Herbert W Armstrong

   Mr. Neff had a sermon that he gave, I guess about Moses and this type of thing, and he called me and, uh, he gave me all the questions and so forth. "You know who that is?" "Sure, Herbert Armstrong," he laughed, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. I don't know. He said, "No." Moses." Says, "Well, OK." I told him I wouldn't tell anybody, but he's giving it today, so I guess I can tell everybody. And that was one of the sermons he wanted all three churches to hear, and there's one that I like for all three churches to hear myself. And I personally feel like there's a great need in the church, uh, for this, and uh, maybe help us to have a little bit more of a balance in our lives and realize that there are things in which we lack as Christians and we need to be aware of them and strive for those goals that God set before us.

   We know that Revelation 20 - uh, we just finished the, um, Feast of the Tabernacles and we've had the, you know, the feast that we have in the 7th month, uh, picturing the time when Jesus Christ will be here when God intervenes in world affairs. And finally, you know, we receive our just rewards. Uh, finally there's going to be a resurrection, Revelation the 20th chapter in verse 6. Uh, something that we, uh, certainly hope that we can fulfill, uh, the, uh, receiving our goals, uh, Revelation 20:6: "Blessed and holy is he that hath part and the first resurrection on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him 1000 years."

   I know all the times I've been in Spokesman's Club and questions were posed to the men: "But what will you do? And finally you have something to say about how this world is going to be run. You'll have the power then. I'll kill all those crooks and I'll bomb China and I'll make them, you know, obey God. I'll have the power now to bring things about in this world like it should be brought about." And so we all kind of look forward to all the power and all the strength that God's going to give to us, and certainly it's needed in this world. Everybody realizes, those who are in governments realize that the only way you're going to have peace on this earth is that there's gonna have to be a central government that has the power to enforce peace, to enforce the laws that ensure peace. And yet we don't know who's going to be the one who's going to do that. Nobody wants to submit to any other nation.

   Hitler thought he had the, uh, the power and that he had the divine right to institute peace - 1000 years of peace on this earth - but it wasn't the kind of peace that we're looking forward to, the kind of peace that hopefully we can give this world when Jesus Christ returns to the earth. In Revelation the 5th chapter, and we promise God gives to us. And certainly it helps us to strive to continue in this life to obey God that we might, uh, fulfill these things in Revelation 5:10: "And has made them" - or "made it should be them" because the ones who are singing, uh, you know, the spirit beings already, the ones who are saying this - "but has made them unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth."

   Now God does mention in I Peter, the 2nd chapter, is something that we're going to sort of zoom in on today. That we have always thought about the time when we're going to have power, we're going to rule over ten cities and we're gonna rule over this, that or the other. And of course I think most of us do a bang-up good job when it comes to qualifying to be kings. In other words, I look upon it for the sake of this sermon as a king being a person who has the laws of the land or whatever. He has the subjects and he's the one who's able to, uh, uh, uh, let's say, um, put those laws. He's able to say, "Well, if you went through the red light and you did this, therefore the law says that and so and so, and I'm gonna judge you by the law." He has a law, he's legal, you know, he's a legalist, he's a lawyer, uh, he's the technician of the law. And of course the king has that kind of a - he has to have that kind of a character.

   And yet God says to us we're gonna be kings and priests. I'm gonna sort of, uh, zoom in or I'm going to amplify and the allotted time the qualifications that we have to have as priests. What a priest's function is. In I Peter the 2nd chapter and beginning in verse 9 or so (I Peter 2:9), it says: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar or a purchased people, a special type of people that you should show forth the praises or the virtues or the characteristics or the character of God."

   Now when I think of a legalism, and I think of a person, you know, that knows the law and goes by the law, I think of someone like an automaton, someone like, uh, you know, mechanically run man. It's about like if you, uh, get stopped, uh, you know, running a red light by a policeman and here he's, uh, he's got the kingly function. He knows what the law says. The law says if subject runs red light, subject gets tickets, subject will pay $28.50 or whatever it is here in Houston it's gone up since I got my ticket. It was $17 something and $28 something now minimum, you know, fine. So subject will pay $28. So he, you run the red light and you get there and, uh, and for that he can throw the book at you. And someone who, who, uh, fulfills the job of a king, let's say, let's say a legalist, you know, there's no talking, there's no anything, it's just "I do my job and that's it."

   Now a lot of us are real good at that, brethren. A lot of us are real good in getting the law, you know, getting what God expects for us to do, and many of us like little mechanical men that you wind up, do it. You know, we go out and we do the law, you know, no mercy, no thought, no personality, no character, no nothing. As a matter of fact, a person who has that kind of a, of, of, of an outlook on life tends to be a little bit cruel. Tends to be a little bit cruel.

   I'm gonna talk about another aspect of our conversion that God absolutely requires of us. You might not agree with me or not, but I'm telling you absolutely requires it of us before we will ever enter the kingdom of God. I'll tell you something, brethren. It's always come to my mind, comes to my mind when I give this sermon comes there now. Other times it comes in the middle or whatever. But you stop and think, why would God have to have a bunch of beings to be spirit beings in the millennium to judge if all it entails is a knowledge of right and wrong and a knowledge of the law in order to make things run properly? All you have to have is a bunch of robots and a bunch of computers. And when someone breaks the law, zip you zap them out. When they keep the law zipped, they go into the kingdom of God, you know, real, real straight, real simple, you know, no thinking, no, no personality, no character, no looking in, no judging, no anything, see, uh, just, uh, you know, run, line me up and there I go.

   God says, "No, I need people. They're not only going to be kings, but they're going to be priests." And we'd better be qualifying to be priests now, and I'll give you some of those characteristics on the major characteristics we'll get to in just a little while. So he's gonna be, uh, uh, we're gonna show forth the, uh, virtues or the, the personality of the characteristics, you know, we're dealing, we're dealing in spiritual terminology now, you know, we can go through the Greek or the Hebrew and we can analyze words and get the meaning. But there's a spiritual meaning, there's a feel of the Bible that you have to have in order to really understand. I think God sometimes drags some of us through trials to where he teaches us spiritual things by just studying on your own and reading and getting Greek and Hebrew, see, there's something else a little bit deeper than that when God starts dealing with human beings. Because God's not a computer, you see. God's not just things and he's not just, you know, sort of a yardstick or he's just not some sort of a, you know, like a robot or a D2R2, whoever the things are. I didn't, I never saw Star Wars but I've seen these little things, you know, and I think that's some people's concept of God, you know, he's an impersonal type being, you know, uh, this is the way. That's not the way he is. It's not the way he is at all.

   And I guarantee you we cannot be mechanical Christians and we will not learn everything without God Almighty's help. There is no way that the depth of God can be learned and fully deeply understood unless God himself is involved. Human beings cannot come to real deep spiritual understanding without God Almighty's help. I don't care how much you study and you pray. Those exercises are good and they're necessary. But character cannot be instantaneously created. And understanding of God's deep truth does not come once a person reads and thinks he has a surface understanding of God's truth. The knowledge is something that continues to grow and it continues to accumulate within you, and the depths of it only come from God.

   So hopefully I'm giving you a little bit deeper truth, a little bit deeper understanding because I know the lack in God's church. I know how we were able to create mechanical Christians. I know we're able to say, "Here's the blueprint to eternal life, do it, bam, that's it." And I know how people can become very self-righteous and very self-assured. Reminds me of the Laodicean church. I mean they have need of nothing. You see, they have everything. They have it made. They have God in their hip pockets, they have need of nothing, and yet they're blinded to a lot of things. They're blinded to themselves.

   And I see in God's church a necessity for the great tribulation. I used to wonder how can people who go to church, you know, end up in the great tribulation, those who sit in church? I see the necessity of a great tribulation because I know how sermons and articles fall on deaf ears. People put themselves in a niche above the law or above what's being preached, and when they're OK. And so the sermon only lasts as long as the conviction is there and the minister sitting before them. After they turn around and shake hands, their buddy getting a little clique of their group, it's all over. We go back to our same ways and our same habits.

   So I can see why, because we don't really deeply see ourselves as we should. As I was talking to one man who really wants to come to church. I want to come to... Let me tell you something, mister. Church will not save you. You're putting the church up as an idol, as a god, as a, you know, as the end in itself. But, the church won't save you. Your character is not worthy. I mean there's something wrong with you inside. Need to change the way your mind operates. You need to ask God to put a couple of different kinds of gears in there that he puts in there because your mind doesn't operate right. And going to church won't help you at all. As a matter of fact, I wish you wouldn't come back. As a matter of fact, I don't want you to come back. The church won't do you any good. It might blind you a little bit. You might think you're OK because you're not OK and going to church won't help you at all.

