Who Are You?

Wayne Matthews

October 15, 2016

Welcome, everybody.

This one sermon could never completely cover the knowledge of the Eternal God. Over the last 6,000 years of man's self rule, mankind's self-rule, there has only been a very few, including God's true Church now at this period of time, that have ever known the One Eternal God. Only those God has called have started to know who God really is. Only those called can start to "see" and truly answer this question in light of a comparison between God and mankind. And that question is: Who are you? Now, in saying that, I'm not looking at it from a point of view of asking a question, "Who are you?" It's easy to answer that. "Well, I'm 'this.'" "I'm 'that.'" "I live here," and all that. This question is being asked in the light of, and including myself, a comparison between a human and God. Because there's a great difference.

But mankind, because they haven't been called, cannot answer this question, who are you? Well, when we look at it as a comparison between God and mankind it's easy to include all of mankind other than Jesus Christ. Who are you? Which is who do you think you are that you would lift yourself up in pride?

So the question, "Who are you?" really is about pride versus humility. Mankind/pride versus God/humility. Now, once we are called we come to answer this question. And we cannot grow spiritually unless we know the answer to this question. There are millions of people that would say they know God. And that's referring to the many religions of the world. They say, "Well, I know God." And they'd say, "Well, this is who I am." They'd be able to answer that question. But they cannot answer it on a spiritual level. It's actually impossible because a person has to be called by God the Father so that they can begin to "see" who they really are. Then they can answer this question, "Who are you?" And in the Bible it talks about, "Who are you, O great mountain," which is referring to the Church, but, "Who are you really? Who do you think you are that you would lift yourself up so much against Me, the Eternal God?"

Others would say that God in the Old Testament is hard and demanding and that Jesus Christ, whom they look at now and worship and use his name – got it all wrong, of course – but they use it and say, "Well, I'm now saved because Jesus Christ has come and gotten rid of all the Father's old laws." They don't know who the One True God is, and therefore, they can't answer this question, because they haven't been called to answer it.

The title of today's sermon is, Who Are You? And it's got a question mark on it because it's referring to all of us, all of mankind. Who are you? Once we are called, come into the Body of Christ, we repent, being baptized, receive God's holy spirit, and now we are to walk a new way of life. And walking this new way of life is about this ongoing repentance and answering this question, "Who are you?" Now, we have to have this answer in us all the time, because it's about humility. We have to know who we really are. We have to know that we walk in pride. That's our base nature. We were created this way for a purpose so that we can answer this question, so that we can come to "see" that we, by nature, are pride, and that we do lift ourselves up and that we need to be humble. And God does cover this topic in the Bible with regards to who He dwells with, who He walks with. If we know who we really are then can grow spiritually. If we do not know who we are we cannot grow spiritually.

So now today we're going to look at different comparisons between God and mankind. And of course we need to look first of all at ourselves. Who are we? Who are we really? Well, let's look at Romans 8:5—For those who live according to the flesh, which is natural thinking, just the normal human mind as it walks around and looks after its self, because it's selfish. What does the natural mind do? It sets their minds on things of the flesh. So they're selfish. They're self-focused. And even though the natural mind does do what it thinks is good to others, it's motivation deep down is still selfish. It's getting something back. And the mind can't see that. But it is selfish by design. It gives in to its own desires. It fulfills its own desires. Now, one of those desires may be to give money to the poor, for example, or to help others. Well, that looks good on the outside, but without God's holy spirit, without the motivation of God's holy spirit deep down, the intent, the motivation, there is an aspect of pride. And therefore, people can't "see" who they really are. They think they're doing good. They look to the praises of mankind or self-justification within self, "Look what I'm doing." And it's all done within the mind often.

...but those who live according to the spirit, those that have been called and have God's holy spirit living and dwelling in them, they live according to what God says, they live according to the truth, the things of the spirit. They live a particular way of life. Their motivation is different than the motivation of someone who is not called. They know or begin to come to "see" who they really are. And they see who they are compared to God. Well, the natural mind, the one that walks after the flesh cannot see itself in comparison to who God really is. They can't see the difference. They can't see their motivations. It's absolutely impossible because it requires God's holy spirit to be able to "see" who we really are.

Verse 6—For to be carnally, which is to be naturally or physically focused, to be carnally minded is death, because it walks in sin. It doesn't know it, but it walks in sin and it lives in sin. And that's the way it walks. For to be carnally minded, which is natural, which is the way we are naturally without God, we walk in death. Because "the wages of sin," is what we commit, pride in us that commits sin. In the main, motivation of pride is selfishness, "is death" because "the wages of sin is death." That's what will happen. ...but to be spiritually minded, which the holy spirit that we have in us, it motivates us, it gives us the opportunity to make right choices, it's something that comes from God. It has to come from the Eternal God, the One True God. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because it's God living and dwelling in us. And that's the motivation. It's done for a right reason. Now the only way that we can sacrifice for the benefit of others and not expect anything back in return, not even within our thinking, is by the power of God's holy spirit. Otherwise, we would do things for others, sacrifice for others, but deep down there is something that wants to come back, because that's what pride does within us. It requires something back, "Look at me." May not be necessarily outward, but it's in the mind and people don't even realize it's there. Well we, because we've been called, can be spiritually minded, and therefore, we can know who we are. And if we know who we are, which is pride-filled – that's who we are – well, if we know that and we're repenting of it and admitting to God that we are wrong and He is right, well it leads to life, true spirit life and peace. Because when God lives and dwells in us permanently, if we are changed to spirit, we will have peace. Now, we're going to have a level of peace now because of being part of the Body of Christ. Now, we have peace because we can have an aspect of God living and dwelling in us and that will create peace. But we can't be totally at peace because we're not in Elohim yet.

Verse 7—Because the natural mind/carnal mind is enmity, which is like, hostile against God. If you were to go out to people now and say, "Do you know that you are hostile or you are against God now?" People would be in an uproar, because they can't see who they really are. It's only those that are called who can actually see this scripture. To be carnally minded is enmity/hostile against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, they think it's all done away so why would they say they want to be subject to it. The natural mind can't be. It is against what God says is right and wrong. It says for itself, the natural mind,"Well, this is what's right and this is what's wrong." It justifies everything. It says it knows what love is and it says, "This is how you love. You don't put people to death because we love them and they might repent and when they die they might go off to heaven," all of that garbage because the natural mind is against God. What God says is right and wrong, the natural mind rejects it. It doesn't want to know what God says. It wants to do all things for itself and by itself. ...for it is not subject to the law of God, so the way it's not subject, gets rid of it, does it away and doesn't have anything to do with it, nor indeed can be. By nature we resist God. That's by nature. By nature we cannot know our pride. We cannot.

Now, the natural mind does see aspects of pride in other people. Normally, it doesn't see it in itself, but it sees it in other people and says, "Wow! Look at that person. They're big head and they're just riddled with pride; you can tell by the way they walk or the way they talk or the way they act," and they see elements of it, which generally is basically true. They see elements of it, but they don't see the spirit of it. And they don't apply it to themselves because they can't. They can't answer this question that God asks, "Who are you? Who do you think you are that you would life yourself up in pride, when reality you have no power, you have no real thinking that should lift itself up?! Because you're nothing! You're from the dust of the ground; you're created. So who do you think you are?" Well, I apply that to myself. Who do we think we are when we lift ourselves up against God? The answer is in verse 7. To be carnally minded, to be against God, to be not subject to God's law, to be hostile against God, that's natural. So that's what the problem is. Our problem is pride. And we all have it till the day we die.

