking that is actually evil that the world calls good. It’s something that we are to be aware of.

So, Don’t be conformed to this world, that way of thinking, but be transformed, which is that metamorphous, which is a change. How? ...by the renewing/renovating of your mind. I like renovating. Well, God requires me and you to renovate our mind. Pull it down, change it, make it new. A new way of thinking, a new way of behaving is what God requires of us. Well, we can only do that because we were called and we have the gift of wisdom and the gift of understanding. That’s the only way that it can be done. ...by the renewing of your mind that you may prove, which is to test by living it, what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So we have to choose to depart from evil, but it is our personal choice.

Luke 24:45, got a few scriptures to go through. And he (Christ) opened their understanding. Now, prior to this they had a natural mind that didn’t understand. Well, here this is not about having the gift of God’s holy spirit but the power to do it is that we have this, this very thing, And he (Joshua, Christ) opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. It’s happened to us. Isn’t this incredible? I find it incredible. This has happened to us. This is us, that God through a power that He has opened our minds to see things that are spiritual. He opened our understanding that we may see the scriptures. And when I’ve had God’s holy spirit after a bit of time I started to go back over the Proverbs. They were just so exciting to me because I could see them finally. After all these years of looking at them and trying to remember them, now I can actually comprehend them because of something God gave me. And He’s given you that ability. Incredible thing.

“That they might comprehend the scriptures.” Now, this happened for a purpose and it’s about seeing truth. We see the truth. And we can’t give the truth to anyone else, and the truth, as we know it, people are not interested in it. It’s foolishness to them. That’s fine. Their day will come and they will see what we see.

Without God’s holy spirit a person cannot see the spirit of the law or a spirit of a matter. Now, when we look at this this is something for me personally, that I’ve known I’ve grown in over time. I do have a natural habit of saying things. I jest with people. And sometimes I say things I shouldn’t. I get away with a lot as an evangelist. I probably shouldn’t. But I know you all say, “Well, he’s an Australian so he can do it.” But I realize that. And you try to reign it in but I jest a lot about things and Australian humour is more belittling. You tend to belittle yourself as well as the other person. I say, “Please come to the Australian Feast because you’ll go back more humble.” Well, if not, you’re meek. “I can’t believe Wayne said that to me!” Well, I understand my nature. And you work at trying to do a better job. Well, now I’ve quite justified really, because I know Ron has got up here and said you’re not allowed to take offence. So that’s fine. So as long as you know you’re the problem. No, I do know that I’m the problem.

What I’m getting at? It’s about intent. Because, you see, sometimes people misunderstand intent. They try to read intent. You know, “They said this because of ‘this.’”Well, people’s intent is the key. That’s what God’s after, our intent, why are we doing what we’re doing. Well, someone can say something and their intent is to pull you down and destroy you. There’s not love in it. Another person can say the exact same thing but their intent is to build a closer bond of love with you. So that’s why we should never ever take offence to anything. Even if somebody says something with the wrong intent towards us we should not take that on board. What right do we have to hold anything against anybody, really?

So it’s about intent. Well, the most important thing is to look at our own intent. Don’t look at other people’s intent, why they said... It’s all irrelevant. It’s more about what did we do? What did we say? How did we say it? How do we take it? Why did we take it that way? And that’s getting down to the inner depth of a matter and it’s about self, about looking at self.

Ephesians 1:15. So, really the law that God had given at Mount Sinai was only the ability for people to understand it physically. We have the law which Christ expounded about the intent, why do we do what we do, why do we say what we say, why do we hear certain things and interpret them personally. Because that’s what we do, we’re taking it personally. Why do we do that? Well, we’re the problem. Because of what we are, what we do.

So God has called us to depart from evil, which is to deny our selfishness. The way we think has to be changed, because otherwise there’s pride involved.

Ephesians 1:15—Therefore, I (Paul) also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Joshua and your love for all the saints, which we have... Now, when it says, “I heard of your faith,” well, we understand what faith is. We have to be living something. We’ve chosen to obey God, now we live it, we do it. It takes an action. Well, that’s what Paul’s saying, it’s evident. Now that I’ve heard of your faith, because of what they’re doing. It’s not just something, “Oh, I’ve heard your faith.” You’re Protestant. No, you’re doing something different. We’re living what we believe. Which is the answer. If we believe something we live it.

