The Father Wants Wise Children

Very important part of our lives. And so it should be. Family is very important. Now, you have children. Or, some of you have children. Some of you are young. They don't have children yet. But one day, God willing, you will have children. And when you see your little children growing up, what do you want? You want them to grow up into adults. And you want them to grow up into adults that make, what? Right decisions in life. That they can actually stand in their own two feet as adults. Isn't that what you want from your children? That they become mature, well-balanced individuals. And that means that hopefully they're going to make right decisions in life so that they don't get burned. Because you know, we make a wrong decision. Sometimes that decision is so critical that it affects your whole life. I mean, we know there's a lady in Dallas, a daughter. The brothers and sisters jumped on this little girl's back. And now this girl is practically paralyzed for life. And the kids were just playing. And it was just one wrong decision. And somebody's here for life. You and I could make one wrong financial decision in your life. And destroy your life for many, many years, maybe for decades. And so, what you want from your children is that they learn to make wise decisions as they grow into mature adults. And that's what God wants from us, isn't it? That's what God wants from us. We are these children. We are the children of God, sons and daughters. And what does God want? He wants us to grow into spiritual adults. That's what He wants us. Now, look at it from the side of the children.

Look at it. A child that is growing in this balanced way will only want to do what's pleasing to the parents, isn't it? Wants to honor and respect and love the parents and do what is right to please the parents.

Because there is that heart-to-heart relationship between parents and children. They just want to do what is right. If you turn with me, please, to 1 John 3, verse 22. There's an interesting structure here. And today, we're going to look at a lot of scriptures.

So, get your fingers ready. Because we're going to be basing everything on God's Word. So, 1 John 3, verse 22, it says, Whatever we ask, it was whatever we pray and we ask God, we receive from Him. We receive from God. What a lovely, encouraged statement is that, whatever you're going to ask God, you're going to receive from Him. Why? Because we keep God's laws, that's what it says, His commandments. But that's not enough. It says, And we do those things that are pleasing in His sight. You know, as children, when your children obey you, but they don't do things that make you really happy. You see, because they could obey you, the letter of the law, but sometimes they do things that you're just not too happy about.

You don't feel like fulfilling them what they're asking. It's the same thing with God. But if we, as God's children, not only do what God wants us to do, as far as the commandments, but we do what is pleasing to God. So, therefore, we're doing what it is according to His will. Then it says, you do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

Whatever we ask, we will receive from Him. What an encouraging Scripture this is. And so, it is incumbent of you and I, of me, as children, to look at ourselves and say, Am I really doing what is pleasing to God? Could I do better? Could I do better? Now, you and I know the Ten Commandments, and it says, right, I'll do the Ten Commandments. But there's more than that. It's what is pleasing to Him. Really, we should meditate on this. Now, turn with me to Romans chapter 10. As I said, we're going to look at a lot of Scriptures today, so we're going to base completely in God's Word.

So, Romans chapter 10, verse 3 and 4. Well, in fact, let's start from verse 2. It says, For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God. So, Paul is now writing out of the Romans and telling about these people that have a zeal for God. They're very zealous. They, let's call it, they got fearing people. They go to church. They got a zeal for God. Okay, in this case, it was not the church.

They were synagogues. But, you know, you're getting the principle. You know, you're getting the principle. They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. You see, they're very religious. They go to church. They think they're doing the best thing. But, they do not have knowledge.

Now, what do you mean? Is it knowledge about how computers work? And how an iPhone works? Or how, you know, all about mathematics? No, it's knowledge of what God wants. What is pleasing to God? So, for they, verse 3, being ignorant of God's righteousness. So, they don't understand what God's standard of what is right and wrong is.

They're not fully understanding that. Why? As we heard in the sermon, maybe they haven't been shown or they've been blinded by the situations. So, they're not fully knowledgeable what they try and do now. And seeking therefore to establish their own righteousness. So, they try their best to do what's right. What they believe is right.

