Salvation, Pt. 2

Wayne Matthews

March 21, 2015

In Part 1 of this sermon series we looked at how God is our Savior. God saved Moses so He (God) could work with Moses to save (physically deliver) the children of Israel from the bondage in Egypt. We looked at how God delivered Israel via the Red Sea. God saved Israel by His great power. This pointed to a future spiritual delivery of God's people, the Church of God, those that were called into a relationship with God, those called to be part of His plan of salvation. Today we will continue to answer the question: What does it really mean to be saved? What is salvation?

The title of this sermon is Salvation, and this will be Part 2.

We, of ourselves, can do nothing. We cannot save ourselves. Now, it's important that we come to understand this on a spiritual level, that of and by ourselves we cannot save ourselves in any way on a spiritual level. Now, as we enter the Passover season and the Days of Unleavened Bread, it is important to come to see, to know, to understand that without Passover we cannot be saved. Without us implementing the meaning and the intent of the Days of Unleavened Bread we cannot be saved, we are not on the path of salvation.

So today we'll do a quick review of Leviticus 23, the early part of Leviticus 23 for the purpose, for the intent of coming to see this plan of salvation that God has. So if you'd like to be turning to Leviticus 23:4—These are the appointed times of the Eternal (the LORD), holy convocations, so we are to gather before God in spirit, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. In the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight, which is really "between the two evenings," or "between the evenings," is the LORD's Passover. So this is the first part of the plan of salvation. We have to take the Passover. We have to understand the meaning of the Passover, accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, because it was God that appointed Jesus Christ to the role of Savior so that we can be saved on a spiritual level. So Passover is a foundation of salvation. Without Passover, without coming to see it on a spiritual level, we cannot be saved.

Verse 6—And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast (and this is actually a Feast) of Unleavened Bread to the Eternal; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.

Verse 7—On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work (occupational work) on it.

Now, we'll go back to verse 6 here: "On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread." So there is a High Day here which is the first day of Unleavened Bread, and on that day we are to assemble before God in spirit. Those that can assemble, there's a commanded assembly, can. Those that are by themselves and can't make it to an organized meeting, well, they would still keep this day as a High Day, a Holy Day, as a Sabbath. And on this day it's the first day where we would not eat leavened bread. We would actually partake of one piece of unleavened bread. And we will be eating that unleavened bread for seven days as a sign, as something that points to the fact that we desire to be saved. And the only way we can be saved is by not having sin live and dwell in us. So unleavened bread is a sign that we don't want to be "leavened," because leaven points to sin. And of course, on the seventh day we would also gather together as a commanded assembly where we are able and we would worship God in spirit and truth.

So here we have these seven days of Unleavened Bread. So prior to this there is a preparation that needs to take place. We need to prepare ourselves for Passover, for example, and scripture talks about examining ourselves, examining our thinking during this period leading up to Passover so that we take the Passover in a worthy manner, that we come before God in the right attitude. Then, of course, there is the preparation for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for these seven days that we're going to not eat leaven during that period and not have leaven in our dwellings or places where we control. For example, an office where we are by ourselves we would make sure that that was deleavened because we don't want sin in our life. Deleavening is a sign that we don't want sin in our life. Well, our cars, something that is under our control, and our house, where it is under our control. And I do understand that people have different relationships where people are not converted in their family household and they would not understand the true meaning of Unleavened Bread. Well, this requires wisdom, and it is more about a spiritual attitude that the individual must take on, which is one of desiring not to sin, to actually be repentant during these days of Unleavened Bread.

So the lead up to Passover and Unleavened Bread is important to us on a spiritual level. And the world does not understand it and they won't until God calls them to understand it.

So, brethren, we'll now turn to 1 Corinthians 6:14. Now, as we lead up to Passover and Unleavened Bread we can keep in our minds that this is about salvation. This is the process that God has established and revealed to us through His Holy Days, because it shows God's plan of salvation for all of mankind, which covers 7,100 years. So we are part of this plan of salvation. We're on the path of salvation now because we have a relationship with God and God is working with us. Now, we have this important aspect in our life that we must be working in our life now to be unleavened. And it's an ongoing process.

Now, the seven days of Unleavened Bread point to this process, this road of salvation or this path of salvation, because no one can enter the path of salvation or go on the road of salvation unless they partake of the Days of Unleavened Bread. Now, people aren't called to it at this point, but we have been called to this path, to walk on this path of deleavening our lives, not having leaven in our life for all our life.

So now we'll turn to 1 Corinthians 6:14—And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power, because it is God that is our Savior. God is the one that saves. So God raised up Jesus Christ and through a resurrection has placed Him in the Kingdom of God. He is in Elohim. And scripture is saying, "will also raise us up," and that is in a time order, "by the same power." And it's through God's power because He is our Savior.

Verse 15—Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? We're part of the Church. We are members of the Body of Christ. And this is talking about something on a spiritual level. So we're members of the Body of Christ because we have God's holy spirit living and dwelling in us. Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! This is talking about a relationship. Should a member of the Body of Christ, someone that is joined to Christ, have a relationship with something that is not of Christ? Well, of course not! It would be an unlawful relationship. And this is pointing to something like clean or unclean. Something that is clean, should it be taking something that is unclean? Well, the answer is no. We would not eat unclean foods. Well, this is talking something on a spiritual level. It's talking about sin. We don't want to be joined to sin. "Certainly not!" as verse 15 says.

Verse 16—Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? Which is the question. So they are joined together because—this is actually sin—they become one. For "the two," He says (God says), "shall become one." So they are joined together in mind, in spirit. They have the same attitude. They are both in sin. Well, we're not to be joined to sin. We don't want a relationship with sin.

Verse 17—But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him, because it's God's holy spirit. So this goes back to the choices that we make in life. We have a choice to be at one with God. Once we are called we desire to be at one with God, and we can only be at one with God powered by God's holy spirit. "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit," we're of God's spirit, the holy spirit, the same thinking as God.

Verse 18—Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body, against himself. So we are to flee any unlawful relationship on a spiritual level, anything that is going to be sin. Now, this is all about the way a person thinks.

Going back over verse 18. "Flee sexual Immorality." This is any unlawful relationship, whether it's a physical one or whether it's a spiritual one. "Every sin," which any unlawful relationship is sin, "that a man does outside the body," now, this is talking about the Church, because they'll be cut off from the Body of Christ. They'll be cut off from God's holy spirit. So any sin that somebody commits, this unlawful relationship, they become cut off. They become outside the Body of Christ, the Church of God. Although they may not be disfellowshipped at this point, they're actually cut off on a spiritual level. "But he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body," against themselves because it's causing damage to themselves. They become cut off from God and now they are affected personally, individually.

Verse 19—Or do you not know (do you not understand) that your body is the temple of the holy spirit, so this is where God dwells – which is in you, because God desires to live and dwell in us. And of course, we have a choice whether or not we're going to yield to this holy spirit that God is giving, God's thinking that is in us. So "do you not know," do we not understand, "that our body," our minds, "are the temple," it's a place where God dwells, "the temple of the holy spirit which is in you," God's thinking in us. Continuing on in that scripture... which you have from God, because it comes from God the Father, and you are not your own? Now, why aren't we "our own?" Because we have been purchased. We have been purchased by God the Father through Jesus Christ. So we no longer belong to ourselves. We can't go off and do as we please because someone has paid a price for us. And that is God the Father has purchased us through Jesus Christ. Christ's shed blood purchased us.

