The Commandments

Wayne Matthews

Oct. 1, 2022

Welcome, everybody, to this seventh day Sabbath.

When people hear the words “the 10 Commandments” they all have a different reaction, or “the Law.” Everyone has a different reaction to it. Some would think, “I’ve never heard of them. I’ve never heard about the commandments; I’ve never heard about the law. What are they?” In a lot of countries the words are just never used. It’s just not part of their culture.

Many in the western world would think they’re all done away. The 10 Commandments are done away, there is no law. Some would think they already keep them all. They actually keep them. We know which nation would say that. Others would think they’re now irrelevant. They did exist, they’re Old Testament, and they’re irrelevant to today’s society.

The truth is the commandments and the law are from the creator of the universe, Yahweh Elohim, and they reveal how someone can have a right relationship with Him and with other humans.

Now, that statement alone tells us a lot. Because anybody who says they know God and does not keep the commandments, they cannot have a relationship with God. So, a person needs to be not having idols, and if they have an idol that means they do not know God. A person would have to be a Sabbath keeper, and if they don’t keep the Sabbath they cannot have a relationship with God, it’s not possible. Because that’s what the law is about.

The laws of God, the commandments contained in the word of God have never been changed, yet there are many that would say the law has been changed and it’s done away. But that’s not true. The early Church held to the commandments of God, as does the Church of God—PKG.

The title of todays sermon is The Commandments.

The purpose of this sermon is to look at what God has revealed to His people, the called-out ones, about some of the commandments, the law. One aspect of it we’re going to look at is the intent of the law because there’s a motive behind the law and all of the 10 Commandments have intent.

Now, one aspect of it is that the person may believe in the law, and part of that would be tithing. Now, a lot of people would think, “Well, I tithe.” But a person can tithe and sin. Now, that’s a foreign thing to a lot of people’s minds, say, “Well, hang on a minute. I do first tithe and I do second tithe and I’m sinning?” Yes. The reason is because the motive or the intent of why a person tithes is the important issue.

So, a person may tithe but their intent could be wrong. In other words, they’re tithing to be thought of well by the ministry, by the Church, they’re tithing because they have to, otherwise you get put out of the Church. But that’s the wrong motive. The true motive, the true intent of why a person should tithe is based on the commandments, the law of love. It’s about love. What we do expressing our love to God is what it’s about.

There are many other things in life that people do within the Church that can be sin. Like, a person would say they keep the Sabbath. There’s many that do. But they actually sin before God. We understand there’s a whole nation of people, not a whole, but many in that nation would say they are Sabbath keepers, and they won’t work and do all that sort of thing, but they actually are sinning. It’s a physical aspect of the law, but the spirit of the law they can’t keep because they don’t have God’s holy spirit.

So, the spirit of the law is what we’re more interested in. Not just ten directions or guidelines about how to show love, so it’s about the spirit of it, the motive behind why we do what we do. That’s what our battle is.

One of the most difficult things for anybody in God’s Church once called is to come to fully grasp the spirit of the law, which is about why we do what we do. We often live our life without examining the motive behind our thoughts, words, and actions. So, why do we do that way? Why do we respond that way? Often there is sin involved because we’re not looking at our intent.

As I’ve said before, mentioned before, a person can give to somebody else and it looks like a great act of generosity, but the spirit of it, the intent of it will have nothing to do with God, nothing about God’s spirit. It was actually about the other person who’s the receiver thinking well of the person. “Ah, that person is very generous. Aren’t they great!” Well, there was sin involved in all of that. It had nothing to do with God’s spirit, nothing to do with the spirit of the law.

Well, first of all we’ll look at what Joshua the Christ said about the law of God. If you’ll turn to Matthew 5:17 we’ll start. People that say the law is done away or it’s irrelevant today don’t really understand what Christ said about God’s law, God’s instructions, so to speak. You’d think there’s certain times when it’s raised that Christ had the opportunity to say, “Well, don’t worry about the law because I’m going to do away with it when I die. I’m going to get rid of it all, you know. That old Father that’s so angry and whatever, I’ll do away with it. I’m the Son, I’m going to get away with it.” But none of that’s mentioned because it’s of a lie.

Matthew 5:17—Do not think that I, this is Christ speaking, came to destroy... Now, the word “destroy” there is “destroy.” We know what destroy is, which means “to shatter; to break it; dissolve,” which means you’d put it in acid, and it’d dissolve away to nothing. “Come to naught,” you know, to bring it to nothing.

Do not think that I came to come to naught, overthrow, throw down, you know, to cast it down, the law. “Don’t think that I came to do away with the law,” which is what people would say, which is the words of God. “Don’t think that I came to get rid of the words of God.” …the law or the prophets. What about the prophets? Well, it’s what the prophets had stated under inspiration of God because this is all about the words of God.

I did not come to destroy, which is “to throw down, cast down,” but to fulfill. Now, that word “fulfill” is “to accomplish; to be complete; fill up; fulfill, be full; make full; make perfect.”

Now, the reason you could look at it like the way it should be looked at, Christ is saying he didn’t come to fulfill it, in other words, to do away with it, he came to make it a spiritual matter. Because the law was given to physical Israel and it was all physical, “Thou shalt not…” Whereas here Christ is saying, “No, I came to add to it, to reveal the real reason why God the Father gave the law.” God the Father gave the law as a way to express love to Him and love to a neighbor. Well, now we have to look about the intent of why we do what we do.

So, the only way a person can fulfill the law is by keeping them, which means to obey them. It’s not about getting rid of them as man would say. So, they’re made perfect now because Christ now reveals—later on we’re going to look at—he reveals the spirit of the law. We understand about adultery and theft, it’s not about that.

“Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Well, don’t fulfill a physical act. It’s not about that. It’s about in the mind. So, a person can walk along the street and be committing adultery in the mind, yet they’d never touched another person, another woman, or another man. But they still could be sinning because it’s about the law, the spirit of it. In other words, the motive and intent of why we do what we do, that’s what’s important. That’s what Christ came to reveal.

Christ was saying he did not come to do away with the laws of God, but he came to reveal the spirit of the laws or to make full the laws, to fulfill them, fill them up, make them magnified. So any one of the laws as we see them, for example can be blasphemy, a lot of people would think, “Oh, I don’t blaspheme. I don’t use God’s name in vain.” Yet the spirit of it is totally different. It’s not just about word, it’s actually about actions.