   So we're talking about something a lot deeper than some of the systems and some of the, the outward show and some of the outward appearances and some of the things that we have even said ourselves because I think in the ministry we have created mechanical Christians. I think a lot of ways Ambassador College has created mechanical ministers who go out and do their job. Line me up, go out there problem, boop. "I'll give you the answers, I'm gone, bound. That's it." No, you know, just like, uh, like the R2D2 can do the job. Give you a ministerial manual, you go to section 3, page 8, and it says, "You got this problem, bam, we make this judgment." We don't need you. God doesn't need that type of an individual, brethren. I'll show you what God's like a little bit and read you some of the words of your Lord and Master Jesus Christ and you think about it and you study about it after the sermon is over with because I won't be able to just touch the surface.

   So he says, "I want you to show forth the characteristics, the praises of him who has called you out of his, out of darkness." Sometimes we sing the praises of men. Or we sing the praises of, you know, our credentials or our background or our race or whatever, you know, we don't sing, we don't show forth the praises of God, of him who has called you out of darkness into his, uh, marvelous light. And he goes on talks about them not being a people in this type of thing. And back in Exodus 19:6, God told the people that "you're gonna be a kingdom of priests to me." Now a priest has to deal with human beings. A priest is someone who has to do with compassion, forgiveness, understanding. Get to the heart and core of human feelings and the human existence. Yeah, the law is there, sure. But that law can only be interpreted or it can only be instituted by a living character, a person who has character, a person who shows forth the kind of characteristic God has. God's not a computer.

   I talked to people who left the church and thought all hell was gonna break out, you know. And if I leave the church, I expected, you know, I expected for the roof to give in. I was blessed. I told one person that you could never have grown had you stayed in the church. I see that. There's no way you could have grown with the church being like it is, there's no way you could have come to the understanding that you've come to until you left the church. Now they come back and they're stronger. They see a lot of things they didn't see before. Because mechanical Christianity will not get anybody into the kingdom of God.

   I think too much emphasis is placed on being a church member and not too much placed on being converted. There is a difference, you know. All converted people are church members, but all church members are not converted or anywhere near having God's spirit. But I think some people came to the church to flee the wrath to come or because we have the truth. And so we'll put up with anything in order to be saved, you know. "Man, we'll do anything the church says. We'll go through Christianity like automaton or we'll do whatever they say," you know, in order that we might be saved and go to a place of safety or be in good standing or to be known as being right in this type of thing. Well, that, that doesn't cut it with God. There has to be a resolve. And Mr. Herbert Armstrong said he made this statement. I didn't. "We don't want people here who don't have that internal resolve. We don't want people in the church that don't have God's spirit."

   I think too much emphasis is placed upon physical growth, you know, "we're growing 30%." I don't care if we grow minus 1,000%, still God's church, you know. You know, look at the, you know, external, "oh, we're this, or we drove 1000 miles visiting people." That doesn't mean too much. It can. I think too much of an emphasis is placed on what we see, the outward show rather than what's deep down inside because God, as I said before, placed us here to develop character, holy righteous character. That means what you are is vital to God. What you think and the way you think is vital to God. It means your eternal life and what you are is vital to God. What you are as a human being is more important to God than if you keep the Sabbath and tithe and do all these great works that you do. Because God says you're gonna have to be a priest.

   And, uh, Hebrews the 4th chapter, Hebrews 4. Now Jesus Christ has an example. Hebrews the 4th chapter. He moves forward in verse 15 says (Hebrews 4:15), "For we have not in high priests which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities." Oh. That means he can be moved with compassion about the weaknesses and the problems that human beings have. How many of us are moved by the, by the afflictions and the problems that people have? How many of us are moved like Christ has moved or how many of us are moved to talk about them or to point the finger at them, or to gossip about them? "But I hope that the minister kicks them out of the church. Because they stained us."

   Let me tell you what Paul was talking about. He says, "I'm gonna present you a chaste bride to Christ." He was speaking on a spiritual level. He didn't mean everybody had their haircut a certain length. And everybody either wore did not wear makeup, everybody had dressings, so, you know, everybody looked the part, you know. Everybody look, you know, we all marched in step. Anybody who marched out of step, "get the bumb out of here," you know, the attitude a lot of us have. And so we point the finger at the oddball, at the weak person. The person who, you know, really needs the most help.

   He says, Jesus Christ is not that way. He said, "Let me tell you what he's like. Let me tell you what kind of a high priest he's like, and this is what you better emulate because this is, we're talking about the characteristics of God." Anybody can put the law up there, the Pharisees did that. They had the law, they kept it perfectly. If they missed out on salvation because of what they were that God was looking for. And they, they fell far short of that. That Christ even said one time they were in danger of, of, of, of having eternal death of committing the unpardonable sins.

   So he says, "We have not high priests cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like we are yet without sin." I think a lot of times we feel as though we're tempted and yet we cannot, we're not supposed to sin either. That what we expect in the churches, everybody being perfect. That when you come up off the street and you're baptized, and you come out of that watery grave and hands laid on you. People expect for you to all of a sudden be perfect. They expect you all of a sudden to be the perfect example of a true blue Christian. No faults, no flaws, no anything that way "I don't have to, you know, I, I don't have to display compassion and mercy on you see. Now I can be hard on you if I want to. Now when I see a flaw in you, you're supposed to be a Christian. You're baptized? How can you do such a thing? How they let you in the church? Why do they let you still come to church?" The holy joke, you know, holy righteous, that's not Jesus Christ. It's not a characteristic God says we better, uh, develop.

   "Says let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy. And find grace to help in time of need." This is the kind of Jesus Christ I serve. And the one that I have to go through boldly. A lot of people I hate to go to Christ because I'm not perfect. Well I know I'm not. What else is new? I know where I stand. I know what I am as a human being. But I know what God can make of me, so I don't try to put on airs, you know, and try to pretend to be something I'm not. It doesn't make me any different to what you think of me anyway, you know, not, not really. I hate to be disliked. Everybody hates to be disliked, but I mean that's not the most important thing. The most important thing is that God knows me through and through and it's what I'm trying to accomplish with him. And how I know he sees me. That's very vital to me and gives me a lot of comfort, you know, I don't have to put on airs. I don't have to pretend to be something I'm not. I have to pretend to be the holy minister who comes around with a big smile, "just my son, my child," and you're down there and I'm way over here someplace in the middle of heaven, you know, kind of came down here to kind of help you poor slobs, you know, but I'm, uh, you know, I'm removed from thou.

   I see Pharisees being that way, so what have you got to prove? I ain't asked to be called, you know, God called me, so, you know, God, this is what you got. See, Mr. Armstrong said, "yeah, I'm, I'm a worn out a hunk of junk. Now you make something of it, God, because I fouled it up all these years," you see. "And if you leave me alone, I'll continue to foul it up. So here you've got it. I hope you can do something with it. In fact, I've got faith in you, God, you can do a lot with it. Becuase you can create something out of nothing. So at least we start a little bit better. At least I'm something, I hope," you know, God says I'm a vapor, but at least you know I exist. Who says I don't need to be making apologies to anybody. I can go boldly to God because I know how compassionate, how merciful he is. I know how he sees me and sees me trying and sees the intent of the heart. And see the time you stumble and fall and you feel like giving up is "I ain't gonna give up either. You get back up again and you start walking some more and you stumble some more and get mud in your face and your eyes, you wipe it out and you still keep going. Because this is the right way to go," and yet you know God does not hold those things against you. So you come boldly say, "here I am again. Here I am again, God, heard Mr. Armstrong. I know God just looks down and says, 'Herbert, boy, you did it again. I tell you, you give me a hard time, but I'm gonna save you in spite of you,' you know, 'I'm gonna save you. That's my purpose for calling you.'"