Verse 20—For you were purchased (you were bought) at a price, which was the death (the sacrifice) of Jesus Christ, therefore, glorify God the Father (glorify God) in your body –by?—the way we think, by the way we live, because we've been purchased. We belong to somebody else. We can't go off and do as we please. We are to submit ourselves to God, to God's spirit. ...and in your spirit, which are God's. Because we have been purchased.

So we have to watch our attitudes, the way we think, because God has sacrificed for us to bring us into a relationship with Him. Now, this takes us back to Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. We have been purchased through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, therefore, we belong to somebody else. Our bodies are not our own to do as we please. Our bodies, our thinking has been purchased and belongs to God, and God desires to live and dwell in us, to transform our thinking.

This purchasing, which Jesus Christ has fulfilled, it takes us to the next step. Now once we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, that we have been purchased by God via Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ, through Christ's sacrifice, through His shed blood so that sin could be forgiven for the purpose of God the Father living and dwelling in us, now we are owned by somebody else. Therefore, from that we go to the next step, which is the Days of Unleavened Bread. We no longer desire to have sin living and dwelling in us, hence, why do we take leaven out of our dwellings? Out of our places of work? Out of our homes, where we have control, or what we have control over? Why do we do that? Because we're demonstrating to God that we want to be sinless, we don't want to have an association with leaven for our whole life.

Now, these seven days just point to a period of time of concentration of a deliberate choice that has to be made by each individual to deleaven the places of their control, their homes. Now, if they choose to do that, if they search out leaven using balance and wisdom, it demonstrates that they are searching out sin in their own life. Because if a person deleavens their home and goes to all that work and seeks it out very diligently to get rid of it all, and yet there is no change within the thinking of the person, within themselves, if they're not deleavening their life, getting rid of sin out of their life by a choice and striving to deleaven their minds... if they're not doing that, the deleavening of the homes is a physical act and it will just mean nothing. It's a pointless exercise. So the more important part of it is to work on the physical...while we're working on the physical to be looking at our own thinking, to be looking at sin within our own life.

2 Corinthians 6:16—And what agreement has the temple of God (which we are) with idols? Well, that's a question. Well, the answer is none at all. There's no agreement. There's no relationship here. So "What agreement has the temple of God with idols?" Well, they're poles apart. There is no relationship. There is no agreement at all! They are completely opposite. For you are the temple of the living God. Because? We've been called to this relationship and God has provided Jesus Christ as our Passover sacrifice so that God could live and dwell in us. And that's what makes us the temple of the living God. Yahweh Elohim desires to live and dwell in us, to transform our thinking.

Continuing on in verse 16. As God has said: I will dwell in them. Now, this is an incredible scripture that mankind doesn't understand, that there is a process of salvation. And we have been called to be part of this plan of salvation at this particular time. Everyone will have an opportunity in the future – not everyone, because some have already committed the unpardonable sin and they will never be asked to walk on this path of salvation because they have set themselves against God, they have set their minds already, they have corrupted their minds so far that they are set, that they are going to be against God no matter what. Well, God says that He will call those that He desires to call and He desires to dwell in them. "I will dwell in them," because that is the purpose of life, to transform ones thinking. A person cannot be saved (we are not on the path of salvation) unless God lives and dwells in us, hence, God's plan of salvation, the seven annual Holy Days. We understand the Sabbath is provided for an education, for this transforming of the mind that must take place, and it starts with the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Passover so that sin can be forgiven so that God can dwell in them, those that He has called into a relationship with Him. And walk among them, because God does, in the sense of God walks among us because He is in the Church. It is God's Church. This is God's Church. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Verse 17—Therefore, Come out from among them, that's unbelievers. Come out of this world, brethren. We're to come out from this world and the worlds thinking. Now, we can't come out from the world completely because we have to work in it and have to live in it, but we're to come out from them in the sense of what they believe, the way they think. Come out from among them, and be separate, be different. And how are we separate? Because we have God's mind living and dwelling in us. ...says the Eternal. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters... We are children of God. We're begotten children of God. We're begotten sons of God, says the Lord Almighty. So it is God that calls. It is God that saves through opening our minds, through this transformation of the mind, by the gift of repentance. Then we come to see the need to repent, the need to change, the need to get rid of sin out of our life, therefore, we can accept Jesus Christ and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Then we move on from that to the Days of Unleavened Bread where we concentrate on a period of time of coming out of sin. So it is spiritual in nature. Although there's a physical component, which we demonstrate, but the more important part is the spiritual component in our life.

God's word clearly tells His people that He is our Savior. Mankind does not know why God created him and placed him on this earth. So man doesn't know anything about this plan of salvation through God's annual Holy Days. We are now entering a time when God will begin to reveal His great plan of salvation to everyone in the world. Now, this part of this plan of salvation that will be revealed requires God to do it, because we can get up and say these things and talk about God's plan, but unless a person's mind is open, unless God is with the person opening the person's mind on a spiritual level, well, they may hear of the plan of salvation but they can't comprehend it. They don't know it, really. They might just hear the words and think, "Well, it's just another religious group." No, the time is coming where God is going to begin to reveal His plan of salvation to everyone in the world and it's all going to start through a tribulation, through destruction, and then God will begin to open minds because people will be humbled and are being humbled. Mankind will begin to understand God's great purpose. Because that's something that we understand, but mankind hasn't been given the blessing to understand it. So what a great blessing that we understand God's purpose for mankind. We understand it. We understand God's purpose for us, which is about this transformation of the mind, the transformation from one way of thinking to another way of thinking, which is holy righteous character. But mankind doesn't understand it. They don't understand God's intent.

Some will begin to see God's purpose during the final 3½ years of mans self-rule as multiple millions will begin to grasp God's great plan. When this time is finished (after the 3½ years is finished) on the day of Pentecost in 2019 (is when it finishes) Jesus Christ begins to rule on this earth with 144,000. Everyone will be given this understanding, the knowledge of the plan of God's salvation. They will begin to know. They'll begin to be given this knowledge of God's plan for mankind, which is saving, the saving of mankind from what we are to something that God wants to give us.

Now, if we look back at history, the true history of the universe, of the world, which, God created it all. Well, first of all we understand there was a spirit realm that was created for the purpose of angelic beings. The angels were created as spirit beings. They were given freedom of individuality. So they were independent, they could think freely. They had the power to think freely, learn, and retain knowledge. They were free moral agents. Mankind was created in a similar way, only physical. God gave man the same ability to think freely. Mankind was created a free moral agent to think, to learn, plan his own life, and make his own decisions. Now, this is a key to understanding where we are in time, this ability to make our own decisions because the 6,000 years without God man has made their own decisions. Well, when we are called (as free moral agents) we have the ability to learn of God's ways, to plan our lives now based on God's word, and to make decisions powered by God's holy spirit or powered by selfishness. And that's the choice that we have. We have a choice: remain selfish and carnal, motivated that way or will we yield to the power of God's thinking in our mind and choose God's way and not our own?