We believe that the seventh day Sabbath is a command for our good, our spiritual good. That’s what it’s about. And the only way for spiritual growth is obedience to God. And if we obey God He will give us understanding. We understand the seventh day Sabbath. We understand what it’s about. This is about spiritual growth that can only come from God. That’s why we’re here, to grow, to learn. That’s why we’re here. Most people wouldn’t have a clue. They go to church on Sunday’s, which is evil, and they go because they feel better. They might get into heaven that way. Otherwise, you’ll go to hell if you don’t go. But if you’re Catholic, you go once a year, it’s okay. Totally different thinking, isn’t it?

We come here because we want to hear what God’s got for us. That’s what we’re wanting. And we come here because we desire to depart from our selfishness. That’s what we want. We want to get rid of it. It’s going to take a lifetime but we want to desire that and keep choosing that way.

Verse 16—do not cease to give thanks for you, this is Paul saying, “I don’t cease to give glory to God, thank God for the brethren, the Churchies.” Because I know you’re here and I know that I’m here because God did it; God places us in the Body as He sees fit. And we’re here because God, God allowed it. God desires us to be here so that we learn more of His ways. We understand this. Other people do it for different motives. We do it because we want to please God and we want to grow. We want to be part of the Body.

...do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Joshua the Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom; that’s what we want. We want the spirit of wisdom, and revelation in the knowledge of Him. And that’s what it’s about. Our life is about growing in wisdom, growing in understanding. Because when we’re first called there is only an element of wisdom. And we’ll never be as wise as God but we can grow in wisdom. What is growing in wisdom? A deeper obedience to the spirit of the law, listening to God, what God’s got to say.

And we know God. Now, prior to 2005 we thought... Well, I’m talking about myself here. I’ll use “I.” Don’t like to us it. I thought I knew God. Reality check, Wayne. I did not know God until I heard certain sermons from the Feast of 2005. Because we weren’t awakened until... Well, we were during a process; December 15 it was of 2005. Well, I can say now clearly and easily prior to that, 2006, I never knew God. And it was an incredible thing. That truth was an incredible thing that God gave to His Church for us so that we could worship the one true God and have a clear picture of the plan of God, the purpose of Joshua the Messiah; is so deeper understanding that we’ve been given. Prior to that I didn’t know God.

Well, now we have the knowledge of God. It’s been given to the Church. The one true God, we have that knowledge and we have that understanding about the purpose of life. And the purpose of the Church, why we’re here, out of the mercy of God, but we’re here for a reason. The whole reason is about growth, change the way we think and grow spiritually. And there’s degrees of our growth and time periods of our growth.

Verse 18—the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; to see spiritually. Which is what we do. We see spiritually. ...that you may know what is the hope of His calling. I get excited when I read those things because I know that it was His, God, Yahweh Elohim, the Creator of the universe, the Creator of all things, who made all the beautiful things of the world, who called me and called you to be here today for a purpose —to hear about His wisdom and His understanding that He’s giving to us. That’s what the sermon is about. It’s coming from God. What an incredible blessing. And all the valuable things that we can see, and we might look at it...

I know there was a lottery not long ago in the U.S. that was nearly a billion dollars, or something, and people are racing out buying tickets. They can spend as much money as they want and the odds are so remote it’s almost like a calling. Like the odds of winning it are ridiculous. Same for us. What we have in a calling and the wisdom and understanding we have, difficult to talk about, really, because you’ve already won the lottery is another way to put it. Only we just don’t appreciate that we’re so wealthy. We would rather buy the ticket or to have the jewels and the big... No, none of that’s of any value. And it’s over time we see it. We have something so precious that there is nothing physical that can buy it. You can’t weigh it. You can’t do anything, what we have, and yet you know and I know people that have walked away from it. And when you think of it, how stupid is that? But we have that capacity by a choice, a wrong choice.

