Who May Dwell in Your Holy Hill?

What a tremendous, spirited and triumphant sound! That was absolutely wonderful, a wonderful way to get going and started. Greetings and welcome to all who are keeping the feast of Tabernacles and who are connected on the webcast today. For some it's afternoon, for some it's morning, for some it might be evening, and for some it's delayed by a day or so. But today is a wonderful day of unity as the United Church of God all around the world is connected by this webcast.

We're listening to the same message, being of one spirit, of one mind, and one purpose. It is good to see you, to see everyone, people that we haven't seen in many, many years. A special shout-out to everyone from sea to sea, from ocean city to ocean side, from where the feast began in the Pacific Islands, in New Zealand, to where the feast will end in Hawaii, to our brethren in Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Canada, the European countries where the feast is held in Italy, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, in Africa, in South Africa, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, that we especially love dearly because we have been there, Kenya, West Africa, Central Africa, in the Caribbean, and we pray for our brethren in the Bahamas, Mexico, Latin America, Central America, also Brazil, Hong Kong and Penang, Sri Lanka, India, Turkey.

I may have left some general areas out. I apologize. But also, especially, I welcome everyone who is at home connected on the Internet. We have not forgotten you, and we know there's a reason that you're at home. It could be because of health, of not being able to make it for one reason or another. And I know that many of you wish that you could be right here with us. A very special welcome to all of us here in Sevierville, Tennessee.

Special welcome to you. Beverly and I have come back from Bend, Oregon, where we kept the first half of the feast, and truly enjoyed the spirit there, which was equal to the spirit here. I'm amazed as to how strong the United Church of God is in spirit and purpose, in optimism for the future. That is absolutely wonderful. One of the highlights of the feast there is that we had two groups of Russian-speaking Christians, Sabbath-keeping Christians, come down from Portland, Oregon.

They came down on the Holy Day, those who would keep the Holy Days, and they kept the Holy Day with us. Then we also had another group that came down on Tuesday, and they performed a very special concert by a group that they have had for ten years called The Voice of Salvation. They were originally from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and three Islamic republics from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Before their concert in the afternoon, we held a Bible study where they told their stories. It truly was very wonderful to us. People like to mention that we are greatly saddened by the sudden and unexpected death of a great spiritual warrior who was faithful to the truth of God, Robert E. Fay. He was outstanding pastor, administrator, teacher, and mentor, and served in different offices around the world in South Africa, Canada, and Australia. He was an effective speaker whenever he would speak everybody was waiting to hear Mr.

Fay and what he had to say. He is also becoming very well known among us in the ministry as an effective online trainer for our ministry and has become one of the more popular teachers in our online programs. My wife and I visited him and his wife just a little over six weeks ago in Chicago on our way up to the ministerial conference in southeastern Minnesota and had a very optimistic and very positive discussion about the future.

He was looking forward to teaching more classes and said, I'd like to teach this, I'd like to teach that. And we were looking forward to him actually becoming more involved in the mentoring and the teaching of our ministry.

It's such a great loss to us to have him not being able to do that with us. He has left us so doing the work of God. We'll greatly miss him. Last year on the webcast we asked the question, what are the signs of your coming and the end of the age? This year I have a different question for you. Very relevant, and it's found in Psalm 15 and verse 1. A very important and relevant question. Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle, who may dwell in your holy hill?

The questions are who's going to live in your house? Who's going to be part of your family? Who's going to be in your tabernacle, in your mansion, in your home? And number two about the holy hill? Who's going to rule with you in your hill, mountain, government, and kingdom? In other words, the question is who is going to be in the kingdom of God? And there's probably no more relevant question than that for you personally.

Am I going to be there? And we'll soon know one way or another in a few years. He speaks about the mountain of God that Isaiah spoke of and is often read at the Feast of Tabernacles in Isaiah chapter 25, which is so relevant to the moment we're in right now. Isaiah chapter 25 and verse 6. Isaiah 25 verse 6, And in this mountain the Lord of Hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the leaves, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the leaves.

And he will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. We live in a world which has a veil over it that prevents us from seeing God, from interacting with Him, and a veil that blocks out God's wisdom and God's presence. But that will be taken away, and so will death.

The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. These words are relevant to us right now. And where will this be? This will be in the mountain of God, the Holy Hill.

Who will be there? Will it be you? I hope it's all of us in this room who will reunite and hold the Feast of Tabernacles in God's holy mountain altogether. Daniel chapter 2 also speaks of the same subject about a stone that came from somewhere and crashed into the toes made of iron and miry clay, upon which a statue of iron, brass, silver, and gold were standing on.

And this statue toppled over, representing the world-ruling kingdoms. And this stone grew and grew into a mountain that ruled the earth. That's the mountain that we're talking about. And that's that mountain that we want to become a part of.