Mankind did not evolve from something that crawled out of the slime. Nothing evolved. Evolution is a manmade theory. Now, if you look at what a theory is, it's something that can't be proved...because that's why it's a theory. If you could prove it, it wouldn't be a theory anymore. So people come up with theories. They join different things together and come up with a (so-called) draft theory, saying, "Well, it started here and it would end here." Now, there's lots of theories about how things work. Now, it's only a theory because they don't know the truth. They make it up to make it fit. Because they look at a beginning, what they think is a beginning, but they look at a conclusion and say, "Well, how did you get here and where did it start?" Well, that's the theory of evolution. It's a manmade concept that cannot be proven. It cannot be proven in any way, shape, or form.

God created everything that exists in the spirit realm and in the physical realm. God created it all. God created mankind for a spiritual purpose. Now, we've been called to see this purpose. The key point is that mankind would require a Savior, which is to be placed on this path of salvation. So God made us a particular way with a way of thinking, and God said that He would cover sin (because we all sin, choose it by nature). Well, God knew that He would provide a Savior from the very beginning, that in His plan it started with a Savior for mankind, and that, of course, was Jesus Christ. Now, mankind requiring a Savior takes us somewhere. It takes us on the path of salvation.

So to be called, to be placed in the Body of Christ, to have a relationship with God now means we are being saved. We're not yet saved. The ones that are really saved are the 144,000, because that time has come and they have been saved. The reward of their saving has not yet been revealed, but it soon will be at Pentecost.

Mankind, like the angelic realm, is unique through the power of the mind. And that power is free choice. Every human mind has a spirit essence. The mind is not like other organs in the body, which function simply in a physical way, like the heart, the liver, the lungs, which are physical. They are all automatic. The heart beats automatically. We don't think about it and say, "Ah, heart, beat," or "heart, stop!" Or breathing. We just breathe in and out because it's an automatic function that God has built within us. Now, it's no different than the lungs or the liver or the stomach; it doesn't require thought to make it work. In actual fact, the body tells us when something is wrong. It tells our mind something is wrong. So when we're hungry the stomach tells the mind it's time to eat, to fill this body. So the only thing that is different is the mind. The power to think comes from a spirit essence that God gives to every human for the purpose of free thought, expression, and individuality.

This spirit in man is not to be confused with God's spirit because God's spirit is different. God's spirit proceeds from the mind of God. It is His thinking. It is His thoughts. So without this spirit essence God gives to mankind we would be just like the animals. We would have no life, no ability to think, to reason, to plan. Now, with that thinking, this ability to plan, this is a great blessing, because from this we then can use free moral choice. So when we're called, we have this ability to think, to then see on a spiritual level. How incredible is that? Because without God's spirit we can't see anything on a spiritual level, it's all physical. It's all human reasoning or human thinking.

Now, the spirit in man. In humans this spirit essence is where intellect is stored. This spirit essence is where or how we proceed forward on the plan of salvation, because we have to have this spirit essence in us to be on the path of salvation because God joins His spirit with our spirit, which places us on this path of salvation. We process everything as it comes into our minds; we have to make individual choices.

Now, when we die, this essence, this spirit in man ceases to function, but it contains or stores every experience, memory, and thought that we ever had in the human experience. When a person dies, that spirit essence returns to God. It has no life of itself, but God can place it into a new body to live once again — and that's exactly what God is going to do — with the exact same mind that existed previously at death. Now, God offers this plan of salvation to mankind. In the first 4,000 years God called a few to save them, to place them in Elohim at a future time. But they lived their life and they experienced a relationship with God all for the purpose of being saved. Then, of course, we see the last 2,000 years, from 31 AD after the death of Jesus Christ and then God providing His holy spirit to His called out ones. We see then the potential for salvation being magnified, but up to a particular time, in 2012, that the plan of salvation was complete for 144,000. That exact number was set. Well, we understand that everyone else that was not sealed on that particular date, by the end of that period in 2012, that if they weren't sealed that everyone would live through into the Millennium. Those that decided to stay with the Body of Christ, to believe God, and trust in God, well, they would live into a new era called "The Millennium." Now, they would remain on the path of salvation because the thousand years is about saving. God is going to save more during that 1,000-years. Then, during the Hundred-years, the vast majority of mankind will be on the path of salvation. Now, that is the vast majority of mankind will be given that opportunity. They're going to have to learn what we have learned, about Passover, about the Days of Unleavened Bread, about Pentecost. They're going to actually have to learn those things on a spiritual level. And in that they're going to have free choice. They're going to have to choose whether they want God's way motivated by God's holy spirit or they're going to use their own reasoning, their own understanding and choose to live selfishly.

God offers mankind something far greater than a temporary, physical, human existence. We were created as temporary, physical human beings for a great and mighty purpose. It was a predetermined part of God's ultimate plan before anything was ever created.

We can have a look at Hebrews 1. Hebrews 1:1—God (Yahweh Elohim), who at various times (different times or in times past) and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets. Now, this can be "by the prophets," or "in the prophets," because it was God in them that was speaking the words. It was God's word in them that was being revealed to whomever God desired to reveal it. Everyone in God's Church has a different role, and in different ways adds to the Body of Christ.

So over the history of mankind "God has at various times (different times) and in different ways spoke to those that He desired to speak to and He did it through the prophets, or in the prophets." ...has in these last days, which is after 4,000 years, spoke to us by His Son, through Jesus Christ. So this is talking about a period that God "in the last days," which they were in the last days to a degree there, well, also to us, that "God has spoken to us by His Son." It was through Jesus Christ. Now, we hear the very words of God because Jesus Christ was also considered a prophet. So it was God speaking in the prophets. It was God speaking in Jesus Christ or through Jesus Christ, whom (talking about Jesus Christ) He (God) has appointed heir of all things, through whom (Jesus Christ) also He (God) the ages; God has brought forth the ages or periods of time. It was God that did it. ...who (Jesus Christ) being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His (God's) person, and upholding all things by the word of His (God's) power, when He (Christ) had by Himself purged our sins, through Passover, sat down at the right hand of Majesty on high, because it was God that did it. It's this power of God to do all of this. God created us with the power of choice. God provided us a Savior in Jesus Christ.

Now, all of this is about God's plan of salvation. God is showing that He has predetermined that He would accomplish His great plan for mankind through His own Son, Jesus Christ. God predetermined that Jesus Christ would be in "the brightness of 'His own glory,'" of God's own glory, because He had the mind of God and He would "uphold all things by His," by God's, "own power," and would be just like God. Because Jesus Christ was, it says, the word "Jesus" means, "Yahweh is salvation," or "Jehovah is salvation." Jesus Christ walked in the express image of God the Father and God the Father did it all. It was God that predetermined that Jesus Christ would be "in His own glory," as in the character, the mind, the thinking of God Himself. God determined before He began any creation in the spirit realm or in the physical universe that in His time (in God's time), He would create man. He would then make them lower than the angels. Mankind would be made physical, but God also determined that in time He would work to bring about a change in man so that he could have all things in His (God's) creation placed under him, under man. That he (man) would also receive the power and glory of God Himself.