...the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, so we now see spiritually, that you may know what is the hope of His calling. Now, “the hope of His calling.” Why did God call us really? To be part of Elohim. God has something that physically we can’t just have, but He’s got it and He wants to give it to you and me. It’s there. All you have to do is a couple of things. Sounds easy doesn’t it? But that’s... It’s on offer and all we have to do is desire it and be willing to deny self, you know, be willing to depart from evil. That’s what we’ve got to want to do.

Well, it’s there. It will be filled. God will have a family at the end of 7,100 years. Will we be part of it? Well, it’s going to go down to what choices we make, whether we’re going to just endure and realize our pride, the understanding we have about our own pride and deny self and continue to learn to depart from evil. And in the end God wants to give it. It’s a matter of whether or not we really want it and how badly we want it, whether we really see it.

What I found is that when you go into this topic in a lot of detail it makes you speechless. Because if you just stop and think, Yahweh Elohim existed forever, has something called life. And He, out of a free choice, decided that He wanted to give this life that He has (doesn’t owe us anything), but He decided to give this creation that He made (we’re made a particular way), with a mind that’s against Him, but if they choose it He’ll give it, something He’s got. He doesn’t have to give it to us. He doesn’t owe us anything. But He decided “I want to give it to...” you and me. Now, how can you...? What can you say? “Why would You do that?”

Human nature, you’ve got $500. “It’s my $500.” Well, God’s got something that...eternal life. You’re going to live forever from a certain point. You’re going to be a different way of thinking, no sin, and it’s on offer to you. What have you done to deserve any of that? Well, you’re like me. You’re nothing.

So when you really think about it, whew, what an incredible God we have that He is willing to do that for us. And the fact that I even exist as Wayne Matthews is just an incredible... That I exist? I’m physical. I’m alive for a purpose and I understand it, and it’s all about this. The hope of God calling me for a purpose was to give me something, and how I’ll respond to that calling. Do I want it really? Do you? Do I really, really want it? Well, that’s the hope of our calling, is to be in Elohim, to live forever. And God didn’t have to give it to us but He’s decided to do it.

Well, to be part of God’s Family is our desire. That’s our purpose. The purpose of departing from evil is to be in Elohim. That’s what we want to be. We want to be in the God Family.

...what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, in the Churchies. Put into a body, into a group of people that love one another by the power of God’s holy spirit. It’s not a physical thing.

One of the things that still goes on a little bit, is people say there’s no love in the Church. Well, let’s analyze that statement. “There is no love in the Church.” So what you’re really saying is that no one here has God’s holy spirit, because the only way a person can love unselfishly is by the power of God’s holy spirit. So when somebody says, “Oh, there’s no love in the Church. It’s not like the old days. There is no love in the Church,” what you’re really saying is, people aren’t treating you the way they used to treat you when they never had God’s spirit. If you’re with me.

Because there is love in the Church. It’s called God’s holy spirit. I have love. It’s not me, it’s what God gave me, that God can live out to the benefit of others. You’re the same. There is mass amount of love in the Church and anybody that says there’s no love in the Church has no wisdom and has no understanding of what God’s doing. We love because God lives and dwells in us. Other than that it’s selfish love, it’s about “my,” “my family,” “I’ll treat this one different than that one.” That’s selfish love. That’s human, based on selfishness, carnal. No, there are tonnes of love in God’s Church, tonnes of it. So much love in God’s Church that it’s difficult to even explain it. And if people don’t feel love in God’s Church the problem is not in God’s Church, is it? It’s in the person because it’s a spiritual matter. It’s not a physical thing at all.

I’ve had that said to me over the years, “Oh, there’s no love in God’s Church,” and I’ve had time to think about it and think, “Hang on a minute. What are you really saying? What are you really saying?” You’re saying that God’s not working with me. You’re saying... (Because it was directed at me and my wife, generally.) What are you really saying? You’re saying that God’s not living out to the benefit of you? Is that what you’re saying? You’re accusing God of that? Is that what you’re really...? Because that’s what they’re really saying. They’re accusing God of not working in the Church. Lack wisdom. Lack understanding.