These questions couldn't be more relevant. Who shall dwell on your holy hill? Who will dwell on your tabernacles? To ones to which we want a sure answer. We are here celebrating the coming kingdom, and our hope and prayer is that we will all be part of it. The answer to who is given in this short psalm of Psalm 15. It contains 112 words. It's very, very short. But the question is asked in verse 1, and the answer follows. Are you up to being part of the answer? The psalm tells us exactly the kind of person who will inherit the kingdom of God and be part of the family of God. How much more a personal question would you like answered? Because this is salvation. Salvation is being in the kingdom of God that we pray for daily. Thy kingdom come, your family and your kingdom, your government. This psalm gives us a glimpse into the timeless and consistent mind of God, because the standards that God was speaking from at the time the psalm was written to the time of Jesus Christ and to our time was exactly the same. We will see that today. It spans man's existence through old and new covenant. I'll just take a moment to read Psalm 15, because I can read it in 35 to 37 seconds, I've timed it several times. Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle? Who may dwell in your holy hill?

He who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart. He who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend. In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but he honors those who fear the Lord. He who swears to his own hurt and does not change. He who does not put out his money to usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. That's it! 112 words, answering the question, who will be in your kingdom? This psalm amazingly corresponds to what Jesus Christ preached in his best-known and first recorded sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, that spans the chapters 5 through 7 of Matthew. It will be turning between Psalm 15 and Matthew 5, the principal areas where I will be in today. It is far more than a coincidence that the importance and that pluckability of what is spoken of in Psalm 15 is covered by Jesus Christ. It's as though Jesus Christ had Psalm 15 as his sermon notes when he spoke in the Sermon on the Mount, because so much of what is covered in Psalm 15 is expanded and magnified in Matthew 5 through 7, the Sermon on the Mount. Let's start.

Psalm 15 will cover the first two verses because we already mentioned verse 1 are the two questions.

Introduction in the Sermon on the Mount, which is the Beatitudes, also refers to the kingdom of God as what this is all about. What Jesus Christ was covering in Psalm 15 and in Matthew 5 is having to do with the kingdom of God. In verses 3 and 10 of Matthew 5, he says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God. In verse 10, blessed are those who are persecuted, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, once again. In verse 5, it speaks about those who will inherit the earth, the kingdom of God. And in verse 8, it speaks of those, for they shall see God, they will see Him as He is, as part of His family. Psalm 15, verse 2 now, is a very, very important part of this song. As Jesus Christ expands on this very, very vociferously through the Sermon on the Mount. Psalm 15, verse 2, He who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart. He who walks uprightly. The word uprightly is the Hebrew word tamim. In the JPS, or tanakh translation, it's translated wholeheartedly. And when Abram, this is reading from the JPS, was ninety and nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty, walk before me and be wholehearted.

So there are two subjects that are covered here in Psalm 2. Verse 2, I should say of Psalm 15. 1. Being wholehearted, 1. One who speaks the truth in his heart, two mentions to heart, and 2. One who works righteousness, righteousness and being wholehearted.

Jesus Christ goes deeper in explaining this requirement in Matthew, chapter 5. 2. He is one who works righteousness.

In Matthew, chapter 5 and verse 6, the subject of righteousness is introduced.

3. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. 4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they are going to be filled.

Jesus Christ does not say, blessed are those who are full of righteousness, and neither does he say, those who feel righteous.

And actually, with the other beatitudes, he explains more fully what this righteousness is, because the metrics of righteousness are not in the things that you do.

It's not in the things that you believe.

And we'll see what those metrics are.

The beginning of the beatitude starts with one who is poor in spirit.

Poor in spirit. Poor in spirit is one who really has a very low estimation of not himself as a person, but how he compares with God.

It is humility, and righteousness is found in humility. That's where it begins. You might say that Jesus Christ began his powerful ministry.

That is to encompass what character of human beings ought to be with humility. The answer is yes. It was very important to Jesus to start on the subject of humility. Because the very first sin was opposite of humility. The very first sin led to damage in the kingdom of God.

The first sin is one that Jesus Christ, God, the Father, are reconstructing right now in the Church.

Ezekiel 28, verse 15, talking about Lucifer. This is prehistoric. We don't know when this happened, but this is the first record of sin entering into the realm of God.

Ezekiel 28, verse 15, You were perfect in your ways for the day you were created.

This is talking about Lucifer, until iniquity was found in you. This is the first sin, the first gap, the first mistake. By the abundance of your training, you became filled with violence within and you sinned.

Therefore, I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God.

The Beatitudes are trying to bring us back into the mountain of God.

I destroyed you, O covering carob, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.

This is a reconstruction. A deconstruction of pride is Jesus Christ introducing humility, being poor in spirit. The kingdom of God will have this attitude as foundational. Jesus Christ is reconstructing the damage that took place in the kingdom before man's creation.

Pride has been the undoing of so many. The pride has been the undoing of many people, many leaders, including ministers, and maybe especially ministers.