Verse 8—So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. They can't obey God. Their motives and intent are selfish. They're full of pride so they can't see who they really are.

Verse 9, which is now the opposite once we have God's spirit: But you, those that have been called into a relationship with God and have God's holy spirit living and dwelling in them and their motive now is different. They "see" themselves more. They see more of themselves because they're answering this question every day: Who are you? Well, we know who we are. We are nothing. We are nothing. We are so blessed if we have been called. We are so blessed if we've had that opportunity to come into a relationship with God. We are so blessed if we've had any relationship with God at all on any level. That is a marvelous blessing at this time. But you are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if we have God's holy spirit living and dwelling in us and if we are in a state of ongoing repentance, if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, which is the same as the spirit of God, the Logos, the Word of God living and dwelling in them, he/she is not His, doesn't belong to God and doesn't belong to Jesus Christ, not part of the Body of Christ. And if Christ is in you, if that's the case, if the Logos is in us, the same Word that was in Jesus Christ, the body is dead because of sin. Yes, because of pride and selfishness we understand that, we know who we are. ...but the spirit, God's spirit, is life. That's what gives life, because of righteousness, because we have God's thinking. Because only God's thinking is righteousness. God is righteous; we're not. Only God in us makes us righteous. We then have faith. We then are commandment keepers.

Verse 11—But if the spirit of Him, God the Father, the One Eternal God, who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, which it does if you're called to this relationship with God, we're repentant, and we keep in the faith through the power of God's spirit and it lives and dwells in us, He, God the Father, who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through/by His spirit which dwells in you. Yes, there will be a resurrection to life. And because of that we will have life. And what will we have? We will have peace.

Well, during this life we have to continually ask this question, "Who am I? Who am I really? Who am I, really?" If we see what Romans 8 is we know who we are by nature. And that's the key to this understanding humility and understanding pride. Because if we understand we are by nature filled with pride and selfishness, carnal minded, hostile against God and we cannot please God in that state of mind, well, we can answer the question, "Well, who are you?" Who are you? Who am I? By nature I'm pride-filled. But if we have God's holy spirit we can answer who we are. We're begotten sons of God and we have the potential for life and peace. That's our potential!

Now, let's look at another aspect of this, which is let's look at who God is so we can see this comparison so that we can answer this question that God is asking, well, who are you? Who are you really? We need to be able to answer this every single day of our life, that when we come to God in prayer we can answer this question, we can confess who we really are. Because that is repentance. Admitting who we really are is repentance.

John 1:1. We're going to cover verse 1-5. The natural mind cannot grasp these scriptures. Absolutely impossible; can't do it. With God's spirit we can see aspects of these scriptures, but we can't fully understand the true depth of them. But we do understand to a degree now what God is referring to here. Verse 1—In the beginning, which is about the plan of creation for what God was going to do, which is God is going to reproduce Himself, which is God's going to have a family. So in the beginning was the Word, which is, in referring to here the Word is Logos. So it's all the thinking of God. So in the beginning was the thinking of God (the Word, the Logos), and the Word was God, or "was unto God," and the Word was God, because it's all of God's thinking. The Word is really God's thinking. It's everything about God and the way God thinks. Now, the key here is to come to understand that the thinking of God is completely opposite to the thinking of man. Now, mankind can't "see" that. We can, brethren. We can understand that the Word, the Logos, the thinking of God is outgoing. It is about love, and it is about giving, whereas mankind's is the opposite. Mankind's is about selfishness and pride. God's is about love and humility because God sacrifices for us, whereas the natural mind won't sacrifice for God. It might sacrifice for God, but it's got a wrong motive behind it, whereas God's motive is always outgoing to the benefit of. God sacrifices to the benefit of others.

Now, to know God's mind, well, we only see aspects of it. We only see parts of it. We don't fully comprehend the greatness of God, because, really, the Word, the Logos of God, God's thinking, it's all about the way God thinks. It's the way He is. That's who God is. It's about His thinking. Now, this thinking is completely opposite to man's thinking. One is humility and the other, mankind, is pride. Well, the Word, the Logos, God's thinking can be in us. And that's the beauty of the creation of mankind, that we have the potential to grow so that we can grow and enter (spiritually, I'm talking about here), we can grow spiritually so that at some point in time we can then enter God's Family. But we will never have all of the Word of God living and dwelling in us because God has eternally existed. He is the Eternal One. We're temporary.

So who are we? Well, first thing we come to see, compared to God when God asks this question, "Who are you?" when God says that it's really saying, well, He is eternal. He has a totally different mind. He is the Word, the Logos. He has different thinking – different thinking than us. He is humility. Who are we? Who are we? We are natural, we're temporary, we're only being created, and we have pride. We are riddled with pride. We are selfish, carnal human beings. God is none of those things! He is eternal. He has always existed. He has a different mindset than us based on sacrificing and humility and love. Well, we don't. We are riddled with pride and we have selfishness and we take everything to ourselves. We justify. We do all of these things. We are riddled with sin. The reality is that a conversion, or a calling, a calling is about beginning the process of converting. And converting is transforming the mind. It's the way we think.

We have to come to "see" that the way we think is wrong. Romans 8. And then we have to come to "see" how God thinks. And the only way that we can see that is if God calls us and by the power of His spirit He gives us the ability to "see." We "see" nothing about ourselves. We cannot even begin to answer this question unless God intervenes into our life and gives us the opportunity to "see" by the power of His holy spirit. He opens our mind, the natural mind, to see something on a spiritual level then we have to choose to continue to "see." God will give it if we're willing to admit who we are. We by nature have pride, and we are trying to transform this thinking, and by the word “trying” it means we have to put in some effort because God wants us to transform. God wants to change our thinking, but we have to want it. But if we reject it, well, something that comes back on to ourselves when we start to "see" we have to make decisions and pay the penalties that go with those decisions, because there is certain penalties that are paid, because society rejects us, etcetera.

We have to then begin to make those choices about this transformation. And the transformation, really, is answering the question: Who are you? Who are you? Who am I? We come to see we are nothing, we are pride-filled, and we desire to have humility. And we know that the only way that we can have humility is by the power of God's holy spirit living and dwelling in us.

Verse 2—He, which is virtually the same, which is the Word, the Logos, was in the beginning with God. There was no other, it was "unto God." We understand that there is One Eternal True God who had a plan for mankind. And the plan for mankind was the reproducing of His thinking so that we could enter as spirit beings into His family.

All things were made by him, or by it, or by the thinking of God. It's all the same thing. Continuing on in verse 3—and without it, which is the Word, the thinking of God, nothing, absolutely nothing was made that was made. Everything that exists – the spirit realm, the spirit beings, the physical realm, the creation, mankind, animals, every single thing has come from the thinking, the Word, the Logos of God. And nothing, absolutely nothing that exists physically or spiritually has come to existence by itself. It was all made by the One True Eternal God.