The law was physical, given to physical Israel. Now Christ came to reveal the spirit of the law and the spirit of the law was now made known. Now, even though Christ revealed the spirit of the law, there’s an issue because none of the disciples at that point of time, nobody other than Christ, could fulfill the spirit of the law because the holy spirit hadn’t been given. 31 A.D. the spirit is given. Now people were given the power to fulfill the law in the spirit of the law. Prior to that it was just physical obedience, physical Sabbath keeping, physical no idols, let alone the spirit of the law. They never knew what it even meant.

Here now, Christ is revealing something about the spirit of the law, but they would not have understood it. It was impossible. It’s even with God’s spirit we often struggle to come to really deeply examine ourselves about whether we are fulfilling the spirit of the law towards others and towards God.

The laws are not just physical instructions, but spiritual instructions. Christ was going to reveal the spirit of the law. Now, the spirit of the law is about love. If we look at the Sabbath, for example, God created the seventh day Sabbath for man. You know, scripture says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Most people look at that and go, “Well, what’s that? What’s it saying?” Well, the law and everything God said, including the Sabbath, was made for man. So, now you have ten instructions were made for man, given to man to show man how to love God and how to love another person, your neighbor, so to speak.

People today do not understand that without God’s holy spirit a person cannot walk in the spirit of the law. So, there’s very few of us, brethren, in this world that can actually live the spirit of the law because there’s very few that have God’s holy spirit. Mankind doesn’t have access to it. They’re not called to it.

Now, we’ve been called to fulfill the spirit of the law, not just the physical component of 10 Commandments and other instructions like tithing. We have to fulfill the spirit of it.

Matthew 5:18—For shortly I say to you, Till heaven and earth pass away. Well, the earth is still here, the skies are still there, so the law has not passed away and it’s going to be around while humans exist.

Not one jot… Now, that word “jot” is interesting. It’s “iota.” There’s not one little weeny part of it, nothing. There’s nothing of it’s going to change, not even the little comma. Not one tittle, or tiny thing, which is a minute part of the law, shall perish. Nothing. It’s not going to change in any way. …will by no means pass from the law till… So, it is going to pass at some point, till all is fulfilled. Well, we know not all has been fulfilled.

God’s purpose for mankind is that God will create a family from mankind, and when that is fulfilled, everything is fulfilled and there is no more mankind, then everything will have passed away, then there is no need for 10 Commandments or the law. It won’t be needed because the natural carnal mind won’t exist. It’ll only be a spirit mind that exists that is Elohim. We’re called to be in Elohim. We’re going to think like God. There’s no need for a measurement to see whether or not we’re in unity with God or not because we will be. We will be in Elohim.

We know that the end of mankind’s existence the law will not be needed. There’s no need for these guidelines of how to love. All in Elohim will think love, which is an incredible thing, to be able to think a particular way and not to think the way we do now, and act as God does, which is in love.

Now, the scripture that says, “God is love,” it’s almost like a throwaway word to the world. If we’re not careful we ourselves can say, “Yes, oh, God is love.” Well, what does that actually mean? That means that the whole motivation is out to the benefit of others, everything. So, the motivation behind the Sabbath, the creation of the seventh day Sabbath was based on love because God is love. God loved His creation, and He now is giving them the opportunity to rest physically but also on a spiritual level there’s a spirit of the law behind the seventh day Sabbath.

There will be no need for a law to guide humans on how to live love as humans will not exist. That’s the end result because spirit beings will be in God’s Family, will be love. They’ll be like God.

Verse 19—Whoever, therefore, breaks one of the least of these commandments… And you’d think this would make people stop and think, “What do you mean, ‘one who breaks the least,’” like, you know the smallest part of this law? …and teaches men so, in other words, lives a particular way. Because we teach, generally, by actions. …shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. Because? They’re going against God’s instructions. So, they’re not going to be a person that’s highly thought of in any way because they’re going against what God says. Now, God is acting in love, so anything that breaks the law is going against love, which is the opposite, which is ill will, which is hate, as it’s mentioned in scripture.

But whoever does and teaches them, he/she shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. The word “does” here is interesting, which means, “abide; agree; bring forth; continue; execute.” So, that’s the main point of this. It’s whoever does these things, because they’re going to be called great because they’re doers of the law. In other words, they’re living it.

Now, for us, brethren, it’s not about a physical action over ten rules, it’s a spirit action over these ten guidelines, instructions. Obedience to the word of God is required. That’s the key out of all of this. Obedience to God is required. It’s required on a physical level, but for us it’s required on a spiritual level. That’s how we’re measured. We’re actually measured on the spirit of the law, not just a physical obedience. Because there are people out there that live a physical obedience to the law, but that doesn’t mean to say they know God.

Verse 20—For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees… What was that righteousness? It was a self-righteousness. So, our righteousness has to exceed what they were because it was all about them and self and what they were taking to themselves. …you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

We cannot be changed to spirit if we stay in our own self-righteousness, which is the natural, carnal mind. The righteousness we need is God’s thinking in us, which is thinking love, which is living love. That’s what the law and the commandments are about. God looks at our intent. This in itself for us is a difficult matter. Why we say what we say, why we think what we think, and why we do what we do. It is a difficult matter to examine ourselves on a regular basis about our motive, why we’re doing it. Often, we can go through a long period in God’s Church even without looking at the intent of our motives because we become quite robotic in our patterns of thinking, speaking, and actions. We just become robotic.

A person robotically can come to a seventh day Sabbath, “I’ve kept the Sabbath.” No, it’s a robotic thing. The Jews do that. There’s lots of others that do it that are Sabbath keepers. But it’s about the spirit of it. What is the spirit of the Sabbath, which is the fourth commandment? So, what is the spirit of the seventh day? The spirit of the Sabbath is about listening to what God has called us to listen to. That’s the spirit of it.

It’s not just about resting on a seventh day Sabbath and not doing anything, not earning a living. There is much more to it. It’s about the transformation of the mind can start to take place because we hear instructions about things and then we then can choose to implement it or not. Then we choose to, yes, we’re going to implement this into our life because we’re listening. Well, that’s the spirit of the Sabbath, why it was created. So that we could be transformed. Because that’s God’s desire, to transform our thinking. God looks at our intent. The laws of God are all about our intent or motive, the spirit of the law, the motive or intent behind all our actions, what we actually do.

Now, when we stop at the end of a day, maybe, middle of a day, whenever, and just think about, well, how have I lived my life to this point in time today? The words that I’ve said, why did I say them that way? That’s the spirit of a matter, the reasoning behind why because there’s a motive hidden behind every single thing we do. Often we don’t see it, and often being called into God’s Church we actually don’t see our true motives of why we’re doing what we’re doing, but they should be based on the 10 Commandments, basically, as the guideline.