Pride is so hard to root out, but it must be recognized and it must be defeated. And that's why Jesus Christ began his ministry where blessed are the poor in spirit. In our leadership seminars that we hold around the country, Mr. Holiday and I have as one of our first lectures about not only service, but the importance of humility. Because pride, as it grows, as it's not identified and overcome, leads to destruction every single time. It is a root cause of division.

It must be recognized. In Isaiah 66, verse 2, we see that this concept is not only one from Jesus Christ, but as recorded in Isaiah 66, verse 2. Isaiah 66, verse 2, But upon this one will I look, one who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.

This is a vital and important characteristic and trait.

Next one is, blessed are they that mourn.

And what kind of a faith is this? Poor in spirit and mourning? Why do we start out on this kind of a note?

But it's also very, very important. Mourning means to be sorry, taking responsibility, being accountable, not justifying, not blaming others, and not being a victim.

It's a very important aspect of the beginnings of a change in life. Sorrow to repentance. Mourn. Mourn for your mistakes and truly be sorry.

Not a Hillary type, sorry. But a truly, I made a mistake.

I have failed.

I'm totally responsible.

One that's meaningful in that manner.

I'd like to take a look at a person who really had to learn these lessons in the hard way.

Both of these lessons are being poor in spirit and mourning. This is the ancient patriarch Job.

I'll cover the next few minutes here about Job because Job is a study in becoming one who was poor in spirit and one who was able to mourn. It's a book which has 42 chapters, one of the longest books in the Bible, symbolic of the fact that it's not easy to become humble. And it's not easy to come to the point of mourning.

And we delude ourselves that we're humble. We delude ourselves that we're sorry. And oftentimes we're not.

Job, from the very beginnings of the book, was described as a person who was blameless. He feared God and he shunned evil.

Sometimes Job gets a bad rap as a person who did evil or somehow was evil. He wasn't evil. He was a good man. He was honest. He was fair. Maybe not an easy person to work for because he was so strict on himself and everyone else on the values that he upheld. He was devout.

He was disciplined. He was a great manager. And he did everything right.

But he had a blind spot, a big blind spot, that took 42 chapters of the book to be able to get through. He thought highly of himself and no doubt looked down upon others as not being as good as he was and living up to his standard. And you know something? He probably was very right because he lived a righteous life.

Satan went to God and asked God, look, the reason Job is such a good fellow is because you have blessed him so much. You take that away from him and he'll curse you to his face.

Take it away from him. Take all that away from him.

Satan was ready to be the tool for God. God agreed. He said, do everything except take his life. And he did. His health was taken away. He sat there in the street with scabs. His wealth was taken away from him. His children were all killed.

All he had left was a nagging wife that told him, curse God and die.

That's the last thing you wanted to hear. But Job was faithful to God. And he went on with God to reason and talk with him through his friends first. As he sat there, he had three of his confidence come by. And through reasoning, arguing with his friends, they tried to figure out why. Why did this happen to such a fine person?

It's a study of why do bad things happen to good people. One of the answers.

And we get the next 38 chapters of arguing, excuses, rationalizing, even sarcasm and justifying.

In the book of Job, it becomes clear that the first three of Job's friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, wrongly state that God punishes the wicked and rewards the good.

They came to Job and said, No, Job, look, there's got to be something that you're doing wrong. Come on, fess up. You can't be that good a guy. You did something wrong. Job said, No, I didn't. Job still was faithful to God. Even though I'm suffering, I will praise him.

The fourth person who came was a little bit better, Eli-Hew. He was kind of warming things up now for God to speak, who showed that God does bring punishment or God brings unhappy things, not only on the wicked, but also on the good for different purposes. He was bringing Job to the realization that there was something wanting in his attitude. He was getting warmer to the truth. After Eli-Hew, God then begins to speak to Job. And this is phenomenal, the language here. And I'm going to read from the New Living Translation in Job 38. Now, after we have the three friends, we have Eli-Hew. Now we have God speaking to Job. Then the Lord answered Job for the whirlwind and said, Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words?

Brace yourself talking to Job like a man. And he is Job sitting here with sores, lost his family, suffering. And he says, Listen up, because I have some questions for you and you must answer them. Verse 4, Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you know so much. You think you're great? I have some questions for you, Job. Who determined its dimensions of the earth and stretched out the surveying line? What supports its foundations and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? How does that happen, Job? Hey, Job, how old are you?

Where were you when that happened?

Verse 12, Have you ever commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east? Did you ever have anything to do with that? Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth to bring an end to the night's wickedness?

Verse 14, As the light approaches, the earth takes shape like clay pressed beneath a seal. It is robed in brilliant colors.

Verse 18, Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it, if you know.

Where did light come from and where does darkness go? These are still questions that scientists are trying to figure out.

Can you take each to its home? Do you know how to get there? But, of course, you know all this.

For you were born before all was created, and so you are very experienced.