I believe what's right is to do this. I believe what's right is to do x, y, z. I don't want to mention anything because now you're going to think, oh well, I come from this angle or that angle. Just think about it, generally speaking. Whatever it may be in your situation, I think I should do this thing to please God.

Or you may say, I think I should do this thing to please God. Is that really what God wants? So that we are doing what's pleasing in his sight. Maybe there's no specific commandment about that directly.

Maybe they're easy directly, but maybe there's not directly. But you may need to look at it and say, well, maybe there's something in life, some practice, something I do, that is not pleasing to God. Isn't that important? Or you say, no, this is not important.

Oh, I love this so much, I want to do it. Yeah, maybe you love it so much and you want to do it. And it appears to be so nice. The question is, is that what God wants? Is that what's pleasing to God? Because remember back to 1 John 3.22, where we were ages now, we need to be not only keeping the commandments, but doing the things that are pleasing to Him. Now, therefore, I know we're going to resist. I know I'm going to resist. We human beings, we resist. Oh, I want this! How come God doesn't want this? I have to learn to fight my mind and sometimes my own selfish things or my own little standards and say, it's not what I want, it's what God wants.

And sometimes there's a conflict in us. And because of this conflict, I may say, oh, no, no, no, this is what I must do. But there's this conflict that says, yeah, but this is really what God wants. But I want this, and therefore there's this conflict in our minds. This is continuing reading in verse 3.

And seeking to establish their own righteousness, because I think God wants me to do this, or this looks so nice and so beautiful. Why not? It's so emotional, it's so lovely. But God says, I hate it. But why? It's so beautiful. Surely God will love it.

You see, we try to establish our own righteousness.

Why? Because we have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

You see, in our minds, we don't want to submit to the righteousness of God. Because righteousness of God says, this is what He likes, this is what He wants.

I'm even outside of the Ten Commanders. I'm just saying things that God likes.

But you and I said, oh, but this is so beautiful. It's so nice, it's so lovely, it's so whatever. Why can't I do this? But God says, I hate it. So the question is, are we submitting to the righteousness of God?

You see, this is a big challenge. It really involves me looking at myself and saying, how do I do this? Brethren, I'm not talking to you. I'm talking about myself. You know, I have to analyze myself. I'm not better than you. I'm talking about myself. And it applies to all of us, of course. But we all have to look at ourselves and say, where is it that I need to change? And when somebody tells me, yeah, well, God likes that, and look at it and say, yeah, He's right. Oh, but this is so much prettier or whatever. We've got to submit to the righteousness of God, and we've got to change.

And then there's the verse for a scripture that people can't often, quite often don't really understand. It says, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. Therefore, we don't have to obey the law. No, that's not what it says there. Okay.

Christ is the complete example for fully showing us how to do the whole law. It's the end. It's the example. It's the ultimate example of how to please God to everyone who believes. Because if we believe in that, if we believe in that, we're going to imitate Christ, and Christ is the ultimate, is the end goal of the law.

And so, brethren, if you and I are deciding to do what is right, to fully submit to the righteousness of God, which is exemplified by Christ, how do we do that? How do we do that?

So, let's go back to the Scriptures, Philippians, chapter 2. In other words, what we need to have is we need to have the same mind as Christ had. And the IR is. In Philippians, chapter 2, we're going to read from verse 1 to 5.

Faithful. If there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of genuine, godly, outgoing, agape, love, if any fellowship in the Spirit, if we want to be in God's Spirit, and want to have that spiritual fellowship, if any affection and mercy, if we really want to be affectionate, and if we really only have mercy to other people, then, fulfill my joy by being like-minded. Then, please me, and therefore please God, by having the same mind, obviously the same mind as what? Christ. We're going to sugar it by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind. In other words, being in unity in the way you're thinking with this mind. And then, now it gets into some detail about it, and says in verse 3, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. What is selfish ambition? Selfish ambition is what I want. Oh, this is so pretty. This is so beautiful. Surely God would love it. But if God says he hates it, why does he hate it? Because God does beautiful things. Why does he hate it? Maybe there's a wrong motive behind it. That's why he hates it. And that motive is hidden in the beauty of things. You see, God always looks at the motive.