This is an amazing statement! That God set this plan out, because it's God's plan of salvation. It's God that changes the thinking within man. Now, God made man so that he could change, because of this free moral choice, this free moral agency that man has, because without choice, we'd be just like robots. Well, God desires a family that desires to be like Him. And God desires to put all things (everything of God, all of God's creation), placed under man, under mankind, once they have entered Elohim, and that he (man) would also receive the power and the glory of God Himself, the very character of God. God determined that He would accomplish this great change in and through His own Son, Jesus Christ. God would save mankind through Jesus Christ. So this is where the plan of salvation starts. We have to accept Jesus Christ to be saved. If we don't believe Jesus Christ died for our sins and that sins are covered, we're still in sin and we cannot be saved.

The truth about God's purpose for creating human life goes far beyond anything man can ever imagine or even has imagined, even in fiction. And so it is very difficult to believe this truth. It's difficult for mankind to come to understand it, that we can be like God. Now, most people would say, "You're crazy, and that's blaspheme!" But that's what God has created man for, so that we can be like Him, so that God could live in us forever. That's why we are currently now a temple of God, God's dwelling place. We are of God while God lives and dwells in us. So this is difficult for man to believe, that God would live and dwell in a human, that God's thinking could be in a human. Well, the plan is that if they do have God's thinking living and dwelling in them they are on the path of salvation. They are being saved.

Now, during the thousand years and the Hundred-years, this is what's going to happen to mankind. God is going to live and dwell in them. God is going to live and dwell in them to change their thinking, to give them the choice to change their thinking. Now, if they choose to change their thinking, to think like God, well, they at some point can enter Elohim.

God purposed that human life would only be temporary. His design and purpose is that we change, or that we are changed from moral to immortal, from temporary life to life-everlasting (age-lasting life). This transition (this phase of creation) is something that God will offer humans as a matter of choice. Now, this matter of choice is a key to understanding what God is really doing, because it has to be our choice. God will not force us to be like Him. We have to choose to be like Him, and God powers that through His holy spirit. And within the spirit of man, when we "see" the truth, we still have a choice. Do we believe that this is God's Church? Do we believe what God has placed in the Church? Well, these are all choices. Someone can choose not to believe. Someone can choose to believe. This is human choice. And it's a beautiful gift that we have, but it brings a danger because human reasoning within a man (within a person) is a dangerous thing. We have to come to see that God powers us by the power of His holy spirit to give us the opportunity to choose right or wrong. It is our choice. God provides what is right. Human nature is what is wrong. Well, we have to come to "see" that we are wrong. By nature we are wrong, as Romans 8 clearly states.

God's ultimate purpose for creating man is that he is to become part of the very family of God, in the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom of God-beings. God cannot create righteous character in individuals just automatically. God cannot create righteous character in individual beings, because living according to God's righteousness is a matter of choice. So there's no automatic way. There's no just "create a being" that is like God. God wants beings that have chosen His way, His righteousness.

Let's turn to 2 Samuel 22:1—Then David spoke to the LORD the words of this song, on the day when the LORD had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. And he said... Now, we can look at this in relation to God and what God is doing in our life, this saving of us, our protection and the way we are actually saved because we can't do it of and by ourselves. We cannot be saved of and by ourselves. We require God to save us. And He set out in His plan clearly how a person is saved – through the transformation of the mind. The LORD is my rock (Yahweh Elohim is my rock), which is the foundation or the spiritual protection. All of the protection, our strength, comes from God. ...my fortress and my deliverer, because it's God that is our Savior. The God of my strength, in Him I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation. It's now David explaining things about "my shield," because there's a war going on, "the horn," or "the strength of my salvation," because God is our Savior. So it's God that defends us. It's God that saves us. My stronghold and my refuge, so this is the place of safety, because there's only safety with God living and dwelling in us. It's only God that can save because He is our Savior.

Continuing on in verse 3... My Savior, You save from violence. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised. Now, if we look at this, he called on God because God is the one that saves. "He is my, He is our Savior." "God saves us me from violence." Well, that's true. From spiritual violence, God saves us, because through the power of His holy spirit He gives us the ability to think spiritually, and therefore, we can be saved from spiritual violence, from Satan and his demons. "I will call upon the Eternal." We do that in prayer, "who is worthy to be praised." Now, why is God worthy to be praised? Well, because He is the one that saves. He is these things. He is our Rock, our strength, our Deliverer. He is someone we can trust in. He is our salvation. He is all these things. He is almighty and He is worthy to be praised because there is only one true God, and therefore all credit, all glory should be given to Him. He is The Creator. He is the Almighty God.

So shall I be saved from my enemies. Well, we will, brethren, on a spiritual level. These are the words that David is speaking, and he's referring here to things on a physical level. Well, we can look at them on a spiritual level. "So shall I be saved from my enemies?" Yes, that's true. We can be saved from our spiritual enemies, which are Satan and His demons, the attitudes that he broadcasts, which are to destroy us, attitudes that try to destroy us. Because that's what he wants to do, us choose wrong attitudes. "So I shall be saved from my enemies."

When the waves of death encompassed me, the floods of the ungodly made me afraid. So this is saying these very things are about death, about facing death. Now, we understand that "the wages of sin – death." And it's only through repentance that we can come out of this sin, that these "floods of the ungodly made me afraid," because if we get caught up in the world and the floods of false doctrine, we should be afraid. We should be afraid of those things. We should turn to God straight away. The sorrows of sheol (the grave) surrounded me; it's talking about death. The snares of death encompass me, because he was in great distress here and he's under a lot of pressure. In my distress I called upon the Eternal, and cried to my God. He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry entered His ears. Now, we can see from this, brethren, that in times of stress, when David was under a lot of pressure and he was having problems on a physical level, he actually cried out to God for God to intervene. We are no different. We are humans, so when we are under distress – physically – we can cry out to God to intervene according to God's will, that God's will be done. But also on a spiritual level, when we're under great distress on a spiritual level because of temptation or because of sin, we need to call out to God. We need to cry out to God and He will hear our voice. He will hear from His throne because that's His desire. He wants to hear from us. He wants to hear us. His ears are leaning to us. He understands us. He hears those where He dwells. He hears us, brethren, when we cry out to Him, when we seek Him to live His way of life, to be in a state of repentance, because this is the reality. This is about repentance. Whenever we're in distress because of sin, we need to cry out to God in repentance, to cry out to Him, and He will hear. He will hear what we say and He will forgive.

Verse 8—Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of the heavens moved and shook, because He (God) was angry. Smoke went up from His nostrils—this is talking about physical things, explaining spiritual things. ...the devouring fire from His mouth, which are words spoken, because whatever God speaks is righteousness and truth, and whatever God says will happen. If God says a particular thing, that's what's going to happen. You can't change what God has said in His word. If God has said that there is an opportunity for sin to be covered through the acceptance of Jesus Christ, that's His words, that's what will happen. If God has said we have to deleaven our homes as a symbol of pointing to deleavening our lives on a spiritual level, that's what we have to do, because it's all about being saved.

Coals were kindled by them. He (God) bowed the heavens also, and came down with darkness under His feet. He rode upon a cherub, and flew; and He was seen upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness canopies around Him, dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. Now, who could do that? Who could do that? Who would be able to be transported like God? Who could make "clouds canopies around Him"? Nobody. Only God can do all these things. "Dark waters and thick clouds of the skies." Who could do that? Who controls the weather? Who controls the angelic realm? Who controls the wind? Who controls all things? It's God, because He is almighty. From the brightness before Him coals of fire were kindled. Who can do that? Well, nobody. Only God because God is the one that does all of these things. God is the Almighty God.