Ah, Drobby is beginning to realize, as we see, that he really wasn't there. He really isn't as big as he thought he was. In his own little puddle, in his own little test tube, compared to the whole universe, he's nothing.

And this is before the time of Hubble that looked into the deep star field. Or, in 2012, it went into the ultra-deep field and found 123 quintillion more stars.

It's just amazing what's out there. What do we have to do with it? What do we know about it? What type of relationship do we have with that?

The James Webb Telescope is going to be set up now after Hubble ends its service. What will we find then? Where will we find all that was formed? All these dancing galaxies out there. And right now we know it's 20 billion light years to the end of the universe. But then what's beyond that? And is that really the truth? What's out there is awesome, and God is awesome. There's no way we can even compare or rationalize. Even scientists are saying that numbers like 123 quintillion are simply outside the human ability to reason about it. About numbers of this magnitude. God is trying to impress us, and we don't get it. The whole world doesn't get it. They're still in their own little world and their own little problems and their own little spiffs with one another.

God continues in verse 31, Can you direct the movement of the stars? He talks about the various constellations that we even know, binding a cluster of Pleiades, loosening the cores of Orion, which are just local stars in our Milky Way galaxy. Can you direct the sequence of the seasons?

Verse 33, do you know the laws of the universe? No, we don't know the laws of the universe. Scientists don't know them. You see all those galaxies out there? They're all flat. You know one thing scientists can't figure out? Why are they flat? According to the laws of physics, they should be balls. But they're all like pancakes sitting out there. What types of forces? Are holding them in this particular shape? Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain? Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct? Who gives intuition to the heart and instinct to the mind? He even talks about the way the human mind is constructed with its instincts and intuition.

Chapter 40 of Job. Then the Lord said to Job, Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God's critic, but do you have the answer? Then Job replies to the Lord. Verse 4, I am nothing.

Took 40 chapters to get to this point. And this is the point that Jesus Christ is making in Matthew 5, the poor in spirit.

And this is what the psalmist is writing about the heart. And righteousness and where it begins.

I am nothing. How could I ever find the answer? I will cover my mouth with my hands. Oh, shut up. I have said too much already. Yes, that's right. 38 chapters of wang, wang, wang, wang, wang, you know, reasoning and arguing, you know, with God. I have nothing more to say. And finally, where we get to in chapter 42 of verse 4, listen, please, and let me speak.

I will question you. You shall answer me.

And Job says, I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you.

Therefore, I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. Here is someone who was perfect. By human standards. A person of wealth, a great manager, suave, owned a lot of property. But he had to come to the point of what he really was in comparison to God. And his pride and his status in the world was important to him. He lost it all. And he began to understand where he really fits. Do we really understand how small we are? How ultra tiny we are on this earth, in the solar system, and so forth. We could go on and on with that. Many, many messages are given with that particular comparison. But we are nothing. We are less than nothing.

And we need to understand that.

Job is a tough nut to crack. Are you a tough nut to crack? Am I a tough nut to crack? Of how we see ourselves. Are we poor in spirit and truly understanding what we have? We walk and down the hallways. We're all self-contained bodies, you know, and everything. We're going to be here. A few years, we won't be here. Then what? We are so tiny and so little. Can we truly understand our value and our worth?

Are we poor in spirit and have we mourned?

This sermon by Jesus Christ, the similar amount, is the most well-known, the least understood, and the least practiced and obeyed. And hopefully, we will take it upon ourselves to be able to understand it more.

Another comparison of righteousness. The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke chapter 18. Luke chapter 18.

Verse 9. He also spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous.

See, we're still working on Psalm 15 verse 2, who works righteousness. What is this righteousness that we're talking about?

Now, people think about just doing a lot of good things, thinking a lot of good thoughts, talking about platitudes. But we see that this righteousness is really founded in attitude.

Who trusted in themselves and that they were righteous and despised others. It's amazing that as you become more and more righteous in your eyes, you look upon others being less righteous as despicable. They don't do things the way I do.

Two men went up to the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.

God, I thank you that I am not like other men. One, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector who is standing nearby, also praying in the temple.

This Pharisee, no doubt, was right in the things that he said. He was a good guy. He was not an extortioner, adulterer, and certainly wasn't from the IRS. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess.

The tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven. He just sat there with his head lowered, but he was in the temple of God.

But beat his breast. And you know something? That's God's metric of righteousness. People say, well, how do we know somebody who is righteous? Well, we see this tax collector with his head down beating his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

Jesus says, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified. He came approved. He had attained righteousness with his humility, mourning, and repentance.

What did he say? God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Forgive me for viewing porn. Forgive me for drinking too much. Forgive me for being so inconsiderate to others, for being selfish. How many of us can come to that point? And we're not righteous. Not even righteous by physical standards.

How many of us have sins that we must repent of?