So what is the motive of that thing? To deceive you? So it looks so pretty, but to deceive you? You've got to be careful. You've got to look at it. So he says, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. So let not be your ambition and say, oh well, it looks so pretty. Therefore, God surely must like it or conceit. But in loneliness of mind, that means humble yourself.

Humble yourself with your opinions and whatever it is, and let each esteem others better than himself. You esteem others better than yourself. Wow! That is not easy. Let each of you look out, not only on my own personal interests, but also in the interests of others. Do we do that?

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

So that is the challenge. The challenge is for us to do what's pleasing to God. We've got to have a mind like Christ, which is the end of the law, which exemplifies the ultimate end result of what the law is all about. And therefore, how do we do that? How do we do that? Now, one way that has helped me, and there are many ways that can help people, but one way that has helped me that I want to share is to keep always focused on the trunk of the tree. Keep focused on the trunk of the tree.

And what is the trunk of the tree? The trunk of the tree is the very purpose why you and I are right here, living on planet earth. Why were you born? What is our purpose? What is the purpose? Why are we born? Why are we alive?

Romans 8 verse 17 through 18. Romans 8, 17 through 18. It says, and if children, and brethren, in fact, let's start in verse 16. The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Our purpose, why you and I were born, is to actually ultimately be in the full image and the full image of God. You remember in Genesis chapter 1, let us make man in our image. That's only physically, but the ultimate purpose is spiritually. It's mentally to be in the same image as God. It's for us to grow. Our children, when they're born, are in our image, physically speaking. Oh, it just looks like mom. I can see mom there, or I can see daddy, you know. But they still need to grow into mature adults. And likewise, we are to grow into mature adults as spiritual children of God. We are the children of God. And if children, verse 17, there is, is of God, and joint is with Christ. Do we understand what that means? That we're going to inherit being in the family of God, and whatever God has to give us as His children. Wow! If indeed we suffer with Him, there may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. We, you and I, cannot even begin to comprehend what this goal is. We just can't.

We can't comprehend what it is to be in a God family, not to have pain, not to have illnesses, you know, not to have the fear of this illness, or that illness, or this pain, or that pain, or the neck ache, or the head ache, or the migraines, or whatever. None of that.

Forever and ever and ever. And be happy and feel like full of energy, like a 20-year-old person is, well, we look back and I wish I had that energy. We don't have it anymore. Well, you young people, you don't understand it yet, but one day around the corner you'll understand, because I remember when I turned 20, my dad told me, what a lovely age to be. And now I look back and I says, that was a lovely age to be. But you know what, brethren? We're gonna have better than that. Forever. Healthy, well-being, that is a great hope that we have. That is the trunk of the tree.

Now, the problem is we get caught with tweaks, and the problem is, once we go to the tweaks, there's two problems. One, that's where the nuts are at the end of the tweaks. And two is, they break and you can get off from the vine. So you gotta be careful. Don't let's not go too far off the trunk of the tree. Let it stay close to the vine, which is Christ.

So, you and I have an encouraging hope, which is because of the love that the Father has for us.

You see, God did not have to make your eye. He did not have to create us, but He wanted a family.

Just like you, as parents, want children, want a family. God wanted a family and wanted to share His life, eternity, joy, peace with you and I. And that, because of that, He made us, and He is love. Turn with me to 1 John 4. 1 John 4. 1 John 4. Verse 8. He who does not have love, does not know God, for God is love. And look then in verse 16.