The LORD thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice. He sent out arrows and scattered them; lightning bolts, and He vanquished them. Now, this is talking about physical war where God has intervened. It's God that scatters people. God in many-a-times has intervened into the lives of many and done miraculous things. And as we heard previously in a sermon with regards to the crossing of the Red Sea, it was God that destroyed the Egyptians. It was God that did it. He is the one who vanquished them. Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the fountains of the world were uncovered, at the rebuke of the LORD, so God controlled it all. Physical things obey God because God's in control. The only physical thing that doesn't obey God is mankind, because they were created with choice. But God can raise up and God can pull down, At the blast of the breath of His nostrils.

He sent from above, He took me and He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support. Now, this applies to us, brethren. It is God that supports us. So no matter what is happening on a physical level, God is there. God is our support. God's will, will be done. He also brought me out in a broad place. He delivered me because He delighted in me. So that's why we have been called. God delights in us, brethren, if we are choosing to yield to Him. And He will deliver us. Like it says here, David says, well, "He delivered me," something on a physical level, and "He (God) delighted in him." Well, God's the same for us. God has love for us. He desires to deliver us on a spiritual level because He delights in us. He delights in the fact that He can dwell in us, that we can be transformed by a choice.

The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness. Well, we have no righteousness of and by ourselves, but we have righteousness if we are yielding to God, because it'll be God's righteousness in us, and that will bring rewards. God's character living and dwelling in us will bring rewards. According to the cleanliness of my hands, which is talking about actions. So he had to think about things. He had to work out what was right and wrong powered by God's holy spirit, to choose the right, "the cleanliness of his hands," which is the actions. He actually implemented it into his life. He has recompensed me. He has been paid because of it. Now, our reward is the development of holy righteous character. So if we are to live God's way of life God says He will pay us for it, and that is we will enter Elohim in a time order. "He (God) has recompensed me." Well, we're not worthy of the reward. We can't earn the reward, but God is willing to give it.

Verse 22—For I have kept the ways of the Eternal, and have not wickedly departed from my God. Now we are to keep God's ways, what God has placed in the Church. We are to keep these ways, the way we live, the way we speak, the way we think. And we are not to go into the path of selfishness, this wickedness. And if we do, we are departing from God...we are departing from God. If we choose to sin, we have chosen to depart from God. Well, that is the beauty of repentance, the fact that we can come back into a relationship with God.

Verse 23—For all His judgments were before me; and as for His statutes, I did not depart from them. Because of this choice that we have, the choice that he had, we are not to depart from God, from God's way of life. I was also blameless before Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity, which is from sin. Therefore, the Eternal has recompensed me according to my righteousness, which is according to the decisions that he has made. There is a reward for obedience and there is a penalty for disobedience.

Continuing on in verse 25...according to my cleanness in His eyes. Because it is about what God sees about the choices that we make. "My cleanliness" – we're not clean of and by ourselves. It requires God's holy spirit, the choice to yield to God's holy spirit. So it's "according to my cleanliness," my choices that I have made with regards to spiritual matters, "in God's eyes."

Verse 26—With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful. Now, this is referring to an attitude. This path of salvation that we are on is about attitudes and choices that we make. "With the merciful," which is a choice that we have to make, which is to show mercy. To come to understand God's plan for all mankind, we then can begin to live mercy because we understand our human condition. We understand who we are. We are no better than anybody else. We are just so blessed that we were called into a relationship with God. So "with the merciful," something that we have to choose within our spirit, "You (God) will show Yourself merciful," because it's an attitude. Now, God has an attitude of showing mercy; we have to take on this very attitude, the very thinking of God to be merciful. So we have to choose to be merciful to others. To not lift ourselves up and to look down on others is to be merciful, to give mercy, to show mercy, to live mercy to others. Well, if we do that we're taking on the very mind of God, because God is merciful. That's the way He is.

With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless, so anybody that understands sin and what it is about sin, and if we are "become blameless" means we are repentant. So "with a blameless man," with a repentant man, "You (God) will show Yourself blameless." God will reveal Himself more to us, that God will not have to punish or implement the penalty of sin on us because God is blameless. God doesn't sin. We have to take on the mind of God and we have to become a blameless person because sin brings blame. Repentance makes us blameless. And God will show Himself to us as a God of mercy and a God without sin.

Verse 27—With the pure You show Yourself pure. Well, "with the pure," this is talking about motive and intent. To have a pure motive and intent, really, is to have God's holy spirit living and dwelling in us and us choosing to yield to it. Because by and of ourselves we're not pure, we are unclean. So someone that is pure is clean. Now, only God is clean in thinking, so we have to become pure. We have to put on this purity. We are to put on the thinking of God. God will show His purity, the pureness of His mind by the power of His holy spirit to us. So "with the pure," those that are striving to be pure, "God will show Himself as pure," and it's all going to be powered by God's holy spirit because to be pure is to think like God. And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.

Verse 28—You will save the humble people; but Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down. Now, this is the period we're entering, that "God will save the humble," for the plan of salvation. God saves through the power of His holy spirit. God is the only one that can save. God will save the humble, the meek, those that are yielding to God. And another scripture, another verse says, "God will save the afflicted," those that are afflicting themselves. Because this "afflicting of the self" is choosing to be humble. "But Your eyes are on the haughty." Those that are proud are going to have to pay a penalty, because those that are proud will be humbled. That's what God has said in His word. He is going to humble the proud. "And You may bring them down." Now, as we continue on this road of salvation there are certain statements that we can come to understand in more detail on a spiritual level.

Verse 29—For You (God) are my lamp... Now, "as a lamp," God shows the way. God shows the light, which is the truth, and that can be seen through the commandments. So God gives us the guiding light, which is the lamp of how to be saved. And the way to be saved is through yielding to God's thinking, yielding to God's holy spirit. Now, "the lamp" can point to the 10 Commandments. It can point to the truth, but it is about this revealing, because "for You are my lamp." Now, a lamp guides. It shows the way. You are my lamp, O LORD. The LORD shall enlighten my darkness, because of and by ourselves we are in darkness, because the natural carnal mind is riddled with sin. It cannot see light of and by itself (although it thinks it can, it can't). So "the Eternal has enlightened my darkness." How? With a calling. We are called out of the darkness into the light, and it's through the power of God's holy spirit that we begin to "see" God's way of thinking. It's an incredible thing. So this is about the road of salvation. It's through God that calls us onto this road (path) of salvation, and it's God that "enlightens my darkness." Our darkness, which we were in, in the bondage of our own thinking, has been changed to see the light. Now, we don't see all of the light, but we're on the path leading to the light, which is the path of being saved from what we were, being taken out of the darkness into the light, which is what a calling is, what conversion is about, because conversion takes time. This transformation of the way we think takes time.

Now, when we look back at what happened with the exodus, when they came out of Egypt, it's the same as when we go to the Days of Unleavened Bread; it's about coming out of sin. It's "the LORD enlighten my darkness." In other words, you have to be called out of the darkness to "see" the light. And that requires God's power, because God does the calling and it's God that opens the eyes to see the light on a spiritual level.

Verse 30—For by You (talking about God) I can run against the troop, so it's through God's strength living and dwelling in us that things can be achieved on a spiritual level. Because of and by ourselves we can't. By my God I can leap over a wall. Because this is God's strength in us, that things can be achieved that we didn't think that we could achieve, because it's God that gives us the power and the strength so that we can overcome, so that we can conquer self.

Verse 31—As for God, His way is perfect; there is no blemish in God's way. The word of the Lord is proven. It is set. It is trustworthy. It can be trusted. He is a shield to all who trust in Him. Now, this is going back to a previous sermon about trusting in God. "God is a shield." God is the one who protects, "those who trust," who put their confidence, "in God's word." We trust God's word. Now, that's what Passover is about. We trust that God has said in His word that Jesus Christ died so that sin could be forgiven. We believe it. We trust His word. Then God said that He did this (through the book of John). He did this for the purpose of living and dwelling in us, because this "living and dwelling in us" is that transformation that takes place. We have the potential to be transformed from one way of thinking – darkness – into another way of thinking, to the light. Now, that is God's plan of salvation for us. This transformation is the evidence of being saved.

Verse 32—For who is God, except the LORD? "Who is God except Yahweh?" And who is a rock, except our God? There's only one God. God is my strength and power. Now, that is God in us "is my strength." It is our strength "and power." Because without God living and dwelling in us we have no spiritual strength and we have no spiritual power. We are powerless; we are weak and pathetic. It requires God in us to be strong. It takes God in us to have power on a spiritual level, which is talking about the ability to overcome because we can't overcome anything of and by ourselves. We have to yield to God's spirit to be able to overcome, to yield to God's thinking. And that's how we overcome our own selfishness. And He makes my way perfect. It's God that makes our way perfect, or pure, or clean, because it's God in us that does righteousness. We can yield to it, but of and by ourselves we're not perfect and we're not clean. It's God that is saving us, and it's God in us that does the works, because God is good, God is perfect.

Verse 34—He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He sets me on my high places. He teaches my hand to make war, so that my arm can bend a bow of bronze. Now, this was something on a physical level. We can look at this spiritually. It's God that helps us fight against ourselves and against Satan and his demons. It is God that can set us on a high place. And it's God that teaches us how to war against Satan and his demons. Because that's what sermons are about. That's what God's word is about. It's about this transformation. It's God that teaches us on a Sabbath, for example. It's God that teaches us during Sabbath's and Holy Days how to wage war against Satan and his demons, but more importantly, how to wage war against ourselves, against the natural carnal mind.

So God teaches us how to war against ourselves, and it's by this teaching we learn how to fight, how to "bend a bow of bronze," something that is very difficult to bend. Well, God says, well, it can be done through His great power, through the power of God's holy spirit living and dwelling in us. But of course, in all of this we have to choose, we have to yield to what God is instructing us. Because as God teaches us things in life – and we've been taught a lot in the last 5-6 years in particular – we've been taught a lot about God's way of life and what God is doing. Well we still have to yield to this, because a teacher can teach, but a student doesn't necessarily mean that they take it on board and implement it into their life. Some students take notes, some students then go away and study it and make changes, and they do these changes within their life. Others, where teachers are there, well, they sit and listen but there is no change within them. So someone can teach us how to fight. Someone can teach us how to "bend the bow of bronze," which is something that is difficult to do. Well, we can be taught these things. But whether or not we're going to do it is a different matter, because this is where choice comes in. This is where choice is so important. If we have teachers, if God is teaching us through the posts and through sermons, we now have a choice of whether or not we're going to implement it, whether or not we're going to fight the fight within our minds. In the end it is our choice. God can only teach us and show us the way, give us the directions, be the lamp, be the guide, but whether we follow is our free moral choice.

Verse 36—You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your gentleness has made me great. Because it's God living and dwelling in us that makes us great. It's God in us. It's God's character that makes us what we are. And "the shield of your salvation," well, we have this brethren. We have the shield of salvation.

If you'd like to hold your place there in 2 Samuel 22:36 and turn to Ephesians 6:10. This is talking about the armor of God, putting on the whole armor of God, which is the way to fight, which is the way to overcome, which is about being saved. So Ephesians 6:10—Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Eternal, in the LORD. This is about being strong spiritually by having God live and dwell in us. And in the power of His might, because it's God's holy spirit living and dwelling in us that gives us the power. So here we see that Paul is writing to the Ephesians and encouraging them to "be strong in God." Because of and by ourselves, we're not strong. It requires God's holy spirit to make us strong, to give us that potential to enter Elohim.

Verse 11—Put on the whole armor of God, because it comes from God. So putting on this armor, if you looked at it from a physical point of view, armor was for war, for battling, and people would put on the armor so that the darts or the arrows or the sword would not hurt them or wouldn't cut them. So they put on this armor for the purpose of being strong in the sense of being strong during war. Well, here it is it's God's armor that will make us strong during this battle, during this war against Satan and his demons and against our own selfishness. So we have to put on this thinking of God: "Put on the whole armor of God." Put on the very thinking of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. So these schemes or strategies that Satan has to destroy us. Now, we understand that that's what Satan has been trying to do to us, that he has been trying to destroy God's Church. He's been trying to destroy God's very people. But he won't succeed because God has ensured that He has a group of people that have put on the whole armor of God. They have put on the thinking of God, and that thinking of God has enabled us, the power of God's holy spirit has enabled us to stand, because we stand in the truth because of God's holy spirit. It's God's truth! God has given it to us; therefore, we stand in it. And no matter what anybody says, it makes no difference, because we stand in the truth, we stand with God, we stand for God, because God lives and dwells in us, because we are being saved. And to not put on the armor, to take the armor off, we'll be struck a fatal blow, because we've taken off the protection that God is providing, His holy spirit. So we can't afford to take off this armor. We can't afford to take it off because we will not stand. We will suffer loss. We will be separated from God.

Verse 12—And we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, so this is not about humans we're fighting against, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age. Because, as we read before, we're coming out of darkness into light. Now, the darkness is to do with sin, Satan and his demons and sin. "The darkness of this age," which is the way the world thinks, well, we're fighting against that, "against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly," which is we have to battle against the attitudes that are broadcast to us. So we're not fighting against humans; they can't really hurt us. There's nothing they can do. Yes, they can take our life. That doesn't really matter. This is about winning a spiritual battle, spiritual warfare that we have entered into. Well, why have we entered into this? Because we are on the path of being saved. God is desiring to save us from what we are, which is carnal, to save us, to place us into the family of God in a time order.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God. "Receive from God God's thinking" is another way to put it. "Therefore, receive from God, God's thinking." Choose it! And if we choose it, we will win the battle. If we choose God's thinking we will win the battle on a spiritual level. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God. Therefore, receive the thinking of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. Now, what is that? Well, that involves every day in this world, but it also points to the very "Day of the Lord," which involves that very last year. And having done all, so we've done everything we can, we've yielded to God's holy spirit, we then stand, which is we endure. We endure to the end because we know what God is doing. God is setting out to save us! God is transforming us from darkness to light. God is transforming us from carnal thinking to His thinking. That's why we take on the very thinking of God. This thinking of God will enable us to stand, to endure no matter what. Stand, therefore, "endure, therefore," having girded your waist with truth. Now, we have that. We have 57 Truths in the Church, and within those truths there's much, brethren. There's a lot within each truth. There could be a lot more truths, I dare say, if they were expounded more. But within it, centrally, there are 57 key truths that we have, that are all knit together. And they're all knit together about God and God's way and His plan of salvation for mankind, because in the future people are going to have to learn the truth. They're going to have to "gird their waist," they're going to have to "take on" the truth, all powered by God's holy spirit.