You know the things that we cover in our ministerial classes, we're training our ministers about dysfunctions. It's not like we're talking about some things that are just out there somewhere, somebody's doing these things. There are sins that we need to repent of.

There are sins that are unconscionable. Sexual immorality, watching porn, drinking, alcoholism. Can we come before God and beat our chests and say, God, forgive me?

Forgive me, my sins. Be merciful to me, a sinner. And God says, you will be justified. Rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Our righteousness, as is spoken of in Isaiah chapter 64 in verse 6, Isaiah 64, verse 6, is defined or equated to what? Isaiah 64, verse 6, but we are all like an unclean thing, and our righteousness are like filthy rags, which you know what meant? Menstrual cloths.

Disgusting analogy. Our righteousness, Job's righteousness, and all things that we can brag about, the things that we do better than others. And some people create little islands of righteousness. They can calculate things a little bit more righteously than others.

They can do certain things more better than others. And the way they do that is better than others, and others are not as good as they. Oh, come on! That is not righteousness. That is not righteousness. Even if you did those things righteously, that's what you're supposed to be doing. But the attitude of humility, the attitude of taking responsibility for your actions, the attitude of all the beatitudes which I don't have time to go through, really do represent what righteousness is, being pure in heart, being a peacemaker, and being meek.

That's where righteousness is found. It's not on a list of things that you have done so well that you can just put everyone else down with. Some people like to light up their big spiritual cigar of righteousness and blow smoke into lesser fortunate people. That is very sad. Matthew 5, verse 19. We get more to the heart of what Jesus Christ was speaking of in the Sermon on the Mount, which corresponds with Psalm 15. Matthew 5, verse 19, Matthew 5, verse 19. So, in other words, it's got to be more than just doing those things. It's got to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. And he goes on to say, We will not be able to deal with the righteousness of the King of heaven, but we will not be able to deal with the righteousness of the King of heaven. And what we can do is we can do it in the mercy of God. And we can do it in the mercy of God. Read the righteousness of the Pharisees. He goes on to explain that in the next two chapters. Chapter 5 and verse 21. One example. You have heard Matthew 5 and verse 21, that it was said, to those of old, you shall not murder. In other words, take the life of somebody else. And whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgment, of the judgment.

In other words, it's not enough just not to kill, but sit there and gnashing your teeth to your brothers. If you have hatred, if you have anger, if you have animosity, these are precursors of murder. Boy, does this bring another element to righteousness and commandment keeping. Jesus' cry didn't make it any easier. He didn't make commandment keeping easier. He made it more difficult because he dealt with a spirit.

He dealt with a heart. One who speaks the truth in his heart. Psalm 15 verse 2. It's a person who is wholehearted, a person who works righteousness, and a person who speaks the truth in his heart down deep.

Verse 27 of Matthew 5. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. Oh, we can say, no, we don't do that. I hate it. You know, when that happens, it's usually a big church scandal or a scandal in the community, whatever. When somebody does do that, it makes for a lot of gossip. Somebody does that. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if you're playing around and flirting at work, or just playing around, you're not doing anything really bad. You're just kind of goofing around, and they grow to where they're going back and forth. That's wrong. Or you're watching porn. I have to bring that up. You know why? 68% of men in Christian churches view porn. 50% of pastors in Christian churches view porn. That is shocking. God forbid that that be true in the church of God. I'm just saying that these things are out there, and Jesus Christ says it's more than just having to not commit adultery. To have a physical affair with someone is not to lust after a woman. And in a society we're in, where we have access to so many sinful portals, to gambling, to pornography, to other areas, it's easy to become entrenched, confidentially, secretly, hiding our histories, covering our trails. You know one thing that really struck me? Ashley Madison, the site I should say that was for having affairs. I didn't even realize there was something like that. Somebody hacked into it and got the names, scared the liver out of all the people that signed up for it. But you know what really struck me about that? There were 39 million subscribers. 39 million! I've been shocked if they said 1 million. But 39 million subscribers are looking for an extra miracle up there. That's the kind of world we live in. And let's not be naive that we don't have some of those problems in our midst.

If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. For it is not profitable for you that one of your members perish, then your whole body be cast to hell.

Take your PC and throw it in the river.

Other aspects of the Spirit are spoken of in chapter 6, almsgiving. When you give alms, don't do it for show. When you pray, Matthew 6, verse 5, all part of the certain amount, don't pray to be an exhibitionist, to be noticed by others. Oh, he's a righteous person. Look at him, pray, but pray in secret. And fasting, when you fast, don't be walking around work or among your brethren and say, you know, how come you look so awful today? Of course, you wouldn't say that, you know. The guy would volunteer that, oh, I feel awful. I'm fasting today.