You know, when we try to explain this type of thing to another human, which is a waste of time really because unless God's involved in that person's life they can't hear it or understand, they look at it differently. For example, the big bang theory, which is really saying to God that, "Well, you have no power. We came into our existence from a big bang." Now, if you just take that theory and look at it and say, well, when you look at the number of planets, the earth, the sun and the galaxy, and then the billions of galaxies they know exist, if you were to put all that together it is colossal! It is beyond the mind! Can't even grasp it, there's so many billions and trillions of planets. And the size of some of these planets is massive; makes the earth look like a pinprick. It's just huge! Well, if you push all that back together into one area so that the big bang could happen, well, where did that come from? Who made that? How did that come into it? What laws make it come into existence?

So we look at that and say, "Well, that's just insane thinking!" Because we have God's spirit, we can look at it and say, "Well, that's just a ridiculous theory that they have." Well, if we try to explain God, that He eternally existed and where did He come from to another human being, they have the same attitude. They turn around and say, "Well, that's absolutely ridiculous. There's one being that has eternally existed?" Because without God's holy spirit we cannot "see" God, we cannot come to understand. And above all of this we cannot have the faith of the word of God. Because all that is written in the Bible, all that God has said, which has all come true, everything that He has said and made prophecies, have all happened and have been fulfilled and the word of God cannot be broken. All of these things have happened. And if we have God's spirit we can "see" that it's true and we can see through history, we can prove certain things about the existence of people in the Old Testament and the various towns and cities that they've found and archeologists have dug up, and it proves everything that God has written in His word, through the power of His holy spirit using humans. He has written things that are of the past and that are of the future. Well, only with God's holy spirit can we come to see the spiritual component of them. Other than that they're all just physical.

Now, the comparison between God and mankind, well there is no comparison other than one is great and eternally existed and has always existed and we are temporary and we are going to die. That's the real comparison. The comparison is that we have no power, and therefore, because we have no power who are we that we would lift ourselves up against the Eternal True God? How insane is mankind's thinking? How stupid are we that we allow pride to get in the way, that we exalt ourselves and we take credit to self for just about everything, but we take it to self and leave God out of the picture? In other words, we lift ourselves up in pride when we should be looking at this in the real light of things and we should have the humility to understand we're temporary, we're going to die, and we are nothing. Without God we are nothing. Well, that's the comparison. And when we lift ourselves up and we start to justify or take credit to self for things, thinking we're more important or we're better, or whether we think it's on a spiritual level or on a physical level. It's just stupid thinking, absolute stupid thinking, because we haven't answered this question about who we really are compared to God. Because the moment we start to compare ourselves to God and God's way of thinking, God's way of life, we see very quickly we are nothing.

Now, one of the things that happens when we fast is we begin to see this. That, wow, this is no fun when we're temporary. We need food. We need water. And we can only go so long without it. Then we realize we're pretty useless, we're pretty powerless.

The other day my daughter rang up, and had a friend and she had cancer and she was in hospital and she's dying. She has very few friends at all, literally none, and my daughter would ring her up every day and they would talk. And she got a phone call saying that she was in hospital and that she was dying. And you realize that there are thousands and thousands and thousands of people that don't know the purpose of life. They have terrible lives. They live in terrible conditions. And people die because of the diseases of society, because of the bad foods and all the other things that are going on, and all the petrol fumes that are in the air, and all the chemicals that are in the air, and the body breaks down, and people are dying. And there are people dying out there that are so lonely. They have nobody. They don't know the purpose of life. They have nothing. And they are brought to that for a purpose – that God allowed 6,000 years for man to rule himself and that one day they'll be resurrected and they will see the outcome, they'll see the difference, the comparison between what they lived in and the time that they're going to be resurrected and then where God is in charge and God is ruling. And they'll come to understand Satan and his existence.

Well, you realize that in the end, of and by ourselves, we're nothing. We are nothing. We are temporary. It's like looking back now and saying, well, who existed 465 years ago? We don't really know, and deep down we don't really care, because we are so focused, we're more interested in ourselves. Because the comparison between who God is and who we are, God thinks always outward and God knows all His creation by name. He knows all the planets. He knows all of us. He knows all about us. He loves us. He cares for us. When, generally, we only love (to a degree) those in our own family. Outside of that, we don't love. We need God's holy spirit to love. And without God's holy spirit, we cannot love, and if we love it's selfish love because it's about what's ours and what belongs to us and all the rest doesn't really matter. But with God's holy spirit we can genuinely come to see what love really is. But it takes time and we have to have a lifetime of experiences to come to understand the use of God's holy spirit and how God works in our life.

Continuing on in verse 4—In it, in the Word, the Logos, was life, or in Him, which is all the same thing. It's all God. It's God's thinking. ...and the life (the Word) was the light of men. It came unto men. It shows the way. God shows the way that we should live. And the light shines in the darkness, which is referring to God's way of life, which is based on the truth shines in the darkness, which is sin, this world, and the darkness did not comprehend it. Now, the light is spiritual and the light reveals something. It reveals God, God's word. Logos reveals God because it's God's thinking, whereas the world, the natural carnal mind doesn't see any of these things. It doesn't understand it.

Let's have a look now at Genesis 2:1. God created everything for a purpose. Every single thing has been created for a purpose. Now, it's all based on love and it's based on having a family, by giving an opportunity for things that are just made of the dust of the ground the opportunity to enter into a spirit realm and have life everlasting from that point after being given the opportunity to enter Elohim.

Genesis 2:1, which is now after the creation of everything that God has re-fashioned the earth. Because we understand from Genesis 1:1 that the rebellion had taken place and the earth was void and it was empty and it was covered with water and God intervened and over six days recreated or refashioned the earth so that man could live on it. And on the sixth day He created man.

Genesis 2:1—Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished, which is everything around the earth was now finished. And on the seventh day God, Elohim, the Eternal God, the One True God who made everything, the Word, the Logos, from His thinking ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. He set it aside. It's set aside for mankind, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. The seventh day was made for mankind. It was made for His creation. So on the seventh day, the day that was created for man, because it says in scripture "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath," because on this day, on the Sabbath day God would pour out His spirit and He would reveal the light, the truth to those that He had called into a relationship with Him. And in doing so they would be able to answer this question, because it's about transforming from pride to humility. Who are you? Who are you really? Well, we understand who we are. Of and by ourselves we are selfish. We understand that.

I remember going back in 2006 and making a form of a statement about trying to explain things to people that you go away for a Feast, for example, for eight days, and often it would take nine or ten, the time you did travel, etcetera. And people would say, "Where have you been?" Say, "Oh, we've been away to the Feast of Tabernacles." Well, they don't understand all that. They don't understand the words. And how do you explain to somebody that you go to an area with all the other people of the same mind and that you get together and you're told how bad you are and we want to go back. We want more. Well, the natural mind just can't understand it. Because you can't go to people now and say, "You're just filled with pride and sin and you're selfish." People don't want to hear they're selfish. The natural mind can't absorb it. It can't take it on. It's impossible because it's against God. It's not subject to the law of God and indeed it can't be. So there is no point in telling people they're selfish and they're pride-filled because they haven't been called to it, whereas, we have. And that's why we're happy to go back each year. We're happy to come each Sabbath on the seventh day that God rested for a purpose. We're happy to hear about who we really are. We are pride-filled by nature. We're happy to hear that. And we want to fight against it. We want humility. We desire humility. And this is the day, the seventh day that God created for us, set it aside so that we could come to see the answer to this question: Who are you? We can answer this because we can make the comparison. We can make the comparison. The world can't. The world cannot make a comparison. Most don't believe that God even exists and that He didn't do all the things in Genesis 1, and particularly He didn't do what's in Genesis 2 here by resting and creating the seventh day. The vast majority of the world knows nothing about it and many others reject it completely and worship the sun on the day of the sun, Sunday.