Having put on the breastplate of righteousness, which is God's thinking, taking on the very mind of God, God's way of living, God's laws, God's commandments and righteousness. So we're to take on this within our thinking. And having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, which is the good news of the Kingdom of God. Because that's what the gospel is about, it's a gospel of peace. Because peace is coming, only prior to it there's going to be a lot of death and destruction. There's going to be a lot of humbling take place. But there is good news! And the good news is the return of Jesus Christ to this earth to bring peace to mankind so that mankind can have peace. To have peace means they're going to have to be called. They're going to have to take on the very mind of God, because the only way to have true peace is through Jesus Christ, and it's through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, and it's about the removing of sin from our life. And then once we remove sin we move into a state of mind, which is peace, because God thinks peace. God's way is peace. And therefore, we have to go through this process, which is peace.

Now, peace is going to be brought to this earth through the return of Jesus Christ and 144,000, and everyone from that point for 1,100 years is going to have to learn to live peace. Now, when we look at this it's talking about "having shod your feet," which is the way we walk. It's the way we live. It's the way we think. We have to prepare ourselves to walk in the truth, to walk in the good news of the gospel, the good news of peace, the Kingdom of God. Peace is coming. It's going to be forced on mankind initially, but later on man will come to accept and to desire to live at peace, to be at peace with one another and to be at one with God, which is to be at peace, because the only way to truly be at peace is to be at one with God.

Above all taking the shield of faith, so it's about believing God, trusting in God and believing Him, with which you will be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one, which is Satan's way of life, Satan's way of thinking, and man's attitudes. We have to overcome these things. But these "fiery darts" are basically things that Satan throws at us. And the things that Satan throws at us most is attitudes, whether we will choose his attitudes or God's attitudes. And take the helmet of salvation... Now, what is that "helmet of salvation"? It's God's plan for mankind. It's something that will influence our thinking, because "helmet" goes on the head, "of salvation." So it's the way we think. Now, God's plan of salvation is revealed through the Sabbath and Holy Days. ...and the sword of the spirit, which is God's word, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. So this is about being spiritually aware, spiritually awake, and to be aware of our own spiritual condition. So we're to take on this "helmet of salvation." We're to go into God's way of life through the Holy Days, through the Sabbath and Holy Days, because we take on the very mind of God, we understand His plan, we understand His plan for saving us and saving mankind. Isn't this an incredible thing? That we can take on this very thinking of God, about understanding that God is working with us to save us from what we are.

Going back to 2 Samuel 22:37—You enlarge my path under me; so my feet did not slip, because it is God that is with him. God is around him, God is with him, and it's God that is protecting him because God had a purpose for David. Well, God has a purpose for us. And God will "enlarge our path under us," so God will help us if we stay close to Him and we yield to Him...so that we don't slip and fall, so that we don't get carried away and go off in our own selfishness, as long as we remain repentant.

Verse 38—I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them, which is, for us, brethren, what is our enemy? Sin. Our greatest enemy is sin, because sin is what will destroy us. Sin, the wages of sin, is death. So "I have pursued my enemies." Have we at this point now started to pursue our enemies, the sin that dwells within us, "and destroyed them"? Have we gotten rid of it altogether? Well, I think most of us could say quite clearly, well, we have pursued some of our sins but we definitely haven't destroyed them completely. Well, we have to. That's what our goal is. That's what we have been called to do, which is to chase down our enemies within our thinking.

Now, as we come down to the Days of Unleavened Bread that's what it's about, pursuing the enemy. The enemy in us is sin that we don't even recognize some of the time. But when we recognize it we are to destroy it, we're to put it to death, we are to get rid of it. We're to deleaven ourselves. We're to get rid of the leavening within our thinking. So we have to pursue sin and we are to destroy it. Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed. Isn't this a great attitude on a spiritual level that we will not turn back and give up? Because the biggest danger that anyone faces within God's Church or within a calling is that they give up. It's all overpowering. It's all overwhelming. Well, it doesn't matter how many times we fail and how many times we slip and fall, the most important thing is that we do not turn back again, going back to selfishness, going back to the old way that we were before we were called, back to the darkness "till they were destroyed," until we destroy sin within our thinking.

Now, for all of us that day is the day we die or the day we are transformed into Elohim. That's the day. Because prior to that, all we can do is put in the effort and not turn back again, not turn back to the way we were until everything is destroyed. Well, we understand that no sin is going to be overcome within ourselves until the day we die, till the day we are changed to spirit. Prior to that, while we are human, while we have consciousness, our minds will always be selfish. There's a component within us where selfishness will dominate our life. Well, the key here is to have an attitude that we will never give up. We will never turn back. No matter how difficult, no matter how many times we slip and fall, we're always going to be able to repent because that's what we desire. We desire the very mind of God. We desire the light, the truth of God. We desire it to conquer us. We desire God's word to conquer us. We are willingly wanting to be conquered.

Verse 39—And I have destroyed them and wounded them, so that they could not rise; they have fallen under my feet. This is something on a physical level. Well, this is what it is about, brethren, for us, is this attitude that we won't give up and that we will continue to fight against sin. And "the wounding them," which is, sometimes we have sin and we don't destroy it, we simply wound it. It just goes away for a little bit but then it comes back. Well, that's most of our life that we don't destroy sin out of our life. We strive to, but generally it's simply just "wounded." We get rid of it for a short time and then it pops back up. And "so that they could not rise again." Well, unfortunately sin does rise back. Our attitudes come back. Under certain circumstances it pops back up. But the most important thing is that we don't turn back and that we continue to fight against it.

Verse 40—For You have armed me with strength for the battle. Well, that's what we just went through in Ephesians, that we have been armed with the strength for the battle, because it's all based on the power of God's holy spirit. You have subdued under me those who rose against me. You have also given me the necks of my enemies; in other words, he was able to destroy them. So that I destroyed those who hated me. Well, brethren, there's going to come a time when Satan and his demons will be destroyed, because they're the ones that hate us. They are the ones that hate us on a spiritual level. Well, there's going to come a time where God is going to destroy Satan and the demons for His Family's sake. So as much as it says, "I destroyed those that hated me," well, it's God that's going to do it. God is almighty. God is all-powerful. He is our strength. He is our fortress. It's God that is going to destroy Satan and his demons. Well, we can have them taken out of our life now by us being repentant. Every time we repent we come back into the relationship with God, and Satan has nothing to do with us because we are at-one with God. And when we're at-one with God Satan and his demons can have no influence on us. It's only when we let up, when we no longer yield to God's holy spirit when Satan and his demons can have an effect on us.

They looked, but there was none to save; Even to the LORD, but He did not answer them. Now, this is David in battle saying that people turn to God when they were in war, but God didn't answer them because they weren't called. They weren't called to be saved. Where for us, brethren, we can look to God. We can look to God because He will answer us, because we have someone that will save, because that's what our calling is about.

Verse 43—Then I beat them as fine as dust of the earth; and I tread them like fine flint in the streets, and I spread them out. In other words, he conquered them and he destroyed them. You have also delivered me from the strivings of my people, which is David is saying that God delivered him from the "contentions of his people," or the people that were around him at the time. You have kept me as the head of the nations, because it was God that was keeping him as king. A people I have not known shall serve me. So this is about God bringing people into service to David, people that he hadn't known – other nations. The foreigners submit to me; as soon as they hear, they obey me. And foreigners fade away, and come frightened from their hideouts.

The LORD lives! Blessed be my Rock! This is what we can cry out to God about. God lives! God is almighty. God is all-powerful! "Blessed (fortunate, praised) be my Rock (Yahweh Elohim)!" Let God be exalted. Now, we can exalt God by the way we live, by our example to others. And we can exalt God at all times through prayer. We can praise God through being thankful He has called us, that He has placed us in the Body of Christ, that we have access to the truth. Let God be exalted; the Rock of my salvation! Because it's God that saves. It is God who avenges me, who subdues the people under me. It's God that does it all, because God is in charge of our life, really. When we look at it on a spiritual level we can only have spiritual knowledge, understanding, and wisdom if God grants it to us. So we can desire it but God has to grant it to us.

Who delivers me from my enemies, which is Satan and his demons. It's God that delivers us. Now, we are delivered through the very Passover sacrifice of Jesus Christ so that sin can be covered, and, of course, ongoing repentance on our behalf, the choice to repent. You also lift me up above those who rise against me; You have delivered me from the violent man. Therefore, I will give thanks to You, O LORD, among the gentiles. So we can give thanks to God at any time we choose, for everything that He has done for us, for His mercy, and sing praises to Your name, because it's God that does it all.

He is the tower of salvation, it is God that is "the tower of salvation," to His king, and shows mercy to His anointed, to David and his descendants forevermore.

Well, it is God that is our Savior, and it is to us, brethren. We've been placed on this path of salvation. And "He shows mercy to His anointed." That was David referring to himself. God is going to be the salvation of all mankind based on their choice.

Luke 1:67—Now his father, which was John the Baptist's father, was filled with the holy spirit, and prophesied, saying: Blessed is the LORD God of Israel, so "Praised be God (all credit should be given to God) of Israel (Yahweh Elohim)," for He has visited and redeemed His people. Now, this was talking about physical Israel, but this can also be looked at on a spiritual level. "For He has visited and redeemed," which is to purchase, "His people." So we are a purchased possession, brethren, as it says in the New Testament. We have been purchased by God the Father through Jesus Christ. We are not our own. Well, here Zacharias was inspired because God is speaking through Zacharias at this point.

And has raised up a horn of salvation for us, talking about Jesus Christ, in the house of His servant David, so this is about the “descendency” that would come from David and that was, of course, speaking about Jesus Christ – that God would raise up Jesus Christ, "the horn of salvation for us," and it was all going to come through the house of David.

Verse 70—As He (God) spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, because the prophets were of God. It was God speaking by them or in them or through them. And they were "holy" because it was God living and dwelling in them that made them holy. They're not holy of and by themselves. So "God spoke by the mouth (in the mouth) of His holy prophets," because it was God's spirit doing the work in those people. Who have been since the world began, because God has sent prophets to the world and He has sent prophets to Israel, and at the end-time He has sent prophets again so that they could speak God's way, God's way of life, and God's words to the world.

Verse 71—That we should be saved from our enemies. Now, we could look at this on a physical level, that they would be saved from their enemies, being the Romans, but the reality is that we should be saved from our enemies, talking about something on a spiritual level, that "we should be," and can be "saved from our enemies," Satan and his demons, and from the hand of all those who hate us. Well, who are those? Spiritually? Satan and his demons, they hate us with a passion, as it says. They hate us with a passion. We are their focus, such a small group that God has called and working with that have a relationship with God, that have God's holy spirit living and dwelling in them. Satan hates us. We can be delivered from Satan and his demons. To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, which was the agreement that God had made with "the fathers," starting with Abraham, Isaac, then Jacob, which is this plan of salvation. Because it was all spiritual. There were physical components, but it's all spiritual in nature, really.

Verse 73—The oath which He swore, which God swore, to our father Abraham: To grant us that we,

being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear. Well, that's exactly what has happened to us. It has been granted to us through a calling from God "to deliver us from the hand of our enemies, that we might serve God without fear." Because we shouldn't have fear, brethren. God has a plan for mankind. Well, God has a plan for us. We have nothing to fear other than sin that we choose. Well, we have nothing to fear because God desires to give us salvation. It's God's purpose. It's God's intent. That's why we've been called. That's why we're in the Body of Christ. That's why we're in the Church of God. This whole transformation is about being transformed, being saved from what we are to something new so we might "serve God." We've got nothing to fear if we yield to God's holy spirit, if we serve Him.

Verse 75—In holiness and righteousness before Him (God) all the days of our life. And you, child (talking about John), will be called the prophet of the Highest. So John was called a prophet, but he was of God because it was God in him that was working, just as we read before, "in various times God has worked in and by the prophets" and has spoken through the prophets. Well, here John, here it says, "You, child (John), will be called the prophet of the Highest," of Yahweh Elohim. For you will go before the face of the LORD to prepare His way. Now, this is talking about "to make ready." He would go before God the Father (Yahweh) to prepare His way because it's God's way "to make ready a way," which was about the way to receive Jesus Christ.

Verse 77—To give knowledge of salvation to His people – now, how incredible is this? Because that's what the gospel is all about. It's about a way of salvation. It's about the knowledge of salvation. This was, John was preparing a way "to give knowledge of salvation to His people," and it was going to be done through Jesus Christ, because John was going to point mankind to their Savior, Jesus Christ. So the knowledge of salvation has been given to the Church. We have understanding of the way of salvation, and we have the wisdom from God to live it so that we can be saved, by the remission of their sins. So that's how it's going to happen. "To give knowledge of the salvation to His people by the remission of their sins," through Jesus Christ, through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Passover sacrifice.

Through the tender mercy of our God, because it's God that's doing it. It's God that's saving, With which the Dayspring (the Sunrise) from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness, so those that are in the darkness have to be called into the light, which is what happens to us. We're born in darkness; we're called into the light. So it is to give light, to give this knowledge, the knowledge of God, the thinking of God to those who sit in darkness and shadow of death, because of sin. "The wages of sin is death." That's what we sit in. God has sent Jesus Christ to give us this knowledge about repentance, repentance of sin, what sin is. We've been called into the truth, to obey God, to guide our feet into the way of peace. So this is about conversion. This is about the transformation of the mind, the healing of the mind.

So God's word through Jesus Christ and others (God's prophets) was given "to guide us," our feet, "into the way of peace," into Jerusalem, spiritual Jerusalem, to think like God.

Verse 80—So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the desert till the day his manifestation to Israel. Because John was provided to show the way of where salvation would come through. It was going to come through Jesus Christ.

So God's plan of salvation applies to us, brethren, and the best way to come to understand God's plan of salvation which is revealed through the Holy Days. And of course, it starts with Passover, which is not a Feast day, but then it moves into this plan of how we can be saved. After accepting Jesus Christ we then can be saved by deleavening our minds, getting rid of leaven out of our minds.

So we'll end Part 2 here and we'll pick up Part 3 on the First Day of Unleavened Bread.□

Table of Contents

Chapter 1