And where your treasure is, there your heart is also. Matthew 6, verse 19, you see that this subject of the heart and the innards of where we obey God is vitally important. It's not just for show, because that comes and goes. But to be able to internalize the values, the truths, the commandments, and to live those commandments as a way of life is what's important to God. Verse 21 of Matthew 6, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Make sure that your treasure is the right treasure. So we have just covered verse 2, he who walks uprightly. This is Psalm 15, verse 2, he who walks uprightly and works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart, keeping the commandments in the spirit.

Psalm 15, verse 3, he that back bites not with his tongue nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor. It was the big deal here. I mean, this is one of the major tenets on which we find the answer to, who shall dwell on your holy hill? What's this?

It talks about something that God hates. God really, really hates. That is slander, gossip, rumors, tail-bearing, back-biting. You know, if you don't like somebody, you wouldn't walk up to them and punch them in the face, would you? You might do that, but you probably will be locked up, or charges will be filed against you. But you can say everything you want to against him. You can go on the internet and just ascribe all kinds of motives and say the most horrible things about somebody else. You could whisper with a small group of people and ascribe evil desires and purposes to what people are doing. Speech is one of the most difficult aspects of life to control. The tongue is a horrible fire that has set off world wars. Usually wars begin with a lot of rhetoric that just escalates and gets more vociferous. You see, the terrible things that are said in the United Nations speeches. One side said this, one side said that they're accusing each other of all these things, and all that ultimately leads to war. Because, see, that's of the spirit. That's of the spirit. What you think in your heart you ultimately will say. And people love to talk about other people, especially if they can say something bad. It's good to have an exercise to just think of several good things about people to say and tell them that. Tell several good things to your friends or about your friends to them. And of course, slander right now on the internet is so prevalent. You can't contain it. It's hard to really deal with. And all types of things are said. They have entire reputation management services that try to, if you have a lot of bad things said about you, to try to improve your reputation by saying a lot of good things to bring you up in the rankings.

But there's so many ugly things that are said. Are we part of it? And saying things that we have no idea what we're talking about. We have no idea what somebody else is going through, or have any of the facts. And yet we feel like we're experts in being able to sum up and make judgments on situations. If we're honest, speaking about all of us, myself included, most of us would admit that we at times have had a problem with our speech and conclusions that we jump to. I'm learning to really think, count to ten before I say something, because it's very easy for me to impulsively react. But this is one of the tenets, one of the important things, of he who back bites not with his tongue, back bites not with his tongue, nor take up a reproach against his neighbor.

Newspaper, columns, magazines, TV, and all the talk shows. I'm about ready to cut the cord, because I get sucked into the evening Fox News type of thing. Sorry about that. But, you know, they just argue back and forth, and they say this, and they say that about people.

I think that to have a pure mind, we need to stay away from those things. People delight in digging up dirt. Whether it's in print, whether it's about famous people, people enjoy digging up dirt.

Matthew 7, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ covered this in the Sermon on the Mount, about this point in Psalm 15, verse 3. Judge not that you be not judged. Verse 2, for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with what measure you use, it will be measured to you.

And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me remove the speck from your eye, and look, a plank is in your own eye, hypocrite. First, remove the plank from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Be careful about judgmental statements. Slander accusations have been the precursor to war, to irreconcilable conflict, divorce, and division in the church.

And we sure don't want that. Because most of the time, the information is corrupted, and information is not totally true. So many times we hear stories about, this person said this, this person is alleged to have done that. When we go to them, it's an entirely different story. Psalm 15 verse 3, nor does evil to his neighbor. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 43, Christ says this, You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to you, love your enemies.

Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use and persecute you. Do we do that? That's part of the qualifications, you might say, of being the kingdom of God. Do I do it well? No. I have to force myself, when people have done things that hurt me, to really be able to be loving towards them. It's hard. But that's part of what Christ did.

Christ so loved the world, God so loved the world, that He gave His own begotten Son. And Jesus said, forgive them, they know not what they do. Can we be that way? That's part of being a Christian.

That's part of being part of the kingdom of God, to dwell on your holy hill. But then notice verse 4, Psalm 15 verse 4. We have what appears to be a contradiction, in whose eyes a vile person is despised. But he honors those who fear the Lord. He swears to his own hurt and does not change. What is being asked here? Here we're supposed to love everybody and have this great tolerance for people who have hurt us.

And yet, he says, in whose eyes a vile person is despised. Note the example that Christ speaks of in Matthew 7 in verse 15. Matthew 7 verse 15, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

You will know them by their fruits. We are to be cautious about people who say things that are unseemly, do things that are unseemly in the church. It doesn't mean we hate them. It doesn't mean that we even speak harshly to them, but we need to stay away from them. We need to protect ourselves from those who will despitefully use us, those who will tear us apart, those who to come into our midst to bring in things that we don't want. You will know them by their fruits. If somebody brings in specialty doctrines, or what I call designer doctrines, or personal calculations and personal this and that, what are the fruits?