Well, I say that because we need to be careful that we don’t ever have those words come out of our mouth, and that when it does it’s about to turn around and go, “This is the problem.” As I’ve said, “You’re all the problem.” And I’m the problem. And if we all agree we’re all individually the problem there’s going to be a lot of love in the Church. And if you all think that I’m the problem you’re probably right. That’s the way it goes.

So God called us to be part of Elohim. He didn’t have to but He has and our time is now. And it’s our choice now. That’s what we do.

1 Kings 3:1. Again, something physical, and it’s about Solomon and something God did. Because we understand that everything comes from God. Any abilities that people have should give all the glory to God. It was God that did this. God allowed us to exist.

1 Kings 3:1—Now, Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh’s daughter. Interesting, because if you go back over the British Commonwealth, and what did they do? All of the kings that had daughters tried to marry them off with other countries like Spain and all that because they wanted a treaty of peace. Their motive wasn’t in the benefit of the daughter. No, we want peace so you go and marry the king of Spain; you marry the king of here and the king of there because it had nothing to do with the benefit of the daughter. This was about peace for a kingdom.

Well, here we see Solomon now makes a treaty with Pharaoh, king of Egypt. So if you go down and say, remember, he did not have God’s holy spirit so there is a reason why we do what we do. It’s just a matter of working down to find what it was.

...he married Pharaoh’s daughter, then he brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his own house, so he’s got his own house, and the house of the Eternal, which is the temple, and the wall around Jerusalem. So he’s now in a situation where there is still not the area to (so called) sacrifice the animal. Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places before there was no house built for the name of the Eternal until those days. So here it is, he should be doing it according to God’s word which was written in the Levitical system but he’s made a decision that he’s not going to do that, he’s going to do something else.

Verse 3—And Solomon loved the Eternal, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places. So he’s now going off to somewhere different than what God had said. Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. So this is a very important place to the people. Solomon offered one thousand burnt offerings on that altar. That’s a lot of offerings. One thousand, that’s a lot. See, a lot of people involved following the king at this time.

At Gibeon the Eternal appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and the Eternal said, Ask! What shall I give you? If we were naturally minded and God in a dream said to us, “Ask what you want and I’ll give it to you,” when we think about it we’re generally very selfish. We’d say, “Well, I want a new house, a new car.” It’s all physical stuff. We don’t think naturally spiritually. “I want more love, more of Your spirit so that I can love more.” Well, this is a physical example that points to something that we should do, what we should ask for.

And Solomon said, You, talking about God, have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth. Well, we do that. In the spirit of the matter we walk before God in truth. ...in righteousness, which is in God’s way because God is righteous and we have God dwelling in us so we have the ability to be righteous. Faith, God accounts for our faith, we live what we believe, as righteousness. ...and in uprightness of heart, which is sincere, with You. Which is a key, being sincere. You have continued this great kindness to him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as is this day, which is talking about himself.

Now, the Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am like a child, or a little child. He feels inferior, like he’s only learning, he’s only new. What do I do? How do I behave? What do I do? I do not know how to go out and come in. So there is an attitude here of humility, not lifting himself up, recognizing who he really was, what his abilities were.

Well, we’re the same. This is a key to life in the Church, recognizing the abilities we have. On a spiritual level we only have any ability if God gives it. We only understand degrees of the truth if God gives it. And there’s lots connected to all of that but it comes from God, our ability to see. And like before, God can give a greater ability to somebody else on a spiritual level for a spiritual purpose which is always to the benefit of somebody else. It’s not about the individual, it’s about the benefit to the Church, the Body of Christ.

Remember the scriptures that talk about, you know, the hand and the eye and I want to be the ear and I want to be the eye and I don’t want to be the foot and I don’t want to be the leg, I don’t want to be the arm. It’s about the Body. And there’s no difference.

So God gives spiritual abilities for the purpose of the benefit of others. It’s not something you take to self and go, “Oh, I see this. You don’t see it. I see that,” and lift yourself up. This is about God’s Church to the benefit of everybody, and we are all different. Some people hear one sermon and get something out of it. Another person hears another sermon and turns around and says, “Oh, you were talking about me the whole time.” Not true at all. Wouldn’t have a clue. God feeds and gives and we hear according to God’s will and purpose for the Body, for the individual, their growth. And connected to that is humility, whether or not we’re willing to humble ourselves and look at ourselves.