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. This is the history of the heavens and the earth which were created, in the day that the Eternal God (Yahweh Elohim) made the earth and the heavens. God did it all. It was Yahweh Elohim that did it all, the One True God. ...before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown, for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the earth. There was no rain at that time where clouds would pour down and flood places. No, it was all done from a mist from the ground.

And the Eternal God formed man from the dust of the ground, so that's who we are, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, which comes from God. That's who we are. We have nothing without God sustaining us. …and man became a living being, a living life, a living creature. God did it! Yahweh Elohim did it all!

Verse 8—The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He (God) put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We understand that God did all of this. So who are we? Who are we really compared to God? Well, we can't do any of these things. We can't make mankind. We can't take a piece of dust and create anything, so we have no power compared to God. We can't form things. We can't make trees. We can't make animals. We can't make life. We can't give the breath of life to somebody. But God did it all, the One True God of the universe did it all! So who are we? Well, we're carnal. We're physical. We are temporary, whereas God has eternally existed.

We'll just drop over to Genesis 3:6, which we understand is about mankind, Adam and Eve, being tested by Satan. Verse 6—So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, thinking physically, this change of thinking that takes place, which is about the way a human thinks, because it lifts itself up by pride, by nature. ...and it was pleasant to the eyes, because it was about taking something to self, and a tree to be desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. They were in a state of pride, the pride of life. They were covetousness. They wanted something. So that's why they took it because they wanted something more than what God was telling them to do. Their natural mind was not subject to the law of God, which is God's instructions. Now, God's instruction was they weren't to touch it; they weren't to take of it.

Verse 7—Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. Well, this is now what this sermon is really about. It's coming to understand that without God we are naked. We're naked spiritually – not physically, where this is referring to something on a physical level – we're naked spiritually. That without God, and if we sin, and we disobey God because of our pride, we are spiritually naked because we have the pride of life and covetousness enters us. We lift ourselves up against God. The natural mind's at work and we are then spiritually naked, unless we repent where we then can be clothed again by the power of God's holy spirit. And they knew they were naked, which is something that we have to come to see, that who are we? Who are we? Who are you? Well, we are naked when we sin because we're cut off from the flow of God's holy spirit unless we repent. And by repentance we are clothed again with God's righteousness. So we have to wear righteousness. We have to wear God's spirit. We have to have God's spirit to be clothed. By the power of God's holy spirit we can actually "see" that we are naked when we sin. ...and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves a covering.

And they heard the sound of the Eternal God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Eternal God among the trees of the garden. Well, this is human reasoning really. This is pride, really, at work. Because we know we're guilty, we know we've done something wrong. They knew they were guilty, and what did they do by nature? It wasn't about being open and honest, no, go and hide it, trying to cover it all up, going to try to hide things from God. This is really, truly human nature at work. Because if we look at it and if we understand who we really are by nature, why would you bother trying to hide anything from God? That is human reasoning. It's a form of justification of a sin, think, "Well, I'll hide myself. I won't admit that it's me, that I did it. I'm going to defend myself," which is all pride. It's human reasoning and we do it within our minds.

We're looking at this now on a physical level, but the reality is this takes place within our minds. We think that others don't see it; therefore, we're okay. Well, that's just stupid, insane thinking. God sees everything! He is the Creator! So who are we compared to God? We know the answer, mankind doesn't. Mankind hides themselves from the presence of the Eternal amongst everything else. They cover everything up. They justify. They think they're getting away with it. They're not open and honest about who they really are compared to others or who they really are compared to God, which is the key. There's a perverse thinking that takes place within the mind, to think that people won't see who "I" really am. Now, the majority of people in the world act out a role. They act out something that they're not because they don't want to be seen as different or not to be seen as weak compared to others in the world. But the reality is all humans are the same. We all have pride.

Verse 9—Then the Eternal God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you? "Where have you been? Now, if we're asked that question, which God does: "Where have you been?" In other words, "Have you been handling sin? Where are you? Where are you in your spiritual life? Are you continually repenting?" Well, we have a choice here. When sin is revealed to us by the power of God's holy spirit we can either hide or we can deal with it. We can take action or we can just justify and continue on thinking that God is not aware of what our problem is. If we really understand who we are compared to God we would know there is no point hiding. There's no point justifying. It's best to get down on our knees and repent before God immediately. Let's get it over and done with and acknowledge to God who we really are.

Verse 10—So he said, I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself. Because there's a level of guilt involved here and there's a fear within his thinking. And He said (God), Who told you that you were naked? Well, we know we can only see our nakedness by the power of God's holy spirit. And only God can tell us our nakedness. Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded that you should not eat? Well, yes, that's sin. Because it's the same thing. It's about a choice that we have. And if we admit our guilt we'll know that we're naked, and yes, we have gone against the commandment. Because God says here, "I commanded you that you should not eat." Well, we understand the things that we shouldn't do, which is to do with pride, which is to do with sin. God has commanded us to flee those things and to fight against them. If we give up fighting and we start to handle these things it's no different than what Adam and Eve had done, which is simply that they gave in to their own pride and their own selfishness. Well, that's what sin is. We give into our own pride and our own selfishness.

In times past people would say, "Ah, I can't believe that Adam and Eve did 'this' and did 'that' and that they did that and they sinned." Every time we sin against the spirit of a matter it's exactly the same thing. "Have you gone against what I commanded you that you should do?" Have you gone and done it? Well, the answer is yes, because we can answer yes because we know who we are, because that's who we are. By nature we go against God. By nature we handle sin. That's who we are. Pride is in the way. We're disobedient. That's who we are by nature. The answer to it all is, of course, admitting it and not hiding, and going before God and agreeing with God.

Then the man said, The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate. Now, this is just justification. It's the same as what we will do. We will justify our sin. We will justify ourselves. We will defend our image because we haven't answered the question, "Who are you?" We haven't answered that question. Who are we? We haven't answered the question. When we answer the question who we are compared to God we'll be in a state of repentance. We won't be in a form of justifying self and refusing to take personal responsibility. If we know who we are we will always take personal responsibility for every thought, word, and action because we know who we are compared to God. There is no point trying to protect an image. There is no point in lying. There is no point in disobeying God. There is no point in trying to hide one's self, which is justifying self. Because, really, when we justify ourselves we're trying to hide the image that we have of ourselves, but it's not the image that God has of us because God, the Eternal God who has existed forever, who created us as temporary beings with great potential, He knows everything. He knows every thought, word, and action, so why do we even try to justify ourselves. When we justify it's the greatest sign of pride. And can we "see" it? Well, we can only see it when God allows us to see it by the power of His holy spirit. And when we see it the best thing is not to try to hide and re-justify, the best idea is to take personal responsibility and repent before God and then move on, move forward. Because when we repent, truly repent, it is forgiven and forgotten and we then can walk boldly before God.

Now we see here Adam has simply justified and blamed somebody else. This is generally the way we are by nature. We blame others. It's not me because we're protecting the image that we have of ourselves.

Verse 13—And the LORD God said to the woman, What is this that you have done? Well, she's going to be the same, going to blame somebody else. She's natural. "The natural carnal mind is hostile against God, not subject to the law of God, and indeed, cannot be." The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate. So now blame Satan for everything, blame others for everything. Rather than take personal responsibility, just simply justify self and not be responsible for what we have done. It's a self-deception. It's a delusion because we've moved from the state of knowing who we are, physical and human and pride-filled, to justifying, making ourselves better than what we are because that's the natural mind. That's what it does. It makes itself better than it really is. Now, if we are in a state of repentance we are continually acknowledging that God is the Eternal God and that we, of and by ourselves, are nothing. We are nothing.

Exodus 6:1—Then the Eternal said to Moses, Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let you go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land, which is Pharaoh is going to force out the Israelites, which is because of what God was doing.

Verse 2—And God spoke to Moses and said to him: I am the LORD. "I am the Eternal." "I am the Self-Existing One." I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty. Now, we underestimate what this really is saying because we can know God through the fact of what He reveals Himself as. ...as God Almighty. So Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob knew God as El Shaddai, The Almighty. We look at the word almighty; it means He has all power. He can do anything! He can do everything! Who are we? We can do nothing. We're pathetic in comparison. This is the Eternal God that created something from nothing, created spirit, created spirit beings, gave them magnificent glory, gave them minds of choice, that they can make choices. God created the universe and all its splendor. There was no big bang. God created it all. Incredible things! God created the earth. God re-fashioned the earth, put life on it. God created man. He is almighty. God knows everything about His creation. He knows the hairs on our head. He knows every thought, word, and action. Incredible! God is Almighty. So His name revealed who He was. He is almighty. He is all-powerful. Who are we compared to Him? Absolutely terrible, pathetic, temporary, have no power.

I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, which was the promise, the promised land, and the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. And I also have heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My agreement/My covenant, which He did with Abraham. Well, we understand the spiritual component of this. It's about coming out of captivity, coming out of Egypt, coming out of spiritual bondage for us, which is to do with our calling.

Verse 6—Therefore, say to the children of Israel: I am the Eternal; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, which was something physical. Well, this is what God has done for us with a calling. He is bringing us out from the bondage of our thinking, which is the bondage and the slavery that we are in on a spiritual level. I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched hand, because He has the power to do it. He is almighty, with great judgments, which is to do with the ten plagues. I will take you as My people, which is Israel. Well, now we are God's people. We're God's called out ones. We are the Church of God. We are God's Church preparing for the return of Jesus Christ, preparing for the Kingdom of God. I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Eternal your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the Eternal. Because this is what God had promised for the Israelites. Well, He is now promising this on a spiritual level to us— into a land of plenty, which part of it is about the Church, the other aspect on a spiritual level is about the Kingdom of God, that God has promised us His Kingdom. That's what God's word says. He has promised us life in Elohim. Life and peace is what the promise us.

So if we look back on verse 3 again, it's God revealing who He really was, because He was known as one thing, now He's going to be called something else because it reveals who He really is. It reveals God's thinking. Verse 3 again, I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El Shaddai, but, now there's a change taking place here because God's revealing more of Himself, but by My name Yahweh, LORD, the Eternal, the Self-Existing One I was not known to them. Now we see a different component. We see that God is almighty and all-powerful, El Shaddai, now He's revealing Himself as the Eternal, your God, the Self-Existing One. Because this is where life comes from. God is almighty, He is all powerful, but He has eternally existed. There is one Eternal True God. So who are we? Who are we compared to the Almighty God, compared to the Eternal, someone that has had life always existing? Who are we? Temporary! Are we powerful? Almighty? Nothing. We're nothing in comparison to God. God is humility; we are pride. The purpose of life is to transform our thinking from pride to humility, from natural thinking so that we can enter Elohim, so that we can be with God forever. Not that we will ever be The Almighty or that we will be The Eternal. No, we will be members of the Body of Christ in Elohim. We'll be spirit beings having life and peace, having the thinking of God.

We'll look at Isaiah 45:5. We're going over this because we have to come to see how stupid we are as humans, how illogical we are, that we could think, that we would lift ourselves up in pride against the Eternal God, the Almighty God, the Self-Existing One who has all power, that we would ever take anything to ourselves to lift ourselves up, that we would ever justify our thoughts or words or actions, when really what the comparison is between God and us, there is no comparison to someone that has existed forever, that knows everything, that created everything. And yet we, by nature, do these things. And when we sin what we are really doing is lifting ourselves up against God because it's driven by pride. Well, let's just now have a quick look of who God says He is and then we stop and think about who we really are, and therefore, in this we can see that we need to be humble, we need not to justify ourselves, we need to take personal responsibility for our sin, and we need to be ongoing repentant. We need to have this ongoing repentance, to admit we are nothing compared to God.

Isaiah 45:5—I am the Eternal/I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God (there is no Elohim) beside Me. There is only one. It's not an "us." It's just one God. Now, this puts us in perspective when God says there's no other, there's just one: "There's no God beside Me." "There is no one else beside Me." I will gird you, though you have not known Me, hundreds of years before this was written, was about 170 years before it happened, that His name was even revealed by God, referring to Cyrus who God had pre-determined ahead of time, what he would do. Now, that's the power of God. That in itself is so humbling, to realize that God has this power, that God can raise someone up. God can create anything. God can heal. By nature we just limit God, but God can do anything. It's nothing to God to heal somebody, absolutely nothing. It's nothing to God to create a universe or to create animals or, you know, to put them on the earth in different locations or to move a human being from one place to another. That's nothing to God. He is almighty! God created mankind with a choice. Now, healing the mind is more difficult because of mankind's resistance, because of mankind's pride. God made us this way for a particular reason so that free choice could be given to us, so that we have to choose to yield to God. We have to choose to take personal responsibility for sin. We have to choose to humble ourselves. And if we do, God will grant us the gift of true humility, which is spiritual, not physical.

Verse 6—That they, referring to Israel, may know from the rising of the sun to its setting

that there is none besides Me. This is what we have to come to "see," come to understand. Now, God in His mercy revealed in 2005 this truth back to the Church. Because this knowledge was known at the time of the apostles and other times, but it was lost by God's Church at some point in time and now we've come through this period, and now some eleven years later we now "see" the truth of this matter. There is none besides the One True God. I am Yahweh – I am the Eternal – I am the Self-Existing One, and there is no other.  I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity, and that was done by creating choice. I, the Eternal, do all these things. Yes, Yahweh, the Eternal Self-Existing One did it all, does it all. Who are we compared to that?

Verse 8—Rain down from heaven above, and let the skies pour down righteousness, which is referring to God's holy spirit, that He can do this. It's God's spirit that is given to us. It's God's thinking. It's the Word. It's the Logos. It's the thinking of God that can be given to us and is given to us based on a calling, based on baptism, and based on repentance and the laying of hands and the receipt of God's holy spirit, if God honors that. And every time we repent God says He will forgive and He will give us His spirit because we can only repent through the power of God's holy spirit anyway. We can only have faith by the power of God's holy spirit anyway.

Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, because these things are all a gift from God. It all comes from God, the Eternal God. And let righteousness spring up together. I, the Eternal, have created it. It's God that did it all.

Verse 9—Woe to him (mankind) who strives (debates) with God. Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Now, that is stupidity! That is insanity when we compare the two and we answer this question, who are you? Well, who are you? Who am I? Well, God says, "Woe to him/her who strives with his Maker?" Every time we sin, every time we justify, every time we don't take personal responsibility for who we really are, we strive with our Maker, we resist God, we resist God's purpose. God's purpose for us is to transform our thinking so that He can give us life and peace. That's what God desires to give us. And yet we fight against Him.

Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Which is talking about broken pieces. Shall the clay say to him who forms it? This, you can take it physically; you can say, "Will the clay say to the person who's got its hands around them," What are you making? Now, that means they're disagreeing with what is happening to the pot. Well, this is referring to something with regards to mankind and pride in mankind. Shall the clay (mankind) say to Him (Yahweh Elohim) who forms it, What are you making? What are you doing? Which is simply disagreeing with God. And yet God says, "Woe to him who strives or argues with His Maker, argues with the One Eternal God." Or shall the handiwork say, He has no hands? He has no power. Well, we're stupid to think that God doesn't have any power. God is almighty.  Woe to him who says to his father, What are you begetting? What are you bringing forth? Well, God is "bringing many sons to glory." So why would we want to argue and go against our Creator? We should know who we are! And we should know what we are and what God is making us, what God is forming. He has His hands on us. So why would we want to strive and disagree and argue with our Creator? Now, every time a truth comes to the Church, or every time we are told by God's apostle with regards to overcoming self, with regards to sin, with regards to the direction of where God is going, who are we that we would strive against that knowledge? Who are we? Well, it's the same. We're striving against our Maker. This is God's Church. This is God's true Church, so why would we lift ourselves up in pride and argue against God? Well, that's pride and what God requires us to have is humility. God requires that we have humility.

Well, we, brethren, have to be very careful about the way we think and what we say and what we do because this is God's Church and God has promised us life and peace if we are willing to humble ourselves and seek Him, if we're willing to acknowledge who we really are. And if we keep that in our mind the whole time, who we really are, pride will not be a problem to us because we'll know who we really are compared to God.

There was a program the other day that said that man had found a new planet out there, far out, that it looks like it might be able to sustain life. And everyone is really excited; looks like there could be water there and potentially it could be like another earth! There was one big problem. It's only going to take 10,000 years to get there! Now, you just take that logical thinking... how insane, how stupid is mankind to think these things? It's only going to take 10,000 years to get there! We live seventy years by the mercy of God and after that it's by strength, God says, and if you're lucky you might get to a hundred. Well, it's going to take 10,000 years to get there! Well, who cares! Who cares if there is another planet out there? Because you see, mankind does not know God. Mankind doesn't believe in the one True God, the Eternal God. Mankind doesn't know who he really is. He doesn't. And he doesn't even begin to start to compare himself with God because he hasn't been given the eyes to see; he hasn't been given the knowledge of God, whereas we have.

We know who we are. We know we're begotten sons of God. That's who we are. We are begotten sons of God. We know our potential. We know we are nothing compared to God. We know God. We know elements of God. We know the Word. We know the Logos. We know the thinking of God which is revealed through His plan, which is the Holy Days. We see God's purpose for mankind. We know it. How blessed are we? We are God's people. We are sanctified, set aside for holy use and purpose. We can have God's spirit, God's thinking living and dwelling in us. And we know clearly that we have pride, but that we need to have humility.

Isaiah 57:15—For thus says the High and Lofty One, referring to the Eternal God who has always existed, who has all power, because He is the Almighty, Thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, He has always existed, whose name is Holy. It is separate. It is pure because it's all based on God's thinking. When we think of God we should think more along the lines of not just a being, but the mind of God. It's who He is. It's what makes up His thinking because of the way He thinks because of righteousness. God is love. We have to understand the way God thinks about a matter, which is revealed in the Bible, which is revealed in His word.

Referring to God, I dwell in the high and lofty place, He inhabits eternity, with him who has, now this is referring to what God does. It's where God dwells, which is in mankind, those He has called into a relationship with Him who have repented of sin and are in a state of ongoing repentance, who know who they are. They know they have pride. Well, this is where God dwells by the power of His holy spirit. I dwell in the high and lofty place; it's where God inhabits eternity. He doesn't dwell with pride... with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. So it's not thinking that a person is better. It's someone who doesn't think they are better. They don't have pride. They know themselves and they know one particular thing – of and by themselves naturally they can do nothing. They can do nothing spiritually. And even on a physical level they know they're weak and pathetic because we're temporary. We get sick. We die. We go without food for three or four days and we're really ill. Our eyesight starts to go, all these things. We are weak compared to the Eternal God who doesn't suffer pain. He has eternally existed. He is Almighty. He has a beautiful, pure mind. He is separate to mankind. He dwells in these beings, mankind, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. So God won't dwell with pride. We need to start to think of ourselves the way that God sees us, about our potential.

Now, we see who we are. Who are you? Well, who are we? We are proud-filled. We are selfish. And we do lift ourselves up. We do justify. So we acknowledge those things. While we are in that state God won't dwell with us, but He will dwell with someone that has a contrite, which is a repentant spirit and a humble spirit. We don't think we're better than anybody. We know who we are. Because we're answering this question every day: Who are you? Well, who are we? Well, we know who we are. We are part of the Body of Christ. God has called us and placed us in the Church of God, part of the body, for a purpose, to be given life and peace. We can have it now with God's holy spirit living and dwelling in us, and if we yield to that, if we choose to yield to it and we desire to have this relationship with God and we know who we are – that of and by ourselves we can do nothing spiritual— it all has to come from God. It's by the power of God's holy spirit that things are done that are spiritual. God says He will dwell with us if we stay humble. We know who we are.

To revive the spirit of the humble, which is a person that has a crushed or broken spirit, they will be healed. "To revive," is to heal the spirit of the humble. We need healing. We need healing. And to revive/heal the heart of the contrite ones, which is those that have been placed in the Body of Christ for the purpose of correction. We are in the Church of God for a purpose. That purpose is correction. We have to have our minds corrected. We have to have our thinking corrected. Because when we compare the two, the Eternal God with a perfect, pure mind of love compared to a temporary being, physical, that suffers pain and anguish and that is selfish and proud-filled, what's the comparison? Well, they're poles apart! So God in His mercy is going to provide His spirit so the mind can be healed, so that the transformation can take place, so that at some point in time God can offer them true life and peace. Because life is about a relationship, about a relationship we have with God and a relationship we have with one another.

God says He will dwell with those that have a contrite and humble spirit, those that acknowledge who they really are.

Job 38:1. The story of Job, the real life example of Job really covers this question, because Job didn't know who he was. He was natural, carnal, selfish. He didn't know who he was, whereas God was now going to open his mind to "see" who he was, come to "see" who God was by this comparison. And God, really, is asking him, "Well, who are you, Job? Who are you? The way you think and the way you talk, and the way you act, who are you really compared to Me?" And now God was going to open Job's mind so that he could now "see" God, which is what a calling is about, coming to see God, coming to see who we really are.

Job 38:1—Then the Eternal answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Well, that's us. We don't have the understanding we think we have. Because of pride, because of our nature, our selfishness, we confuse things. We think we know things. Well, we don't. We even confuse ourselves by "words without knowledge," because we don't really know God to the degree of God's great existence. We know aspects of God, but we don't really know God the way God is because He's eternally existed and we're nothing compared to Him.

Now prepare yourself like a man and I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Which is now about this, "Well, who are you, Job, that you think that you know all this and you're so proud-filled? Well, I'm going to ask you some questions so it puts things into perspective about who I am, God, verses who you are, who you think you are." Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Good question. Well, where were we when God created the universe, when God established the earth, and placed Lucifer on it? Where were we? We didn't exist. Tell Me, if you have understanding. "Tell Me, if you know the answer to this." Well, Job would be dumbstruck here and go, "I don't know where I was." Because you know what? We're nothing. Compared to God, there's nothing here. We're just temporary. Who determines its measurements? When God made it all, how do we know the measurements of the earth, for example, or the measurement of the universe and the planet and the sun and the heat temperature and how much light would have to come to the earth to keep it warm? Who did all that? All from God's great mind, the Eternal God's mind. How incredible is this mind to make all these measurements and determinations? Surely you know!

Or who stretched the line upon it? Who made this exact measurement? Who made the hills to the height they were? How much water there was going to be on the earth? Who did all that? What mind did that? "Job, do you have that type of mind?" Who are we? Do we have that type of mind? No, we don't. Our minds cannot contain who God is. It's just not possible. They're physical. They have a spirit essence in them, but they can't contain who God really is. There's so much about God that we don't know. There's so much about the creation we don't know. There's so much about the future we don't know. But God knows it. God knows it; we don't. So who are we compared to God? We're nothing. We are really nothing.

We are of value to God, and that must be clear in this sermon that we know who we are, and yes, we're nothing, really, when we compare ourselves to God, but we are of value to God. We're a holy nation. We're a separate people. We are begotten sons of God. We have an inheritance waiting for us. So we are precious to God, but we have to come to "see" who we really are, which is about pride versus humility. That's what this sermon is about, pride versus humility. God is humility; we are pride. We have to transform our thinking by the power of God's holy spirit from pride, thinking we are something, like Job is here, to come to realize we're nothing without God. Without God we're nothing. That's what we have to come to see. Then we can answer the question truthfully on a spiritual level, "Who are you?" I know who I am. You would know who you are. We know who we are because we're members of the Body of Christ, we're begotten sons of God, we've been called for a purpose. That purpose is about the renewing of the mind, about the transformation of the mind. It's about thinking differently than the way we are by nature and not lifting ourselves up thinking we know things. Because here God is asking Job and Job's going to answer that in the end he realizes who he is. Well, this is something we have to do every single day of our life so that we don't lift ourselves up in pride because God does not dwell with pride. God dwells with someone who is humble because they have chosen to humble themselves, to see themselves in the true light. By the power of God's holy spirit we can truly "see" who we really are. We can admit it. We won't justify ourselves because of our lack of prayer or other things. We will simply admit it, of who we really are. We will see ourselves because God will give us that power.

Verse 6—To what were its foundations fastened? In other words, how does it stay up in the air by itself? Or who laid its cornerstone? How was it even started to be created? What was first? When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Which is about angels at the time of the creation, what they did. They rejoiced at seeing this incredible thing, that God can take and make it from nothing – doesn't just...  nothing, and then there's something. Have we got any type of power like that? No wonder God's called Almighty and that's His name. He is The Almighty. We can see why. Because He made the angels.

Or who shut the sea with its doors, when it burst forth and issues from the womb? How do we know the size of the water? How does it come? We understand now because of the science, etcetera, that water comes from under the earth and there's fountains under the earth that bursts up under the earth. In the ocean, there's streams of water running through. Some of it is actually hot water coming from volcanoes that are under the seabed. When I made the clouds its garment? How do they form, all those ones around the earth, that they were made and how they work? Well, science knows some of these things now, but God did it all. Man can't do it all. The thick darkness its swaddling band; when I fixed My limit for it, because God did it, and set bars and doors; when I said, This far you may come, and no farther, and here your proud waves must stop! Because God set this all up.

And we can keep going through all of Job 38 to understand that God did it all. It was Him, and that Job had no power at all.

And there's a question down in verse 34. Job 38:34—Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that an abundance of water may cover you? In other words, can you create rain? Can you make rain to come? Can you flood the earth? Can you do these things? Well, the answer is, no. Can you send out lightning's, that they may go, and say to you, Here we are? In other words, can you control the weather? Can you make lightning happen?

Who has put wisdom in the mind? Now, this is a brilliant question, really. Mankind of and by himself thinks that he does these things, that he has the wisdom, that he thinks out these inventions. But really, who has put this thinking in the mind? Who has given any form of knowledge? Knowledge about the elements, for example, or knowledge about anything? There are people that spend their whole lives studying one thing. They might study the mind, how does the mind work? Well, there have been people, thousands of people studying it and they still don't know how the mind works because they don't believe about the spirit in man. They don't understand how the electrical charges work. Well, why is that? How does knowledge enter through the eyes and the ear into the mind? Why is there such a thing as thought? Why do people have dreams? Yet God answers a lot of these questions in His word, but man rejects God, doesn't want to know it. So, "Who put wisdom in the mind?” So who gave the knowledge in the mind, the inward parts of the mind? Who gives thinking? Where did thinking come from? Well, we know that in the beginning was the Word, which is the thinking of God, the Logos of God. That's where thinking comes from. And then, of course, by creating choice there was the potential to think differently, to think differently than God, which is sin. There was that potential. And we understand that Lucifer, who's now called Satan, and a third of the angels chose that. Well, mankind has been created with a mindset, with a thinking that is against God by nature, and it's called pride.

God's purpose for mankind is that he will choose to transform his mind, when given the opportunity, so that he will think like God and be given life and peace.

Or who has given understanding to the heart? On a matter to do with anything, who gives the understanding of a matter? Well, we see that God gave Solomon wisdom. It was the wisdom of God. Solomon didn't understand all of the things that he wrote. He saw a lot of things and he would have written a lot of things and had some level of understanding on them, but they weren't on a spiritual level, whereas we can be given the spiritual knowledge of the Proverbs. We've been given the understanding of many of the Proverbs because they're about spiritual matters, about life experiences, and what we should do with the spirit of a matter, not just the physical component, but the spiritual component or the spirit of the matter. So, "Who has given understanding to the heart?" How do we understand spiritual matters? Only Yahweh Elohim has given it. No one else has given it. Only God! So, who are we compared to that?

Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven? Who can do that? Well, we know that only God can do it.

Job 40:1—Moreover the Eternal answered Job, and said, Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? This is pride. This is pride! Who would we be that we would turn around to God and say that He is wrong...that He is wrong? Now, an example of this is the thinking of man because of pride, because we know we have pride and we know mankind's motivation is selfishness and pride. Who is it, who is anybody that would contend with the Almighty to correct Him? Tell God that He is wrong?

Now, a classic example of that is the death penalty. God says clearly that if a man rapes a woman, that he needs to be put to death – for that person's benefit and also the victim’s benefit. Because, potentially, God would raise that person up that has been put to death in the Hundred-year period and be given an opportunity to have their mind healed. Mankind contends with God by saying, "Oh, no! We're not going to kill the rapists," as they'll say, "kill him," but really, it's this act of mercy. "Oh, no! We're not going to do that because we're going to put him in jail for about seven years – thereabouts maybe, maybe get less, might get a little bit more – and we'll rehabilitate him and he'll come out rehabilitated. He'll think differently. He'll come out and he'll be a model citizen of society. He'll fit in really well and he'll be fine. We don't care about the victim much," you know, the person who's been raped and has to know the person's going to come out of jail and live in a nightmare for the rest of their life because of what has happened. "Oh, no, we know more than God and we're going to go against God and we're going to correct Him because He's wrong in doing this. He's wrong in putting them to death." Well, that's because of man's pride...man's pride.

He who rebukes God, let him answer it, so anybody who wants to correct God. Now, this was Job. Well, it's the same principle. That mankind needs to answer these questions. Well, we've been called to answer this question.

Then Job answered the Eternal and said, Behold, I am vile! What shall I answer You? So Job's now starting to see himself. He hasn't seen all of it, but he's moving into a state of comparison because he realizes that he doesn't see a lot of these things, he has no power, that he's temporary. And compared to God, what are we? What are we? Who are we really compared to God? Well, Job's now starting this process, which is about when a person's called. Behold, I am vile! What shall I answer You? "Well, how can I even begin because I'm starting to see my pride, therefore, what can I say to you about this?" I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yet twice, but I will proceed no further. So this sign of humility is starting to come in here because who are we to raise ourselves up against and disagree with God?

This can happen easily within members of the Body of Christ. And the best way that this is revealed is through government. It's a topic of and by itself and its many sermons of and by itself – and can't cover it all in this particular sermon. But government is one of the greatest challenges for anybody that is called into the Body of Christ, the Church of God. And the longer a person is in the Body of Christ the greater danger there is with regards to government – not only government of themselves but government of God in the Church – because it's about this scripture that we just read. "Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it." The only reason a person would go against God's government in the Church is pride. It's the same problem. Pride! And the person needs to stand back and say, "I know who I am. Behold, I am vile! I am vile." Because we have this potential. We need to remain humble. We need to fight against pride. We need to not justify our thought processes against God's government on this earth, against God's government in our own life.

Drop down to verse 6—Then the Eternal answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. Now, every time a sermon comes this is God asking a question to us about what we will do. And will we answer by action? Will we answer by action, by doing what is said? Because the sermons are about God giving us the opportunity to grow spiritually. Well, will we answer by doing what is said? Would you indeed annul My judgments? Will we nullify or overrule what God is saying? Will we overrule God by our decisions, by our thoughts, words, and actions? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified? Which is about self-righteousness and pride. Have you an arm like The Eternal? Oh dear, when you look at these things and you put it into true perspective... Have any of us the power and strength of the Eternal? We are nothing in comparison. "Have you an arm like the Eternal?" Do we have any power to control anything? Absolutely not. We're nothing. Do we have God's character? No, of and by ourselves we don't have God's character. We have no righteousness in us. We are selfish and proud-filled. Or can you thunder with a voice like His? Well, no, we can't. Pride controls us. God in His great humility controls the universe. He controls all things. Can we do anything at all? No. Well if you can, He says, Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, like God, and array yourself with glory and beauty. Well, we can't do those things. We have no power.

Verse 11—Disperse the rage of your wrath; Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him. Now, can we do that? No, we can't. We have to do it to ourselves. We have to see our own pride and we have to then humble ourselves. We have to do it individually by the power of God's holy spirit. We don't have control over anybody! The problem is we try to. We insert ourselves into situations and we try to control things because that's our nature. God says, "Well, if you've got any power, if you think that you are something, Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; tread down the wicked in their place.” Can we do that? No, we can't. Hide them in the dust together, bind their faces in hidden darkness. Then I will also confess to you, Job, that your own right hand can save you. In other words, you can save yourself. Well, the reality is we cannot save ourselves. It takes God, God's power to save us. And that's what He is doing. That's what He is working towards. We have to choose to do it.

We'll finish up by looking at Job 42:1, because this is the conclusion of this matter about, "Who are you compared to God?" "Who am I compared to God?" Well, we have to come to Job 42, which is Job being able to see himself, his repentance, and what it really is we must see ourselves to know who we really are compared to God.

Then Job answered the Eternal and said: I know that You can do everything. God can do everything. There are no limits to God's power. ...and that no purpose, which is no thoughts, can be withheld from You. God knows every aspect of us. There is nothing that God cannot do. God can place thoughts into other’s minds to have them do things to benefit His plan of salvation for others. God can do anything. We, by nature, limit God because of our pride, because we take things to ourselves and try to work things out for ourselves. But really, God's is Almighty, God is The Eternal, and nothing, no thoughts, no words, no actions can be withheld from God. God can do anything. God can do anything – purpose of His plan of salvation for mankind.

You asked, Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? Which was Job. Which is us. Therefore, I uttered what I did not understand, because we don't know God's real intent about everything. We think we do, but we don't. Job, now coming to see that really he needs to focus in on himself and his own behaviors and not be looking out to others and judging others and thinking he knows everything. ...things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Now, we, of and by ourselves, don't know spiritual things. It's only when God intervenes into our life, like He did here with Job, that we then start to see things on a spiritual level. "Therefore, I uttered what I did not understand," because they're spiritual, they're God's intent. We didn't understand them before we were called, "things too wonderful for me, which I did not know." Now we start to see the spiritual component of things, the spiritual intent of things. We see ourselves as we really are, the spiritual component of us – desperately wicked, incurably sick. That's our natural mind, riddled with pride. That's who we are. Not under government, really, until we're called.

Listen, please, and let me speak. You said, I will question you, and you shall answer Me. I have heard of You (God) by the hearing of the ear. He knew of God, about God and aspects of God. Didn't really know Him. But now my eye, my spiritual eye, sees You. That's what our life is about. We now "see" God. We "see" the comparison. We "see" God, the Eternal God, Almighty God who has existed forever, has eternal life, has always existed, who created every single thing including us. "But now my eye ‘sees’ you." We see it all. We see ourselves compared to God. And what do we do? Therefore, I abhor, I despise myself, because of my pride and my selfishness, and repent in dust and ashes. "Yes, I acknowledge who I am, God, compared to You." This is conversion. "I acknowledge my own selfishness. I am but clay. I'm just clay. I am here for a purpose and that is the transformation of my mind. I understand about Your government, God. I understand why You have government. It's about pride versus humility. Government is about pride versus humility.

If we lift ourselves up thinking we are something and justify ourselves we are riddled with pride and we're not under government. If we humble ourselves and God lives and dwells in us we are under government because we "see" ourselves. We "see" who we are.

So hopefully, brethren, at the end of the sermon we can answer this question: Who are you compared to God? We know the answer. Compared to God we're nothing. We're natural. We have pride. And it's only by the power of God's holy spirit that we're ever going to get through this mess we are by nature, to overcome our pride and selfishness. And by the power of God's holy spirit we can truly answer the question: Who are you?

Table of Contents

Chapter 1