What are the fruits? That's what I'll know. What are the fruits? What's the result of that? If the result is bad, you shall know them by their fruits. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves, and they don't even know they're ravenous wolves. We've had people who have come in with designer doctrines that are just full of conscience issues and so forth.

And yet the net result is that people get upset, and people are divided, and people leave the church. We don't want that. I'll speak that categorically, and it's not me speaking, it's Jesus Christ speaking. Beware of false prophets. We don't want churches to separate, fall apart, because of self-righteousness or self-will. They bring on bad fruit. But then it says to honor those who fear the Lord. They should be our heroes.

Proverbs 9 and 10, and fear, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. People of understanding and wisdom. Those who fear God. People who really want to cooperate and work and love and bring people together. And who have pure motives. Those who are pure in heart. People who are teachable and meek.

People who are small in their own sight.

That's who should be honored, and that's who should be held up, saying, these are our heroes. These are the people we follow, not people who have all the answers, or who think they have all the answers, or people who have a self-righteous definition of what they want to impose on others, and bring division, because some will like it and some won't.

Some become their fans, and some become, oh, what's this all about? We don't want that. Honor and be around these people. Honor those that fear the Lord.

And then, he who swears to his own hurt and does not change. Psalm 15 verse 4, the latter part of it.

He who swears to his own hurt and does not change. What does Christ say about it? Matthew 5 verse 33, Again, you have heard that it was said of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths, which is a solemn promise, with a crutch, so to speak, to the Lord. But I say to you, do not swear at all, Christ, saying, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his foot, still, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king, nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.

But let your yes be yes and your no-no, because it comes from the heart. And when you say yes, that is exactly what you mean. That is your commitment. And you will make that commitment to your own hurt.

I said, I would repay, I would be there, I would do this. You do it. Now, that is one of the important characteristics of God's nature. This is something from the heart. You know why it's important? What if God, all of a sudden, who has made a commitment, a promise to give us eternal life, and maybe he forgot to get to the letter Z, and those people were dropped off his database, or other people fell through the cracks, or, oh, I forgot, or I guess they didn't matter that much. Do you know that every single one of us here rely upon God to give us eternal life? We can't give it to ourselves. We don't even know how it works, necessarily, mechanically. But we trust that after we die, that God will raise us up and give us eternal life. I hate to say he better, but I want him to do that. I know he wants to do that for me. I have a responsibility to him, but he is committed to me. And I need to learn that commitment to others. How many times have we been disappointed with people who have not followed through on their commitments? This oftentimes happens in volunteer work. Oh, yeah, I'll do it, and then they don't show up. Our people say and promise all kinds of things and don't fulfill them. One of the most important things you can teach your children is to follow through on their commitments. And when they say yes, they will do it. Even if it costs them, even if it's inconvenient, they will follow through. If they can't say yes, then they better say no.

Let your yes be yes and your no be no. This is being faithful. The last thing, Psalm 15 verse 5, here we have a couple financial matters that are brought up. Psalm 15 verse 5, he who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. This is about money, economics, and strategic use and abuse of wealth. Usury is charging excessive interest for oppressing the poor and putting them under the gun of high interest. You know, this world has become a world of extremely rich people and extremely poor people. And that gap is widening. There's lots of factors for that. Wars, poor planning, etc. But one of the biggest things is usury and the rich taking advantage of the poor. And how is it that the rich could become so rich over the poor? You know why? Because there are so many poor. You get something from a little bit from everyone and you get a lot. I see this happen in Ukraine, which became independent after the USSR fell apart. A little oligarchy of people all of a sudden grabbed all the wealth and they grabbed more and more and the poor people became poorer and poorer and poorer in a very short order. In Russia today, the same is true. The greed of people to control wealth and to shove it out or to take it away from the poor. Loan sharks. Loan sharks are there to take advantage of poor people or those in distress.

Credit card interest. July 31st, 2015, the average interest rate on credit cards was 17.55%.

And it's the people who are bad money managers that are paying that.

They're under the gun. They can't even make the minimum payment. Then they get more interest and penalty put on them. We're never to take advantage of the predatory of people around us.

One person who worked for a very large retailer told me that he was in management. He said, you know, that company's not doing very well. Their product line here is not selling well. That price is not selling there. But you know something was doing well? Their finance division. They're making a ton of money on time payments on their credit card that this particular retailer had.

One of our national curses is our debt. Our nation has ties and more than ties to the god of interest, which is being compounded and added to continually to a point where it's going to come to a total collapse one of these days. Tens of trillions of dollars. The only number that I've heard bigger than that is the number of stars in the universe. But we have tens of trillions of dollars in interest that we owe. No way that it could be paid without a total reset. God had a plan where He reset the economy every 50 years in the jubilee year. But mankind has had the rich and the wise and the clever and the sinister and the devious be able to take control of wealth and be able to take it away from the poor. I'm not sounding like Robin Hood here, but I do know that it's very, very unfair to have that type of situation happen. One of the reasons for war is that you want and you can't have from the book of James. And wars are fought over economies. Wars are fought over who has what and what one wants to take it away from Him. He does not put His money out at usury.