   Verse 5 and chapter 5 (Hebrews 5:5): "For every high priest taken from among men." Are we gonna be taken from among men? Are we human beings? Are we going to be spiritual high priests? Are we learning hopefully how to deal with human beings and how to deal with men, with ourselves, with our brethren, with those in the world. Brethren, we cannot remove ourselves into some kind of a spiritual isolation capsule and do our righteousness. And get ourselves right with God and keep his law. And have sort of an introspective religion, you know, sort of we're in, uh introverted, I should say type of a religion. We're human beings for a purpose. And things go awry askew in our lives for purpose brethren, believe it or not. As I've mentioned before, we're dragged through knot holes, which are trials for an absolute purpose. Because we're gonna be dealing with human beings.

   Believe it or not, brethren, they are going to be people who are gonna be able to relate to those people in Sodom and Gomorrah when they're resurrected. That blows your mind, doesn't it? "You mean gays, we're gonna have gays among us? You mean God's gonna call some gays?" Yeah, he is. Well, that prejudices your mind, doesn't it, used to me years ago. Those things, let me tell you, those things are human beings, brethren. They're made in the image of God and they are a part of this messed up, fouled up society in my lifetime we've created our own problems. Now we want them to to conveniently go away. uh, it's not the job of a priest. As I said in previous sermons, you better see whether that person is redeemable or not. You better look real hard and find out is there any possibility, any glimmer of hope this person can be in the kingdom of God? If there is, God expects you to roll up your sleeve and get down the cesspool and work. "Oh, that's distasteful, isn't it? So stain my righteous garment." You better stain it for that good cause.

   It says, "For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men and things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins." All for forgiveness, compassion, all for mercy for sins because you're dealing with people that are not right and people who want to be right. That's the thing. The attitude is a big thing. "Who can have compassion." Because you can have some, you know, as I said, a milk of human kindness. "Who can have some empathy, who can offer some understanding. On the ignorant." Right, people are ignorant. People in this church are ignorant. That's right, ignorant of what God's doing down here on this earth. When I see people in this church who are so pompous that you can't touch them with a 10 ft pole, they're ignorant. And I think people become important because they receive God's knowledge, then they're ignorant. And God tells me I've got to be compassionate and ignorant people. That's right. I can't put them out of the church, you know. I can say, "go away, you bother me," you know, "you vex me." Now God tells me, he tells you when you see ignorant people, you have compassion on them.

   My mother used to tell me that years ago. I grew up in the South and I wondered about the race thing, you know. So why did God do this and why are these people this way? She said, "Well, son, you have to overlook ignorant people. You have to overlook fools." So I did. I grew up, learned to overlook a lot of people because they're ignorant. Didn't understand what was going on, see. Oh, they're pompous, man. They're, I mean, they're, they're the leading things, you know, but they're ignorant. They're ignorant of God's way of God's truth in the way of salvation. And so I said you better have compassion on the ignorant, you can't be hard and cruel. The opposite of being compassionate and mercy was cruelty. Hard-nosed.

   Mr. Cole wrote in the bulletin on the latest, not the latest Pastor's Report, but the Pastor's Report before. Says, I've been accused of being weak. A weak administrator, you know, our idea in the church years ago is that you can come up here and bellow out a hard-nose sermons and make people feel bad and make them feel like they've never entered the kingdom of God. And that hell was there, you know, waiting for them. It was scare tactics of this type of thing. "Well, you are a powerful preacher." If you can run around and chew people out, kick people out of the church and show how tough you were that you were a leader. That's not, uh, that's not the, uh, the, uh, the uh qualifications of a leader in this world or even in God's church.

   I'll tell you one thing, once compassion and mercy has been shown. And once you work with the person, you put yourself way out. Then when you reject them, let me tell you one thing, you have no regrets. You know they deserve what they got. The people that are thrown in the lake of fire brethren, it's not gonna be a mistake. They're gonna know they deserve what they got because that has been given to them or it has been decreed by a merciful, compassionate, loving God who gives people every chance to repent and do right, who shows mercy, who is willing to forgive 70 times 7 in one day if necessary. Who hates to see men suffer. So let me tell you one thing. Anybody who's thrown in the lake of fire deserves the lake of fire, a real leader. A real leader, God's type of a leader. When he learns to work with people and he rejects that individual, they deserve to be rejected.

   I've known people in this church who've been this fellowship and didn't know why. I wasn't explaining to them why. You know, he just went out and says "you're all the church, OK," and the big pile, you know, Saeed, you said it, you know. "Now what else do I do?" Uh, you should know and know why you're out and know what you need to do to get back in. And know how you're hurting yourself or what you're doing. And talk to as a loving brother, you know, or a sister. Who are given every advantage. And told why. And done with love and compassion, not hatred, not cruelty. Not showing how tough the ministry is, not showing how tough the administrator is. Not trying to attract attention to himself, but doing the job as God has ordained him.

   So it says you can have compassion on ignorant. "And on them they're out of the way. For that he himself also is compassed with infirmity." He was a human being. You're a human being. You go through trials, brethren, you might learn that. One thing about trials, trials humble you. Trials beat you down. And when you're humbled, you begin to understand some things, you begin to understand some of the deep things of God. Because when you're humbled then you are put out of the way, you know, you, you become like the uh the sort of the shield or the uh the wedge or the or the veil that stands between your understanding. When God humbles you down, you begin to see God a lot a lot more clearly. You begin to understand his truth a lot more clearly. Pompous people don't understand the deep truths of God. They can talk about it, they can say it, they can sound good, but they don't really deeply understand it. Because a lot of times their lives reflect that lack of deep understanding.

   So he says, "For my reason hereof he art as for the people, so also for himself to offer the sins" and so forth on down the line he goes and talks about the priests and I take this on himself. Now Matthew the 9th chapter, Matthew 9 is something that God gives. Matthew 9. Jesus Christ makes a statement about what he desires in us. And I think the latter part is a little bit, uh, we have too much. I'm the type of person who looks at a problem for what it is. And if I need to be corrected, then I'm gonna stand corrected because we're seekers of truth, not those who are trying to justify ourselves and develop our own egos and our own following, you see. And hold on to our ideas no matter what.

   But I talked to people, especially some who come from other areas, and the one outstanding thing they've said about, you know, some of the brethren here in this area is that there's kind of like an aloofness or a coolness, you know, they're sort of like, "I don't want to get involved with you, fella. I don't know what the reason is." I mean maybe there maybe some of us in the ministry are responsible for that. I don't know what it is. I do know I'm the type of a minister that nobody makes points on me by ratting on other people, you know, "you know this person has a sin yet, did you know I had some too," you know, what else is new? There are people who go "get him sick him Mr. Marrs," you know, "go get him bulldog." I'm not that kind of a man. I'm not a bulldog. I'm not a policeman, I'm a minister.

   A lot of times in the past people made points. You know, people got patted on their little heads and maybe even ordained. I don't know. I know in some areas I've been in, they did. By telling the minister the sins of some of the people, you know, "so and so gets drunk." "Oh, is that right? Let me go out there and put them out of the church then," you know, "good boy, Rover," you know, "good boy. I mean, you, you're my man," you know. "What else you can snoop on the sniff out there. Sniff out some more." And so a lot of us have clandestine means of opening up people and going back and people hearing about their sins from the pulpit. "There's a lady sitting in here," you know, "who has so and so and so and the people," uh, "you don't want to go down. I ain't never talking to nobody no more. I'm just coming to church and boy that's it. I'm not saying anything to anybody. I'm not opening up to anybody."

   Alright, that might be true, but let me tell you one thing. We have God's spirit and God's way and we need to overcome that kind of an attitude. I know I'm not that type of minister. I don't think Mr. Neph is either. Yeah, I don't know him that deeply that personally, but I, I don't think he's that type of a person. I hate politics with a passion. I know how to play politics. I know how to grin the right person and write the right things and flatter the right man to get ahead. I know that. That's not the promotion I want. If I'm not pleasing God, I mean, I'd rather be a nothing, nothing, nothing, you know, and please God than to be a something, something, something by, by the way of politics. By the way of grinning at the right person. Or impressing the right man who can get me in on this type of thing. That's all of this world worldly. You have your reward, that's it. And then the church or the institution becomes the idol. It becomes the big thing. You know, the work becomes an idol, not a, not a job that we're supposed to do, because the all encompassing thing in our minds. Anybody who's high in the work, you know, is supposed to be great. That's not right. That's not God's way at all.