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and He who abides in love, abides in God, and God is evil. Now, this world is all confused. You know, they talk about all love, love, love, but they're talking about the wrong love. That's lust. God's outgoing love is care, is considering others better than yourselves. That's what it is. That's what God's love is. We know very well the scripture in John 3. 16. You know that. You've read it many times. Let's go back to it again very briefly. John 3. 16. John 3. 16. For God so loved the world. Brethren, does not say, God so loved you and I as whatever twenty people or so that we are together. Yeah.

God loves the world. The whole mankind.

16. That he gave is only begotten Son. Is the only Son that was begotten that way, which is Christ.

That whoever believes in him should not perish.

Does not say, should not go to hell. Does not say, should live eternally in hell. No, it says, should not perish.

But have ever lost in life. And ever lost in life means happiness, joy, being, part of his family. So God's goal is that for all mankind. But God has got a timing. Each one in his own order. Fine. So we heard that in the sermon as well. God has got his own timing.

Now, brethren, we have a limited understanding of this, of what this life is.

Because we are daddy and mommy. We are parents.

Now you think about it. For instance, you as a mother. You've just had that tiny little baby recently born. And now you're holding that baby in your arms. Can you try and verbalize the love, the emotional feeling that you have for that tiny little baby?

I mean, you'll do everything for that baby. Isn't it, moms? Isn't it? You'll do everything for that baby. You'll protect, you'll nourish, you'll do everything for that baby. And as as parents, as dads, maybe we don't show it the same way, but we do try also to have the same love.

But I think women maybe have a little bit special love they learn more than men. At least, I know my wife has more than me. I got a lot to learn so much. But we start to understand a little bit about what the love that God has for us. Because where does that come? It comes from God, who put it in there in the woman. God. God created that. So He knows what that is, and that's what the love He has for us. So if you turn with me, please, to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 7.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. You know, quite often we don't understand what grace is.

Grace is not just forgiveness. Grace is the whole love, generosity, goodness. And the best way to exemplify is the example I gave just now, which is, for instance, the mother having for that just recently born baby. I mean, that that graciousness that you have towards the baby, that love, that care, that outgoing concern, that grace is a whole multitude of things put together into one word.

That word is not good enough to contact. It's all that. And it says, yeah, it's the riches of His grace.

Now, riches of God's grace. That means God's not poor. God's got tons of it, tons of it, and He wants to give it to you and I. That's why we said in the beginning, if we keep God's laws, and we read that in 1 John 3, 22, and we do the things that are pleasing in His sight, He wants to answer our prayers and give it to us. Why? Because that's His grace. If your children are doing everything you want, they asking according to your will, they pleasing you in everything they do, and they come and say, Mommy, can I please have this? And you know it's not selfish, because they try and put the best and the good of others. Are you going to deny them? No! And so, much more God will not deny us. Brethren, turn with me to Psalm 31. Psalm 31 verse 19. Psalm 31 verse 19. Psalm 31 verse 19. Oh, how great is your goodness! How great is God's grace! His goodness, His grace, His love towards us. We should have laid up for those who fear you. It was those that have respect to God, respect towards God, and it was that they obey Him, and they do the things that are pleasing in His sight. You know, as they have that respect to God, it's not a fear of terror, but it's a proper respect to God. And it says, which you have laid up for those who fear you. It was God only wants to give that goodness to those people that fear Him, which you have prepared for those who trust in you. What is another word for trust? What is another word for trust?

Faith. Faith is trust for those that have faith in you. So if we have proper fear in our words, if we are repentant and we obey God, and if we have faith, the two conditions for baptism, remember? Repentance and faith. If we have that fear of God, and if we have that faith, and we're doing therefore what is pleasing to God, what goodness? How great is His goodness towards us? How great! That is the trunk of the tree, brethren. The trunk of the tree is that God wants you and I to be His children, fully children. Now we just kind of children working progress, but not yet full children. Turn with me to 1 John chapter 3.

1 John chapter 3.

We're going to start reading in verse 1. The old, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, what manner of grace, what manner of goodness, what great desire to do what is best for the children. What love he has. Then we should be called the children of God. Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know Him. The world does not know Christ. They killed Him. They do not know Him. Be old now, beloved now. We are the children of God. Yes, we are the children of God.