1 Chronicles 28:9—As for you, this is David speaking, my son Solomon, know, know God, know the God of your Fathers, so know Yahweh, which is to acknowledge. This word “know,” really “acknowledge” God, acknowledge Him. So, how do we acknowledge God? Well, we acknowledge God through obedience to the law. That’s the first part.

…and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind. For the Eternal searches all minds, all hearts. So, God is looking at our intent. Now, if we don’t look at our intent and motive God knows it. But we’ve been called to look at it ourselves so that we can say, “Ah, so that’s why I said what I said,” or “That’s why I did what I did.” And often behind it there is a motive, and we’ll hopefully have time to get into a little bit more of that.

…and understands all the intents of the thoughts. So, we are being called so that when a thought enters our mind that we examine it. We know that it’s not fitting into what God requires of us, therefore, the choice is we’ve got to shut it down. So often a thought will come in and we’ll identify it reasonably quickly. The longer we’re in God’s Church the quicker we often identify a particular thing, that it enters the mind and then we see it and go, “Hang on a minute, I need to stop thinking down this path.”

Because we can dwell on it and magnify it, magnify it and magnify it and let it go too far. Well, that’s what God looks at, to see what we do. So, we see something come into the mind, well, we’re to deal with it and go, “Okay. That’s not the right way to think. I need to think differently about that matter (or that person),” or whatever it is, that we need to deal with it because it needs to be dealt with.

Now, the moment we deal with it and say, “No, I don’t want to think like that. I know that it’s wrong. I want to think this other way,” and start to think that other way, that is the transformation of the mind taking place. We’re beginning to think differently. That is exciting.

Well, here it says God understands all the intent of the thoughts. So, a person, as we said before, a person can tithe. Well, God knows the heart. God knows the intent. Why did the person give ten percent of their net? Was it because they have to? Was it because they wanted to express that they love God and they put Him first, the first commandment of all? God is first no matter what. So, there is no question about not tithing on the net. It just doesn’t even enter the mind. That’s it. “I want to express my love to God. I know that’s the best thing for me and my spiritual development, and there is no question.” It’s easy.

So, you can see how a person can still tithe and sin. It’s like second tithe. Same thing. We’ve just said, “No, it’s automatic. It’s not even debatable. It’s no question or nothing about it.”

If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, talking about God, He will cast you off forever. So, it is about the way we think. That’s what God is really interested in, the way we think.

Consider now, for the Eternal has chosen you, this is talking to Solomon, David talking to Solomon, but we can look at this on a spiritual level, which I think is very exciting. Consider now, for the Eternal has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong and do it.

Well, let’s look at that spiritually. “Consider now, for the Eternal has chosen you.” Isn’t that staggering? Yahweh Elohim, who has existed forever, made a decision that He has chosen you (and me) for the purpose of the transformation of our mind, “to build a house,” God dwelling in us. So, we’re building a house, we’re cleaning up the mess that we have as the natural carnal mind, “which is hostile to God, not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” It’s a hostile environment.

Well, it gets cleaned up. So, we could use that as an example. Often you’ll go into a house (done a little bit of renovating), you walk into a house and it’s a mess. So, it’s the same with the mind. Our mind, whether we like to admit it or not, before we were called, is an absolute mess… absolute mess because it tolerates everything. It doesn’t fight anything. It makes its own decisions about what’s right and wrong and it’s the way we’re brought up, our culture, can be many reasons, but it’s a mess.

Well, what God requires is we’re to take out all the inside of that mess, take out the chair that’s broken and all this stuff, take it all out and empty it out so that it can be filled with the way God thinks. That’s the challenge we have, and it takes a lifetime.

Now, I know personally that there’s a lot of broken furniture in my mind where I don’t think right about certain topics. Some of it I might not be aware of it. Some I’m aware of and I try to work on those things. Other things, because of my upbringing and everything else, it’s an automatic thing. It’s not until later you look back and you go, “Maybe that’s wrong. Maybe I shouldn’t have said it that way or done it that way.” Well, that’s growth, that’s the cleaning out of the mind. All that garbage has got to be taken out.

So, we’ve been called to build a house for God. I think it’s so exciting. What an incredible thing!

“Be strong.” Let’s not give up on it, Let’s “be strong and do it” Just do it! Fight that fight. Just fight it because the rewards are just something we can’t really fully comprehend.

Hebrews 4:12—For the word of the Eternal (the word of God) is living. So, it’s alive because it’s spiritual. So, it’s alive and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. We know what a two-edged sword is. …piercing even into the division of life and spirit, the joints and marrow, and is a discerner. So, this relates to judging. We have to judge every single day, and that judgment is here. It’s not about judging others and what they do; it’s about judging in the mind. So, it’s a discerner.

With the power of God’s holy spirit, we can judge whether something coming into the mind is relevant, whether or not it’s sin, whether it’s righteousness or unrighteousness. We can judge that. Then the decision is what will we do now that we’ve made that judgment? So, with God’s spirit it’s a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. God’s spirit gives us the ability to make judgments.

When I look back at my life much of it has been an automatic process. There is no thought that has taken place, before my calling. Never thought about anything, life happened. There’s things happen and you just live life, and you never disciplined self or controlled self, you just lived it and went along with whatever flow or environment you’re in. That’s the way it was.

Well, now we’ve been called, and we have God’s holy spirit so we can be a discerner of the thoughts – our thoughts – not others, our thoughts. Have a look and think, “Ah, why am I doing it this way? Why am I giving this? Or why am I doing this?”

Verse 13—And there is no creature hidden from His sight. So, everything is revealed to God. There are no thoughts that we can have that we think are just our thoughts. God knows those thoughts. Then the matter is God then measures us to see what we’re doing with those thoughts, whether we’re going to let them go or whether we’re going to start to work on it. So, we have to keep fighting every day of our life.

But all things are naked and opened to His eyes, to whom we give an account. Now, we do that every day, or we should be, giving an account of our thoughts every day, which is done through prayer. A person can tithe and sin because it’s all about motive, it’s all about intent, why we’re actually doing it.

So, one is with knowledge. We’ll take Sabbath keeping. Many people keep the Sabbath because of knowledge. We are required to keep the Sabbath with knowledge and understanding, and the more important part is with the wisdom or the knowledge of God, the knowledge and understanding and the wisdom of God. In other words, the mind of God. So, we keep the Sabbath for a reason. We keep the Sabbath so that our minds can be transformed. Another person can just keep the Sabbath based on knowledge. “It’s a requirement. It’s one of the laws so let’s just keep it.” Well, there is more to it.

Mark 7:5—Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why do your disciples not walk according to the traditions of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? The bit that should jump out there is the “traditions of the elders,” because we’re still caught in a lot of traditions that we’re not fully aware of in the way we think.

He, talking about Joshua the Messiah, He answered and said to them, Well did Isaiah the prophet, which is, a prophet there is “tell in advance,” of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors Me with their lips… So, we can say all the right things and repeat things, but in their heart, in their thinking, their motive is far from Me.

Now, what the Pharisees were doing is that they were paying tithes on mint and small things, and they were living a life that appeared to be righteous. They’re Sabbath keepers, they’re doing all these things that it all looks good from the outside, but in the heart there was a different motive than worshipping God in spirit and truth. The motive is about self. In the end it comes down to this pride issue.

Verse 7—And in vain they worship Me. So, you think, there are people that can worship God in vain. In other words, it’s empty. So, a person can go and keep the Sabbath and tithe and it’s empty. That’s what the Pharisees did. They kept the Sabbath and they tithed, and it was empty, it was vain, it’s worthless because it’s not about that. It’s about a spirit.

…teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandments of God.. Now, this should really jump out at the world. “You’re laying aside the commandments of God,” you hold to the traditions of men. There’s many a religious group that “lay aside the commandments of God to hold to the traditions.” …for washing of pitchers and cups: and many other such things you do.

He said to them, All too well you reject the commandments of God that you keep your tradition. Now, one of them would be, like, you could say, Christmas and Easter. Classic examples. Laying aside the commandments of God about how to worship Him on the plan of God that’s outlined in the Holy Days, laying aside that to keep Christmas and Easter. Because it’s meaningless, it’s empty, it’s from the natural carnal mind, it’s just a vanity.

For Moses said, Honor your father and mother, this is one example, Honor your mother and father and, He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death. Imagine saying that today, what would happen. Well, this is really about respect for authority, what God talks about, authority and showing respect to authority. Yet people wouldn’t agree with that.

All the Pharisees and scribes changed what God said. God says what should happen, “Honor your mother and father,” and as they got older they should be supported, and you should be having care and concern for them. In other words, expressing love to them. Well, the Pharisees changed it.

But you, this is about the Pharisees and the scribes, say, If a man says to his father or mother, Whatever profit you, the mother and father, might have received from me, the son, is Corban, which is a gift to God. So, a son gives something to the parents to support them and the Pharisees and scribes saying, “Well, it’s a gift to God.” What you’re done is a gift to God.” Well, where do gifts to God go do you reckon? In other words, the son can’t support or help the parents. That’s the law they established. So, it was an advantage to them, but the parents, they just continue to suffer because the son can’t help out. But that’s the opposite to what God has said about what should be happening.

Verse 11. But the Pharisees and scribes say, If a man says to his father or mother, Whatever profit you (the father and mother) might have received, it is a gift from God. Then you, the Pharisees and scribes, no longer let him (the son) do anything for his father or his mother. Because, you see, anything that was given was a gift for God. In other words, we know where it has to go.

And by this policy that they had established, this tradition, verse 13—making the word of God of no effect through your tradition, which you have handed down. And many such things you do. So, this is only one of the points that they had changed God’s word. Well, it’s a warning also be very careful about changing God’s word and working things out that we think what God’s word says rather than what God says to us.

They made it so much so that the son could not support his parents, literally. You think this is incredible, but there’s many things that are similar in today’s world that are rules and regulations of traditions.

Verse 14—When he, talking about Joshua, had called all the multitude to himself, he said to them, Hear me, everyone, and understand. There is nothing that enters a man… This is talking about physical food going in, from outside which can defile him. Now, this is not talking about clean and unclean foods. This is a spiritual principle that is going to be covered. But the things which come out of him… What comes out of a man? Well, it’s not talking about going to toilets, etcetera, this is words or actions, which come from where? It comes from thinking. Those are the things which defile a man.

So, we are known by our words and actions. We’re not often known about our thoughts because a lot of people can have certain thoughts, and words and actions can be different than the thoughts.

Verse 16—If anyone has an ear, let him hear. When he had entered the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him concerning the parable, because they couldn’t understand what he was really talking about. Still thinking physically, thinking, oh, if you go eat something and it doesn’t defile you? So, what’s that all about.

Verse 18—So he said to them, Are you thus without understanding? He didn’t say, “Are you thus without knowledge? Understanding is a spiritual matter, but they couldn’t understand because they never had God’s spirit.

Are you without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him? So, this is talking about something that is physical, it’s not spiritual. Because it does not enter his heart (his thinking) but his stomach and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods, talking about clean foods there.

And he said, What comes out of a man, which is about the motive, that defiles a man. So, things that we can say, we have to be careful, and we should be examining why are we saying it that way. That’s the motive behind it. Why are we saying that way?

For from within, out of the heart (out of the thinking) of men proceeds… Now, these are the things from the natural carnal mind. …evil thoughts. Now we can look at this, it’s about the law and the spirit of the law. …adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lawlessness or lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. So, that’s the natural mind. That’s what’s going to come out. The motive behind the natural carnal mind is always self. Even though a person can be obeying the law, which is a blessing physically, the motive is not clear of why. We know the motive is about self. It’s either “Look at me,” or “I’m pleasing God, aren’t I righteous,” deep down.

All these evil things come from within, within the thinking, and defile a man. That is what can pollute us. It’s our mind. The way we think can pollute us if we’re not careful.

So, before we look at the spirit of the law we need to understand that repentance and forgiveness is available to us. Because often people will live a life and have a wrong motive in something and see it and carry that burden. We can unburden ourselves by going to God, and God will forgive if we unburden ourselves with it by just admitting it.

1 John 1:5—This is the message which we have heard from him (from Christ), and declare to you, that God is light. Now, it’s talking about sin. God is light. There is no darkness, there is no sin in the light, therefore, this is talking about God doesn’t have sin. …and in Him is no darkness at all. There is no sin in God; God’s word is pure.

Verse 6—If we say that we have fellowship, which is a spiritual relationship because this is what it’s talking about, really. If we say we have fellowship or a relationship with Him, and walk in darkness… In other words, if we live a life that practices sin and we’re not monitoring our motive or why we’re doing what we’re doing, we don’t know God. We just don’t because we’re just practicing something for the natural carnal mind for habit.

So, anybody that says they know God, which many religions say they know God, and they do not walk according to the law, according to the word of God, they practice sin (like Christmas, Easter, all those things are actually sin), they practice them, we lie, and do not practice or live the truth. So, if we’re living that kind of lifestyle we’re not living the truth. We’re not practicing. Now, the way we practice, of course, is by the work that goes on in the mind.

But if we walk/live in the light, which is God’s word and the truth, if we live in because of the way we think, as He is in the light, we have fellowship or we have a spiritual relationship in unity with one another. The only way that we can have true fellowship is with the power of God’s holy spirit. We’ve heard many a sermon on that.

We need to be very careful about what goes on in our life every single day and that we are monitoring ourselves every single day because the moment we give up monitoring our thoughts, words, and actions, is the day we start to walk in darkness. Because we’re not disciplining self; we’re not overcoming self.

The blood of Joshua the Christ, His Son, is cleansing us from all sin, which is about Passover and ongoing repentance. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. Now, we understand, brethren, that this is not about the physical component of deception, this is about the spiritual component of it, that if we say we have no bad intents, if we say we have no wrong motives, we say we don’t have any sin (that’s what it’s really saying), we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. In other words, God’s thinking isn’t in us, we’re walking in the darkness because we’re self-deceived.

Verse 9—If we confess our sins, we acknowledge we are selfish (that’s what we do), and that we do have wrong motives and wrong intents, He is faithful, talking about God, and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, God is righteous. God’s thinking is righteous, righteousness. Our thinking is selfish and unrighteous. There’s that battle. As the unrighteous thoughts come into our minds we need to fight against those thoughts.

Verse 10—If we say that we do not sin or have not sinned, we make Him (God) a liar, and His word is not in us. If we’re willing to say we have all our motives are right, we’re lying. Because God says not all our motives are right.

1 John 2:1—My little children (brethren) these things I write to you so that you may not practice sin. That word “practice” I put there because it is about practicing sin. We sin, but the issue is, do we practice it. Now, we’ll practice sin if we’re not checking our motive and intent. Because if we don’t check the motive and intent we will just get into this habit of practicing a sin. But if we’re monitoring our motive and intent we will then stop and start to correct. We won’t practice it anymore because we start correcting it, we’re changing the thinking, which is done by the power of God’s holy spirit.

If anyone sins we have an advocate, which is a “helper; consoler; an advocate; a comforter,” with the Father, Joshua the Christ, the righteous. And he himself is the propitiation… Now, that word means “atonement” for our sins. In other words, he has paid the price, he has paid the penalty and has covered the penalty. So, the penalty, we know the wages of sin is death. So, death has been covered for us.

…and not for our sins only, but for the whole world. That’s a matter of time because a person’s sins can only be covered once their called and they’re given the gift of repentance. Christ is our Passover, and he has been the Passover for all mankind. Not just for us that have been called at this time, but for future. Those that are called in the future will go through the very same process that we are required to go through.

Now, by this we know that we know Him. It’s going to now tell us. How do we know that we know Him? …if we keep His commandments. Then people say they’re done away, and yet someone can say, well, they know God. Well, they don’t. It’s not possible. A person can only know God if they’re called to know Him, and He reveals Himself to that person in the mind because it’s a spiritual matter.

If we keep His commandments we can now say, well, we know Him. Now, it’s not just knowing the commandments; it’s living the commandments, implementing the spiritual intent of the law. Another way to put it would be if we obey His voice and His words we can say we know Him because we’re obedient to His words.

Verse 4—He who says, I know Him, knows God, and does not keep His commandments, which is His instructions, His word, is a liar. Now, that would go down really well, but that’s, you know, they haven’t been called to anything different.

But we’ve been called at this time to something different, to keep His commandments, the spirit of the law, and if we’re not keeping the spirit of the law, we don’t know God, as Christ virtually said, you know, saying this is the spirit of the law. So, to know God properly, and He examines the thoughts, He’s looking at the spirit of the law, what is going on in our head, what is our real intent.

Now, for anyone who does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth, which is God’s thinking, God’s words, is not in him. But whoever keeps, which is their intent is to keep and obey the spirit of the law, that’s what our motive is, His word, truly the love (agape) of God is being perfected in him. So, it’s a process and it’s going to take time, and it’s being perfected in us. The more that we fight, the more that we battle, we understand the more we grow and the more we think like God.

By this we know that we are in Him. So, it’s through this obedience to the spirit of the law that we know that God is in us, and we are in God. In other words, we’re agreeing with God.

He who says he abides in him (in Christ) ought himself to walk as he walked. The way that Christ lived, it’s the way we should be living, which is a sacrificing love. Christ kept all the 10 Commandments, in the spirit of it, the 10 Commandments, because the Word of God made flesh, it was God’s thinking.

To obey God, we must sacrifice a part of ourselves on a regular basis. It’s something that takes time and it’s work. It’s not just an automatic thing that’s going to happen.

Brethren, I write no new commandment to you but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. Well, we know what the law is, we know that commandment. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Now, we heard that. There are some that have heard it.

Again, a new commandment I wrote to you, which thing is true in him. So, prior to this people could keep the physical component of the law. Well, the new commandment is about the spirit of the law, to live love out to others in our thinking.

Because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. Because the time John wrote this it was well past 31 AD, and now the capacity or the power to keep the spirit of the law was now available. It’s available to us.

He who says he is in the light and hates his brother, which is thinks ill will, is in the darkness, it’s sin, until now. The spirit of the law is again revealed here. So, this is about someone who says they hate somebody, they wish ill will on them or they think ill will toward them, doesn’t understand God’s mind. God’s mind is about love, about what we can do.

He who loves his brother, sacrifices self, abides in the light and there is no cause or stumbling in him. He who hates his brother, or desires ill will or has ill will towards, or does not desire the best for the person, is in darkness. They’re in sin because it’s not about the physical component, it’s about what goes on in the mind. …and walks in darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Now we’ll look at what Christ said about the law because we’re going to try to look at aspects of the spirit of the law in Mark 12:28. If you were to look at the Sabbath, the spirit of the Sabbath, the spirit of the Sabbath is not just resting on the Sabbath, but it’s about listening to what God has got to give and it’s to be done in humility. That’s the spirit of why the law, why the Sabbath was given.

The spirit of the law is love. God desires that our minds are transformed so that at a point in time we can become love. God is love, we’re going to become Elohim, and that’s the only way we’re going to be able to think. We’re not going to be able to think all those other ways. So, God is examining to see the way we think.

Mark 12:28—Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that he (Christ) had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? So, now this is about priority. So, what he’s really asking is what is the greatest priority out of all the commandments; what is the greatest in priority?

And Joshua answered and said, The first, the greatest in priority… So, this should be our number one goal. …of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, the Lord is one. In other words, there is one God. And you shall love… Now, to love something means this is our highest priority in life. So, now we come to whether or not we keep the Sabbath, whether or not we keep the Holy Days, whether we’re battling self. That’s our greatest priority in life. So everything, nothing else matters.