   Matthew the 9th chapter verse 9 (Matthew 9:9-12). "And as Jesus passed forth from there he saw a man named Matthew." Oh let's see, yeah, this is it, uh, "sitting at the receipt of customs, and he said unto him, follow me, and he rose and followed him. He came to pass as Jesus said, meet in the house. The whole many Republicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples." Hey, you're not supposed to be friendly with people outside the church, you know that? A bunch of pagans. What a misfits. You don't smile at those people. You don't show friend, you don't show God's character, people outside the church. You don't let the church people, don't you? You want to smile and be friendly and and and happy around church people. You scowl at the people outside the church. They don't understand. They're dumb. They're a bunch of pagans. Maybe like the ones who accused Jesus Christ.

   Well, how does, how does, how does God's character turn it on and off? I mean, how do you become one thing, you know, if you are something, if you are God, if you are Jesus Christ. If you reflect the character of God, how do you turn it on and off? A hypocrites can do that. To be accepted in one sphere and then, you know, maybe not accepted in another sphere. So you begin to be two-faced. dual personalities. They have another name for that in the world.

   So he said, "And he sat with many publicans and sinners and came to sit down with him and his disciples," both his disciples are probably called publicans and sinners too, you know, a lot of publicans and sinners sitting here if you want to use that analogy. "And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples," Hey boy, they, they're judging. Here they go, boy, they're judging Jesus Christ now, but that didn't fit the bill of Christianity of what they thought a real Christian or a real server or a person who was serving God was supposed to do. So "why did you, why is your mastery, Republicans and senators. But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, they that behold need not a position." I didn't come here, you know, to be in the holy righteous group. I didn't come in here to be with my little religion, my little religious clique and feel self-satisfied and comfortable. He said, uh, he said "they would be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick."

   Verse 13 (Matthew 9:13), "But go you and learn what this means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice." I mean, your sacrifice can be the work that you do. Our sacrifice your religious works to, you know, please God or become right with God. I call it becoming spiritual technicians. You do everything just right like Pharisees. Leave no stone unturned. I mean you get your half an hour prayer and Bible study and so forth, and you're so righteous, you reek with it. The kind of righteousness that you have a self-righteousness, what you have created based upon God's law, based upon your understanding of God's law. But the spirit of God does not react that way as it is given God's law.

   Jesus Christ said, "Look, few people were right, you understand what this means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice, for I am not come to call the righteous." I didn't come here just to be with church people, be with all these holy righteous people and feel real comfortable and, and, and spiritually secure as Laodicean is. With my righteous people. He says, "But sinners to repentance."

   Matthew the 12th chapter, something else, a little, little analogy he draws blows the minds of people who don't understand it. I used to not understand myself years ago. Matthew 12:1: "At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn or the wheat or whatever grains. Disciples were in hunger and began to pluck the ears of wheat or grain and to eat. So when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, behold, your disciples do that, which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath." Judging by outward appearance again, you see, boy, we have the law. You wind me up and I know how to judge other people. I know how to tell other people they're wrong and they aren't keeping the law right. And so they they were accusing Jesus Christ, mechanical Christians, real technicians, but they did not have the characteristics of the compassion or the ability to judge as a priest has to have.

   A priest takes into consideration the mind, the intent, the factors involved. It has the law, which is a standard and it makes a judgment. And that judgment varies with every individual, it takes a lot of work to be a priest. The priest in the Old Testament worked hard. Let me tell you, if you're going to be a priest, if you're gonna qualify to be in the kingdom of God, you brethren are going to have to work hard. We love our cliches, you know, "I've got to have a Bible study with the ladies club," you know. And I think the big thing is bothering them is how is a woman supposed to act? What kind of job is a woman supposed to have? What are you talking about you talking about individual females. Because all women are, therefore all women should. A warning, it each person is different. Each person is an individual, and each judgment based upon that law is made for individuals. Their level of growth, their lack of growth, their ignorance, their understanding, you know, the factors involved in their lives to lead that person to Christ and judgments have to be made. It's not easy. It's easy. The pigeonhole people. It's easy to say all women are, therefore, I know years ago they said if a woman cuts her hair, she becomes masculine, baloney. Don’t necessary become masculine because they cut their hair. You mean the hair, your, your character is tied up in the cellulose? You cut the cellulose, all of a sudden the character changes? I don’t believe it!

   And so we see people with short hair years ago. Masculine woman there, "she's not feminine," you know, "this woman talks too much. This one is too quiet. This one doesn't reflect this." I know what I'm gonna, I know I almost know what I'm gonna have to say to those ladies. You know it's gonna boil down being work out your own salvation with fear and embling. Everybody tries to find what is the blueprint. So we can make Christianity easy. So we can have something to judge everybody by. That's not God's way? And Christ blew the minds of the Pharisees with the way he taught and how he acted. And here's an example right here. Violated the spiritual principle. I imagine they had laws. I know I've told people, "look, I've got this. I said, look, let me tell you one thing, fella. You know you're supposed to keep the Sabbath, don't you?" "Yes." "Do you want to keep the Sabbath?" "Yes." "Alright now you judge your situation yourself. If you think you've got an ox in the ditch and you sincerely have that before God, you go ahead and do it. You get your ox out of the ditch. You pray and ask God to guide you. Don't ask me to give you a blueprint. I'm not gonna answer all of your questions. I'm gonna give you the law and you go out there and have fun trying to inculcate it in your life." A lot of fun. Joy. Because you're being trained to be a priest. And if you know deep down in your heart, you want to follow God and when you, when the way becomes clear, you know in your mind you're gonna do God's will, you have at it.

   No, we like to have a blueprint. We like to have something that we can break out and see somebody and look at them and say, "oh, you're breaking the law, or you're wrong." Not that simple. Now here's what Jesus Christ did. How would you judge Jesus Christ? On the Sabbath day. How would you judge another member that was doing this on the Sabbath day? You analyze yourself.

   He says, and uh they, they, they got a little, little wheat and a little grain there and ate "and when the Pharisees saw it, they said the disciples, behold, your disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath. But he said to them, look, have you not read what David did?" Let me show you how David broke the law. Let me show you how David broke the letter of the law. Let me show you something about mercy and compassion and being a priest and learning about human circumstances and events and knowing which law you know is is superior to another law. And the principle of love which overrides everything has to be the main purpose of the law. Anytime the law is used to hurt, to maim, to be cruel, you're misusing the law and you don't understand it. But the purpose of the law. The law is love. Anytime anybody uses that law and it's done in cruelty and in hatred or getting back at somebody, you don't even understand the whole purpose of why we're here. I didn't even understand the law. Pharisees didn't, and they were cruel, so cruel they killed Jesus Christ.

   Now Jesus Christ blows a few minds here. He said, uh, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry and they they were with him, how he entered into the house of God and to eat the show bread." You can read about the show bread and what the penalty was and this type of thing, see. I didn't have them because we are dealing with the computer, brethren. We're dealing with a God who is interested in His people developing godly character. And understanding that law and using that law in the spirit. That's what a priest has to do. A person who's compassionate sees you run the red light and so, you know, "I, I, I'm I'm so nervous. I, I, I know I did wrong. It's all. I get it." "I'll let you off. You know, I look at the circumstances. I see you're a little upset. I can see that you are sorry that you did it. I feel sorry for you. So look, I'm gonna tear the ticket up. Go ahead, don't do it anymore." See. Now priests have to have that kind of a capacity. A priest has to weigh the circumstances, the situations and makes an individual judgment on his own by himself. Why do you think God says you work out your own salvation with fear and trembling?

   Boy, we love a church where we're told what to do. While those religions really grow. Look at Jonestown. Give us utopia. "We'll sell all we have so that we can raise potatoes down in this in this island, in this island paradise. Oh we'll do whatever Reverend Jones says to do," you know, "we'll even kill our fool self for him," you know, ridiculous. Mindless individuals. No mind this individual is gonna be in God's kingdom. "Tell me what to do, preacher. Just wind me up. Tell me the minister told me to do that, so I'm doing it. It's his fault," God doesn’t want that kind of an individual in his kingdom. How can you rule? You can't even rule a tsetse fly. Sorry. You couldn't rule anything. You can't rule yourself.

   Before he said "how he entered into the house of God and did eat the shewbread which was not lawful." He broke the law. According to the technicians of the law, "let's see, we've got to get rid of this guy. Hey, he's wrong. Kill him." Hey, let me tell you one thing. If you qualifying to be a priest, you take a lot of things into account. You have to judge. That's right. You have to judge. It's not that simple, brethren. Every situation takes a different judgment. That's why members can't, members can't advise one another in a lot of things. They don't know enough. All they have is a law wind me up, "the minister said in the Bible that you can't, you're wrong," you know, how do you know? And we're quick to, one thing I notice about members, they're quick to condemn. There's something unique about church members, you know, all the feedback I get from advice people have been given. All I find myself doing is lifting heavy burdens off the people that's been laid on them by other church members. "This member told me so and so" and the person feels weighted down. let me tell you, let me tell you, let me show you the spirit of the law. Let me tell you what God's trying to do. See, let me show you God's purpose, why you're here. Never lose sight of that goal as to why you're here and the purpose of the law, see, anytime you're doing something, the purpose of that law is not being fulfilled. Something's wrong somewhere it's usually you, you're understanding. Of how to apply that law.

   He says "it was not lawful for them to eat neither for them which were with him, much less him. But only for the priest, or have you not read in the law how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless" to kill their times when you look at the letter of the law and you're breaking the letter of the law and yet keeping the spirit. True. Now when you put it down in spiritual terms, brother, it becomes very difficult for a person to judge until they investigate all the factors involved. Until they get all the facts, and all the factors that are involved, learn about that human being who did it. Learn something about their minds and the workings of their mind, the intent of their hearts. That's work, that's hard. That's what it takes. That's what God judges.

   "But I said to you that in this place is one greater than the temple, but if you had known what this means, I say that to all of us too. I will have mercy and not sacrifice." I'm not here to get a bunch of technicians. I said I can get a robots. I can make stones into the people. I say go judge out there, you people, don't judge these people. "Here's the law. Go judge them." And everything be cut and dry. That's right, cut and dry. That's what we do, don't we? Everything's cut and dry and there's no middle ground, no in between, no compassion, no mercy involved. This is it. "The reason why you got sick is because you don't eat health foods and that's why I, I hope you die," you know, that's my attitude. Yeah, that's not that simple, brethren. "You just want to be, you just want to be obstin, that's why, that's why you're suffering." How do you know? How do you know that mind? Have you heard those prayers? Have you looked into the heart? Have you seen the sincerity? No, it takes too much work. That takes giving of myself. It's easy to stand back from arm's length. And have my little minuscule understanding and judge and say "this is it."

   We will never enter the kingdom of God brethren with that type of a concept. We have been in church who had placed too much emphasis on the outward appearance. The accredited the accreditation committee said that about what we understand. I hope we learned that. That's the one thing beautiful ambassador campus this type of thing, but the one thing we see your emphasis is on the facade, not the substance in underneath. Now, you might disagree with me, you might be angry. Well, I mean, I hope I'll make you angry enough to look into it. I'll fulfill my purpose if I have. I've done my job well. I don't expect to, you know, please everybody. But I expect that God gives me the strength to preach the truth as I see it as, as I feel he's revealed it to me. I never had anybody tell me I was wrong, they might get mad, but they can't point out scriptures and tell me where I'm wrong. So maybe it's maybe it's right.

   So he says, "I, I want, I want you to know this. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. You would not have condemned the guiltless," but they condemned them because in their own minds they were guilty. And yet God says in my sight, they are guiltless. Even though to you it it appears as though they are breaking God's law, "for the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day." We all have to give an account to God, right? The way we approach our brethren has to be with a lot of compassion and mercy.

   I don't have time to go through the scriptures, you know in I Corinthians 1:26 and shows you what God has called in this church. Jesus Christ says, "I came, you know, for the sick, I came for those who, who are not right." Let me tell you something brother. We all come out of a sick world. We come out of sick religions. And so we come to God's church, we need a lot of nurses. We need a lot of help, we need a lot of compassion. We need a lot of understanding. And yet many of us are too weak to even know what that means. We show our weaknesses when we condemn. We show that we're spiritually weak. When we condemn, point the finger and gossip. That is a real tip off that you are spiritually weak, because Jesus Christ did not take that kind of a concept. And God says, "look, I've called the weak of the world, those who have a sincere attitude and now they need help. They need the compassion, they need the warmth, they need the priestly type of uh of an attitude displayed on them" because God does that certainly.

   Matthew the 5th chapter, Matthew 5, while we're in Matthew, Matthew 5:7. It says "blessed are the merciful." Read what that means. You know, a person who extends mercy, you know, mercy is, uh, you know, compassionate or kind and forbearance, as it says here in the dictionary, or toward an offender. Somebody who's wrong. We're talking about people who are wrong. Mercy doesn't need to be extended to people who are right. I hope you understand that. I mean, if you are right and on target and good all the time, Christ, I don't need to extend mercy to you Pharisees because you guys are all right. You know, "I didn't come here to help you because you have it made. You don't need a grace, you don't need mercy, you don't need help or anything. You don't need a high priest because you in your own minds have it made. And you look down your noses at people who don't have it made like you have it made."

   So it says we talk about compassion, we talk about mercy. We're talking about something that's extended toward an offender, an enemy or other person in one's power. So you have the power to either condemn to be cruel or you have the power to be merciful. You have the power to be forgiving. God says if you want to qualify to be in God's kingdom, you are going to in this life have to become a person who's able to exercise that mercy and that compassion. Because God's that way. Tenderness, mildness, or consideration. Consideration of the factors involved.

   Now Galatians the 6th chapter, I'm gonna read this out the amplified version because it's a little clear. Galatians 6. That goes right along Romans 14. I might not have time to go through Romans 14, Galatians 6:1. The amplified version makes it very clear as it being a necessity brethren for us, you know, there's one man who's not in this church, and I mean, I, I, I don't like to condemn those who've left the church and say they're all bad or they're all wrong. They left for something, you know, they left because they saw something bad in us, I guarantee you. And maybe they amplified it and Satan maybe used them or whatever and got them in a bad attitude. But one man, I know this is true, one man who was a top man in this work, of course that's in your latest good news because uh you know, maybe I don't need to ah Mr. Portune. That the one reason why he's not back in this church. Because this church doesn't show much mercy and much compassion. Much tenderness, much forgiving. The church is not a real forgiving church.

   Now I'm talking about qualities of the priest has to have. Yeah, we have the law. We have the truth of God and I'm mighty afraid it puffs us up. That's one of the dangers in the last days, brethren. The man who gave the sermon talked about Laodicea. I'm talking about a Laodicea attitude. I'm talking about someone who has it made, who's rich and increased with goods and has puffed him up, he's become pompous. So he doesn't even hear sermons that are preached on the Sabbath. He just listens. And goes about his own way. It doesn't have any effect at all. I know there's gonna have to be a tribulation because it's the only way God's gonna shake up some people and wake them up. And Christ says, "I stand at the door and I knock" and you won't let it in for various and sundry reasons. The barriers you place in your minds. They won't let God's words get through. And to correct you and to cut you.

   So as we don't have much of a forgiving attitude in this church. We hold things against people. Where we are, we are very good at pointing the finger. We're very good at judging, you know, and criticizing and finding fault and taking that law and using it as a club over one another. Getting to the little nuances of the law in our own minds and using it to condemn. That's not the reason why you have the law, brethren. The law is there as a guide for you to use to come more to God and to lead other people to Christ. That's my job. You think I'll unloaded a new convert, all the things that are wrong with them, it would discourage them so they'd never get baptized.

   I hope I don't embarrass anybody, but you know, here's the, here's a judgment I had to make. A lot of people probably would condemn me, but I have a clear conscience before God, so I don't worry about anybody condemning me except God. The article came out, "Smoking is a Sin" in the good news. The person got in touch with me and gave me some factors involved that had to do with her health and a whole lot of other things, judgments the doctors made, and she worried. "Mr. Marrs, what do I do?" I said, "look, it's up to God to heal you. I can't tell God when to heal you. So this smoking to you is medicinal." Now I made the judgment. "I'll give you all the details. I said we'll just pray to God that God would, you know, heal you of the problem that's brought on the need to have to smoke cigarettes," you know. Then how would you judge that individual if you sat here and smelled like cigarette smoke? "Hi, how are you?" It's not, that's not the attitude of a priest.

   Christ mixed it up with those in the world. He was not one way with some people and another way with other people. He was not a respecter of persons. He did not condone the woman who came to him who had sin, but he didn't condemn her either. He gave her instructions as to what she should do. They threw the money changes out of the temple. But he didn't take a cat of nine tails and beat the woman who come to him in adultery. You think about that. So what would be your attitude? You know, "Mrs. so and so smokes. She smells like cigar. Oh honey, I'm glad I don't smoke. Oh, I wonder how they let her come to church." Well, find out why we let her come to church. Find out what salvation is. Get to know the cigarette smoker, you know. Get to know the old hussy, you know, that's the way people look at them. That's right. Real righteous, real characteristics of Jesus Christ. "Oh, that person is gonna make it in the kingdom of God because they really know how to condemn. They sure know how to hurt a guy." You better learn how to save a guy. I guarantee you'd better.

   I know after the Bible study, Dr. Ward gave, I didn't hear the Bible study, everybody was all enthusiastic about it. So I know one man came to me all condemned, so "my son's hair is too long," and I said, "well, what are you gonna do, throw the baby out with the bath water? What are you gonna do, make a hair the essential thing for salvation? Are you able to work with your child? If kicking him out is gonna make him go out and maybe be worse, you have to judge, man. You get all the long haired kids to try to go around." "I don't want to come around you people." I know one man told me, he says, "I y'all know probably won't talk to me anymore." Why did he have that kind of a concept? Why did he feel that way? We made him feel that way. All of a sudden the Bible says is given. "Oh we're friends, we're sitting around talking and so forth. All of a sudden the Bible study is given and the kid feels, well, I guess you all don't want me to be around you anymore." Righteous people, aren't we aren't we righteous? Are we qualifying to be kings and priests? Are we priestly? Are we compassionate? Are we merciful? Are we able to look into the minds of people and see the intent? You see the sincerity, the ignorance, yes. The weakness, yes. But what does God tell you to do with those of the weak?

   Galatians 6th chapter, Romans 14, you read yourself. Romans 15, you read yourself and you get on your knees and you ask God to help you to understand that because I guarantee you, brethren, you're gonna have a lot of opportunities to use these things I'm giving you right among yourselves. You don’t have to go out in the world. And have compassion. You don’t have to go out in the world and find people who are wrong. We're sitting right here we're right here together, brethren. We have created the biggest hypocrites ever on the face of the earth. We talk out of both sides of our mouths. "Oh, we love everybody" until. The lady sits beside us who reeks of cigarette smoke. All of a sudden the love goes out the window. Or we find something wrong with somebody, some horrible sin. All of a sudden the love goes out the window. Hypocrite. So you can name that kind of person, hypocrite.

   Brethren Galatians 6:1. Brethren, talk to us. "If any person," what person? Person sitting here, brethren. Any person in the church is what he's talking about. We are gonna go out there and save this world. "If any person is overtaken. In misconduct or sin or any sort, you who are spiritual" go rat on him and tell the minister about it. If you find this out about a person and he's sitting in here in church, go tell the minister, go tell the go tell the elder about it, would you? Would you do that? Is that what your Bible says? I don't care what's been established, you know, locally or what the, the, the normal thing is in the church. It's wrong. It it's not according to this. See, you getting it off your back precludes you're getting involved. Let the ministry, let the minister do it, let George do it. Let me tell you, you're being qualified to be a king or a priest. And God allows these things to be in the church. He purposely calls people that are weak in this world. That's by design, that's not by accident. Because you're being tested, brethren. Your spirituality has to be developed, not mine, but mine has to be too. But your character of Jesus Christ and of God has to be developed. Your priestly attitude and characteristics have to have feeding ground. They have to have something to work on. They're sitting right here among you.

   What do we do? We don't get involved. Or we gossip or we talk. That's not what it says. It says "if a person is overtaken the misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual," that's the problem, we aren't spiritual enough. So if you fancy yourself being spiritual, "who are responsive to and control," it's all being controlled but should be led by the spirit, the spirit doesn't control you, you know, what comes and takes over and controls, you know, you're led by it "should set him right and restore and reinstate him." Let me tell you, if you find something wrong about a person and you don't have the wherewithal to fulfill this, you better get on your knees and ask God for trials and everything else. To give you this kind of an attitude. It's easy to talk about. It's easy to tell somebody else about it, but it takes a man who has the spirit of God and the love of Jesus Christ and the love of God in his heart to do what this says here. You have to get down and work and get involved. Why do you think God let you know about it? To talk about it? No. To see if you'll follow this brethren. That's why if you aren't doing this, you're missing out on a wonderful opportunity to grow and you might be missing out on your salvation. You might be, you know, reasoning yourself into a great tribulation which, you know, is a means of shaking you up to realize you need to do what you should have been doing all along. Unfortunately that has to take place, that's gonna take place.

   He said "you should set him right and restore and reinstate him without any sense of superiority." You don't feel better than he is. Cause you're, you're a high priest, you've been taken among men. You understand what he's going through. You understand human weaknesses and frailties. You understand the sickness in this world and the effect that it has upon human beings, and yet you have to look at a priest, and Jesus Christ is our high priest. He sacrificed for us. You have to look and see, is there any way, anything in this person's life whereby they might be redeemed? Are they savable? In other words, can they be saved? Well, then let's condemn them. Let's, let's hope the problem goes away. That's not gonna go away. This is there to give you an opportunity to grow, and it tells you what to do "without a sense of superiority and with all gentleness." Not cruelty, not condemning. I don't mean condoning the person's sin. I I'm not talking about that. Those in Corinth went too far. They condoned the guy's sin. Now they had compassion, but they went too far. They condoned it and he didn't have any desire or inspiration or motivation to overcome the thing, see. And so Paul had to act like he acted. And yet after the man came back and said, "look, you better restore your love to him. Don't give him the feeling that you're not a forgiving church. Otherwise he's gonna be overcome with a lot of sorrow and he's gonna play into the hands of Satan."

   We have been guilty as a church of giving that kind of image to people. I remember the old visit slips. I remember going out visiting people and always looking for the bad. Always looking for the problem. Another minister comes, "oh yeah, there's this is, uh, yeah, self-righteous, talkative, not very feminine, needs to be rebuked from time to time." You know, "this is the good old women that can never repent," you know, as long as that visit slip is there, as long as that's in the card file, you know, that's it. You've had it. That's not even Christianity. We're here to grow. We're here to overcome. We're here, we're in the process of changing. Or even at the college, some guy gets, you know, he says the wrong things, the guy on the uh whatever committee they used to have out there, the manpower committee. I'll tell you, you get in with somebody, inducted somebody on that manpower committee, you never been used in the work of God. I know that. You say the wrong thing and don't present the right image. And somehow that manpower committee says, "nah, he's no good. He's a bummer." Swoop that's it. That's not right. Why aren't we strong enough? And Christian enough to look the man eyeball to eyeball says, "brother, you've got a problem. I hope you overcome it. Cause I see some qualities in you that are good." And laying on the line to him. No, we come up with things like career non-career, you know. We come up with all kinds of ploys and all kinds of little subtle things that we do. That's not Christianity.

   It says "you go there with gentleness. And you talk to the person as a brother and lay it on the line to him and tell him eyeball to eyeball and face to face with all gentleness, not being superior but laying on the line. Keeping an attentive eye on yourself lest you should be tempted also." Don't go there with a superior, superior aura. A superiority complex trying to look down your nose at someone. I don't care who it is, whether it's a teenager or whoever it is, doesn't make any difference. Somebody who's wrong, you know, this is something that needs to be instructed to people at the feast. You know, what do you do? You know, a lot of our people, if they were given a job in the millennium, the first time someone forgotten overslept, and didn't come to the Feast of Tabernacles, because he'd be zapped out with plagues. That's right. You'd be zapped out. "You didn't show up. Well, you know, I, I took this, you know, tablet. I mean, I had this beer last night, and you know, and I, the alarm clock didn't go." "I don't wanna hear that bloom," you know, "you zap. We're gonna wipe out your whole family. The earth's gonna open up and suck all you people down," you know, "low as hell," you know. I just say, "oh well yeah I understand that. OK, fine," you know, "give you a chance. I believe you. Just don't do it anymore," see.

   So it says "bear endure or carry one of his burdens." It's our job. You see a person with a burden being weighed down says you helped to carry it. Didn't they tell the minister to carry it. It says you. You see it. You bear it. Now we're too weak to bear it. We don't know how to bear it. We'll learn. We're here to learn, learn how to bear it. Ask God to give you compassion, ask God to help you to develop as a priest, to give you those qualities of, of human kindness and compassion and understanding of the purpose that God has placed us all here and knowing what you're dealing with. Knowing, there's ignorance and there's weakness and there are a lot of things involved. There's the influence of this world and all those things are involved and people coming to understanding and sifting things out and overcoming things and unlearning things and learning new things, you see. It's not all cut and dried brethren. It's not all cut and dry. Not that simple in order to please God.

   So it says "you bear, you carry one another's burdens and troublesome moral faults," bringing it right down the line. That means this guy’s got problems. He’s got moral problems, got spiritual problems. Sitting right here among us is what he's talking about. He tells you what to do. Tells me what to do with people on my I learned by the last. Nobody tells me anything. I mean if you're gonna rat on somebody, I'm, I mean, I'm just gonna tell you, "well, you know, why don't you go over and talk to him?" Well, people don't like that. "Mr. Marrs, we got a problem here." Where you gonna help solve it, huh? That's right. You gonna help solve it. You know, "I'm going and you tell him," Well, well, that's you know, "I know my job. I'm telling you what your job is near." Paul is telling people in Galatians what your job is. Hey, that makes a little different now, doesn't it? Hey, how are you gonna go now? You don't know what to do, do you? We'll find out what to do. Cause we're all here as a team, brethren to help one another into the kingdom of God.

   Our concept. Of one another sitting here should be the same concept as God's. "I'm not willing that any should perish." That means the lower slob in your eyesight. God's not willing that that slob should perish. So you better get to know that slob, if that's the way you look at them. You better come to know something that's down deep inside. Before you reject Cause I'll tell you one thing, if that's the way you reject, people who have faults. Your father in heaven is gonna reject you exactly the same way. Do unto others as you have them do unto you. You'd better be completely righteous, brethren. You'd better not be having any faults. You better never sin. You never have a shortcoming because if you have that kind of a cruel attitude toward other people who have shortcomings, God promised you. You're gonna have that same attitude towards you. He's saying "you're telling me how you want me to judge you." In essence, that's all God's saying. "You're telling me by the way you are with your brethren, how you want me to react toward you." Maybe that's why some of our prayers aren't being answered. And that's why we aren't as close as God or understand God as much as we think we do.

   So it says "you bear those burdens and troublesome moral faults and in this way fulfill and observe perfectly the law of Christ." God is holy righteous character. God's not just a churchgoer. God is just not a tithe payer. God is not one who doesn't eat pork. God's not the one who just has religious duties that makes him feel righteous. God is a living, compassionate, feeling, seeing, loving being. He is not a computer. A lot of us like to computerize religion. A lot of us are spiritual technicians. They're gonna be a spiritual technicians in the kingdom of God. There are gonna be people who are developing the priesthood, the priestly concepts, and the priestly characteristics that God requires of us.

   We have a reputation of being hard and cruel. That's one of the worst slaps that any organization could ever have. We have the reputation of holding our people in fear. That's a slap in the face. Because God said "they should know you because you have love one for another." How should they know that the member of the Worldwide Church of God, because they have the 10 Commandments, because they have the holy days, because they have knowledge of all these other ne'er do wells don't have, because we're rich and increase with knowledge and goods. No. "By this shall all man know you if you have loved one for another." Not tolerate either. Love one for another. It's a slap in our face for someone to say the impression I got of this church. That we're not a very forgiving church. I sure hate to go to God and have that concept of Him. But if I make a mistake, I can't go to God because he's not a very forgiving God. He won't understand. He won't help me. Cause I've blown it, I messed up. I've done wrong.

   It says "if you find somebody who's done wrong, you do this" you think God doesn't go one better, he goes a whole lot better than this. So he says "this in this way, you fulfill and observe perfectly the law of Christ the Messiah and complete what is lacking." How do you want to be a complete, complete what is lacking in your obedience to it. That's right. What you are as a human being brethren is vital. Absolutely vital. What you think and what you are is vital, not what you do, not the appearance that you make before men or have before other leaders or whatever. That's not the important thing. That's what you are and he's telling us what we should be.

   "For if any person thinks himself to be somebody, and it's too important. To condescend the shoulder on another's load." "I don't have time for that kind of stuff. I know people, you know, we don't want those kind of people in our church anyway. Why do they let those kind of people come in our church." It's not your church in the first place, it's God's church. He says "when he is nobody, anybody who has that kind of that is nobody of superiority except in his own estimation, he deceives and deludes and cheats himself. But let every person's carefully scrutinize and examine and test his own conduct and his own work. He can then have the personal satisfaction and joy of doing something commendable in himself alone, not tooting his own horn without resorting to boastful comparison with his neighbor." It's not what we're here for. We hear the shoulder one another's loads, and we're here to help on them.

   I won't have time to go through Romans 14. You can read that yourself. But you know, one thing that inspired this is that I was reading a report that came from headquarters, and they said there are people in this sick society calling the watch line, and they want, they want to come out of this, this world. They have hang ups and problems and they're turning to us and "can you help us?" You know, you almost have to say "we aren't ready yet." Because if you don't look the part. If you don't walk a certain way and dress a certain way and act a certain way, I'm mighty afraid. You're gonna get some sneers, you're gonna get some looks and some glances. You're not gonna have friendly smiles. And that weak person is going to be destroyed.

   But I've given a sermon similar to this, but there hasn't been much change, you know, maybe some people see it, but they're in the minority. There has been much meaningful change at all. Things haven't been turned around because we aren't praying enough. Maybe we don't see the picture enough. But they're asking, "can you help us?" These people have all kinds of problems, brethren, because this world is creating perverts. It's creating psychological, you know, uh, uh, cripples. They're producing people who don't know where they're going. They're running around in circles, and somehow now they won't know, "can you help us?"

   Philippians 2nd chapter, Philippians 2nd, I don't know what I'll read this or not. I don't have. Philippians 2 and verse. Oh yeah, verse 15, yeah. The thing I want to get across is those who are reflecting the attitude of a priest by their very nature, by the way they conduct themselves, uh, you know, by the, by the way they, uh, take on the truth and the effect the truth has on them, has a marked effect on those that you are around. You don't have the image of a self-righteous holy and thou person, but a person who knows God, who knows God's law, who is dedicated that love of passion. And has compassion on those. We don't understand it fully. Who has the ability to clearly lead people to God's truth in God's way because they're living it so and they're reaping the results of it that it inspires people to want to go this way. Because of the very attitude we display.

   So Paul says in Philippians 2:15, "That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without blemish. In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation," and we are in a crooked and perverse nation, "whom you shine as light in the world." They should know us because we reflect the characteristics I'm telling you about, but too often. We're just legalists. We just do what we know God requires of us to do, and the knowledge just puffs us up to the point to where all we can do. Is look down our noses at other people. I want to have all this to ourselves. I don't need to go out in the world and convert the world. I'm not talking about that at all. I mean, charity begins at home, brethren. You aren't gonna be able to show love to the world unless you show love for one another. When Christ says that you got to show love for one another. And that love is a whole lot deeper than what you think. We have the kind of love the Pharisees have. They have the love of those like they are and walk like they walk and do like they do and please them. That's kind of love God says we have to have. We have to love those that do not walk as we walk or maybe who are stumbling around. And yet that compassion and love and mercy has to be displayed.

   I Corinthians 6:9, it says, he says "no you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived, neither fornicators nor adultist nor adulterers" and so forth and so forth on down the line and see if I've got the right scripture here. No, I don't. Yes, I do. Uh, uh, "neither the fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves as mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards, nor revis nor extortions shall inherit the kingdom of God," verse 11, "And such were some of you." You should be able to identify these type of characters. For people who haven't fully overcome this influence on their lives. "And such were some of you, but you were washed." God had mercy and compassion and he's washing you up. Some of us are still in the process of being washed. "But you are sanctified," you're set apart, "but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God" and he goes on down the line, but the main thing he wants to get across is that we've got to have compassion and love and mercy on that type of people because we understand them. A priest understands that type of a mind, that type of a person. And like compassion and mercy was extended to them, you have to do exactly the same thing to the other person. Having the law to help, to guide, to lead, not to condemn and judge or find fault. Because I guarantee you're gonna find a lot of fault. You're going to find a lot of fault. If you look for it, you're going to find it and God.