And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. In other words, what we will be will be spirit beings like Christ is now. But we know that when He's revealed, that is when Christ comes back at the Second Coming, we shall be like Him. It was then we'll really be like Him because we'll be resurrected, we'll be transformed, we'll be like Him. And when we become like Him, we will then see Him as He now is. You and I now cannot see Jesus Christ now as He is because He's a spirit being. Verse 3, And everyone who has this hope in Him, if you and I hold on to the trunk of the tree, this is the trunk of the tree to be children of God. If you and I hold on to the trunk of the tree, purifies Himself just as He's pure. Here was we work in becoming more and more like Christ is.

That's what it is. This is such a big hope that we will just motivate, be so motivated to do what's pleasing to God. But we have to keep this top of the mind, the trunk of the tree.

So what does God expect of us? So what does God expect of us? Now turn to Micah 6. Micah 6. Micah 6.

We're going to read verse 6 and 7 first.

With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God? Oh, how shall I come to church and worship Him? What shall I do when I come to church?

Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings?

And you'll probably say, no, no, that's all the estimate. Of course you would say that. But but think about it. What shall I do to please God? What is it that God wants me to do? Will calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams?

Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give you all my money to the church?

And that's please God. Must I therefore never, never have, for instance, a vehicle or a car or a good house or whatever it is, because I must live in utter poverty? Because, you know, I'm giving everything. These are the offerings that I'm giving. Is that what God wants me to do? Should I give my firstborn for my translation? Shall I take my firstborn child and sacrifice that child? And you'll say, no, that's ridiculous. Well, of course we'll say that because we do this. But what is it that you may think that we've got to do? Must we create our own righteousness? Think about what we read earlier on in Romans 10. What are we going to make our own self-righteousness? What is it that we must do to come before God, to please God? Keep your fingers there because we're going to come back to it. So put a marker there. But now let's look at Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4.

Now think about you as parents.

The children are growing up. What do you want from the children? Do you want them to give you all their toys?

Yeah, think about it. All the toys we have nowadays says, okay, I'm going to give them to God, and therefore I'm making the sacrifice. Do you want your children to give you all their toys so they got no toys so that... No, you don't want that. What do you want from your children? You want them to grow into mature adults in all areas of phases of their lives?

That's what you want.

Now what does God want from us? It's the same thing. That's why He's given us ministers and the church and the Bible and the Word. What? To edify the body of Christ. It was to edify us so that you and I can be mature spiritual adults. That's what we read in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11. He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry. And that is not... does not mean that you're going to be a minister. No, it means to the work of service. To minister means to serve, to serve. There's many ways you can serve. Serve by helping moving up tables and chairs. You can serve by many ways. See somebody need and helping that person. Look out on the interests of others that not of yourselves. To verse 13, we all come to the unity of the faith. We are united in belief and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Interesting, the word knowledge. Can you see that? Earlier on, I mentioned the knowledge. I then said, no, it's not the knowledge of computers. It's not the knowledge of iPhones. It's the knowledge of who Christ is so we can imitate Him. And yes, yes, the knowledge of the Son of God, which is Christ, in other words, said that you and I may grow to a perfect man, to the measure, to the standard of the stature of the fullness of Christ. In other words, to a mature adult like Christ is because He's the end result of the law. He is the end of the law, as we saw early on. He is the ultimate one that exemplified and achieved what the law is all about.

Then we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine, with tweaks and all those things, by the trickery of man in the cunning craftness of the sinful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, that we may grow up in all things into Him that is Christ, who is the head of the church. Brethren, that is the trunk of the tree. So what is the sacrifice that you and I need to do? We read in Micah just now, is it offerings?

Well, in Romans chapter 12 tells us what the sacrifice is. Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 verse 1 and 2.

Romans chapter 12 verse 1 and 2.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. So what is the sacrifice that God wants from you and I? Is that we sacrifice ourselves, sacrifice our lives for the good of others. Then we give up our time for the good of others. Then we go out of our way for the good of others. Then we do things for others. A living sacrifice which is holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, which is you're just what you should do, just your reasonable service.

And not to be conformed to this world. Don't be conformed to this world. All these worlds that he sings and this is so nice, the things of the world, says don't be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That you might prove. What is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God? Why? So that we can do the things that are pleasing to him. Isn't that what he said? That's what we need to do. Our minds need to be transformed so that we need to be thinking about what is it that God wants.

So what is the sacrifice that you and I must do? The sacrifice is that we ought to live a new life.

With a transformed, changed way of thinking according to God's will, looking at Christ, which is our example.

Now we can go back to Micah chapter 6, where we were just now. Now, in Micah chapter 6, and we can now read verse 8.

He has shown you a man what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? What does God require of you? But to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. To do what is right, to be merciful to other people that don't do things right to you. That's hard. It's hard.

Last week I gave a sermon about the root of bitterness and how you offended.

You know, when people do things to us, it's easy for us to be offended. It's easy to us to have that root of bitterness, and if we don't let that go, that grows and grows and grows.

And as I mentioned in my sermon, more people have left the church because of that. In other words, because they did not offend it, then people have left the church because they've sinned. That's interesting. Think about it. So we need to love mercy and to walk humbly with God. What do you mean to walk humbly with God? To walk humbly with God means that it takes faith. That if you're going to walk humbly with God, it takes a lot of faith to walk that way.

And brethren, isn't that what Christ criticized the Pharisees about, saying, you bunch of hypocrites! Because, yeah, you type all these little detailed things, which, yes, you should do, but you're forgetting justice, mercy, and faith. Or, in other words, as it says, yeah, to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God in faith. That's what we've got to do. That's what we've got to look at ourselves. That is the trunk of the tree of Christianity.

If you look at Colossians chapter 3, if you look at Colossians chapter 3, starting from verse 1 through verse 14, it says, if there you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above. In other words, look at Christ-like things, put the right thoughts in your mind.

And then, in other words, if you look at the right thoughts, in other words, look at Christ-like things, put the right thoughts in your mind.

Revenants, I told you, I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to us, including myself. I've got to look at myself and check myself time and time again, because I'm a human being like you. I'm not any better. I have to check myself and say, am I seeking the things which are above? Verse 2, set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. What do you mean you died? What do you mean you died?

You were still alive? What do you mean you died? What do you mean you died? You died because, oh, I like these things. These things look so nice.

Now you have to die to those things and do what God says. That's not the wrong motive, therefore I don't want you to do that.

That requires me dying, requires us dying. It's not easy, brethren. You know it's not easy. It's hard. It's hard. But we've got to die. And your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, that's easy, second coming, then you'll also appear within glory. Then you'll be resurrected within glory. Therefore, put to death your members, which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanliness, passion, evil desire, covetness, which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming down on the sons of the beast, in which things once you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

Which means that through Specterism you're not doing those things. Right! Those are gone. Right!

You don't do those things of the flesh. You once walked, but now you baptize you don't do those.

But! But!

It's a big word, isn't it? But! But! Now! You baptize you in the church. You've put those things away, but there's still something else that you've got to put away as well.

But now, you yourselves are to also, are to put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another.

Do we still have now that we've been baptized? Do we still get angry now and again?

Yes, we do. Well, we've got to put that off.

Do we still have words now again that are tilted a little bit? Then we say to somebody else something that it's got a little bit of a knife into it, but it's very subtle. But it's just just enough to say, to cut.

It's subtle, but are we in the church still saying that? Well, it is. We are.

So we've got to be careful. It says we've got to put these things off now. It says, but now yourselves are to put off all these as well. Now, do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge. What knowledge? Oh, there's a word knowledge again. What knowledge? The knowledge of Christ. In knowledge according to the image of him. Here was the knowledge of Christ, the image of Christ, who created him.

And so it says, therefore, there's no no Greek, no Jew, no circumcision. In other words, there's no discrimination between people.

Verse 12, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies.

Did we see the love justice and mercy, to do justly and love mercy, put on tender mercies? Kindness. When somebody in the church does something that upsets you and I, are we going to use a little word out there just to cut? But it's so subtle. But that person knows you're cutting, but the other people that are here didn't understand that you were cutting.

That's not kindness.

Humility, meekness, long suffering.

Why do we have to put on long suffering? If everybody in the church was perfect, we don't have to suffer.

But it says, long suffering. Here, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave, so you also must do.

Nobody has repented!

He doesn't say, only forgive if your repentance is, as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. We must forgive.

I'm not God to to know if the people have or not repented in their hearts. But I must forgive. That's my job. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection, which is the glue that brings unity in the church.

Love is the glue, is the bond, is the superglue, spiritually speaking, that affects us, puts us together as one.

Love unites everyone perfectly, putting it another way.

So brethren, this is what we're going to do. We're going to put on this nature of God.

He talks in other places about the divine nature that we need to put on.

Where do we read that? In 2 Peter. So let's go to 2 Peter. 2 Peter. Chapter 1.

Grace and peace will multiply to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. Again, the word knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. Our Lord has His divine power, that's God's only Spirit, has given to us all things that pertain to life and Godness. God's Holy Spirit gives us all the tools that you and I need to be Godly people.

Through the knowledge of Christ, of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which we have been given to us exceeding great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world. For this reason, give all diligence. For this reason, give all effort, all work-heartedness. Add to your faith virtue.

In other words, add all the virtuous characteristics of having proper interpersonal relationships with other people. And to virtue knowledge. What knowledge? The knowledge of Christ, which is the one that we need to copy and imitate.

And then to knowledge self-control. What does it mean? That we have to have the self-control to control our tongues and our thoughts, to actually do the right things and think the right things and say the right things. And to self-control perseverance. In other words, stick to it till the end. Don't give up. And to perseverance, Godness, in it was be like God.

And to Godness, in broadly kindness, in other words, have that brotherly love towards one another. And to brotherly kindness, outgoing, godly, agape love.

For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren.

That means you're going to stay close to the vine and therefore you're going to bear fruit. You stay close to the trunk of the tree.

Northern fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, knowledge, knowledge of what? Not of computers, not of maps, but of Jesus Christ. For he who likes these things is short-sighted even to blindness. And as for God, then there has been there he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligently to make your call and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. You will never leave the church. If you do these things, you will never leave God's family.

For so, it was by this way, an entrance. That's how you'll make it. That's how you will enter the kingdom of God. For so, an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the ever-lasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So brethren, what have we got here?

We've got a case of choices.

You see, the world is pulling us in one way.

We've got to take off those things, those bad words, those bad thoughts, whatever, and we're going to put on a new man. We need that self-control to do it, and it's a choice. Isn't that what Adam and Eve had to do?

There were two trees, and God said, yeah, giving you two trees, choose the tree of life.

But you know what they did? They chose the tree of knowledge of good and evil. What does that mean? All these good things, all these bad things, and you mix them all together, and people get all confused, and that's what the swole is. You've got these things, and you get right and wrong, and next thing all you want is love, and you've got to have love, and you've got the LGBTs, and I don't know what else, you just have to have love, and they mix it all up, and mix good and evil. It's the tree of death. And we've got to choose between the tree of death and the tree of life, and the tree of life is what God tells us what is good and what is evil. It's a question of choices.

Therefore, choose life that you may live abundantly. That's what the tronomy 30 says, remember? But that's also in the New Testament. Look at Hebrews chapter 5.

Verse 14.

Now, he's talking out to Christians, which were of Jewish descent, and he says to them, but solid food, that means solid Christian food, belongs to those who are mature, that are of full age, that are not little babies, they've grown up and matured.

That is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. By reason of use, they've grown up and they matured to distinguish between the tree of death and the tree of life. They can distinguish what is good and what is bad, and if they have over time developed experience, matured, grown in making those wise decisions, they're certainly good from evil. And that is a growth process.

And that's why in 2 Peter, we are told 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 18. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 18, right at the end, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who grow in the grace. And what is the grace? It's that mercy, that kindness, that goodness of God, which is exemplified by Christ, and the knowledge, understanding what Christ is, so that Christ is living in us with the same mind, imitating that, and that's what you and I have to grow. Grow in that grace, in that goodness, in that love, all that that word encompasses, and grow in the knowledge of Christ. And that involves making decisions, right decisions.

You see the trap, Reverend? The trap is that we get involved in tweaks.

We get down to the tweaks, and those tweaks take us away from the trunk of the tree, which is the purpose of what God is working in us, which is to make us children of God, to be wise children like you and I want our children to be. That's what God wants us to be, wise, godly children, mature to the stature of Jesus Christ. But you see what happens is, some people make themselves teachers of the Lord, not knowing what they're talking about. You can read that at the beginning of Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 3 through 5, and they only cause the visions in the church. And then at the end of Timothy, the 2nd Timothy chapter 4 says, this spreads like cancer. And you know, cancer spreads. It's dangerous. This is a cancer. So if you get involved into these tweaks, and you do these ideas, into these dead genealogies, and these dates, and all these counting things, etc., etc., what nothing to do with the trunk of the tree, which is to be children of God and being like Christ. If you go onto those tweaks, you end up breaking away from the vine. So be careful. Be careful. Don't get onto the trees. Remember always what you and I read in Romans chapter 8. And we're going to read Romans chapter 8 verse 16. We read that section a little earlier on, but I want to read it again. Because this is the trunk, part of the trunk of the tree. It really is a beautiful scripture. Romans chapter 8, starting in verse 16. For the Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit. In other words, God's Holy Spirit bears witness with our Spirit as the Spirit of man in man.

Then we are the children of God. And if children are dead, and ears of God, and joint ears of Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, then we may also be glorified together. So it's not just a bed of roses. They are going to be some challenges. Right? That's what it says. For I consider that these challenges, these sufferings we're going to have in this present time are not worthy to be compared with the reward, with the glory that shall be revealed in us. Verse 19. For the earnest expectation of creation eagerly awaits for the revelation of the sons of God. The whole creation, the whole mankind, and only that, what is the creation? The creation is even animals. All that waits for that time. Why? Because in the world tomorrow, even the nature of animals will be different. For the creation was subject to futility not willingly. The creation was subject to decay not willingly. But because of him was subject in hope. Why? In the hope that you and I are going through this, through this training ground, through this quote-unquote crash, human crash of growth and development, through become adults, spiritually speaking. In the hope that we will make through it and will become mature adults, making the right decisions. Because, verse 21, the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The whole world will be delivered from this corruption that we have around us. Because in the world tomorrow, this will become a garden of Eden, will become a paradise. The whole creation will be delivered waiting for the liberty that the children of God will bring. That is our hope, brethren. That is our great hope. That's why you and I were born.

And so you and I have to keep that burning, bright in our minds with the help of God's Holy Spirit. Because that is why you were born. That's why we are young. And that is what's important. So to conclude, I'd like to ask you to turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23.

1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23.

Now, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23, now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. How does God sanctify us through the power of the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit, the sanctification of the Spirit, we sanctify you by the power of the Holy Spirit. Sanctify completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, that means your life, and your physical body be preserved, blameless, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Brethren, we need to learn to do what is pleasing to God, to make choices of what is right and pleasing to God until the end. So that at the end, you and I may be blamed, preserved, blameless, at the time of Jesus Christ's return.

In conclusion, the Father wants godly children, children that make wise decisions and which remain faithful to those wise decisions till the very end.