This is the greatest thing we could be doing, is fighting selfishness in ourselves. That’s the greatest thing. And why do we do that? Because it’s an expression of love towards God. We’re expressing and demonstrating to God that we are willing to sacrifice self because we love God, otherwise, why would you bother? We’d live in selfishness.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, which is all your thinking, with all your life, which is the way we live, with all your mind, and with all your strength, all your ability. This is the first commandment. So, this is about a priority. God is first no matter what happens in our life. We will let nothing physical stand in the way of loving God.

Now, there’s been many of time it comes down to earning a living. God’s our greatest priority so during the interview we would say, “By the way, I don’t work Friday nights and Saturday.” That’s a demonstration that God is our greatest priority. The job could be a really well-paid job and they say, “Oh, well, you can’t have the job.” “Okay.” No big drama. “God is my greatest priority.” That’s a demonstration to God because God could see the mind. What is the thought process? The thought process is God is first no matter what happens in my life.

We tithe because we love God, and He is the greatest thing in our life. So, we’re willing to sacrifice self because self wants all the money. So, we sacrifice self. We give an offering because we sacrifice self to demonstrate to God our motive and intent is to put Him first no matter what happens in our life. It’s an exciting thing and it’s an incredible thing to live. Because we live it. It’s not just words. We can actually live this.

I’ll reflect a story that went back some time ago. It’s quite a long story in ways but I’m going to cut it short. Anyway, I had a business, I asked my accountant to close that business down. Five years later—I thought he’d closed it all down—five years later I get a knock on the door, and I’ve been summoned to court saying that I hadn’t lodged tax returns for five years and that was a criminal offense, and therefore, I need to go to the judge.

I ring up the accountant and said, “Hey, I thought you’d closed that business down. I’ve got a summons here. I’ve got to go to court.” He said, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it all. It’ll all be in hand.” Some months later I get a knock on the door, and I’ve been fined so many thousand dollars because I failed to appear in court, and I failed to lodge any tax returns. So, in other words, he didn’t do anything about it.

This was in third tithe year. So, okay, they send me the bill and say, “You’ve got so many days to pay it.” And of course, I’m in third tithe year. So, Chris and myself, we went up to—it was in Perth in those days, in Western Australia—went up to the tax department, got a number, like everything else, had to sit there and wait.

They say, “Wayne Matthews.” So, I got there, and I said, “Listen, I can’t pay this.” He says, “You have to.” I said, “I can’t.” He said, “Well, you’re going to go on to a payment plan.” I said, “I’ll have to go on a payment plan.” He said, “Well, you need to write down all your income and outgoings and that.” So, I write down; then I put 1st tithe, 2nd tithe, 3rd tithes, and all these other. I hand it over to him and he looked at it and he said, “We don’t recognize 1st, 2nd, and 3rd tithe.” I said, “Listen, mate, I don’t care what you recognize, but that’s what I do, and I’ll pay those, and what’s left over I’ll give you some money.” And he says, “Oh, well, we don’t recognize.” I said, “I really don’t care you don’t recognize it, because that’s what I’m going to do.” He said, “I think I better get my supervisor.”

So, the supervisor comes back, and I go through the same rigamarole with him, and he says, “Well, we don’t recognize 1st, 2nd, and 3rd tithe.” I said, “Well, I don’t care what you recognize. That’s what I will be doing. That’s what God requires of me; therefore, I will do it.” He said, “Well…” He was fighting a losing battle here. So, he turned around and said, “Okay.” He says, “How much can you pay?” I said, “I think it was, $20 a month,” for so many years. He said, “Okay. We accept it, $20 a month,” for so many years.

That’s just a demonstration. If you are convicted, brethren, true? I’m not trying to build myself up in any way there, it’s I was convicted that I will pay God first. 1st tithe, 2nd tithe, and 3rd tithe, and then what’s left over (which there wasn’t anything), that’s the way it is. Well, the end of, the moral of the story I suppose in the end was that it was all paid off in twelve months during 3rd tithe year. Because God paid it. Because at some point we have to make a stand God is first.

It means you may lose. We may lose, brethren, we may lose something. We may lose house. We may lose car. We may lose something because we stand for God. But that’s what God looks at. God looks at the heart. What’s the motive here? What’s the intent? God is first. True?

Now, we demonstrate this every Sabbath. We may not recognize it, but we demonstrate that God is first in our life because we will be Sabbath keepers no matter what. No matter what. People can do whatever, the government can do whatever. They can make all the rules they want. But either way we’re going to be Sabbath keepers and we’re going to pay 1st and 2nd tithe. No matter what they say, no matter what they do. It may end up that they put us in jail, it may end up they take our life. Doesn’t matter.

Well, that’s the motivation that we have and that’s what God is looking for within our minds. What is our motivation and why we do what we do?

So, there’s many exciting things ahead of us. There are many difficult things ahead of us. We’ve just got to remember what Christ said, the greatest commandment of all is to love God, put God first in priority. Everything else doesn’t really matter. Lose a job over it; doesn’t matter. Keep the Holy Days. Doesn’t matter if you lose a job, if you lose an employment. True? Doesn’t matter.

Now, the spirit of the first four commandments is really revealing to God whether He is priority number one in our life and whether we really love Him. God can examine the mind to see whether or not He’s first, whether or not we’re going to have something else, an idol, and put it before Him, whether we’re going to keep the Sabbath, or whether we’re going to take God’s name in vain.

Now, we can understand that it’s not just words spoken, that we carry God in our minds, God’s holy spirit. We represent, we’re ambassadors for Christ. We represent God in everything we do, hence we need to not blaspheme God or God’s name, the Church, because of actions that we may do thinking “Oh, it’s okay.” Well, it may not be because we could bring condemnation on God’s name, blaspheme, because of an action that we took thinking oh, we’re okay, we’re separate.

No, we need to protect God’s name at any cost, and that cost could be expensive. That’s just the way life is. But that’s how we demonstrate our love to God. Because the intent of the law, the intent of the first four commandments is how do we express love to God. And when you read them next time look at it, well, “Do I express love to God by the intent of what it is?” The intent of all of us, brethren, I know is that we put God first no matter what happens. No matter what anyone else says, no matter what gods of the world (so to speak), other religions, all these other things, we put God first no matter what. That’s it. And if it means our life, it means our life. Because that’s the way it is.

Our intent is to put Him first and never place anything before Him in order of priority. That’s why we give tithes and offerings. Because it’s a demonstration of our love for God. Our intent is to put Him first. That’s what’s required. It’s a demonstration. God measures that to see our intent.

Our intent is never to place God second by having anything before Him. Our intent is to never take God’s name in vain through thoughts, words, or action. Our intent is to keep the Sabbath holy, keep these days separate physically and spiritually. Our intent is to worship God on the High Days. That’s our intent. That’s what drives everything.

Well, if we live it, it’s an evidence to God that that’s why we’re doing it, because we’re putting God first.

Hold your place there and I’ll quickly refer to Luke 4:4. (I’m not going to get through all of this, but never mind.) Luke 4:4—But Joshua answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone—it’s not physical—but by every word of God. That should mean a lot to us. We will put God first. We will put God’s word first. We will yield to God’s word. That’s a demonstration of our intent, and no matter whatever happens it makes no difference.

So, we don’t live by bread alone. It’s not the physical things of life. We live a life physically for the purpose of a spiritual intent.

Proverbs 30:5— Every word of God is pure. Its intent. God’s intent for us is to give us Elohim. He desires it. That’s why the creation. That’s why the animals exist, the earth exists – because God is creating a family. He created that, all of that with an intent. It was for the benefit of mankind. That was God’s intent. God desires a family, so His intent is always love, outgoing concern for the creation. Man, of course, has abused what he’s been given, animals and other things. It’s terrible what man does.

He (God) is a shield, a protection spiritually, to those who put their trust in Him. Well, we demonstrate our trust in God by obedience to the spirit of the law, the first four commandments.

Back to Mark 12:31—And the second like it is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. Because the last six commandments clearly demonstrate how we should live love through a demonstration towards others. Often we fail in that area within the Church or even in the world, but it is an important commandment because it’s a demonstration. Now, this demonstration that we love others no matter what they do to us is a difficult thing.

The other night there was someone, a neighbor across the road, and the music started up and it was really loud. It was a Friday night, always happens on a Friday night and it was really loud. Well, you can go to bed, and you think, “When is it ever going to stop?” or “Is it going to stop?” and the mind can drift off about all the things that I would like to do to solve that problem across the road.

You realize that that is wrong thinking. Even though they’re doing it, it’s not right that they’re doing it, but it’s not about that, it’s about my mind and what I think and whether I’m willing to pull that back in. I can pray about it, you know, I can pray about it and ask God to intervene, and I can do that. Then the next, within the two seconds, I’m back to shooting him.

Because that’s what it’s a battle of the mind. I realize it’s going to be over. It’s annoying. It’s Friday night. You want to rest in peace, and you know, this is going to go on, and of course, it got louder and louder. It’s not easy. It’s not easy. But the issue there is whether or not you’re willing to fight, whether I’m willing to fight, true? Am I willing to fight and really fight? It’s a battle. It’s a simple thing, but it’s a battle. It can be a battle.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these two. So, it’s about priority. Love God, demonstrate it. Now, to love man and demonstrate it is difficult for the natural carnal mind because we need God’s spirit to do it. So, the natural mind will always take over and outweigh. There’s a battle that goes on. Well, that’s a good thing; the battle is a good thing.

The second greatest priority in human life is to place others first before our interests. Easy said. Our intent is not to cause any harm to others on a physical or spiritual level. Easy said. Our intent and desire is the best for others. Easy said. Because it’s a battle and it’s not easy.

So, the scribe said to him, Well said, teacher, you have spoken the truth. And there is one God; and there is no other but He. All those years where, you know, since 2005, you’d think it’s pretty straight forward, isn’t it? “There is one God and there is no other but He.” This is Christ speaking.

…and to love Him with all your heart, which is your thinking, your mind, which is about a priority in there, and all the understanding. Well, we have understanding. That’s one marvelous blessing about having God’s spirit, we understand human nature, we understand why they have a party on a Friday night until 11 o’clock with a boom, boom, boom. I understand it’s all about selfishness. I understand that. You understand it. It’s about what we do in the mind, how we deal with it.

…with all your life, the way we live. It’s about putting God first. The way we live. That’s what we do, we demonstrate it by the way we live. …and with all the strength. In other words, it’s going to take effort. …and to love your neighbor as oneself.

It was interesting because when this boom, boom is going on I thought about my 21st birthday party and how I must have driven all the neighbors in that area completely insane, and how they must have been laying there thinking what they’d like to do to me. Because I thought, you know, I’ve done this. That’s me. I was 21 and it was wild party and went on all day and night. And you think, imagine what the neighbors thought about. They had the same thoughts I was having. Guilty.

…with all your strength to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. We understand that. It’s not a physical thing, it’s a spiritual thing.

2 John 1:4—I rejoice greatly that I have found some of your children, talking about the Church, people in the Church, walking in the truth. In other words, they’re living love. They’re walking in the truth. …as we received commandment from the Father. And now I plead with you, lady, talking about the Church, not as though I write a new commandment to you, but that which you have heard from the beginning, that we love one another.

So, the first area that we can understand, brethren, is that we are to learn to love one another here, and willing to sacrifice for one another, and it won’t be easy. It won’t be easy. It’s not meant to be easy. We all come from different backgrounds, and more than likely, if we weren’t called by God to be part of the Body of Christ we probably would not even communicate with each other. We probably wouldn’t hang around with each other. Because we’re all different…we’re all different. We allow for differences. It’s just the way we are. It’s our culture or the way we’re brought up or habits.

To love one another is to sacrifice self for the benefit of others. So, to love one another is going to require sacrificing. So, when Peter chooses a restaurant for us on our behalf and sets it all up, and the food is lousy (not that that’s ever happened, Peter), it’s not a time to be negative about that. True? Because he has sacrificed (just using this as an example), he has sacrificed something, which is time and effort to set it all up so that we could enjoy it. And if we don’t enjoy it, who’s fault is it? It’s ours. True? It’s not Peter’s. (We have contradictory views here.) But it’s not. It’s ours because we’ve got to it’s about up here, what we think. It’s incredible.

This happens often, brethren, a lot of people sacrifice within the Body of Christ over many things, and we just don’t think well towards it when we should.

Now I plead with you, lady (Church), not as though I write a new commandment to you, but as you heard from the beginning, that you love one another. Love is to sacrifice to benefit others. It all starts in the mind, powered by God’s spirit in us. Because other than that, we can’t love.

Verse 6—This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. Pretty straight forward, isn’t it? So, if anybody ever says that they love God or they love you (or me), they’re liars. Not that we would tell them that. Because they’re not walking in the spirit of the law, which is what’s required of us.

This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment that, as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in. So, this is about walking in the spirit of the law, walk in love. It’s demonstrating love to God – first four commandments – demonstrating love to others. It’s a spiritual matter and there’s an intent behind everything we do. Even though we don’t recognize it there’s an intent behind everything we do.

I find this scripture quite difficult at times to fully comprehend when I look at the spirit of the law, Luke 6:27, which is “Love your enemies.” This is a difficult thing for humans to do because of our natural minds.

Luke 6:27—But I, talking about Christ, say to you who hear, Love your enemies. Yeah, well that’s a difficult thing to the spirit of the law. Love your enemies, do good, which is do well or be well intended, to do it honestly, to those who hate you (detest you; despise you). It’s a difficult thing. This is about the way we think, the motive behind what we do.

We can do good to others and sin, which we’ve covered. So, often we can do good to others so that we protect self. In other words, we want that person to like us so we’ll do good to them because the motive is not because we love them, but we just want to stop them hating us. Can happen.

Bless, which is to Speak well of those who curse you. That word really is implying that “implicate evil upon you.” So, they can, you know, get you involved in something. They can say, “Oh, well, this person does that,” or “this person does that.” They’re implicating evil on you yet your innocent of it. Now, there’s a time to defend, you know, and make a stance, but in the end you leave it in God’s hands, which is a difficult thing to do. This is about spiritual thinking.

…and pray for those who spitefully, which is to insult or slander you. It’s a difficult thing. When somebody slanders a person it’s a difficult thing to think well of that person and desire good on them. There’s a way to handle it, which is with God’s spirit, but it’s still a difficult thing to suffer wrongfully (is another way to put it). It’s a difficult thing.

Romans 8:7. You know this scripture well. But the carnal mind, which is the natural mind that we are created with, is enmity, which is hostile, against God. So, having a mind that is in opposition to God. In other words, we’re an enemy to God because we’re in opposition. The natural mind is selfish, it wants its own way. For it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

So, mankind of and by himself cannot obey God. They can keep the physical component, but they can’t keep the spirit of the law because they don’t have God’s sprit. The natural mind is selfish so everything it does, like this giving, is to get. So, we understand that if a politician offers something that looks good, underneath we stop and think, “Hang on a minute, what’s the motive behind why this is happening?” Because there is going to be one. There’s a motive behind everything.

And you think, “Well, hang on a minute. They can paint it bright but it’s not, it’s black. But it can be painted bright. But underneath you scrape it off and it’s black.” So, it looks like it’s for your benefit but it’s not.

Verse 8—So then those who are in the flesh, which is the natural mind, cannot please God. Well, our motive, brethren, because we’ve been called, is to please God and to love God. We can demonstrate it by the way we live.

But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you, which it does. Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not his. So, we’ve got to be dwelling in God. Now, we’ve had a sermon about abiding in God or dwelling in God and Christ in us and we in Christ. That really is all about obedience, that we agree with God, we agree with God’s word.

So, we agree that God has to be the number one priority in our life – and we will live it. We will demonstrate it. That’s how God knows we love Him, because we’re willing to sacrifice self to that. The same thing applies for others, which is a difficult thing because it’s somewhat easier to put that towards God because it’s there. But when it’s another human that hates you or thinks badly of you and is working against you and it’s here and we’ve used the natural mind more than we do God’s spirit often, it’s very difficult to deal with it.

But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin; and the spirit is life because of righteousness. In other words, we’re thinking like God.

But if the spirit of Him who raised up Joshua from the dead dwells in you, which it does, the spirit of God, He (God) who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His spirit which dwells in you. Now, that is an exciting scripture. We just have to enter the battle and continue in the battle.

Romans 13:8—Owe no one anything, except to love one another. For he who loves another has fulfilled the law. We understand the demonstration of being Sabbath keepers, law abiding people, commandment keepers, is that we will live and demonstrate love towards others – even our enemy.

For the commandments, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, You shall not covet; and if any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. So, this is about establishing priorities in life. There is a certain time for a person to speak up. There is a certain time. That’s a judgment call that has to be made.

It’s really boiling down – our intent is to sacrifice ourselves for the benefit of others. That’s what the law is about, about sacrificing.

Now, if you turned around to somebody and said, “You shall not commit adultery,” the average person would say they don’t. “I don’t commit adultery. I live together with my girlfriend or my boyfriend. That’s not adultery because we’ve never been married.” Because the mind can go and justify anything, can justify anything. People who are in other types of relationships, the same principle applies. They would say, “Well, we’re not doing anything wrong.” Because they just look at the word “adultery” as somebody that is married that is having an external relationship. That’s all they would think. They don’t think the other thing as sin.

But it’s much deeper than that. Adultery is much deeper than that and covers lots of areas. So, we have to look at it from the intent of the matter, okay, which involves things on the internet. Because it’s about the intent. It’s about the mind and what the mind wants/desire to do.

Love does not harm a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. So, this is looking at the six commandments. It’s about whether we’re going to fulfill the law that God has established or not, and it all boils down to our intent.

Revelation 14:12 in closing. Here is the patience, which is, that word “patient” there is “cheerful endurance.” It’s not just about endurance, but we’re doing it cheerfully. And why would we be cheerful enduring what we’re going through? Because we know the outcome. The outcome is salvation in Elohim. So, this life of 70, 80, 90 years, whatever it ends up being physically, is such a minute speck in the scheme of everything, minute speck.

So, we should do it cheerfully knowing there is a reward at the end. We don’t earn it. We can’t earn it. We’re not worthy of it. To live forever in Elohim, how can we earn it? That’s an incredible gift that God is offering. We can never earn it or justify anything we do as physical humans. It’s God’s love and mercy towards us. What an incredible plan.

Here is the cheerful endurance of the saints, which is “called out ones,” those that have been sanctified, set aside for holy use and purpose – which we have been. We’ve been called, set aside for holy use and purpose. That holy use is the development and the creation of Elohim in our minds so that at a point in time our purpose can be fulfilled. The purpose of human life is to enter Elohim.

Here are those who keep the commandments of God, we keep the spirit of the law, and the faith, living what we believe, of Joshua. That’s what we do.

The truth is the 10 Commandments, the law has not been done away. Mankind is required to live by the 10 Commandments, the laws of God because there is more involved than just ten instructions. There is much more involved in that.

The spirit of all of God’s commandments and instructions is love. It’s to benefit the way a human could live. It’s to benefit them. That’s why it’s been given because God desires a family.

We are required to live by every word of God and to come into unity in thinking with Him. It’s a battle. It’s a challenge for the mind.

The commandments have been given by God and reveal how we can have a right relationship with Him and with others. We should always be monitoring our motive or our intent in all things that we do, everything. That’s not easily done…not easily done.

We should always be checking why we did what we did, what was our true motive and intent behind the action or the thought or the word. We are to examine ourselves to see that we are walking in the light, walking in the spirit of the law.

1. Chapter 1