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   "Jews I became as a Jew that I might gain the Jews." I mean he wasn't a rigid legalist technician of the law and did his own little license himself, but he was there to help save mankind. He wanted to help to extend some kind of good or some kind of light that mankind would come to that light and realized they were going to be a lot better off, and he reflected the example of that type of life of living that kind of uh life that God has given us through the law. No, you don't abrogate the law, I mean that's understood, but the law is spiritual. Not just a bunch of code, a bunch of, you know, little blueprints and things of that nature. It's a spiritual thing. There has to be a spirit that you have. When you have that law, know how to apply that law in your life. We pray, "God help me to inculcate these things in my, in my life." It's not a cut and dry thing. When people want the definitive answer. I don't give the definitive answer. You find the answer yourself as it applies to you. You learn the vastness and the broadness of that law yourself. It's not a real narrow cut and dry thing. There's a lot of liberty within that law. Fantastically, a lot more than outside the law. Satan makes you think outside the law is freedom. It's not there's slavery outside the law. There's freedom within the law, within the boundaries of the law. There's happiness and joy. I'm not tired of depression and fear when I keep the law. I don't worry. I don't worry when this one goes out of the church and that one goes out of the church and this type of thing. So, I don't feel uncomfortable or unsettled, you know why? Cause I've got my pile driving in the rock. Then when you're in the rock, you don't shake very easily. You understand? You understand why the storms are gonna have to come, you understand and know that you understand. And you're able to display that kind of firmness, that kind of stability in a world that's sick and going to and fro and reeling and rotting. Every everybody likes that stability. That's what we're supposed to show. And you know who you're dealing with. You know dealing with righteous, holy people in the rock. You got people in the sand you're dealing with. People don't know which ends up.

   So Paul says, "I don't want to gain people. I want to gain the Jews and them that are under the law is under the law that I might gain them that are under the law." Now I'm supposed to go to prison for Mr. Neff now, you know, he's not going to prison. I'm not gonna serve his time, but I mean, this next week, I mean, uh, the 26th, he wants me to go to Huntsville. I've been trying to get out of that, you know, uh, I'm just maybe I'm chicken or whatever. I don't know, you know, how to talk, but I know when I go there. I pray real hard that I can relate to those guys within the four walls and the bars. That's right, and you pray for me. That I can inspire those men, you know, that I can talk to them on their level, that I can rap with them with God's truth and put it down to their level in a practical real living viable way, not gonna read some scriptures to them if they can do themselves. It's not what I'm here for. I'm here to, you know, magnify the law, bring it down to your level, let you know what you're supposed to do. That's my job.

   And so Paul said, "that's my job as a minister. I've got to be able to relate to these Jews. I got to be able to relate to these prisoners. I got to be able to relate to these people, blacks, whites, yellows, don't care who they are. They're human beings made in the image of God. I've got to be able to relate to them." That's a joy, that's a joy. That's freedom, that's liberty. That's fun. That makes this life enjoyable. I don't have time to get depressed. Don't have time. And too many challenges, too many things that you know you have to get to your knees and "God is too big for me, help me," you know, and you march in there and God helps you and you see his power and you say, "hey, this is great. Pays to follow God."

   Paul says "to them that are without law and without law, not being without law to God. I, I'm I'm still keeping the law. I'm at a cure that way to gain these people," see, and show them that being within the law or or keeping that law is greater than being outside the law or breaking it. "I'm under the law. I'm within the law of Christ, that I might gain them that are without the law of the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I made, I made all things to all me that I might by all means save some." That's this concept, not condemn, not push aside, not wish that they go away, "but I might save some." That God would give me the wherewithal and the ability to be able to help, to be able to bear burden, to be able to be able to show compassion and mercy, to be able to judge in the right way to bring people to Christ. That's not my job, brethren only. That's your job. God expects out of you. And I just read what he told you to do.

   Hosea 6 verse 4 is the final scripture. Hosea 4 and verse 6. Oh, I'm sorry, Hosea 6:4. Hosea 6 and 4. Glory for him. "What shall I do to you? Oh Judah, what shall I do unto you, for your goodness is as a morning cloud and as the early dew it goes away," you know, it looks good, it has the appearance. And the margin mentions uh your mercy, you know, "your mercy and your kindness," you know, the thing that you have the thing that you produce yourself is what he's talking about as a Christian or as a child of God, or as a member of God's family or as a member of God's church because he's talking about his people who knew the truth, who had the law. And he says "your goodness and your compassion is as a morning cloud and as the early dew. It goes away. It has no substance. It's very weak. It's something that's head knowledge," you know, you should have it, so you put it on and it doesn't last. Because it doesn't come from God.

   "Therefore, have I hewed them uh by the prophets. I have slain them by the words of my mouth and your judgments are as the light that goes forth. For I desire mercy. I desire your works of mercy. I didn't desire your righteous. I don't desire you just keeping the law. I don't desire you just coming to church" like I told this man. "Coming to church means nothing to you, fella. Why do you want to come to church in the first place? What good does it do you? That's not an end in itself." It's I used to think coming to church and doing these things what God required. Now that's not what God requires, that's part of it. That's part of it, but God requires you to be something inside. That's right. And we're falling far short.

   And as I told him, you know, "but how are you gonna know that I repented?" "I don't know. I don't know, and I'll tell you one thing, don't give me gobbledygook either. I've heard a lot of talk. Talk is cheap. I know the fruits that are borne by those who have God's fruit. God brought me through the same thing you're going through, fella, and I know how God works. You're kidding me at all. You're a very smart, intelligent man, but your rhetoric does not frighten me nor impress me at all. And your tears and your little sweet talk does not impress me one iota. Talk is cheap, bear some fruit. I know it when I see it. You're gonna baby kid me how are you gonna know? I don't know my job, you know, I'll tell you when I think you're ready because I know how my God works in circumstances like this because my God brought me through the same thing you're going through and I know he will deliver you if you are sincere, but if you are not sincere, you want your own way. You're trying to use people. You're a selfish little man and I guarantee you will not bear the fruits of God working in your life. You will bear the fruits of your rebellion and I as a minister, am able to see it. Cause I worked with you enough. I don't want you to come to church. I don’t want you feeding on God's people because they don't know that like I know. They're real weak when it comes to things like this. They're very precious in God's sight. They're very sincere. I've got to protect them. Now I don’t want you feeding off of them. I don't want you looking them like you have some widows and some other people." And I called him, I told him "you're a selfish little man. You don't have the attitude of Jesus Christ. You're a selfish little man. And I don't blame your wife for leaving you. She should have left you a long time ago." That's right. Maybe you'll wake up.

   We we're not here to play games. This is for real and you better be developing that character. You better know what God expects of you and you better be doing those things that will help you to build that character. Unfortunately, a lot of us are asleep. So, a lot of us are asleep. I see it very clearly. No, I'm not doubting. I see it very, I know how long the sermon lasts in most people's lives. So it's all we'll do the same things we were doing. We look at ourselves in the mirror, see the smudge, go away and forget it. Tribulation will bring it back to us. And they'll be weeping and wearing and gnashing of teeth, but hopefully a loving God. Go wake some people up because they might be safe.

   So he said, "look, I don't like all that stuff. I'm not impressed with your religiosity. I'm not impressed with your our appearance. I'm not impressed with you being impressed with each other. I'm not impressed with your hypocrisy, your works of righteousness. Doesn't turn me on" what God said, "look, I'll tell you, I have desired mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."

   As I've said before, brethren, you ask God to help you to develop the characteristics of the priest. You do your own personal Bible study in this. You look up mercy, you look up compassion. He'd ask God to help you to develop those characteristics. You have right here a lot of people to practice on. Not to go anywhere. They're sitting right here among us. And the attitude we display toward one another does not in my mind show that kind of a characteristic if we don't do it, we're gonna miss out on the kingdom of God. So let's go any place. Use it on your brethren. It will be to your joy and your happiness. You want to understand what the liberty of the law is? Let me tell you, brethren, the more you understand the spirit of God's law, the more you understand the fact that God is a character, that God is not some kind of a computer, an automaton, not some kind of a blueprint type God that he's a character, has characteristics. He has compassion and love and feeling and this type of thing, and you begin to inculcate those things in your life as he gives it, you can't manufacture it. I guarantee you, I think we've had too much bootstrapism in the church. You gotta get on your knees and cry out to your God. As Jesus Christ did night and day because you see it as something you don't have and it's something you desire and you want it badly. When you cry out, "God, give me that." Night and day, God will give it to your joy to your happiness. It's for the benefit of God's church. And then men will know us because we have love one for another.