Verse 8—And Your servant is in the midst of Your people, because they are God’s people. Now, we look at this physical. This is the Church. “Your people.” We are God’s people. So it’s the spiritual that we can look at this. We are God’s people. “Your servant.” You can say look at this in the ministry. We are servants of God for a reason. Not for self, not to take credit to self. It’s for the benefit that God will use an instrument for the benefit, the building up of others. It’s not about self. That’s not how God works. ...whom You have chosen. Isn’t it...? I love this. ...in the midst of Your people, whom You have chosen. He chose Israel. It could have been anybody, but it was Israel. Well, it’s the same. God has chosen us. They’re God’s people. We’re all Churchies for a reason. God’s purpose for us. It’s God’s Church.

...a great people. Now, we don’t take it to ourselves but one day...one day people will look at this and say, “Ah, they were talking about the Church of God—PKG, a great people.” Small in number. What makes us great? Don’t misunderstand me at all. I know you don’t. What makes us great? God’s holy spirit. It’s what God is doing in His Church.

...too numerous to be counted or numbered. Physical. Therefore, give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge. Now, that word “judge” is “to discern a matter.” How do you judge something? How do you discern? Because there are lots of situations. At that time there were people would come with problems and you had to discern, you know, what’s the way to go here. Well, it’s no different today. Spiritual in nature, that’s all. This is all physical, now it’s spiritual. There are certain situations within the Church, they’re spiritual in nature, and sometimes you may be dealing with people that may not have the degree of spiritual understanding that we perceive they may or may not or whatever. Well, it’s difficult. But a judgment has to be made; a decision has to be made. Now it all depends whether or not the person is going to take that decision. And as last week’s sermon, “The decision is ‘this,’ and, well, let’s stop and think. This is God’s Church. God speaks to us. God’s ministry made this ruling. Who am I to lift myself up and say it’s wrong?” We all have that capacity and we’ll be tested on those things.

Therefore, give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, because this is God’s Church and none of us want to hurt anybody in God’s Church, none of us, in anything we say or do. So it’s to have a mind of justice and mercy. ...that I may discern between good and evil. Well, that’s life, isn’t it? Discerning, making a judgment about, well, you know, is this right or wrong? Is Sunday worship good or evil? No, Sunday worship is evil. That’s pretty straight forward. But there are a lot of other things that are quite complicated when you’re dealing with humans.

I must say, I had a boss once and she had a business that was doing okay and made a few decisions, and God blessed it and things started to turn out a lot better. And one day I remember going up to her and I said to her, “Anthea, you would have a fantastic business if we just didn’t have customers.” What I was saying is people are the problem. It’s a great business but oh, boy, people are a problem. Because you’re dealing with people and no two people are basically the same. Everyone thinks slightly differently, different cultures, different everything and it gets complex. What one person will accept another person won’t accept.

...that I may discern between good and evil.  For who is able to judge, which is to make a decision for this great people of Yours? Because  it’s God’s Church. This is God’s Church, and therefore, we should know that any decision that God’s Church makes, it isn’t done on a whim. It’s not just [finger snap] like that. There is a lot of prayer, a lot of thought, a lot goes into a decision of what should be balanced, what should be done. It’s just not that. Because it has to come from God. Because if it comes from humans what value is it? If it came from just humans what value is it? It’s selfish.

No, decisions made in God’s Church come from the power of God’s holy spirit. Because what separates God’s Church from every other church? God’s holy spirit. We have God’s holy spirit. We have the power of wisdom. We have the power to understand all because God in His mercy has given it to us, His true Church. It’s where God is.

Verse 10—The speech pleased the Eternal, that Solomon had asked this thing. Now, when you really look at this on a physical level it’s an incredible thing, really, isn’t it? Well, I got a feeling that God gave him that thinking in the sense of it just wasn’t from him. God gave that thinking that he would do this. Well, God was pleased with this because it’s not about being self-reliant or self-righteous. “No, I can make decisions on behalf of all these people.” He knew they were God’s people and he was a bit scared, really, about what do I, how do I make these judgments? I don’t have that ability. I don’t have that experience to know what I should do.

Verse 11—Then the Eternal (God) said to him, Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself... So he didn’t ask selfishly. He asked, because they were God’s people and he knew it. ...nor have you asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked life of your enemies, which was not selfish thinking, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice... So an understanding to benefit others.

Well, let’s look at this on a spiritual level. It’s the same for us. We want understanding, to understand how to deal with one another. How do I love or how do I show more love to others? The answer is allow God to live and dwell in us more by ongoing repentance, by obedience. That’s the only way it can happen.

Verse 12—behold, I have done according to your words; see, I, which is God, because remember we talked earlier everything comes from God. All this comes from God. It’s God and His great power that does it. I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart.

Goes back to our calling. That’s exactly what God has said to us through Joshua the Messiah. We accept him as our Passover sacrifice so God says, “I have given you,” and me, “a wise and understanding heart.” Isn’t that incredible? We have it. No one else has, but God in His mercy has given us this very thing, a wise... We have wisdom because we obey God, we’re here today, Sabbath keepers. Showing great wisdom and understanding because we are a repentant people. That’s why we’re here, to continue to repent.

...so that there has not been anyone like you before, so it’s never happened before, nor shall any like you arise after you. So there’s not going to be anyone after on a physical level that will have this ability that God gave Solomon.

Now we’ll just head back. I want to go down to Proverbs 16:17—The path of the upright is to depart from evil. So if we are on the right path we will be repentant. We will understand who we are. And we’re on this path, we’re departing from evil, we’re departing from sin. And I was going to go through all the definitions because there is scriptures that talk about mankind calling good evil and evil good. And it’s not just one or two things; it’s in a lot of things, what people say, you know, “That’s good.” And we sit there and say, “Oh, that’s not good. Selfishness, that’s not right.” So there is a lot in society. It’s happening to this very age now where people openly say “This is good,” and it’s not, it’s absolute evil.

Well, we’re on a path because we are the upright, because God makes us the upright, to depart from evil. That’s our goal in life and we do that by repentance. Once we have been called we are required by God to choose to depart from evil. Because it is a choice. To go to that departure gate we have to choose it. We don’t have to. We can go the other way. But I know where it leads, it’ll lead somewhere else than the destination where we want to go to to be in Elohim.

God reveals to us what sin is by the power of His holy spirit. So we can talk about what sin is, the world can’t. Once we see within our own thinking what sin is—the transgression of God’s law, it’s spiritual intent—we are to overcome these personal sins by ongoing repentance, because it’s the only way.

My wife has often talked about awareness. It’s impossible to depart from sin unless we’re aware of the sin that lies within us. So if we don’t see the sin or if we’re not told what the sin is by the power of God’s holy spirit through a sermon or whatever, we will never depart from it, will we? You don’t recognize it as sin. So, often when correction comes we have to see it’s done for our good. What’s the good? To learn to depart from evil. Because if we don’t recognize the way we are, we don’t recognize the evil, the sin that’s within us, how can we depart from it? It’s not possible. So it has to be an ongoing process that things are revealed to us, revealed to our minds, then we see it and go, “Oh. I didn’t realize I’ve put up with that sin for thirty years. I wasn’t even aware of that sin to that degree.” Now, once we’ve been made aware of it the problem comes back to us. “I have to choose to depart from it.” And heading for that departure gate isn’t all that easy because you start to see more of the sin and you realize that “I’ve got to start to depart from it.”

Well, the good news is that will never stop. While we’re human there is always...just see a little bit more. And things that we’ve done for forty, fifty, sixty years, all of a sudden, “Oh, now I see it,” because you go deeper, you go deeper, you go deeper into your life and you see things and  you think, “Oh, I don’t want this anymore. I want to depart from this.” Well, it takes an effort to depart from it.

So we now see these things. We are to depart from evil and overcome evil with good. So simple statement: We’re to overcome evil with good. What is good? Only God is good. So it’s only by the power of God’s holy spirit that a person can overcome evil. We’re to overcome it with good. We have to allow God to live and dwell in us. The good of God has to live out to the benefit of others. That’s how we overcome evil by a choice. Only God is good, therefore, we can only overcome evil by the power of God’s holy spirit. There is no other way. It’s only by God. It’s the only way that we can overcome this evil.

Our part in this calling from God is to desire to overcome our selfishness. James 3:13, in just winding down here. James 3:13—Who is wise and understanding among you? That’s the question which is saying, “Who has God’s holy spirit?” What will they do? Let him/her show, which is reveal it, by good conduct. So it’s about behavior, there’s a change of behavior. What people call weird and odd and strange, can’t understand it, well, that’s a good evidence that we’re departing from evil, because our behaviors change. We’re now Sabbath keepers. People want to do certain things, say, “Well, I won’t be there Friday night till Saturday night. I just won’t be there. Friday night sunset... Saturday I’ll turn up.”

In my life (I think I’ve mentioned this before), in my life I’ve had various blessings from God where God has benefitted choices that have been made. And God will benefit. And one of them was a gentleman; he’s now died. His name was Chris and he was older than I was but he was what was called a group general manager and we’d be in a meeting and he showed me favor. And I know why. He didn’t know why, but he did, and he knew that I was a Sabbath keeper because it was part of the conditions of my employment, that in the winter I had to leave by 5:00. Well, he just knew 5:00. And so in the summer it used to go to 7:30. We’d be in a middle of a meeting and he would turn around and say, “Excuse me, everybody, Wayne has to go, it’s 5:00.” “Oh, okay, thanks, Chris.” Because I thought, if I try to explain him sundown this could be a nightmare. So 5:00 was knock; Friday, 5:00 has it going home.

Well, how is that possible? You know, I think there was 21,000 people and yet this group general manage looked after all the other general managers, would stop a meeting and say, “Excuse me, everybody, Wayne’s got to go home.” How is that possible? I know how it’s possible. And one day when he’s resurrected he’ll go, “Ah ha, now I know why I did what I did.” It’s just amazing things. And there used to be meetings; we called them “hugging trees,” because they were hugging. I used to call... We’re going to have a tree hugging meeting. Well, a tree hugging meeting meant you had to go away on the weekend and book into a hotel with a group of managers, sometimes seventy people, and go over the strategy of the company and all that. And Chris knew that I wouldn’t be there Friday night and Saturday, so I’d say, “I’ll be at the tree hugging meeting, and it’s okay, I’ll be there at 7:00 on Saturday night.” Well, he knew it so he used to go around and he would find one or two people that would take notes for me over that whole Friday night and Saturday while they’re off carrying on about everything, and that when I turned up at 7:00, drive there and parked, two of them would come out or one of them would come out and say, “Here is the notes from all the meetings.” Now how does that happen? Most people they’d fire you because, like, “What do you mean you’re not coming to the meeting. It’s mandatory!” “Well, I’ll be there Saturday night.” Isn’t it a blessing, incredible?

Well, we have things and God can show favor to us. It’s just about what we choose. Do we choose? And I’ve been blessed personally so many ways because God has intervened in areas that you least expect. Well, I believe God allowed Chris and my work to understand that I was a Sabbath keeper, and he stood up and defended me, a Churchie, a weirdo. Like, incredible, but God did it and I look forward to the day he’s resurrected and be able to talk to him about it.

So who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct, which is behavior. It is revealed by the way we live towards others. It’s reasonably straight forward, really. So who has understanding amongst us? Who is wise in this group here? Well, it’s evident. It’s by the way we live toward others. It could be husband, could be wife, could be children, could be work environments, could be anybody. It’s everybody; it’s not just brethren to brethren. This is how we reveal it, if we are wise and we have understanding of who we really are we will change the way we think about others, we’ll change the way we live towards others.

...that his works, what we do because of what we believe, are done in the meekness of wisdom. There is a level of humility there. We’re not lifting ourselves up. We’re not to judge people, pull them down. And often I look and sit in airplanes and I look there and think, “One day all of these people will be called.” Isn’t it incredible? All of these people will be called, God willing, and they’ll have the ability that currently God has blessed me with individually and you with. Amazing that we can think that way. And often you go into areas where there are 5,000 people, called the city, and all of these people, and one day they’ll have the ability of wisdom and understanding that we’ve been blessed to have.

So in all of that, having that, it’s about meekness. There is a meekness that we should have because of the blessing that we have from God. Who is wise and understanding among you? Someone that has set their mind to depart from evil by the power of God’s holy spirit. That’s someone who is wise and has understanding.

And we’ll close in 3rd John :11. There’s two more. We’ll try to get to them. 3rd John :11—Beloved, do not imitate, which is mimic or follow, what is evil, so we shouldn’t be living evil, but what is good. Now, only God is good, therefore, only good can come from God. And it’s in God’s Church, therefore, we should be living good to everybody. Not just selectively; not by bias or prejudice. No, to everybody. No matter what they say or do to us, doesn’t really matter. We know better because we know the purpose of life.

We’ll conclude by just finishing in 1st Peter 3:8. That other scripture, it went on and said, [3rd John :11] He who does good is of God, which we should be, but he who does/is doing evil has not seen God. So what’s that saying? Well, that’s not talking about seeing God. We see God in the scripture. It’s not about a physical thing, about seeing God. You can’t see spirit. No, this is about what God reveals to us about Himself in scripture. And if we see it we’ll depart from evil; we just won’t practice it, we won’t do it.

1 Peter 3:8—Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tender-hearted, be courteous (verse 9) not returning evil for evil, so it’s the way we respond. So it doesn’t matter if someone says something or does something we’re different. We don’t retaliate. We desire the best for them and we know one day they’ll have the opportunity we have.

...or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. So when anyone does, if we think they treat us badly, we shouldn’t talk about them or down to them. God says the opposite – blessing, build them up. Look at the positive side of things because that’s what God requires. We don’t want to retaliate evil for evil. They spoke badly about us, well, therefore, we’re justified and we can speak badly about them, surely, can’t we? No, it’s the opposite. We accept the bad things they have said – could be true. That’s one of the difficult things; it could be true what they’re saying. Well, that doesn’t matter; we will talk good of them.

We don’t have to dwell on any of the negatives. Everybody human has a negative other than Joshua the Messiah; every one of us has a negative – more than one. It’s easy to dwell on the negative of anybody because we’re all at fault in some form or other. Just look at the positive side of things. And as my mother said, “If you can’t say anything good about somebody, don’t say anything at all.” Easily said, difficult to do.

Verse 10—For, He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, because it’s all about the intent of why we did it. We don’t retaliate evil with evil. No. We respond by good, something positive.

Now, I have actually at different times practiced that. And you’ll be very shocked about how that works. It throws them off guard terribly. They’ll attack you and say something really bad and you think about it, “Oh, I got it,” and you think of something positive and you say it back to them, they stop. What do you say after somebody said something good about you? They’re your best buddy. You can’t. So it does work from experience. So we should control ourselves and if we are attacked we retaliate by good; not on evil, we retaliate by doing good, something positive.

Verse 11—Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Eternal are on the righteous, God is on us, looking at us – not just looking, but you understand what I mean. It’s a spiritual matter. God is for us. God is with us. ...and His ears are open to their prayers. Again, whether we understand or not the degree of it can be measured by our prayer life. If we really understand what God has done by calling us our prayer life will be strong. If we do not understand deep, deep down of what God has done for us individually our prayer life will be weak. They go together. You can see that; it’s obvious. Self reliance versus God reliance.

But the face of the Eternal is against those who do/practice evil. That’s the blessings and cursing’s. You could go through that.

Well, brethren, I really appreciate the fact that you did sacrifice to come here. And many of you came some distance and difficulty and left early and all those things. It is greatly appreciated by God’s ministry and by God Himself, the fact that you did sacrifice for God. Because the reality is if you did sacrifice anything to come here the truth is you sacrificed yourself for God, which was you’re departing from evil.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1