Jesus Christ said in Matthew 5, verse 38, "...give to Him that asks you, and from Him who would borrow of you, turn not away." Doesn't mean just to indiscriminately throw your wealth around, but it talks about a spirit of generosity and care and not being predatory.

Any other financial issue? He would not take a bribe against the innocent. The corruption of justice by bribery is severely condemned in the Bible. Exodus 23, verse 6 through 8, and in many other places. Exodus chapter 3, verse 6, "...you shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. Keep yourself far from a false matter. Do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will justify the wicked. And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous." Not in any way take bribes to have our judgment shifted and changed. We talk about those who were sending out the ministry. Be careful about the gifts that people give them. They said, you come to a new area and influential people at church give you a cruise, whatever. Think about it. Think. Not wrong to accept gifts, but it's wrong to be given benefits for a purpose down the road, that of the payback. But people have been bought off with a job promotion, with more money, and people's salvation has been bought. You come with us and we'll give you this, and people will leave. What's your price? What is your price?

Your price should be there is no amount of money or benefit that could buy my salvation.

There is nothing that would make me change the way I think of what's right and wrong.

This perversion and corruption of justice is very, very important to understand.

We work in a society in the U.S. Actually, that's pretty good compared to the world. We are just absolutely shocked as to what we see in Asia and Africa. The corruption of justice, bribes, and you almost have to be a part of it. I mean, we send containers of goods overseas, and nothing happens, nothing happens, nothing happens, nothing happens until a $400 fee is paid. Which is a bribe. And that is just something which is consistent with the way you do business overseas. Influence, peddling, bribery is a way of life. Justice is corrupted. And we get so corrupted that the danger is that you don't even know what's right and what's wrong. It becomes natural to be corrupt. Corruption is the new moral standing or the new way that you think of what is right and wrong.

He who does not put out his money at usury, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

Psalm 15 verse 5. He who does these things shall never be moved.

He who does these things will be in my house, who will dwell on my holy hill.

And how does Christ end the Sermon on the Mount? Matthew chapter 7 and verse 24. Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock, and it fell not.

Matthew 7, the end of the Sermon on the Mount, ends with the same words, same thought, as Psalm 15. He who does these things shall never be moved. What are those things? Understanding righteousness from the inside.

It's of the spirit, and righteousness is of the heart.

A person who will not slander and hold up those who fear the Lord. A person who recognizes and despises evil in the actions of evil people.

And a person who will not take advantage of the poor, or anyone for that matter, for his benefit. A person who will not be corrupted. This Psalm, Psalm 15, is about the perfect man who will dwell on God's holy hill. A person who will be allowed to live forever. It's only 112 words. To the Jews, this was the second most popular Psalm after Psalm 23, The Lord is my Shepherd. It's known as God's gentleman. God's gentleman. 112 words to eternity. We are preparing the bride for the great wedding supper. And we want a bride with not only a white wedding dress, but a clean white wedding dress. We should be very careful about slipping away from the values that we have always been taught, whether we have perfectly obeyed them or not. But to get back to the very intrinsic teachings of Jesus Christ about what is righteousness. To be righteous from the inside. To be righteous from the heart. And not to do those things that are corrupt. The preparation that we have to being a bride of Christ is a strong personal foundation, very strong personal infrastructure that will lead to a church with a very strong infrastructure. May God be with all of us as we prepare for the kingdom of God. I wish the entire church of God around the world grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I would like to end with prayer for the church. If you would please bow your heads. Our Father in heaven, we come before you as a unified United Church of God. We are thankful to you, Almighty God, for what you teach us, for the values that you have set before us, the values that the world does not accept or wish to obey, but values indeed.

They are not hard, Christ said. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. But let us understand what is needed. Help us understand true righteousness has been spoken of not only today, but on other days, other aspects of righteousness, which is more than just doing things for show, doing things to look right, but something that comes from the inside. Our Father in heaven, we pray for those who are not here. Let's not forget them. Most of them are home because they don't want to be home. They want to be here with us, and they wish they could be here with us, and perhaps next year they will be with us. But let's not forget them and pray for them. We pray for those with trials who have difficulties and tragedies in their lives. We pray for the Robert Faye family and for the sudden and unsuspecting death of their father and their husband, Robert Faye. We pray for them. Almighty God, we ask your blessing upon this church as we prepare new leadership, as we transition to whatever time we have, whether we have 20, 30, 40 years ahead of us, unlikely, or whether we have a short time, but help us to be prepared. Help us to use this Feast of Tabernacles to be cleansed from the inside. Please help us to become stronger in the faith. Please help us to continue to be united as a church of God. Help us to be forgiving and to be loving. So we commit our life, our church, and all of us into your care and trust. In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen.