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AWAKE TO RIGHTEOUSNESS, BOOK TWO
A six month devotional taken from the daily essays of Robert B. Thompson sent by E-mail.
Compiled and Edited by
Edward J. Reiter
Copyright © 2006 Trumpet Ministries, Inc. All Rights Reserved
TREES OF LIFE
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening [life-giving] spirit. (I Corinthians 15:45)
God’s purpose for all of His saints, His Christian people, is that they become, through Christ, life-giving spirits—not just living spirits but life-giving spirits.
Just how are we supposed to do that!
We do it through crucifixion and resurrection. Crucifixion and resurrection are the mainspring of the Christian redemption. The Christian faith is galactically more than a theology competing with the other theologies and philosophies of the world. The Christian faith is an experience with Christ, an experience of crucifixion and resurrection.
God is making man in two stages. The first stage is the adamic, animal creation. The second stage is the life-giving creation. As Christ is the Tree of Life, so are we to become through Him trees of life. This is our eternal role in the creation.
Adam never can become a tree of life. The first animal personality of ours is formed from flesh and bone. Its life is corruptible blood. Its mind is always hostile to God’s will and way. Its purpose is to serve as root stock on which the true and eternal humanity is to be grafted. It lives, moves, and has its being in blood-enabled metabolism.
The new humanity also is flesh and bone. But its life is incorruptible Holy Spirit. It lives, moves, and has its being in the Spirit of God.
We start as Adam and we end as an integral part of Christ, as a life-giving spirit.
Probably every reader would prefer to live in the incorruptible resurrection life of Christ rather than in our perishing animal nature. But how do we get there?
We get there by dying and being resurrected.
Paul said he was crucified with Christ and living by Christ. This is the true Christian life, that of the life-giving spirit.
Paul took it by faith that he was crucified with Christ and had the sentence of death in himself. From then on his life included numerous tribulations and imprisonments—suffering of all kinds. But God kept raising Paul up and the spillover of power brought life to those following him.
All true ministry comes from the death of the cross. We cannot sit in our walnut-lined study with The Pulpit Commentary and Jamison, Fausset and Brown, choose an introduction, three points, a conclusion, and three anecdotes, and expect to bring life to a congregation.
Life comes to others when we take up our cross and follow the Lord Jesus through numerous tribulations and imprisonments. We are knocked down continually but God raises us up. As He does, that same resurrection life flows out to others.
This is how we become an eternal human being.
This is how we represent God to His creation.
"The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
Every member of the Seed of Abraham was known to God before the creation of the world. We have been chosen to bear fruit. We have been ordained to bear in ourselves the righteous, holy, obedient image of Christ.
July 2nd
THE BASIC STORY OF MANKIND
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! (Luke 15:17)
The story of the prodigal son is the basic story of mankind. It is the story of Adam and Eve, of Samson, of the Christian Church, of many of us.
When someone is given something of great value for the first time he often loses it. After he loses it he then sees the value of it. He sets out to gain it back. Sometimes he can and sometimes he can’t.
If after arduous labor he manages to get back what he lost he now appreciates it and will not lightly lose it again.
Samson had a marvelous gift of strength and he judged Israel many years. But he thought little of his relationship to God who gave him his great strength. He didn’t try to live a holy, righteous life, preferring to exercise his strength wherever it pleased him.The result was inevitable.
Adam and Eve lived in an unparalleled paradise on the earth. In the wildest dreams of mankind nothing ever could be produced that would rival the garden in Eden as a perfect setting for man. Adam and Eve were unaware of the unspeakable treasure they possessed, the very Presence of God walking around in their neighborhood. (What you or I wouldn’t give for that!)
They threw it all away carelessly.
The early Christian churches had the Apostles, evangelism, tongues, miracles, healing, revelation—all the blessings into which we now are arriving. After the Apostles died the believers and their leadership were not able to hold what had been given so abundantly. Men began to gain preeminence as theologians and scholars. For whatever reason the Spirit of wisdom and revelation departed. The Christians couldn’t hold the Glory.
In place of fishermen and tax collectors there arose one of the tremendous religious organizations of all time, an organization governed by the human mind. The ecclesiastical politics that always will attend human government often resulted in notorious corruption, and the torture and murder of the humble believers who really knew the Lord.
This is life. We are given (some of us) a good home, health, intelligence, talents, perhaps a wife and children, maybe an opportunity to accept Christ and learn in Sunday school, loving friends, a fine career.
If these come too easy we are in jeopardy. Waiting in the wings is alcohol, the cunning adulterer or adulteress in whose heart are chains, gambling, illegal business practices, the neglect of our physical health, overwork and other forms of intemperance, not to mention carelessness in the things of the Lord.
The consequences of our folly may be years in coming. The strong leader becomes addicted to alcohol, drugs, or gambling. He loses his job, his money. The office flirtations turn into betrayal and the wife (or husband) and children are left to make do while the cute secretary turns into a nagging, self-centered hag.
But the boys have grown up without Dad and his little girl is too big for her teddy bear and dolls and is living somewhere with her female "partner."
The Kingdom of God always is an inner kingdom. The outer form of the Kingdom is a manifestation and effect of the Person and rule of God in Christ established in the personalities of the individuals making up the Kingdom.
July 3rd
THE BASIC STORY OF MANKIND, continued
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! (Luke 15:17)
The respectable businessman finds himself in federal prison, disgraced, while his family attempts to survive the shame. "That’s all right, my wife has strong shoulders. We’ll make it."
The extra thirty pounds coupled with drinking, smoking, and the seventy-hour workweek end up under the big camera while the surgeon threads the catheter into the thigh. "Dear Christ, what if I die? Where am I going? Mother, can you hear me? Help!"
We thought we were God’s pet, the golden boy who was bound to live the good life forever.
Here we are, broken, sick, addicted to alcohol, without God or our family, without the respect of our acquaintances, maybe in prison, maybe with lung cancer or AIDS.
In the newspaper we read of those who at one moment are on top of the good life and the next moment are in the pits from personal tragedy.
What a way to learn!
Maybe it has happened to you. Believe it or not, I have good news for you.
There is a way back through Jesus Christ. And not just back, but back to heights that never could have been attained had we not suffered loss and then recovered.
Through the death of the blind Hebrew the whole company of Philistines was slain.
Out from the descendants of Adam and Eve will come the wiser, battle-hardened sons of God who will judge mankind and the angels.
The Christian Church has fought its way back from the Dark Ages until the Spirit of wisdom and revelation is beginning to rest on the assemblings. Never again will the saints lose the Presence of Jesus.
When the wall is rebuilt, as in the days of Nehemiah, the locks and bars are installed. The result is not as fancy as the original construction but far more deeply appreciated. That which we gain back the hard way we are apt to appreciate and maintain.
The Christian Church will march upward, clearing the stones from the Highway of Holiness, until our Lord returns and the sun rises on the new world of righteousness.
After six thousand years of insanity, by God’s help we’ll never lose Paradise again! "Get thee behind me, Satan!"
How about you? Are you in the pits? That’s the hard way to discover the value of what you once were given so freely.
Perhaps it’s not too late. Go to God. See what He will do for you.
Perhaps what will come out of your return home will prove to be the best that ever could have been.
But don’t be such a fool as to turn to the pigs in order to have the opportunity to be welcomed back home. Appreciate what you have. Make the most of it. You won’t have such a glorious testimony for the Full Gospel Businessmen but you will have your self-respect, a loving wife and children, friends, your health, and your God.
And Brother, those blessings are not to be taken lightly!
The outward man of the glorified saint will be a perfect vehicle for the inward man and will reveal the inward man; unlike today where we cannot determine the nature of an individual by looking at his outward man.
July 4th
TO MINISTER OR TO BEAR WITNESS?
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)
There is a big difference between ministering and bearing witness.
Ministry is a means to an end. Bearing witness is the end.
The purpose of ministry is to build the Body of Christ to the measure of maturity as measured by the fullness of the stature of Christ.
The purpose of bearing witness is to reveal to God’s creation His Person, way, will, and eternal purpose in Jesus Christ.
Ministry is temporary and will be done away just as scaffolding is done away as soon as the building is completed.
The witness of God is eternal. Once we become a witness of God we bear witness for eternity.
Consider Noah, Abraham, Job, Daniel, Elijah. They were, are, and from now on will be witnesses of God. When we think of any one of them the Person, way, will, and eternal purpose of God come to mind. It shall always be so. Once a witness always a witness.
True ministry is a witness of God to the one being ministered to. But today we have ministry apart from true witness. We have people who are preaching, teaching, and evangelizing who not only are presenting a warped gospel but who themselves are bearing more of a witness of the devil than they are of God.
The televangelist pleads for money, wears his five hundred dollar suits and begs widows to send him their food money. ("God will send you back five thousand dollars.") Not only is his message incorrect as he oversells the grace of God, but the witness he is presenting by his appearance and actions is not telling the truth about God.
Our country has come to believe the whole Christian business is a money-making scam.
The pastor who has his eyes on the attendance rather than on the Lord is compromising the message of the Gospel so as not to drive people away. He talks of the rapture, of grace, of God’s love, of how to have a successful marriage, of how to be prosperous. His message is not balanced. The witness he is giving of God is false. God is not as he is presenting. God is as much a consuming fire as He is incomprehensible love. To stress the goodness of God and not His severity is to bear a false witness.
Sometimes when we speak of witnessing for Jesus we mean doing the work of an evangelist. The work of the evangelist is necessary. But perhaps even more importantly in our day in America is the witness of people whose lives have been changed. They now have integrity, are honest, joyful, dependable, truth-telling, morally pure human beings.
Perhaps most Americans have heard the Gospel. Many of them have "made a decision for Christ." A significant part of those who have made such a decision are in jail in the present hour.
Why? Because the preachers are emphasizing grace, grace, grace, and themselves are living spiritually careless lives. They are not witnesses of God. They may be ministers but they are not witnesses.
When there is no true witness of God the iron is not present to enable the preacher and his hearers to stand against sin.
This is where we are in America today.
A small deviation from your course becomes greatly magnified when you are journeying to the stars.
July 5th
A TWENTIETH-CENTURY EPISTLE
Whatever you want to do, do it now. You have a right to have fun and be fulfilled. Love yourself above all. Do not let anyone get in your way. The government has promised you life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Make sure you get yours. (Americans 1:1)
The following is taken from "an epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Christian churches of America."
"Dearly beloved, now that Christ has come you are not to be overly concerned with your behavior. Put your trust in Him, and even though you continue in your sin and self-seeking until you die it is impossible for you to incur God’s displeasure.
"In fact, when you sin you are magnifying the grace of God. When you fornicate, God sees only the holiness of Christ. When you lie, God sees only the truthfulness of Christ. When you murder, God sees only the gentleness of Christ.
"I have written some letters to the churches that appear to warn against certain behaviors. But you are not to regard these as necessary aspects of your salvation for even though they seemingly are addressed to the saints they actually are directed toward the unsaved and the Jews. Always keep in mind that faith without works glorifies the grace and mercy of God. Faith must stand alone. Your efforts to live righteously detract from God’s grace and are legalism. You may safely ignore all I have written to the churches concerning moral conduct.
"Remember, dearly beloved, God is love. You may leave your wife and children and live with a prostitute. You may give your word and break it as often as you like. God will not hold this against you, because you believe in the Lord Jesus. You may sin thousands and thousands of times, living in every kind of moral filth. Yet, God will continue to love you with His great Father’s heart.
"(Aren’t we having fun in the Son!)
"No matter how you live your life, no matter how many people you injure, no matter how unfaithful you are, how you despise the Scriptures, how unrighteously you behave, how much you despise mercy and love revenge, how arrogantly and haughtily you walk before God and men, you cannot possibly displease God or lose your salvation. God sees you only in Christ, having His righteousness.
"God loves you in your filth. Christ loves you although you continually disobey His commandments. The Holy Spirit loves you although you rebel against His every prompting.
"Beloved, there is no need for you to live a holy life. Jesus does it all. He will change you from within your personality apart from your having to obey any commandments. Remember, all efforts to obey His words or the words of the Apostles are ‘legalism.’
"If you have ever at any time professed belief in Christ Jesus, when you die you will go straight to Paradise to live forever in a golden mansion.
"Return to your father’s house with your girlfriend and a bottle of whiskey. Live it up. Have a party. Make your older brother jealous. Dad loves you so much he is ready to turn the whole ranch over to you. Maranatha."
It is time for repentance among Christians. Our doctrine is a shambles. Our moral stature is deplorable. We have been deceived.
July 6th
YOU CAN BE A VICTORIOUS CHRISTIAN!
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (Romans 8:37)
The life of victory in Christ, of performing the will of God perfectly, is readily available to every human being.
The "Assyrians" have fled because of Calvary. The enemy has been defeated totally. He can work only in the realm of deception in his attempt to lead us into sin. He no longer possesses the authority or power to truly harm the saint. When we come to understand the Word of God and what Christ actually accomplished on the cross we are able to press into the Kingdom of God with all confidence.
Perfect victory in Christ indeed is for you no matter how weak and incompetent you may consider yourself to be. This moment, cast yourself and your cares on Christ Jesus. Do not worry about trying to explain all the details to Him. He understands perfectly every detail of your life.
With your mouth—out loud—tell Jesus that from this point on you will do the will of God as the Holy Spirit assists you. Tell Him you desire to be one of His conquerors, that you want Him to remove from you the overwhelming desires of the sinful nature, the world, and Satan. You want to belong to Christ and to Christ alone.
From this moment on, believe with all your heart and soul that Christ Jesus will enter you and become the Way, the Truth, and the Life in you. Do not allow yourself to be troubled, worried, agitated in your mind. Give yourself completely to His love, power, and wisdom.
Christ loves you more than you have any idea.
Has life on the earth become a heavy burden to you? Jesus will take you dancing among the stars. Are you concerned about whether you are pleasing to the Father? Jesus will bring you in His name into the Presence of the Almighty God, there to receive the blessing.
There is a song without end. Would you like to hear it? Would you like to have it created in you?
Whatever He says to you, do it through His grace. Instead of being one of those believers who is wandering about in guilt and confusion you can hold up your head in the realization you now are Christ’s responsibility and through the indwelling Christ you are walking forward in victory—in the center of God’s will.
The water is only waist deep. We overcome through Christ, not through superior spiritual ability. If you believe Christ when He states that what He begins He finishes, then lift up your heart and rejoice. Relax and stand up straight in the water. You received Christ by faith when you needed to be saved from the wrath of God. Now receive Christ by faith in order to become a conqueror, an attainer of the first resurrection.
Lord Jesus, we pray You will reach down now and touch the reader of these words. Give to him or her the assurance that You are the Finisher as well as the Author of his or her salvation.
Enter, we pray, into the heart of the reader as he begins to realize the acceptance of Your Presence will lift him from the state of "trying to be a Christian" to the level of the conqueror who, through the Spirit of God, is pressing toward the mark of the first resurrection from the dead.
Come, Lord Jesus, and shine through Your saints. Take to Yourself Your irresistible power and reign on the earth. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on the earth as it is in Heaven. Amen.
Doing the Father's perfect will is the simplest thing in the world, once you make up your mind this is what you truly want.
July 7th
THY KINGDOM GO OR COME?
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)
The Hebrew Prophets spoke much of the glory of the Kingdom of God and of how blessed Israel and the nations will be when Christ returns to the earth.
As far as we know, all New Testament doctrines can be found in the Old Testament in some form. The writers of the New Testament gained their understanding of the Christian salvation as the Spirit of God revealed the Old Testament to them.
"The just shall live by his faith" was stated by a Hebrew Prophet (Habakkuk 2:4). The explanation of what the just shall live by faith means is set forth in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews, and all the examples are from the Old Testament.
Paul’s teaching concerning the Antichrist can be found in the Book of Daniel. The atonement made by the Lord Jesus is set forth in the fifty-third chapter of the Book of Isaiah. The doctrine of the resurrection from the dead is presented in Daniel 12:2. The history of the nation of Israel is an object lesson to us Christians. We derive our comfort from the promises found in the Old Testament.
Righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God are the major emphases of both testaments. The new covenant does not have a different goal from the old covenant. The new covenant does have improved means of attaining the same goal.
Paul, Peter, James, John, and Jude stress righteous and holy conduct in view of the return of Christ in His righteous Kingdom. The issue of salvation always is shown to be what position we will have, what our fate will be, in the Day of the Lord—the Day when Jesus and His saints return to the earth to establish righteousness among the nations. This is the same vision seen by the Prophets of Israel.
Christian believers are looking for the coming of Antichrist. The spirit of Antichrist already is being revealed and has undermined the Gospel of the Kingdom with a deception concerning the escape of the elect to Heaven to live in beautiful mansions.
Satan would be well pleased if all the elect would leave the earth and go to Heaven to live in beautiful mansions doing nothing of significance. Satan fears the coming of Christ and His saints into the earth to establish God’s Kingdom of righteousness and peace. Satan would much prefer that Jesus remove His warriors to Heaven and stay away from the earth. In view of Satan’s ambitions in the earth it is easy to recognize the source of the grace-Heaven model of salvation.
When we pray, "Thy kingdom come," what are we asking? Do we want to stay and see the Kingdom come or do we want to go to the spirit realm? Why don’t we pray, "Our Father, who art in Heaven, help us get up there"?
I would like to be here to see Jesus crowned on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. How about you? Maybe King David will be the one to place the crown on his Son’s head.
What do you really want, to have a mansion in the spirit realm, wear golden slippers, and play a harp, or have a part in the establishing of God’s Kingdom on the earth? Which would you rather have, gold and diamonds in Heaven or people to love on the earth?
How anxious are you to die?
Ask your heart. (from The Continuity from the Old Testament to the New Testament)
The Christian salvation is not a change in God's requirements, it is a change in man so he can meet God's requirements.
July 8th
IN WHAT WAY IS SALVATION A GIFT?
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Salvation often is presented as a gift from God with no strings attached. An evangelist will ask, "If someone would hand you a fifty-dollar bill you would take it. Why won’t you take the gift of salvation?"
The reason is, the gift of salvation is very unlike a fifty-dollar bill and the sinner understands this even if the evangelist doesn’t. This is why he won’t always take it.
Romans 6:23 (above) has been preached to the unsaved for many years. It really is addressed to believers.
In the early chapters of the Book of Romans Paul spoke to the Jews. He told them they could not earn God’s approval any longer by observing the statutes of the Law of Moses. God now has given us His own righteousness, a righteousness purchased by Jesus Christ on the cross. We receive the righteousness of God by placing our faith in Christ’s atonement apart from circumcision, the Sabbath, or any other part of the Law.
The inevitable occurred. People were saying "It doesn’t matter if we sin because God’s grace forgives us no matter what we do." (Sound familiar?)
Paul, a very moral, God-fearing individual, rose up in protest. "What then, shall we sin? God forbid! How shall we who are dead to sin live in it any longer?"
Paul was referring to the fact that when we enter water baptism we are testifying we have died with Christ on the cross and have risen with Him to the right hand of the Father. Thus we, in accordance with our profession of faith, are to count ourselves dead to sin and walk in the newness of a righteous, holy life.
Paul goes on to teach (in the sixth chapter of Romans) if we, having received Christ and been baptized into His death and resurrection, yield our body to sinful practices, we will die spiritually.
But since we now are a Christian we have the authority and power (which non-Christians do not have) to choose to be the slave of the laws of righteous, holy behavior. If we so choose we will live in the eternal Life of God.
In view of these facts Paul, in Romans 6:23, reminds the Christians that to continue in the practices of sin will pay off in death. But God has given them the gift of eternal life provided they take advantage of their new spiritual position and begin to live a righteous, holy life.
It’s not like a fifty-dollar bill. The gift of eternal life is more like the gift of a piano. You have to practice it to get any good out of it.
How about you? Maybe you’ve been saved for several years. Are you still playing chopsticks or are we hearing something worth listening to?
The believer will never make a success of the Christian discipleship until he spends time each day in prayer, in waiting on the Lord, in meditating in the Scriptures.
July 9th
GETTING TO KNOW JESUS
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3)
Because of the revelation God gave us in Bible school many years ago we have devoted much of our ministry to describing the work of God that comes after Pentecost. There is the basic salvation experience, and then there is the Pentecostal experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit, often accompanied with speaking in tongues.
But the Bible shows clearly the work of redemption in three stages. The many types, such as the feasts of the Lord, the Tabernacle of the Congregation, the journey of Israel from Egypt to Canaan, the days of creation, Noah’s ark, and so forth, portray three levels of redemption.
We could call the third work of salvation the fullness of God, or the Tabernacles experience, or total consecration, or the throne level, or conquest. (Let us not make another denomination for Heaven’s sake!)
But you know, after all is said and done, the third level actually is knowing Jesus.
When we first are saved we know Jesus a little. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we know Jesus a little more. But isn’t it true that most of our knowledge has to do with our church culture or formulas that we think will enable us to get what we want out of God?
We talk about Jesus.
If you don’t believe me, the next time you are in a meeting listen to what is being said. Jesus is in the third person singular. He does this and He does that. It isn’t You are doing this and You are doing that.
The only time Jesus is addressed directly is in prayer.
God has more than this for us. God wants us to practice the Presence of Jesus in our daily life, as well as in the assembling, much, much more than we are doing. It is not "He is with us," it is, "You are with us"!
Last Sunday I was sitting at the keyboard. We were in the middle of the song service and I had this feeling we were going to go through this service with something important missing.
Suddenly one of the song leaders said, "The Lord wants to do something."
The guitar player behind me said, "The waters are troubled."
I go up and kind of staggered around, telling the congregation we were supposed to do something but I did not know what. Isn’t that great? God’s man of faith and power without the answers.
The young people started marching around the church with their big banners. (I hope this doesn’t shock you!)
Our air traffic controller (the lady who keeps our banners, tambourines, dancing and so forth from becoming chaotic) said, "I think the whole congregation is supposed to do something." I felt the same thing and so I said, "Everybody stand up and do something."
Eternal life is the knowledge of God and Christ. The end of the new covenant is that all believers might know God.
July 10th
GETTING TO KNOW JESUS, continued
How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. (I Corinthians 14:26)
Even our head elder, an ordinarily sedate individual, came up to the front and started exhorting the people. Pretty soon the whole congregation was marching or dancing or walking around.
Then our worship leader decided to do a combination of singing choruses and inviting up people for prayer who needed release from bondage. Several came up and people prayed for them. Then groups of people went to different members of the congregation and prayed for them.
This went on for about half an hour. When everybody felt Jesus was finished with that part, we took the offering, I preached, we had an altar call, Communion was given (we serve communion to people at the altar while they are being prayed for), sang a song, hugged one another, and went home decently and in order.
The point is, Jesus moved from the third person to the second person. "Lord, You are here. What do You want done?"
My message, prepared before this uproar, was about everyone having gifts of the Spirit. So it kind of fit.
The best aspect of the whole business (apart from the fact we were hearing from the living Jesus) was that several people had the same witness and then everyone participated. There was Divine order. Godly elders were in authority and everyone recognized this. No one got in the flesh and tried to steer the meeting off sideways.
Meetings are much safer when you put in the bulletin everything you are going to do and then do it, even if the angel Gabriel walks in (the ushers will show him to the door).
This other activity is dangerous but it sure is more interesting.
This is the direction we want to go as a church until when a visitor comes everyone rises up and prophesies the secrets of his heart and he falls on the rug and cries out "God is in this place!"
Wouldn’t that be great? That’s like having church.
We need to know Jesus more. We need Him in our life, in our assemblings, not only someone who is a million miles away making intercession before the Father but right here in the middle of the service telling us what to do, leading His army in Person.
How about you? Do you want to know Jesus better? Why don’t you tell Him so.
"But I’m not even a Christian. How can I tell Jesus I want to know Him better?"
You don’t have to follow any formula. If you want to love Jesus and know Him better, look up right now and let Him into your life.
You can worry about "getting saved" later. (You already have the Judge on your side the moment you look to Him!)
It is the will of God that Jesus Christ become the Center and Circumference of every thing, every creature, and every situation to be found in the entire universe of God.
July 11th
POWER OR RIGHTEOUSNESS?
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)
It has become fashionable in modern times to seek power with God. Much has been written about how to have power with God.
I doubt if hundreds of years ago the Catholic peasants coming in from the field at vespers thought much about having power with God. It’s probably a modern phenomenon.
The idea of getting power from the spirit realm goes along with the contemporary man-centeredness of everything. If we can get enough power we can build the Kingdom of God in the way we think best (in the way that will profit our own group).
The Bible doesn’t exhort us to seek power, as far as I know, but to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
We need God’s power but for the right reasons. Righteousness always is an issue of power. It takes power to work righteousness and more power comes to us from God when we practice righteousness. So righteousness is the important topic.
The reason we cannot overcome the evil in our own life is that we lack power. We have to pray to get enough power to overcome temptation.
We cannot overcome the evil in our nation until we receive more power from the Lord. (Some day we shall!)
We try to get power by voting or seeking political office or by lobbying or threatening politicians running for office. I don’t know how much good these efforts do.
Since the evil of abortion and other problems are coming from Satan, how are we going to get rid of it by voting or threatening politicians? The source of the wickedness is spiritual. Spiritual battles are not fought with voting but with prayer, righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God.
It is the prayer of the righteous individual that avails much.
"Brother Thompson, I am righteous through Christ."
Are you sure? James, the writer who said the prayer of the righteous avails much, wasn’t too pleased with the idea of imputed righteousness. He was interested in helping the orphans and widows in their troubles.
The powers of Hell are running wild in the streets of America. We have invited all the demons from India, Africa, South America, and other places, and are protecting them with the Bill of Rights. They are enjoying themselves at the expense of our citizens. (Can you imagine the look on the faces of the framers of the Constitution?)
Yoga, a part of the Hindu religion, is practiced by people in our government, according to the newspaper. (It reminds us of the Book of Ezekiel.)
So you are not going to accomplish much by the democratic process.
As spiritually dark as the present atmosphere of America is, there is far more Divine power available than is necessary to totally clean up the environment.
God is ready to issue all the power we need the moment we turn away from our sins. God has the power. Are we going to do what He has commanded or not?
When we attempt to direct the Spirit of God we are taking away from the Lord Jesus His God-given authority to administrate the resources of the Kingdom of God. Man is in the driver's seat. This is the False Prophet.
July 12th
GOD’S SOLUTION FOR THE LAST DAYS
He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. (Matthew 10:39)
What is God’s answer to the presence on the earth of Satan and the fallen angels?
The cross. The cross of the Lord Jesus and the personal cross of the believer. God will not save what man is. God will not save the race of Adam. The race of Adam died in Christ Jesus on the cross of Calvary. The members of the Kingdom of God are a new race. They are humans, but humans in whom every element of personality has become part of Christ Jesus.
They have died; but behold—they live! They are crucified with Christ, yet they live. But it no longer is they who are living, it is Christ. God has provided the answer to every terror of the last days. The answer is our death and resurrection in Christ.
We must reckon ourselves dead, experience the judgment of God in every aspect of our personality (which includes much suffering and the denial of our fondest hopes), and then receive the Presence of the Father and the Son. This is the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles. It is the provision God has made for the spiritual oppression of the closing days of this age.
In the day when so many are falling into the trap of viewing themselves as God, the Spirit says:
Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. (Revelation 14:12)
We must bow the knee to God, turning away from our pride, our arrogance, our haughtiness. We must keep God’s righteous commandments. The Epistles of the New Testament are filled with guides to righteous behavior. We must keep faith in Jesus, guarding the word of His patience.
To follow the Lord in cross-carrying obedience, turning away from the "Christian" people who tell us we can have everything we want in the world, requires patience.
God is raising up a powerful army in our day. Each soldier has been judged thoroughly by the Word of God. In the moment of judgment the Lord’s soldier will stand because he cannot be harmed by Divine judgment. He can "fall on the sword" and yet not be wounded.
Patience! Patience! Patience and the Kingdom of God!
If we are to possess our soul we must exercise patience in the prison in which the Lord places us. Then, in the darkest of the night, the Lord gives us the solution:
And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. (Revelation 14:13)
"Die in the Lord from henceforth."
From henceforth. From this time forth. From the time man begins to make himself God. From this moment those who die in the Lord are blessed. In the midst of the fire of judgment they will sing and dance in the height of Zion. They will enter rest. Their works of righteousness and holiness will accompany them wherever they go.
Nothing can hurt them. Antichrist cannot touch them. The False Prophet cannot deceive them. Satan himself cannot overthrow them.
Why not? Because it is not they who are living but Christ who is living in them. In order to conquer them, Satan would have to be able to suppress the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Do you choose to save your life or to lose it in Jesus Christ?
The warriors of the coming Kingdom have died already, so to speak, and are living now by the strength and wisdom of the body and blood of Christ.
July 13th
GOD HAS HIS OWN WAY OF DOING THINGS
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. (Galatians 5:24)
Let us ask a question.
Why would God create man on the earth, give him access to many kinds of things, relationships, experiences, and then command him to deny himself?
This sounds like poor planning on God’s part.
Why create little gods from the dust of the ground and then say to them, "Take up your cross and follow me"? "Present your body a living sacrifice to Me"?
The answer is, men are just that—little gods.
There are heavenly beings who are so tremendously large and intelligent, so filled with glory that we would be unable to stand in their presence. Some of these do God’s will. Others joined with Satan in the rebellion against the Father.
God, in His unfathomable wisdom, reached down to the dust of the earth and from it created little gods—creatures who one day will judge the angels, who one day will be served by the most exalted of God’s creatures.
What next?
The predictable—the first little god born on the earth murdered the second because of envy.
The little gods had to be given the chance to do whatever they wanted, although the Lord realized that the result would be six thousand years of agony as the dust-gods strove to glorify themselves.
Then God presented to these inexperienced divinities the only possible solution to their madness: "Take up your cross of self-denial so I may become one with you. Let Me bring forth My life in you. You can realize your foreordained destiny only by entering My death and My life."
It is the story of the prodigal son, the story of man. The Father gives us our inheritance. We end up with the pigs, having lost our inheritance in riotous living. We come to ourselves and return home—to the Father. We have learned we do not have the wisdom to use properly what has been given us.
For two thousand years the Christian churches have attempted to serve God by using His grace and gifts to build a tower that reaches to Heaven. The same attempt is being made today and soon will be supported with signs and wonders.
Some "Christian" leaders are busily engaged in teaching Christians how to live, how to profit by the grace and gifts of God, how to find victory and success in the present world.
They should be teaching the believers how to die in the Lord!
What God said to the Apostles of the Lamb He still is saying to His Church: "It is only by your death that you can live in My Presence. Enter My death and resurrection. Death is the only path to the Throne of God."
By death we mean the surrender of our personality to God, allowing Him to fill us with His Life. We tell the Lord we are His bondslave forever. Our delight is to do the will of God only. We have learned that to follow the desires of our own life brings frustration and pain.
Is this your point of view?
Jesus does not say, Here is life, take it. Rather, Jesus says, "I am life, follow Me." Jesus is the "way" to eternal life. He is the "door." We enter through Him and then walk in the pressured, narrow way that leads to life.
July 14th
LIVING STONES
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. (John 14:21)
The feast of Tabernacles, the last of the seven feasts of the Lord, reveals to us that God’s eternal purpose is to create a living Temple for Himself. The Temple of God is Christ—Head and Body.
Before we come to the feast of Tabernacles we must experience the Blowing of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement. The Blowing of Trumpets signifies the coming of the Lord Jesus to His churches to wage war against His enemies, and also to organize His saints into the Army of the Lord.
This is taking place now. The Lord is coming to His people before He appears in open glory to the world.
The Day of Atonement is the period during which each Christian is judged and reconciled to God. The Day of Atonement has begun and will continue throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age. Each of us must be reconciled to God so we may serve as a dwelling place for the Lord. We must be delivered from our love of the world. We must be delivered from the lusts of our flesh. Finally we must, through suffering and imprisonment of various kinds, be totally delivered from self-will, envy, presumption, supplanting, and disobedience to the Father. Only then are we ready to be a living stone in the eternal Temple of God.
The emphasis of the Spirit now—today—is that we cease from our own works and look to the Lord. It is a new day. The Lord is calling us to repentance and to listen carefully to His voice. He stands at the door of our heart and is asking if He may enter. We may have been a Christian for many years. Yet this is what is taking place. Are you finding it to be true? Is the Lord speaking to you concerning your thoughts, your words, your actions?
The Lord Jesus desires to enter and dine with us on His own body and blood. We become part of Him as we partake of Him. We become the Wife of the Lamb as we partake of the Lamb.
Are you ready to hear the trumpet of the Lord? Are you ready to be reconciled to God in your entire personality? Are you ready to enter the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, into the rest of God, into the Kingdom of God? Then open your heart to the Lord Jesus and discover what He has for you today, what your role is in the Kingdom of God that is at hand, and what part you are to play in the great latter-rain outpouring.
If the mystery of the Gospel were Christ with us the demands on us would be severe. But since the mystery of the Gospel is Christ in us, the demands on us are total. The Lord will have no idols in His house, no uncleanness, no presumption, no supplanting of the place of another, no envy, no rebellion of any kind against the Father’s will.
Is this what you truly desire—to be made in Christ’s image and to enter total, untroubled rest in the Father, in Him who is the Consuming Fire of Israel? If this is what you really want, then tell the Lord about it right now. Express your desire with your voice. Then get ready for the greatest adventure of your life as the Father and the Son make Their eternal abode in you.
If you are not making progress in purity you are not abiding in Christ. You are not being redeemed. Go to the Lord and ask Him to continue the program of redemption in your life.
July 15th
TO BE A CHRISTIAN
Go ye therefore, and teach [make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matthew 28:19)
There are two kinds of "Christian" believers in the world—the church-attender and the disciple. However, only the disciple is a true Christian.
And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. (Acts 11:26)
"The disciples were called Christians."
The question is, what is a disciple; for it is the disciple who is the genuine Christian.
The Lord Jesus described what He means by a disciple.
And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Mark 8:34)
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26,27)
How many "Christians" of our day have forsaken all in order to follow the Lord? Not very many, it appears. How many are following the Master, bearing their personal cross? Not very many!
The Christian churches of today are filled with church-attenders. They call themselves "Christians" but they are not. They are not disciples of the Lord Jesus—not at all! They simply are not genuine Christians.
Let us say that Fred Smith is an apprentice printer. He is twenty years old and is engaged to be married.
On Saturday he attends a trade school where he is studying lithography. The topic this Saturday is color registration. Fred watches carefully as marks are made on the plates to insure that the several colors will not overlap or be outside the specific boundaries set for them.
He understands that such knowledge will lead directly to his becoming a master lithographer with the salary and opportunities that such an attainment will bring. Although he is tired from working all week he forces himself to stay awake. He makes notes and sketches on a pad he carries with him.
On Sunday he and his fiancée, Shirley Samson, attend the morning church service. Fred and his future wife have been raised in church. They slip into a pew. The time comes for the sermon. The pastor delivers a message of great interest and concern to himself. He has prayed over it. The subject is child abuse. The pastor is able to express his indignation at such an outrage and hopes to make some social impact toward relieving this scandalous condition.
Fred has no children but he is interested in the subject. He becomes indignant at the examples of abuse given in the sermon. He looks at Shirley. They agree silently that they would never be guilty of such an abomination (not having experienced the demonic deceptions and pressures that come on all married couples—even Christian couples).
If we are given a piano we are given the gift of the opportunity to become a pianist. The gift of salvation, of eternal life, is the gift of an opportunity. God gives to us the opportunity through the Lord Jesus Christ to attain eternal life.
July 16th
TO BE A CHRISTIAN, continued
Go ye therefore, and teach [make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matthew 28:19)
Soon Fred’s head nods. He has worked hard all week. He was busy in school on Saturday. The pastor’s third point, although clearly and simply stated, is not heard by Fred because he is asleep. But when he becomes a father what he has heard may prevent him from venting his anger on his child.
Fred would not bring a notebook and force himself to think about every point made. Why should he? He doesn’t intend to become a minister. His ambition is to be a master lithographer. What would be the purpose of writing down the main points of the sermon and going over them at home? How would he use such information? Toward what goal would it lead him?
Fred is a clean-living, wholesome young person. So is Shirley. But they are not disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are not members of the Body of Christ, of the Body of the Servant of the Lord, except in a nominal sense.
Fred and Shirley will not grow in Christ under these conditions. They have been going to church since early childhood. But they would never invite other young people to meet with them so they could impart the little knowledge of the Scriptures they have gained through years of exposure. They are too busy in the things of the world to set aside the time and energy to minister to others. After fifty years of church attendance they will know little more of the Scriptures than they do now.
Fred’s first interest is printing. His second interest is his fiancée. Church attendance is his religious duty that he performs faithfully. It could not be said truly that Fred is seeking first the Kingdom of God. He is not a disciple.
The current pastor-congregation set of role expectations (the role of the pastor is to preach and the role of the congregation is to attend on Sunday morning and listen) is a wasteful, inefficient system for going into the world and making disciples of all nations. This pattern never will fulfill the great commission given by the resurrected Christ.
The gathering of disciples, on the other hand, is quite different than the church service Fred and Shirley are accustomed to. The assembling of fervent members of the Body of Christ is similar to the gathering of apprentice printers at the Saturday trade school.
Raul Sanchez is a disciple of the Lord Jesus. So is his fiancée, Eliana Martinez. They are both in their early twenties and both have grown up in neighborhoods where violence and gang warfare are common. They had been using drugs since their high school days.
One day they found their way into the Center. The Center is operated by young men and women of their own age having backgrounds similar to that of Raul and Eliana.
The young Christians of the Center are fervent disciples, already having gained experience in conquering sin and the world. They live, breathe, and think about the Lord Jesus twenty-four hours of every day of the week. They are wholly absorbed in following Jesus. They are bearing their cross after Jesus.
Every person who practices perfect obedience to God is a blessing to those around him. But he who insists on his own liberty and happiness harms and deprives others.
July 17th
TO BE A CHRISTIAN, continued
Go ye therefore, and teach [make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matthew 28:19)
Raul and Eliana became Christians at the Center with the understanding that a Christian is someone who is following Christ with his whole heart. Christ is the Focus of his life, the Guide and Reason for every decision, every action. The disciples at the Center are learning every moment of their life how to serve the Lord more effectively. For each of them, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Raul and Eliana began to attend a church where the pastor is aware of the transition the Holy Spirit is making—the transition from the clergy-laity concept to the Body of Christ concept.
Their pastor understands he is training disciples who will learn and who will bring to other people that which he is teaching. He is not desirous of gaining large numbers of people to fill the building each Sunday. His concern is that each person whom he is instructing is receiving and mastering what is being presented so that individual soon may be able to present the Kingdom of God to others.
The pastor who is teaching people who will never carry on his teachings is wasting his time and God’s time. The Gospel never will cover the earth until every person who is being taught is committed to teach others also. There no longer is time to "play church."
The pastor of Raul and Eliana, because of his commitment to discipleship, is more interested in building up the saints than he is in building up the attendance. He understands thoroughly that in Kingdom work it is far better to have twenty dedicated disciples than two thousand casually interested church-attenders.
Two thousand lukewarm believers will do little else than seek counsel for their family problems and complain about their lack of convenience and comfort. But twenty dedicated disciples will shake the earth in the name of Jesus.
The assembling of saints that Raul attends is little different from the conventional church. The customary piano, organ, pews, pulpit are all present. The principal difference is that most of those who attend are active disciples. They are assembling in order to worship God and to charge their spiritual batteries so they can go forth as light bearers in this dark world.
There is prolonged, fervent worship in the Spirit. The time comes for presenting the Word of God. The pastor teaches on the subject of forgiving those who sin against us. He stresses the importance to the spiritual life of keeping one’s heart free from grudges, from bitterness, from revenge, from malice.
Raul and Eliana are intensely interested. They know how important grudges and revenge are to the gangs in their neighborhood. They take notes so they can study the Scripture references at home. They are so anxious to please Jesus that they are eager to know more of this spiritual principle. Forgiveness is, they learn, central to our fellowship with God.
Each member of God's elect has been called to serve God as a priest in the new world of righteousness. Whether or not we as an individual manage to lay hold on our own calling depends on the diligence with which we apply ourselves to doing God's will.
July 18th
TO BE A CHRISTIAN, continued
Go ye therefore, and teach [make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matthew 28:19)
The number one vocation of Raul and Eliana is their discipleship. Their jobs by which they earn the money for their food and shelter are secondary in importance.
As soon as they relate the principle of forgiving others to their own spiritual condition they will be able and ready to share this understanding with others. It will not be long before they will be heard teaching the new young people who are coming to the Center that we have to forgive those who have harmed us if we expect God to forgive our sins.
There is a difference in kind between Fred Smith and Raul Sanchez. Fred’s chief interest is becoming a journeyman printer and finally owning his own shop. Fred does attend church each Sunday. Each service he hears a well-outlined sermon concerning the moral issues of our culture.
He will do his best to conform to the preaching provided he is not attacked spiritually to the point he is unable to overcome. If that happens he will go the route of numerous men—divorce, alcohol, anxiety, the worship of money. He no longer will find time to attend church.
Raul Sanchez is a dedicated disciple, working at mastering the principles of the Christian life as vigorously and selflessly as the most dedicated musician works at mastering the principles of his instrument.
Raul Sanchez will learn more of Christ in one year than Fred Smith will learn in his entire life. Raul Sanchez soon will find more open doors to share his faith than he will have the time and strength to manage. Fred Smith may never throughout his entire life bring a vital testimony to bear on another human being.
Fred will be taught that saving souls is important. But he will find no practical way to go about saving souls, except perhaps in a time of Sunday-school canvassing of the community.
Raul Sanchez will be taught how to worship and obey God, how to live and fight in the Spirit of God. His whole life will be a supremely powerful force effecting change in his family, his relatives, his friends, and a multitude of other people who are brought by the Holy Spirit to drink of Raul’s fountain of living waters.
When referring to people being blessed by Raul Sanchez we are not speaking of the Christian zealot who goes about attempting to get people to subscribe to the "four steps of salvation," alienating the Jews and others with whom he comes in contact, or to the Christian who has been given by the Spirit a special gift of soul winning.
Rather, our reference is to the true disciple of Jesus. The true disciple is a believer who is becoming a new creation, who is being made the living expression of Christ. Christ is the eternal moral law of God made flesh, the eternal Witness of God. Those who give their lives wholly to the Lord Jesus always have a profound effect on the individuals with whom they come in contact. They save themselves and those who hear them. They are true witnesses of God, and all true witnesses bear witness for eternity.
There will be no kings, judges, or priests in the Kingdom of God by imputation. Only those will be there who are both authorized and competent to be kings, judges, and priests.
July 19th
TO BE A CHRISTIAN, continued
Go ye therefore, and teach [make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matthew 28:19)
There are billions of human beings today who are living their life without Christ. The pastor-congregation pattern of role expectations (the pastor preaches and the congregation sits and listens) never will reach the majority of this mass of souls and bring to them the knowledge of Christ.
But the Holy Spirit is calling out from these spiritually inefficient assemblings a warlike remnant of people, young and old, who are ready to be disciples of Christ in the New Testament sense of the word.
Before Christ returns from Heaven these new disciples will make an impact on every human being on the earth. Because of their acceptance of death with Christ on the cross, their absolute, single-minded obedience to the Father, they will accomplish more in the next few years than has been accomplished over the past two thousand years of church history.
There is a military aspect of the Christian discipleship. Discipleship and being a soldier have many points in common.
And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. (II Timothy 2:2,3)
Notice the close relationship between discipleship and being a soldier of Christ. A soldier is a man under discipline. He is dedicated to the service of his king. He will give his life for his country. He will obey orders, even to death. He lives to serve his king and country. So it is with the disciple of Christ.
A good soldier endures hardness without complaining. He realizes that in order to win a war there must be much suffering, much danger, much discomfort to one’s self. He does not complain because complaining would weaken the hands of his fellow soldiers and aid the enemy.
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. (II Timothy 2:4)
A soldier has one goal in life—to keep himself prepared to destroy the enemy of his king. Every other matter is secondary in importance. A good soldier does nothing that will enable the enemy to catch him off guard and do damage to what he has been assigned to protect.
Fred Smith is entangled with the affairs of this life. His heart is set on making money so he can get married, buy a house, own a new car, furnish his home with nice things, and gradually acquire additional articles of comfort and convenience. The church is a place where he goes on Sunday because that is what a "Christian" is supposed to do.
Fred’s mind seldom is on "things above." He is not seeking first the Kingdom of God. He is seeking first the material riches. Matters pertaining to his religion are secondary in importance. He will give some attention to church activities when he finds the time.
God is calling out of the churches (not out of the buildings but out of the errors) a holy, warlike remnant of saints. They will proceed to establish their lives according to the Scriptures. They will be more than conquerors throughout the age of moral horrors and will encourage and assist many who otherwise would be swept away into the darkness.
July 20th
TO BE A CHRISTIAN, continued
Go ye therefore, and teach [make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matthew 28:19)
Fred does not view himself as a soldier of Christ. The concept that he should keep his involvement in this world to a minimum in order that he may effectively serve the Lord Jesus is foreign to him.
He believes he should work hard, and that if he attends church regularly it will help insure he will go to Heaven when he dies. Since he will not die until he is an old man (so he thinks) he will put off worrying about Heaven until he gets closer to it. By the time he is elderly his habits will have become so deeply ingrained that should he desire to become a disciple of the Lord Jesus he might find it quite difficult.
Raul’s attitude of mind is altogether different. His mind, his heart, are kept on "things above." The seeking of the Kingdom of God is first in importance to him. He deliberately keeps his involvement in the things of this life to a minimum so he always will be alert and ready to serve the Lord.
Raul, a skilled auto mechanic and a conscientious employee, already has turned down one excellent job opportunity because he would have had to work nights and Sundays frequently and this would have seriously interrupted his meeting with the saints and his ministry at the Center. By the time Raul is elderly he will have become a prophet—an eternal witness of God.
Raul has the spirit of the Christian martyrs. He would give his life for his testimony if that were required. To Raul, Heaven is not a far off place where he will go when he is seventy or eighty. Heaven is his homeland, the place that each day is becoming more real to him. He is ready to die in his twenties because his heart leaps with joy at the thought of seeing the Christ and the saints in glory.
When Raul’s pastor preaches on the cross, on suffering, on giving one’s life for the Lord, Raul is filled with glory and joy. His spiritual life is an adventure, a joy, a romance with Jesus. He is continually growing in power and vision.
When Fred’s pastor preaches on the cross, on suffering, on giving one’s life for Jesus (which is seldom because the congregation enjoys "positive" preaching and would soon leave if the pastor became "negative"), Fred is disquieted and dismayed. He sees no necessity for dwelling on pain and misery. He would far rather think about the passages of the Scripture that bring assurance to him that God loves him and will protect and bless him. His "promise box" at home contains no "negative" passages.
If the Lord Jesus were to call Fred to service in some foreign land, this would interfere with Fred’s ambitions, hopes, and dreams. He probably would not obey and would continue with his pursuits, hoping that the "feeling" would go away. Although he might be somewhat aware that he may be disobeying Jesus he would trust he will go to Heaven anyway because "we are saved by grace and not by works."
The Lord's people are being separated into two groups in our day. There are those who love their delicious religious experiences. There are those who put on the Lord's yoke and follow patiently after the Master. They leave bloody footprints in the snow as the true saints always have.
July 21st
TO BE A CHRISTIAN, continued
Go ye therefore, and teach [make disciples of] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (Matthew 28:19)
Fred is ignorant of the fact that the Kingdom of God will come to the earth in the near future. He never has been taught this. His concept of future events is that some day he is going to Heaven to live in a "mansion." If Fred is pressed hard enough he may compromise his Christianity. He does not have enough inner fire to stand up for Jesus if it means painful personal sacrifice or martyrdom.
Fred is not a soldier of Christ. He is not a disciple, a saint, a man of God, an active member of Christ’s Body. Because he is not a victorious, conquering saint he is not eligible for the first resurrection—the resurrection of God’s kings and judges. He is not ready to be revealed to the creation as a son of God. Fred is being taught he will be caught up in his lukewarm state in a rapture so he will not be called on to suffer tribulation.
The doctrines of the "rapture," of gaining material possessions by faith, of being saved by "grace" independently of the kind of behavior the believer practices (lawless grace), are perfectly suited to Fred. These doctrines, which are foreign to the concept of Christian discipleship, have deceived Fred into believing he can live as a worldling and yet enjoy the rewards of the Christian martyrs and prophets.
Raul is a soldier of Christ, a disciple, a saint, a man of God, an active member of Christ’s Body, His army. Raul is eligible for the first resurrection because he is an overcomer. In fact, his daily life is an attaining to the first resurrection as he begins to share in the incorruptible resurrection life of Jesus and the sufferings of Jesus. Raul is being prepared to be revealed with the Lord Jesus at His appearing. If the Lord called Raul and Eliana to the mission field they would be filled with rejoicing.
Fred is a man of this world, although he hopes that through his agreement with the doctrines of his church he holds a ticket to Heaven. He does not care particularly about dwelling in Christ and God or They in him. He just desires to avoid Hell when he dies.
Raul is starting out to become a prophet. Every true saint of God is a witness and a prophet. The Spirit of the most high God rests on Raul and dwells within him. He is walking in the steps of Moses, of Jeremiah, of Abraham, of Daniel, of Paul, of Peter, of James. He is one of the elect, the remnant of whom this world is not worthy.
Fred is at home in this world. Raul is a pilgrim and a stranger. He is spending his life looking for a city that has foundations, an abiding place of rest in the heart of God. He is seeking—and he shall find—the full knowledge of God through Christ, the "city which hath foundations."
Raul has the promise of Christ that he will be guarded during the hour of temptation that soon is to come upon us. He has kept the word of Christ’s patience and Christ will keep him throughout the age of moral horrors that is on the horizon.
Fred already has surrendered to the antichrist spirit, the spirit of worldliness and material gain, and therefore is in danger of everlasting torment.
Raul Sanchez and Eliana Martinez are disciples. They are Christians. Fred Smith and Shirley Samson are not disciples. They are not Christians.
And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. (Acts 11:26)
The only persons who will survive the dark days that are ahead are those who are abiding in Christ. In order to abide in Christ and Christ in us we have to keep His commandments.
July 22nd
ANGIOPLASTY
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:4)
Angioplasty is a medical procedure sometimes used to increase the flow of blood through an artery. A tiny balloon is inserted into the constricted artery and inflated.
God is totally righteous and holy. The eternal moral law is derived from God’s Personality. Because God never changes the eternal moral law never changes. Sin is the transgression of the eternal moral law and results in spiritual and physical death, that is, separation from God.
God gave the Ten Commandments as an abridged, covenantal form of His eternal moral law.
The personality of man is bent and twisted, given to worldliness, lust, violence, and self-seeking.
When man faces the Ten Commandments the warping of his personality is revealed but there is not the power to fix it.
The Lord Jesus Christ came to earth from Heaven. His personality is unblemished. Jesus kept the Law of Moses perfectly, thus incurring righteousness in the sight of God. Then Christ died and offered His blood such that the believer can receive by faith the righteousness that would have been his had he kept the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law of Moses in detail.
The believer now is absolutely righteous in the sight of God but his personality remains bent and twisted.
Now the angioplasty begins. The righteous One, Jesus Christ, is born in the individual. As the person reads his Bible, prays, fellowships with the saints, the "balloon is inflated." As Christ grows the elements of the personality are straightened out and lined up until every trace of sin and rebellion has disappeared.
Now the believer is able to keep the Law of Moses, because the law of God has been written in his mind and on his heart.
The disciple of Jesus Christ is not called to the abridged, covenantal form of the eternal moral law of God but to the fullness of the eternal law itself.
How can the human being obey God perfectly? Give attendance to doing what the Apostles commanded and Christ will be formed in the personality. Then the eternal moral law of God, which is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves, will come naturally.
The great misunderstanding of our day is that Christ came to forgive men and bring them to Heaven. The truth is, Christ came to forgive men so He would have the opportunity to totally transform them.
Is faith in Jesus our ticket to Heaven? Or is faith in Jesus a means of giving us a daily contact with God that results in the creation of a new, righteous personality?
Let Christ be magnified (inflated) in you.
The new covenant is a new program and includes unprecedented grace; but the goal of righteous, holy, obedient behavior is the same from eternity to eternity.
July 23rd
THE SHEEP GATE
Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel. (Nehemiah 3:1)
Under Nehemiah’s leadership many Jews returned from Babylon. They determined to rebuild the wall and gates of the city of Jerusalem.
The first gate to be built was the sheep gate. The second gate was the fish gate.
The rebuilding of the sheep gate represents the building up of the members of the Body of Christ. The rebuilding of the fish gate represents the work of evangelism.
This order is not accidental, it is symbolic. We have it backwards today. We are trying to build the fish gate before the sheep gate.
As long as I can remember as a Christian the emphasis in the churches has been on evangelism, sometimes even on Sunday morning. I cannot remember any pastor, in my limited experience, stressing the building up of the saints. There always has been a mighty emphasis on the numbers of people attending, but as to the actual building up the saints spiritually, "deeper life" or whatever you want to call it, this was reserved for a week-night meeting or ignored altogether.
The idea is, we don’t want saints "getting fat sitting in their pews." "Get out and bring in the lost and dying!"
The sheep gate needs building. The purpose of the gifts and ministries given to the Body of Christ is to build each believer to maturity as measured by the fullness of the stature of Christ.
The Bride is to be without spot or wrinkle. Right? Do you see any Christians around here without spots or wrinkles? Probably not.
Why? Because we are not emphasizing what Christ emphasizes.
Sometimes numbers of people is our criterion of "success." Spiritual growth probably is God’s criterion of success.
The sheep are not being fed. They are not growing. Sometimes they are unchanged after fifty years.
One reason the believers experience little spiritual growth is that the only way Christians can be built up to the measure of Christ is by the exercise of all the gifts and ministries of the Spirit. We must have apostles, evangelists, prophets, pastors, teachers, gifts of healing, wisdom, knowledge, discernment and so forth operating throughout the churches if the saints are to grow.
The need today is for the saints to be fed! The main purpose of the gathering of the believers is to build up the saints. If Sunday after Sunday the emphasis is on "getting souls saved" the saints are not going to grow.
If the pastor is leading the songs, giving the announcements, taking the offering, preaching, and doing everything else, the saints are not going to grow. The Holy Spirit assigns gifts to every member of the church and until those gifts are operating the saints are not going to grow as they should.
We need to minimize or abolish the clergy-laity distinction.
The primary job of the pastor is to feed the sheep with the riches of the Word of God, or at least to see to it that the primary attention of the main service is dedicated to this goal. Pastor-teacher is really one ministry, I believe.
If the pastor doesn’t feel capable of feeding the sheep he needs to find someone who can. That does not mean he has to step down as pastor; he just needs to be a good administrator.
There are millions of believers in the United States but it appears many of them are spiritual babies. This is the army of the Lord?
First the sheep gate, then the fish gate. This is God’s order.
If you love me, feed My sheep!
The Divine Law is correctly expressed in behavior, not just in knowledge.
July 24th
THE PURPOSE OF GIFTS AND MINISTRIES
But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. (I Corinthians 12:11)
The Bible tells us that the Spirit of God gives grace to every member of the Body of Christ. The grace includes gifts and ministries. In Ephesians, five ministries are listed, the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher (or pastor-teacher, making four instead of five ministries).
The five (or four) ministries listed are not set forth as such anywhere else in the New Testament, and are placed by Paul in the same category as the gifts.
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. (I Corinthians 12:28)
Therefore we view the gifts and ministries as examples of the grace given to the believers so they may perform the work of the ministry, without distinguishing between gifts and five super ministries.
The Old Testament reveals the ultimate purpose of the gifts and ministries.
Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. (Psalms 68:18)
The purpose of the gifts and ministries of the Holy Spirit is to prepare a dwelling place for God.
But Christ who is the only dwelling place of God.
Therefore, the purpose of the gifts and ministries must be to build up Christ.
This is exactly what we find.
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:12,13)
God has given to each believer one or more gifts and a ministry so that he or she may be equipped to accomplish the purpose of God, which is to provide a dwelling place for Himself. Since the dwelling place of God is Christ, then the goal of every gift and ministry given by the Holy Spirit is to bring each believer to a perfect man, to maturity as measured by the stature of the fullness of Christ.
In God’s great house there are many rooms. The chief Cornerstone of the house of God is Jesus Christ. You and I are living stones in that house so that the whole is one dwelling place of the Father.
However, the Father will dwell only in Christ. If we are to be the dwelling place of God, Christ must be formed in us. The purpose of the gifts and ministries given to the believers is to form Christ in each member of the Body of Christ.
We can easily see from this how important each member of the Body is. The ascended Christ has imparted grace to each one of us. Each member of the Body of Christ has an important role to play in building up the Body.
When Jesus spoke of the Father's house He was referring to Himself. God the Father dwells in His fullness in Christ. Christ is the only true and eternal House of God.
July 25th
THE PURPOSE OF GIFTS AND MINISTRIES, continued
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:15,16)
The Body must be built by that which every joint supplies. We cannot emphasize too strongly that every believer is given grace by the Spirit so that the members of the Body can come to the fullness of Christ. But how can a member of the Body of Christ find out what he or she is supposed to be contributing? The only way you can really find and enter your ministry is by presenting your body a living sacrifice. This is how you prove the will of God. The laying on of the hands of a godly presbytery accompanied with prophecy is very helpful, and scriptural. But all will come to nothing until you come before God in stern discipleship.
It is incumbent on the leaders of the assemblings of Christians to encourage widespread participation. An effort must be made to get the people moving, particularly the young people. It isn’t easy and takes lots of prayer. The old programs are not going to bring us into the Kingdom. We must bring the people to an awareness of what God wants.
Prayer is the main thing. We are having forty-five minutes of prayer in our Sunday morning service, just before the main service begins. People with needs come forward and the saints that are there pray for them. This "burden-bearers" time is conducted by elders and experienced Christians. I am in my office preparing the message. Never do for the congregation what they can do for themselves is a good rule to follow, I believe.
Much can be accomplished with banners and tambourines to get things moving, particularly with the young people and children. Expressive worship movements can occur as the children and young people come forward during the song service and portray with their bodies the words of the choruses. We have a group of men doing Hasidic dancing with some of the hymns. There are all kinds of things that can get the congregation involved. Mime is an effective way of communicating. Hopefully this is just the beginning. We still haven’t got to the place where the prophets are acting out their prophecies as well as speaking or singing the words.
It’s onward and upward. This is only the beginning. The people are not going to be able to stand during the age of moral horrors that is upon us if all we have is an introduction, three points, some anecdotes, and a conclusion. Final hymn. Stand by the door. Marvelous sermon, Pastor. God bless you. Football game this afternoon. Mickey Mouse tonight.
Vigorous expression in worship on the part of everyone is necessary to carry us through the week. Hopefully such participation will lead to more manifestation of the gifts and ministries of the Spirit.
Did you know the United States is by far the number one producer of pornography (U.S. News and World Report)? One hundred fifty hard-core pornographic videos are being produced each week. And America is a Christian nation? Business as usual in the churches is never going to prepare God’s people for what they and their children and grandchildren will be facing in the immediate future.
We are to be built up in Christ by that which every member supplies. The clergy-laity pattern must give way before the Body of Christ pattern. The goal is to provide a dwelling place for God. Your contribution is absolutely essential if God is to have the house He desires.
The exercise of faith results in more faith. The exercise of righteousness results in more righteousness. The exercise of eternal life results in more eternal life. Each blessing brings another as we follow the Lord. He who is faithful in the least will be entrusted with the greater.
July 26th
ONLY CHRIST IS THE SOLUTION
And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. (Revelation 12:3)
The second wonder in heaven is Satan. He has perfect wisdom, power in the world, and authority that God has given him to accomplish God’s purposes.
Much of what will take place in the days to come will be far, far beyond the mind of man to understand or to manage. It is time now to surrender all to Christ Jesus. Only He has been entrusted by the Father with superior wisdom, power, and authority. Only He can tear down and destroy Satan.
It is vain for us to struggle to save the world or to bring in everlasting righteousness. The battle will reach into the heavens and attack the host.
And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. (Daniel 8:10)
We are on the brink of the reconciliation of the creation to the Lord God. God has determined that all of the universe will find its center and circumference in Christ Jesus. The wrath of God, smoldering since the original rebellion in the heavens, is about to be poured on the fallen stars of the heaven and on those people who worship them and accept their leadership.
The wisdom and power exercised in the war of the ages is so great as to make the efforts of human beings to be so much dust blown about in a typhoon. We simply are unable to think clearly or to act effectively.
The only hope is in the travail of Zion. The only hope is that the saints will avail themselves of the glory available in the latter-rain outpouring and become still long enough to permit Christ to be formed in them. Only Christ has the ability to conquer the wicked lords of the heavenlies.
Waiting on God is an attitude of the heart. It does not mean we cease performing the tasks that are before us. It has more to do with looking to the Lord in place of planning and scheming.
Will you be one of those who turns from the efforts of the flesh and waits on God until Christ is formed in you?
All the works of Christians in the earth are an annoyance to Satan. Satan does not fear the believers. Satan fears the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—no one and nothing else.
Satan is terrified at the thought that Christ will come forth in the churches in the earth. Therefore Satan will do all in his power to convince the churches they can build the Kingdom of God in their own strength. Antichrist will subsidize the churches and assist them as they attempt to relieve the suffering of the world.
As long as Satan can keep the saints busy in their religious works he has little to fear. But when the churches go to their knees and call on Christ to come and build His own Kingdom in the earth, Satan’s end is at hand. The mighty Christ will come and with superior wisdom, power, and authority will crush Satan’s kingdom and remove it from the earth.
How about you? Will you look to Christ or to your own strength to establish the Kingdom of God in the earth?
Christ cannot return until the Christian church has brought forth Christ in the members of His Body.
July 27th
DIFFERENCES IN THE KINGDOM
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19)
It is taught that if we "accept Jesus" we will be made like Him when we die, and go to live for eternity in a land where there is no more opportunity for sin against God. The sin question is settled by physical death. Deliverance from the bondage of sin comes through physical death. The "last enemy," physical death, has become our redeemer.
Yet there is no evidence in the Scriptures that any spiritual improvement will take place in us as a consequence of, or at the time of, our physical death. The position of the Scripture is that every individual will be rewarded in the Day of Judgment according to his behavior on the earth. The Scriptures are almost silent concerning the period of time between our physical death and the appearing of Christ in the clouds.
The assumption is, what we are in personality, we are. There is no basis in Scripture for believing physical death will change what we are. When we awake in the Day of Judgment we will be unchanged in personality. In fact, what we have become during our lifetime on the earth will be revealed in that day.
The testimony of Christians who have been given insight into the spirit realm, into life after death, is that we experience no change when we die other than the relief of being shed of our earth-bound body.
Sundar Singh, a noted Christian visionary, testified that we go to the area of the spirit realm for which we are suited. Other Christian writers who have had visions of life after death confirm that we are placed according to our spiritual development, that the spiritual world is not divided only into the deepest Hell and the highest Heaven but into gradations of Heaven and gradations of Hell.
Given that the Scriptures do not speak to the contrary, given such grouping of people by spiritual development and calling takes place to a certain extent while we still are alive on the earth, and given such placement is reasonable and compassionate, it is our point of view that all persons—Christian by belief or not—will, when they die, pass into a realm suited to their spiritual development, there to await the Day of Judgment.
This is not to say that some are not lost to God by the time of physical death, or that the wicked will not go immediately into the flames of Hell, there to await the white-throne judgment. It appears evident from the Scriptures that such is the case. Our point is that there are others—a great "sea" of people—who will not be placed in the Presence of God and the Lamb at physical death, or cast into the burning flames, but will find themselves with people of similar development.
It is the writer’s point of view that the occasion of physical death does not result in the grouping of people into two uniform companies; rather, it results in the careful defining of each individual’s progress, or lack of it, in godly character. Let’s hope that such is the case.
God opens His hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing. Would you rather be with people who are somewhat like what you are used to or people who are totally different?
If you are not happy with your present group maybe you better change or else find a different bunch. You might be stuck with them for a while.
The goal of salvation is to change us into Christ's image and to bring us into untroubled union in the Father through Jesus Christ. The holding of the scriptural goal is necessary if we are to make a transition from the current mythological concept of salvation to the true scriptural concept.
July 28th
THE IMAGE OF GOD
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29)
Man is to be in the image of God. The image of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the first Man to be in the image of God.
The image of Christ’s personality is in part that which the Apostle Paul terms the fruit of the Spirit:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22,23)
The image of Satan fills the earth today. Satan’s image is the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit: hatred, misery, unrest, impatience, harshness, badness, treachery, arrogance, lack of self-control.
We humans reveal in our adamic nature the image of Satan. We can try in our old nature to imitate the image of God, the image of Jesus. It is well that we use the Lord as our example of behavior.
We soon discover we have set ourselves an impossible task. We have been commanded to be in the image of God but we fail miserably when we are tested.
God’s plan of redemption is successful in converting us from the image of Satan to the image of Christ Jesus. God does not reform our adamic nature, He crucifies our adamic nature and gives us a new nature.
The change from the Adamic nature to the nature of Christ does not take place in a moment. But the blood of the Lamb, the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God work together with our circumstances (which the Lord orders) to change us from the personality of Adam to the personality of Christ Himself.
The elect have been predestined to be in the image of Christ, to be the brothers of Christ.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be changed into the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29)
Adam and Eve were in the image of God in an elementary way. The Lord Jesus is perfectly in the image of God although His Divine Glory was concealed in a flesh and blood body.
The glorified Christ who appeared to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos is what God has in mind by pronouncing man in the image of God.
When the Lord appears with His saints they will be glorious to behold. They will shine as the stars of heaven. If they did not conceal their glory the peoples of the earth could not gaze on them. This is just the beginning.
After billions of eons have transpired we shall have developed further in the image of our Father. Then we shall be mountains of Divine fire—galaxies of power and glory. The eternities following will witness our coming to maturity in the image of God.
What is man that You are mindful of him?
Image makes union possible. Union makes fruitfulness possible. Fruitfulness makes dominion possible. When we possess image, union, fruitfulness, and dominion we are ready to inhabit and maintain Paradise and to bring Paradise wherever we go.
July 29th
THE ALTAR OF BURNT OFFERING
And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. (Exodus 27:1)
If you know nothing about the Tabernacle of the Congregation, you might want to go to a Christian bookstore and read up on it. It probably is the greatest of the types (symbols) found in the Bible.
The Tabernacle of the Congregation consisted of a fenced-off area, the Courtyard, in which was a barn-like tent. The tent was divided into the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.
The Tabernacle compound included three major areas: the Courtyard, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place. The Courtyard portrays the message of salvation to the nations. The Holy Place represents the Church, the Priesthood of God. The Holy of Holies speaks of the firstfruits to God and the Lamb. The firstfruits are an integral part of the Church but compose a dedicated remnant, a Gideon’s army who will work with the Lord in establishing the Kingdom of God on the earth.
The Courtyard was lighted by the sun. There were two elements in the Courtyard, the Altar of Burnt Offering and the Laver. They speak of that which the Lord presents to the world: the blood of atonement (the Altar), and repentance and water baptism (the Laver).
There were seven furnishings of the Tabernacle of the Congregation. The first furnishing encountered, as one entered the Courtyard, was the great Altar of Burnt Offering.
Whoever would approach God must come by way of the blood, by way of the Altar of Burnt Offering.
The Altar of Burnt Offering stands for Calvary. Whoever would be saved must meet God at the cross, must repent, turning away from the wickedness of the world, and must be baptized in water (the Laver).
Whenever blood was shed as an offering, whether for a whole burnt offering, the sin or trespass offerings, the morning and evening lambs, the blood offerings of the Day of Atonement and the other festivals, and so forth, the sacrifice was made at the Altar of Burnt Offering.
Sometimes people argue that they can repent and this alone will atone for their sins, or maybe do some charitable work, or perhaps be a good husband and father. While all these are commendable the Nature of God is such that only the shedding of blood will balance the scales of equity.
The present-day Jews make much of the Law and attempt to observe it. This is pathetic because they have no Tabernacle, no Temple in which they can offer blood. By their own Law they realize no atonement is being made in spite of their philosophical arguments.
We say to our Jewish friends, "the Atonement has been made for you as well as for us Gentiles. The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, is more efficacious than that of bulls and goats.
"You now have a perfect blood offering you can present for your sins. The atonement has been made in the Holy of Holies in Heaven. God has not left you with no way to satisfy His demands."
Hallelujah!
Before a person can be healed morally, obtain full fellowship with God, and enter his Divinely appointed inheritance in the Lord, his sins must be forgiven and the presence of sin removed from him.
July 30th
THE LAVER
Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. (Exodus 30:18)
The Laver and the Altar of Burnt Offering were located in the Courtyard. This means their spiritual counterparts are to be presented to the nations of the earth. "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved" is the message to be given to all the world.
The Laver represents water baptism and also the washing of water by the Word of God. In water baptism the believer counts he has been crucified with Christ. His old life is over. He no longer is part of the world spirit. He is ready to enter the Kingdom of God. His body is dead because of sin but his new life has risen from the dead and has ascended in Christ to the right hand of the Father.
He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. This is the Christian testimony to the nations of the earth. Water baptism of necessity includes repentance because baptism signifies a turning away from life lived in the malice and wickedness of the world.
How much easier would be our job of teaching sanctification if people were taught when they were baptized in water that their first life is over. They now are dead to the world, to sin, and to their own self-will. This is what they are saying as they go down and come up again. They now are risen with Christ, ready to walk in the new life of righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God.
The bronze Laver portrays not only our water baptism but also our daily cleansing by the Word of God. The Laver was constructed from the bronze mirrors of the women of the congregation. As we read the Bible the Holy Spirit emphasizes to us those commandments He is dealing with in our personality. Suddenly we become aware of sin in our life. We then are to go immediately to the Lord, confess our sin, and receive the forgiveness and the cleansing. In this manner we keep our robe clean.
This is not a confession in which we merely enumerate our sin but a confession in which we resolve by God’s help to turn away from our sin. God will assist us if we mean business. But if we come halfheartedly, knowing we are going to do the same thing again, we are wasting our time and God’s time.
There is power in Jesus Christ—galactic power, irresistible power, unbelievable power. There is all the power you ever will need to resist your fallen nature.
Call upon God for power. Confess your immorality, your profanity, your treachery, your lying, your criticizing of others, your abuse of your body, your anger, your bitterness, your unforgiveness, your gossiping, your slandering, your witchcraft, your covetousness. Confess these things to God. Confess them to another believer if you wish and have him or her pray with you.
Confess your sins!
Determine to put an end to your sins. Yell at them! Condemn them to the Lake of Fire! You will be heard in the spirit realm. Tell that spirit of swearing that it belongs in the Lake of Fire. Get excited! Get angry! Drive the thing from you! If you tell a dog to quit following you and say, "Now Fido, go home," do you think it is going to mind you? You have got to act like this is the dog’s last minute on earth before he will pay any attention to you.
The same is true of the demons of sin. It does no good to talk in tongues at them. Don’t waste your time rebuking the devil. Resist the devil! Resist the devil! Do it with all your might and God will hear you—so will the demons.
The churches are full of sin. It is time to go to the Laver and get washed.
The Altar of Burnt Offering represents justification—forgiveness through the blood of the cross. The Laver represents sanctification—the cleansing through the Spirit and the Word of God.
Imputation without transformation is like a cart without a horse. You aren't going anywhere with it.
July 31st
THE TABLE OF SHOWBREAD
SCRIPTURE =Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. (Exodus 25:23)
When one moved past the Laver and entered through the door of the Tabernacle into the Holy Place, the Table of Showbread was on the right. Twelve unleavened loaves of showbread were to be kept on the Table at all times.
The term showbread often is translated "bread of the Presence."
The Altar out in the Courtyard represents the blood atonement made by Jesus Christ. The Laver, standing just outside the door of the Tabernacle, speaks of repentance and water baptism.
The Table of Showbread inside the Holy Place portrays the born-again experience. It is by being born again that we enter the Kingdom of God.
The Table of Showbread tells us that the Substance of Christ is born in us and is being formed in us. The Word of God is being written in our personality, taking the place of our natural adamic life.
The mystery of the Gospel is Christ in us. The concept of Christ being in us isn’t always emphasized. The Christian traditions of Christmas, Easter, and the return of the Lord usually are thought of in terms of Christ with us. When the saints have visions of Heaven and Christ He always is with them, never in them. I have seen no exception to this.
But God’s plan is to magnify Christ by having Christ formed in the believers. We are to be the fullness of Him who fills all in all. The full development of Christ in us is God’s goal.
If Christ were merely to be with us, if this were what salvation is, then the Christian life would be a simple matter: we believe, are baptized, and then go to live with Jesus in Heaven.
But this is not what salvation is. Salvation is the tearing down of our adamic nature and the creation of Christ in its place. To be "saved" in this sense requires a life of total commitment to Christ during which every moment of every day is occupied with following the Spirit of God as He brings about our death and resurrection in Christ.
None of the many roles and tasks God has in mind for the royal priesthood is available in full measure to the individual who merely has Christ with him. It is only as Christ is formed in us that we are authorized and competent to be a living stone in the Temple of God, a member of the Bride of the Lamb, a part of the Body of Christ, a judge of men and angels, a son of God, a brother of Christ and so forth.
We must be born again of the Divine Nature. Then we must submit to the ceaseless dealings of God as He crucifies our adamic nature and forms the Divine Nature of Christ in us.
The end of the matter is to come to maturity as measured by the full stature of Christ that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.
The Apostles of the Lamb pointed toward the fullness of our salvation as coming in the future, maintaining that what we have now is a guarantee, a deposit on what is to be presented in full at a later time. We have been purchased by the blood of the Lamb and sealed by the Spirit of God. These constitute a pledge, a guarantee concerning future acts of redemption.
THE LAMPSTAND
And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. (Exodus 25:31)
The Altar, the Laver, the Table of Showbread, and then the Lampstand, symbolizing the blood atonement, repentance and water baptism, Christ born and formed in us, and then the work of the Holy Spirit in our life. A remarkable symbolic portrayal.
There are only two ways in which a human being can conduct his or her life. One way is to live in the flesh, in the five senses of the body. The other is to live in the Spirit of God, deriving guidance and inspiration from Him. It is God’s will that every saved person think, speak, and act at all times under every circumstance in the Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit is God. He is active in every element of our salvation. He is as Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, who is bringing the bride to the Son.
"You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you." Power! Power to communicate the truth concerning Christ! Power to live a godly life!
It is the Spirit who gives us gifts and ministries. It is He who empowers their use.
"Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." The reason we yield to temptation is that we are not walking in the Spirit.
All ministry is to be conducted in the Spirit of God. For two thousand years the Christian churches have sought to build the Kingdom of God by their own wisdom and strength. The result is a multitude of competing denominations.
Only the Holy Spirit can properly employ the gifts of the Spirit.
It is not enough to attempt to do in one’s own strength what the Bible commands whether in the realm of ministry or morality. We must pray constantly, looking to the Spirit of God for every detail of ministry and personal behavior.
As we pray, read the Bible, gather with the saints, give of our means, serve the fellowship, we remain in the Spirit. We must begin first thing in the morning seeking the Presence of God. As we do the Spirit of God will guide and strengthen us.
The great problem in America today is the lack of the Spirit of God. Christians sometimes believe that because they have accepted Christ they automatically are filled with the Spirit of God. Pentecostals sometimes believe that because they speak in tongues they are filled with the Spirit of God. Neither is necessarily correct.
The evidence we are living in the Spirit is the increase of love, joy, and peace in our life.
The Spirit-filled life must be cultivated every moment of every day. There is no decision we make that ought not to be submitted to God in prayer. We are to pray without ceasing, to practice the Presence of God always in all matters.
There are three great symbols of Judaism, the Altar, the Lampstand, and the Booth of the feast of Tabernacles.
The Altar tells us God must be approached through blood and sacrifice. The Lampstand informs us that life is to be lived in the Spirit of God—now and for eternity.
The Booth, the third symbol of Judaism, is God’s way of notifying man that he was born to be the dwelling place of God.
As we live in the Spirit we shall proceed onward and upward until we are perfect and complete in all the will of God.
The priests, prophets, and kings of the Lord live and rule by the eternal, indestructible life and power of the Holy Spirit of God.
August 2nd
THE ALTAR OF INCENSE
And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. (Exodus 30:1)
When you entered the Holy Place of the Tabernacle and looked straight ahead, at the far end was the ornate veil that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy.
On the far side of the veil, hidden from your eyes was the Ark of the Covenant. The lid of the Ark was the Mercy Seat with two great cherubim beaten out from refined gold. Their wings covered the Mercy Seat.
On this side of the veil, visible to you, was the Altar of Incense.
The Altar of Incense represents the laying down of our life before God. The incense burned on the Altar was compounded from spices, some bitter, some sweet. They speak of death.
We must be born again (the Table of Showbread). We must be filled with God’s Spirit (the Lampstand). And then we must fall down before Christ each day and worship (the Altar of Incense). We must do His perfect will at all times, our adamic personality dying in the process.
This is where the churches are today. We are saved and filled with the Spirit. The Spirit now is leading us into death to self.
The Lord is looking for those of the churches who will lay down their life for His sake and the Gospel’s. Will we try to use our gifts to save the world, driven by our religious ambitions, or will we turn back to the Lord and put our gifts as well as ourselves at His feet?
It is time now to overcome Satan so that Michael will be empowered to drive Satan from the heavenlies. There will be a remnant of saints who will overcome by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and by loving not their lives to the death.
Heaven and earth are waiting for Christians who will set aside their own lives that the perfect will of God may be done.
Will you be one of those who trust in the blood of the Lamb, who work with the Spirit until the testimony of their personalities and words line up with the Word of God, and who—most importantly of all—lay down their lives that Christ may live?
If you will do this you will help put to an end the wrestling match. Satan’s shoulders are to be pinned to the mat.
God will hold you up as an example to Satan. "What else do you want to do to him (or her)? You have dragged him through the mud. You have denied him the desires of his heart. You have tested his determination in every possible way? What else are you going to do?"
Satan shakes his head. His devices have been exhausted.
The Father speaks the Word. Michael and his forces as a single shining shaft of blinding light rushing at the forces of darkness at a speed faster than thought drive Satan and all spirits related to him from the heavenlies.
Now will those in Heaven rejoice because the accuser no longer can approach the throne of God.
But woe to those alive on the earth in that day! An outraged Satan and his followers, once angelic princes of the highest glory, now forced to live among the decaying protoplasm of human beings, will vent their malice and spite on all who are not protected by the blood of the Lamb. The fallen angels will pour into the earth like angry wasps from a burning nest.
Today is your opportunity to join the Gideon’s army that will satisfy the Father’s demands. Forget yourself for one brief moment and get into something of real majesty and significance. Help put an end to the misery of mankind.
You can satisfy your desires later!
It is extremely important that we learn to define salvation as a journey from Satan to God rather than a one-time expression of faith. The world contains millions of believers who have "made a decision for Christ." But among these millions there may not be five thousand true disciples.
August 3rd
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. (Exodus 25:10)
The Ark of the Covenant was a chest made of acacia wood covered with gold. Inside the Ark were the memorial jar of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the Covenant—the Ten Commandments. A copy of the Law of Moses was placed beside the Ark.
When the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the Temple of Solomon, all that remained in the Ark was the Covenant, the Ten Commandments.
The Ark of the Covenant represents the Character of Jesus Christ. The Ark represents also the character of those who are transformed into the image of Christ.
The copy of the Law of Moses placed beside the Ark means that when we begin as a Christian we do not have much of Christ in us. We must obey the commandments of Christ and His Apostles as well as we can in our natural strength, praying always to God to strengthen and guide us.
This is why the adamic nature of the believer must have integrity. If we do not have personal integrity we can get nowhere as a Christian. The Seed must fall into an honest and good heart.
If you wait for Christ to do it all for you, you will paddle around aimlessly in your lagoon.
The memorial jar of manna portrays the total dependence on the Lord’s provision that each true Christian learns. We receive grace for the day. We live by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God until we become an integral part of that Word.
Aaron’s rod that budded reveals two facts. First, each member of the royal priesthood is to live by the incorruptible, indestructible resurrection Life of Christ, and that Life comes only as we are crucified with Christ.
Second, the members of the priesthood are chosen. No individual can take this honor to himself. Holiness proceeds from God in concentric circles. Aaron was more holy than the Levites who were more holy than the congregation. The Most Holy Place was more holy than the Holy Place which was more holy than the Courtyard.
Only the Lord can call us into a circle of holiness closer to God. To attempt to seize the priesthood, as did Korah and his friends, is to invite disaster.
The fact that only the Ten Commandments remained in the Ark when it was brought into the Most Holy Place of Solomon’s Temple shows us that the end of all of God’s working is perfect righteousness, perfect holiness, and perfect obedience to God.
Jesus Christ is perfectly righteous, perfectly holy, and perfectly obedient to God. As Christ is formed in us we too are brought to this stature, not to some small extent but absolutely.
How can this be seeing we are dust of the ground?
It is not up to us to meet God’s standard of righteousness.Go out at night and consider the mass and energy of the universe. Then embrace the fact that the Creator of all of this declared you are to be made in His image.
Then go to bed and get a good night’s sleep.
The holy city is not holy by imputation. It is not called "holy" because Jesus is holy. The holy city is holy because the holiness of Jesus has been wrought in the saints. The new Jerusalem is the law of God brought to its fullest expression.
August 4th
THE MERCY SEAT
And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. (Exodus 25:17)
The Mercy Seat was a lid on top of the Ark of the Covenant. Above the Mercy Seat and an integral part of it were two cherubim facing each other, their wings covering the Mercy Seat.
It is generally believed that the Mercy Seat was fashioned according to the actual Mercy Seat in Heaven that Moses saw on the mountain. It is believed also that Satan at one time was one of the two cherubim of glory that covered the throne of God in Heaven.
God does not sit on the Mercy Seat, He never gets tired. God dwells between the wings of the cherubim.
The Mercy Seat was beaten out of pure gold. The Jews knew how to cast figures from metal, a much quicker process than hammering articles into the desired shape. But some things have to be done the hard way. Have you noticed that? Have you been hammered on lately?
Don’t we wish God would cast us into the image of Christ and get it over with? But what do we get? Tap tap tap tap tap!
There were seven furnishings of the Tabernacle. The Mercy Seat was number seven. "Seven" portrays perfection. Perfection is God Himself.
The work of redemption has a specific beginning, a specific process, and a specific conclusion. The fact that redemption has a specific conclusion does not mean we will not grow in the image of God forever. In fact, God Himself may be growing, and in that case we will never catch up!
But the work of redemption has a specific conclusion. Jesus is the Finisher as well as the Author of our salvation.
The goal of our redemption is to be made in the image of Christ, body, soul, and spirit (the Ark of the Covenant), and also to be brought into untroubled rest in the Father (the Mercy Seat).
To have image apart from union is to be the False Prophet. The Christians of today are in danger of becoming the False Prophet because they want to be like Christ without being part of Christ. They want to have the power of Christ (the two horns of the Lamb) but they speak with the voice of the dragon, always talking about their own dead works.
Satan wants to be like God but he would never consent to be part of God. He desires "to do it himself"! We have Christians today who wish "to be me."
God does not want many Christs. There is one Christ and we are to be branches from the one true Vine of God. We are called to be part of Christ not partners with Christ—a most critical distinction in our thinking!
We cannot be brought into untroubled rest in the Father except as we are being conformed to the image of Christ.
There you have it—the two great aspects of the goal of the Divine redemption: image and union. Neither stands alone. They both are totally necessary.
Are you waiting to die and go to Heaven? Get up and move forward in Christ. We haven’t as yet reached the mark God has placed before us!
The purpose of the Christian Era is to construct the Body of Christ, to bring it to the standard of unity and maturity required for the indwelling of God and Christ.
August 5th
THE GOAL NEVER CHANGES
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8)
God’s goal for every person has never changed and never shall change. The Divine goal can never be expressed more accurately than in Micah 6:8.
The problem with today’s preaching is that we have changed the goal. The goal no longer is to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. It is to get to Heaven the cheapest, easiest way possible.
We have not been commanded to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God in order to go to Heaven. We are to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God in order to be pleasing to the Father and to have fellowship with Him. No creature ever will be pleasing to the Father and have fellowship with Him by mercy, grace, or any other device, only by doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God.
"Ah, Brother, these ideas are nice but I am saved by grace." Nonsense. You are not saved by grace, you have been deceived by a false teaching of grace. Did you think God has changed His mind?
The present teaching of Divine grace is a muddle of historic proportions.
Let’s look at the Divine goals in another way. They are that people behave righteously, that they be holy in thought, speech, and action, and that they be sternly obedient to God.
Righteousness is probably the main subject of both Testaments and means fair, upright dealing with other people. The righteous individual is honest, honorable, faithful in his commitments, truthful in his statements.
Holiness has to do with our relationship to God. All people are to be fully righteous but the level of holiness has to do with our calling. The closer to God we are being drawn the holier are the demands on us. Aaron was more holy than the rest of the priests who were more holy than the Levites who were more holy than the rest of Israel.
Kohath didn’t like this but it was true. No man takes the honor of the royal priesthood to himself. Holiness has to do with the calling of God.
Holiness has to do with freedom from unclean spirits.
Righteousness, holiness, and then the third aspect of the Divine goal, which is stern obedience to the Father. It is fashionable in Christian circles to declare that no one can obey God or keep the commandments of Christ. If there ever was a lie from the Pit this is it. We are able to keep God's written or personal Word if we will come boldly to the Throne of grace and obtain help in our time of need. But when we continue in disobedience we are regarded as rebellious children.
Today Divine grace is presented as the alternative to obeying God. Can you imagine the moral and spiritual havoc this doctrine has caused?
Righteous behavior. Freedom from uncleanness of thought, speech, and action. Strict obedience to God. These goals are unchanging from eternity to eternity. They never have changed, they are not changed in the present hour, they never shall be changed!
The changes from covenant to covenant are never in God’s goals but in the Divine grace (enablement) provided by the Lord and also in the degree of attainment of the goal that is being required.
Under the old covenant the Jews learned righteousness from the Law. They learned about holiness from the Law. They learned what God wanted them to do from the Law and from their prophets. Then they had to do this in their own strength.
The purpose of God's grace is to make a new creation. It is not to be used as an excuse for ungodly behavior.
August 6th
THE GOAL NEVER CHANGES, continued
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)
God dealt with Israel both as a Bridegroom and as a Father. As a Father, God exhorted the Israelites to be obedient to Him, just as any Father would His children.
God asked of the Jews that they not carry loads through the gates on the Sabbath, that they deal generously with the poor and not charge interest, that they refrain from eating pork. The teaching of grace has become so perverted in our day you would think that God always was asking some impossible thing that no one could ever do. This is not true.
This whole modern concept that God gives us commandments He does not expect us to obey so we may be saved by His forgiveness and not by any effort on our own part is straight from Satan. It is weird, perverse, unfruitful—destructive of any possibility of our coming to know God.
When God commanded Abraham to walk before God and be perfect He expected Abraham to do just that.
"Oh, Brother Thompson, nobody is perfect. We have to be saved by grace."
Nonsense! God’s commandments are straightforward and He expects them to be obeyed. When we need help He always provides it. But He requires that we obey Him as our Father.
How we ever got into this weird, stylized, caricature of grace that prevails in our day is beyond me. But it has nothing to do with God or the Bible.
Of course we cannot save ourselves. Of course we cannot earn salvation. Nobody is talking about saving ourselves or earning salvation.
We have to come to Christ through the blood of the cross. God forgives us and gives us His Spirit. If we will then live as a Christian, doing all good Christian works such as praying and reading our Bible, we will grow in our ability to keep all of God’s commandments.
Most of what we hear today is weird! I hate to keep using the same adjective but the most descriptive term is weird! The idea that grace is some kind of magic so we don’t have to obey our Father in Heaven is a terrible viewpoint. Away with it! Away with the whole concept of "Jesus did it all," "we have no law but love," "if I try to keep God’s commandments I’m a legalist," and all of the other warped, confusing, destructive, fantasies that pass for the Christian salvation in our time.
If you don’t begin to keep God’s commandments in the New Testament you will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
"Oh, but Christ is the overcomer and when I believe in Him I am an overcomer by identifying with Him."
This concept is foreign to the tenor of the New Testament.
Sometime when you are fornicating, or gossiping, or slandering (there is enough of that around!), or dividing the church and demolishing the saints with your tongue, or swearing, or lying, or stealing, or flirting with the girls in the office, or getting even with Sister Jones, or trying to steal the sheep from your brother’s church, go to Jesus and ask Him if you are overcoming by identifying with Him.
The "lawless grace" that is preached today maintains the believer can continue to steal, lie, evade responsibility, become drunken, waste his resources on reveling, and fail in his responsibilities because of his shiftlessness and laziness, and yet be a royal priest in the Kingdom of God. He is "eternally secure" because of lawless grace.
August 7th
THE GOAL NEVER CHANGES, continued
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:14)
"Oh, but I’m busy for the Lord."
You’re busy "for the Lord" all right but if you are behaving unrighteously He doesn’t know you and your religious works do not compensate for your bad manners.
You may be facing the fire. Better check with the Principal and get a report card.
God is calling for repentance today, not for excuses about how we are saved by grace or identification.
God is our Father. Let’s obey Him as a father should be obeyed.
The Jews learned righteousness—to be generous with the poor and to deal faithfully in their business dealings.
They learned holiness—specific things to eat; specifics regarding their hair, their dress, the way to deal with leprosy. They were a people set apart to God for His purposes and were not to live in moral and physical filth like Gentiles.
They learned obedience—to bring their sacrifices to the Altar of Burnt Offering; to follow the cloud by day and the fire by night.
Under the new covenant we learn upright dealing with people from the commandments of Christ and His Apostles.
We learn we are to be morally clean, from the commandments of Christ and His Apostles, and that our bodies are to be presented to God as a living sacrifice.
We learn from Christ and His Apostles that we are to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus every day. We are to be led of the Spirit, obeying God strictly in all matters.
Thus the goal remains the same under both covenants, with two major exceptions. The level of righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God to which we are called under the new covenant is infinitely greater than that of the old.
Also the Divine grace (enablement) provided under the new is infinitely greater than that of the old.
The tremendous error in current thinking is that we are in a "dispensation of grace" such that the Divine goals have changed. (There is no such thing as a "dispensation of grace" as presently conceived!) The Divine goals never change. Grace is not an alternative to righteousness, holiness, and obedience, but the means of achieving these.
It is true that the blood of Jesus compensates for our weaknesses in these areas while we are starting out in God. But—and this is of awesome importance to understand—that compensation prevails only as long as we are walking in the Spirit of God and making progress in achieving the goals. The moment we cease following the Spirit in sanctification we come under condemnation. Then we are chastened of the Lord. If we do not repent we are in trouble.
New-covenant grace is God in Christ giving us the power and wisdom to behave righteously, to set ourselves aside as holy, and to obey the Father in every detail. Grace is nothing more nor less than this. Our sins are forgiven for eternity. Guilt is never an issue provided we are following Christ. Forgiveness under the new covenant is not an amnesty but a Divine provision that makes it possible for us to come before the Mercy Seat and get the power and wisdom we need to overcome the enemies that would cause us to behave unrighteously, dwell in moral filthiness, and disobey God.
We Christians are determining our eternal destiny today. Grace is not an unconditional gift of membership in the royal priesthood. Grace is the opportunity to become a member of the royal priesthood, to become a son of God.
August 8th
READY ACCESS TO SIN
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (Matthew 24:12)
The Internet committee met last night. We discussed the problem of seeming to encourage people to go on the Internet. We are not going to encourage Christian people to use the Internet even though we ourselves are using the Internet to convey ideas. We are not going to encourage families to bring something into their home, whether on computer or television, that could cause someone to become addicted to pornography.
We have set up an E-mail system so you can get our essays as part of your E-mail without having to search the Internet.
We are entering an era in America, the era of the personal computer. The technological advances are breathtaking. The improved screen resolution, the advent of the large screen, improved sound, acceleration of computer speed, the compression of data, are just the beginning. Virtual reality is on the way. We soon shall have a nation of zombies—animated corpses.
But we are not going to take your time to fret about wickedness. We are here to change things.
One of our engineers (a senior programmer) said last night there is no practical way to screen pornography from the Internet. So what we are reading in the newspaper is a spin like all the other lies that blanket America.
The possibility for access to pornography due to the technological advances goes far beyond anything that could have been imagined ten years ago. A recent novel describes a Christian girl being seduced into immorality because of a virtual reality experience in her high school health-education class.
If you could see the horrible demonic creatures behind pornography you would never even glance at it. Take my word for it. Or, wait until you see your new spiritual companions for yourself when it is too late to do anything about it. The spirit realm is more real than the physical. For one thing it is eternal. For another it is not mostly space, like the world of molecules, but is totally dense. It is real!
One addict who is dead now told how, after getting "saved" several times and attempting to kick drugs, he felt himself descending into some kind of box. As he sat there he asked the Lord how long he would be confined in the box. The Lord said, "Forever."
With this the man let out a scream so loud the neighbors called the police. He went and flushed his drugs down the toilet and got back to the Lord.
For a few months after this he went around saying, "He said, ‘forever!’"
Then he died.
Listen, there are demonic creatures that get their pleasure from rock and roll, drugs, and pornography. They have the fun and you pick up the tab. You have better things to do than to sit like a fool in a virtual reality suit, amazed by the chemicals in your body, ruining your personality, a silly grin on your face, your character disintegrating, destroying yourself and doing nothing to help the needy around you, living as a totally selfish, mindless, slobbering slave of the demons of lust.
You are giving your money and soul to the porn merchants. They are getting rich and you are losing your soul. They are going to the bank and you will be going to the hospital, prison, or destruction.
It isn’t religion that is the opiate of the people, it’s the personal computer and the television if we can’t learn how to handle them!
Do you desire peace? Cease from wickedness and follow the righteous ways of the Lord. You will have righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
August 9th
THE PROGRAM OF SALVATION
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. (Hebrews 6:1,2)
"And of eternal judgment."
Let us think for a moment about the process of salvation. Salvation is deliverance from the guilt, power, and presence of sin. Man comes into the world with tendencies toward loving and trusting the world and the things of the world, with various lusts and passions dwelling in his flesh, and with self-will, self-centeredness, and self-love strongly entrenched in his personality. All of this is his inheritance from Satan, a rebellious cherub.
It is easy for man to sin, very difficult for him to behave righteously, to think, speak, and act in a holy manner, and to obey God faithfully. It is easy for man to serve and worship Satan (or so it seems!), very difficult to serve and worship God (or so it seems!). Actually the Lord is a loving and kind Master whose commandments are not grievous while Satan is a harsh, cruel master who never can be satisfied. But Satan has convinced the churches we are not able to keep God’s commandments and we must keep on sinning. This is a lie.
The purpose of the program of salvation is to move man from the power of Satan to the power of God.
Following are some of the major steps of the program of salvation:
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God draws us to Christ Jesus.
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God sprinkles the Passover blood of protection on us so we are not condemned with the world.
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God assigns our adamic nature, our first personality, to the cross with Christ.
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God puts His Holy Spirit in our personality and Christ is born in us.
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God raises our new born-again nature to His right hand in Christ.
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God judges and removes from our personality all that is unrighteous, all that is unholy, and all that is disobedient and self-seeking. This is an eternal judgment.
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God forms Christ in us.
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The Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit take up Their eternal residence in our transformed personality.
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Our physical body is raised from the dead and then clothed with our house from Heaven, the white robe of righteousness that has been formed as we have obeyed the Holy Spirit throughout our discipleship.
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God assigns us to the various roles and tasks we now are eligible and competent to perform.
In our day we are placing an unscriptural emphasis on the beginning aspect of salvation to the neglect of the process and the goal. The product of this overemphasis is people who "make a decision for Christ" and then fall away; make another decision for Christ and then fall away; make another decision for Christ and then fall away. There are many such individuals in jail at the present time who go to a Bible study and make another "decision for Christ." They make a decision for Christ because they want to please God, they want to be righteous. But what they are being taught is a philosophy, a system of belief, not the Divine salvation.
The three areas of redemption are as follows: (1) basic salvation; (2) the entering of the Holy Spirit into us; and (3) the coming of the Father and the Son to dwell in us for eternity.
August 10th
WHAT WE NEED TO LOOK OUT FOR
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; (II Thessalonians 2:3)
Antichrist, we believe, will begin his (or her) career as a Christian disciple (just as Judas did). He will arise at the time that most of the peoples of the earth have been converted in the latter-rain revival, the unprecedented manifestation of the Glory of God portrayed in the Book of Revelation by the two witnesses. Antichrist will perceive the possibility of uniting all the religious people of the earth in a miracle-working Christianity, and of the suitability of libertarian democracy, and perhaps capitalism, as a form of one-world government and economics seemingly compatible with Christianity. The truth is, there are elements in libertarian democracy and capitalism that could not be more violently opposed to the Kingdom of God.
Antichrist will involve the churches in the government and the government in the churches. He may present "Christian" supernatural power as a means of relieving the problems of the world: hunger, disease, crime, poverty, violence, addiction. He may support the notion that all of mankind’s ills can be healed by a positive-thinking, miracle-working "Christianity."
Antichrist will not fight the churches, he will support them.
The fundamental Christians will do just as they have done with the contemporary errors in Christian thinking, particularly the notion that we can have faith in Jesus Christ without living a righteous, holy life. They will embrace Antichrist because they have neglected prayer; because they have not guarded the word of Christ’s patience; because they have not taken up the cross of death to self and followed the Master into crucifixion.
They have found a better way—the way of positive thinking, of using self-centered faith to better their condition on earth, of getting what they want now. But there will be a few, a handful of saints whom God will warn. God will come to them in judgment, testing every aspect of their personality. They will become accustomed to the suffering and patience of the Kingdom of God. They will seek to warn the remainder of the believers that God is not accepting the marriage of the church to the world.
Antichrist and the leaders of the church will scorn the saints as being morbid heralds of doom and gloom—a deviation from what is normal, wholesome, healthy. At first, the saints merely will be snubbed by the government and the main body of believers. As Antichrist gains power he will bring economic pressure, and physical terror in some instances, on the Lord’s little flock. The babylonish (man-directed) church at first may object to the persecution of the fervent believers; but the government soon will cause the religious leaders to understand that the remnant of saints are a threat and are not to be tolerated.
The organized Christians will not have the moral strength to stand in the way of the government as it attempts to destroy the remnant. Some of the members of Babylon will repent and run to the true saints for spiritual deliverance. Others will join themselves to the remnant but with flattery, having hypocrisy in their hearts. The love of the majority will grow cold as every form of sin becomes commonplace and readily available.
You can be a part of the godly remnant of saints that is being drawn to the Lord. But you will have to cease your spiritual laziness and begin to get serious with God!
We read in the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation that the False Prophet will support Antichrist. According to our understanding Antichrist is the administration of man in the political realm and the False Prophet is the administration of man in the religious realm.
August 11th
PENTECOST AT THE CROSSROADS
And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. (Revelation 13:11)
Today the Pentecostal believers are at a crossroad. Some have decided to take the gifts and spiritual understanding that have come to us during the twentieth century and by these bring the Kingdom of God into the world. This is the False Prophet of which the Book of Revelation speaks. The False Prophet comes out of the "earth," that is to say, out of the soul of self-centered people.
A much smaller group of believers is hearing from the Lord Jesus, from Him whose eyes are as a flame of fire. These are the believers whom God has chosen to be as Esther, in the last days; to be as the "lad" who guided the hands of Samson (the Church) to the "pillars" that support the kingdom of Satan.
The Lord is not exhorting this holy remnant to "go forth and bring the Kingdom into the earth." Rather He is facing them with the personal cross of self-denial, with the fires of judgment on the works of the flesh. He is teaching them humility, not arrogance. He is leading them back to the old paths of cross-carrying obedience to the Lord.
This is the remnant God has chosen. Meanwhile, the Christian churches are as Vashti. They are making a banquet of their own, although doing so "in the royal house that belonged to king Ahasuerus" (Esther 1:9). They are so full of their own ways that when the Lord calls to them they refuse to come.
The remnant is as Esther, coming before the Presence of Jesus with fear and trembling. Truly, Esther has been called to the Kingdom in the present hour because of the destruction facing God's people, both Jews and Christians.
The church leaders sometimes are as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, seeking to rule the congregation of the Lord. They "leap" as the mountains of Bashan. The holy remnant are as Aaron. They do not vaunt themselves, scheming and plotting in order to gain power and prestige. Rather, they wait on the Lord until they bud, blossom, and bring forth fruit.
The memorial jar of manna speaks of the Substance of Christ, the body and blood that nourish the born-again inner man. Each day of our life we come to realize to a greater degree that in our natural man dwells no good thing, no wisdom, no strength, no righteousness.
The Divine Virtue in us sustains us as we are being brought daily into conformity with the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The Virtue is from God Himself. It is the daily portion of Christ, the "hidden manna," given us in order to provide strength during our wilderness sojourn. As our days so is our strength from the Lord.
Day after day the Lord knocks down our old nature by circumstances beyond our control. Day after day the Lord feeds us with His body and blood. We learn to live by Him as He lives by the Father. We drink His blood and eat His flesh. This is the true Bread from Heaven. Christ is our manna, and by His strength we are able to overcome the evil that comes against us each day.
The False Prophet comes out of the earth, out of the soul of man. He wants the power of Christ but he speaks with the voice of the dragon. We are not to seek power but the Presence of the Lord Jesus.
August 12th
TWO SONS
But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; (Matthew 21:28)
In the day of reckoning God called two of His sons to stand before Him.
To the first son God said: "Son, I have loved you with an everlasting love. I found you when you were a Gentile without hope, in the guilt of your sins, in the filthiness and pride of your self-centeredness and self-love. I said to you at that time, ‘Live!’ And you came to life in My Presence.
"I forgave your many sins. I taught you to take up your cross so you would have the opportunity to overcome your self-centeredness. I gave you the gift of My Son and put My Spirit in you. I watched over you night and day and guided you with My eye. Many times I forgave your ignorance and foolishness. All these things I did for you that I may be your God and you may be My son.
"What, therefore, have you done with your life?"
The first son answered God and said, "My Father and my God. I thank and praise You that You saw fit to reach down from Heaven and save me. Since that time I have served You with all my heart. Although I behaved ignorantly and foolishly on many occasions, when You corrected me I changed my ways and ceased from sin and rebellion.
"I redeemed the time to the best of my ability. I never sinned knowingly and willfully. Many times I set aside my greatest desires and chose to do Your will instead.
"I have laid down my life, have taken up my cross, and have followed Your Son, Jesus Christ. Whatever He has said to me I have done, as He has given me wisdom and strength.
"I have prayed, studied the Scriptures, and have fellowshiped with the saints. I have been loyal to my wife, family, and friends. I harbor hatred against no person but would rejoice to see everyone enter the Kingdom of God.
"I have been diligent in the ministry Christ has given to me and have placed the work of the Kingdom of God first in importance. I did not spend my days cultivating my own abilities or insuring my own security. Many have turned to righteousness as a result of my testimony.
"I have cheated no person but have made restitution whenever it has been clear that I should do so.
"This is what I have done with my life, as the Lord Jesus has helped and guided me through the Holy Spirit.
"I stand ready now to do, by Your grace, whatever You would have me to do."
To the second son God said: "Son, I have loved you with an everlasting love. I found you when you were a Gentile without hope, in the guilt of your sins, in the filthiness and pride of your self-centeredness and self-love. I said to you at that time, ‘Live!’ And you came to life in My Presence.
"I forgave your many sins. I taught you to take up your cross so you would have the opportunity to overcome your self-centeredness. I gave you the gift of My Son and put My Spirit in you. I watched over you night and day and guided you with My eye. Many times I forgave your ignorance and foolishness. All these things I did for you that I may be your God and you may be My son.
"What, therefore, have you done with your life?"
Holiness is closeness to God and we get it by election. But we have to do our part.
August 13th
TWO SONS, continued
But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; (Matthew 21:28)
The second son answered God and said, "Sir, I thank and praise You that You saw fit to reach down from Heaven and save me.
"It is true that since the time You revealed Christ to me I have not chosen to serve You as I should. Although You attempted to correct my ignorance and foolishness on many occasions, I was not able to learn. I continued on as before because it is difficult for me to change the way I am, the way I do things.
"I spent much time on the things that interest me. I did sin many times, even though I was aware or suspected what I was doing transgressed Your laws. Whenever I wanted something badly enough I took it, although I realized what I was doing might displease You or harm myself or some other person. I confess Your will was clear to me on some occasions and I chose instead to do what I desired to do.
"I could not bring myself to take up my cross nor did I follow the Lord Jesus as I should have. I can’t stand to suffer. It is very hard to give up one’s whole life and follow Jesus. Instead, I lived my own life and hoped Christ would help and bless me in the things I wanted to do.
"I was busy and could not find the time to pray as one ought, and I find it difficult to understand the Bible. I did not fellowship with other Christians very much because there were too many faults in the churches. They were all full of hypocrites.
"I divorced my first wife because we fought all the time and I could not believe You would have me to be so unhappy. It is true that I left my two children, a son and a daughter. I felt they would be better off without me.
"Where are they now? I don’t know. My son is a drunkard. My daughter is living with some man. Neither my children nor my first wife will attend church. The wife I have now and I attend church on Christmas and Easter, and when friends get married.
"There is one person whom I hate because of what he did to me. I cannot forgive him. I hope You will forgive me for that.
"I do not know of any ministry You have given me. I have worked hard at my job all my life and have spent most of my time that way. I do not know of anyone who has come to know You because of me.
"I have offended some people but was too embarrassed to go to them and ask their forgiveness.
"This is what I have done with my life.
"I realize I have not been a faithful Christian; but I was taught when I was first saved I could never be lost no matter what I did. I have professed Christ. I believe He died for my sins and that He is the Lord and Savior of the world. I have been taught we are saved by grace, not by works of righteousness we have done but by Your mercy.
"I still am afraid to do Your will but I hope You will not be too hard on me and that You will allow me to enter Heaven on the merits of Jesus Christ my Lord."
How will God respond to each of His sons?
Current Christian teaching is divided as to how God would respond to these two men.
We always and continually must be laboring to insure that our election is not rendered invalid by our behavior.
August 14th
TWO SONS, continued
But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; (Matthew 21:28)
The opinion that would be given by the most extreme proponents of "grace" is as follows:
God answered the first son and said, "All of your self-righteousness is as filthy rags in My sight. Your works mean absolutely nothing to Me. I hope you are not thinking you deserve a reward because you have tried to please Me!
"Don’t you understand you are saved by My grace alone?—that there is nothing you can add to My salvation? If your works are to be added to My grace, then grace is no more grace. Jesus Christ alone is righteous. You will enter Heaven, not because you tried to please Me but because Christ is righteous.
"Your perseverance has nothing to do with your salvation. I have saved you by My grace alone and your answer reveals to Me that you do not understand this thoroughly.
"You have acknowledged that Jesus died for your sins, and so I am obligated by My Word to allow you into Heaven. But it is not by any works of righteousness you have done, it is because you have professed faith in Christ.
"You really are wicked because you are implying that My grace is not sufficient for your salvation. You are setting yourself against Me in a legalistic, pharisaic manner, not allowing Me to save you by My unmerited favor. You are trying to present some righteousness of your own. But, My son, it is not what you have done, it is what Christ has done. Please remember that in the future!"
God said to the second son, "Well done! Well done, good and faithful servant! Enter the joy of your Lord. You acknowledged that Christ died for your sins. You called Him, Lord. You perceived correctly that it is only the righteousness of Christ that brings salvation.
"By not attempting to please Me you have caused My grace to shine as a jewel. My mercy is enlarged because I have saved you—you, whose conduct was so ungodly and self-centered. You have not worked but have believed in God who justifies the ungodly.
"When you left your wife and children I saw only the faithfulness of Christ. When you fornicated I saw the moral purity of Christ. When you ignored My will I saw only the obedience of My Son. When you lied and stole I beheld the truthfulness and honesty of the Holy One of Israel.
"You never repented, but repentance is not necessary because you have been clothed with the righteousness of the Lord Jesus ever since you professed belief in Him.
"Enter the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world."
Do you truly believe that the God of Noah, Abraham, and Daniel would respond in this manner? It would be the logical consequence of much contemporary Christian teaching.
The opinion that would be rendered by less extreme Christians is as follows:
God spoke to both sons and said, "Well done, good and faithful servants. Enter the joy of your Lord. Because you have believed in Christ Jesus, making a statement of faith in Him, each of you will be allowed into Heaven and given a beautiful mansion. You are complete in Christ. Your behavior in the world will not increase or decrease the power of My grace."
Thus we have made the commandments of God in the New Testament vain and useless by our traditions.
Again let us ask, do you truly believe that the God of Noah, Abraham, and Daniel would respond in this manner?
Our own good works cannot produce salvation but true salvation always produces good works.
August 15th
TWO SONS, continued
But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; (Matthew 21:28)
Now, let us suppose that you, dear reader, were wealthy and owned a large business. You were ready to retire and called your sons to you to speak to them concerning the managing of your estate. One of your boys has been an excellent worker, always doing what you wanted. The other boy has been lazy, careless, having disobeyed you at every turn. You now are ready to divide your estate between them. What would you do?
Would you, in order to demonstrate the love you have for them, turn over your business to the son who would not behave himself properly and scold your other son for his exemplary behavior? Probably not. Neither will God. He also is a father and a businessman.
Would you divide the inheritance between them, making them equal partners in the business? Probably not if you cared whether or not the business continued to be successful.
If you loved both of your sons, you might say to the virtuous son, "Son, you already know the family business. You have learned quickly. You are dependable. You have made many mistakes but you have gone on to learn rapidly and to improve your abilities.
"If I leave the inheritance to you, you will be able to use it well. You already have demonstrated the kind of person you are—your trustworthiness, your conscientiousness, your faithfulness in small, difficult, bothersome responsibilities. I know well what you will do. It will be your responsibility to take care of your mother and brother when I am gone."
To the other son you might say, "Son, your Dad loves you. You have made many mistakes, and even now you are confused about what you have done that is wrong. You have not demonstrated the strength of character your brother has. But your life still is ahead of you. If you will apply yourself you can learn and grow in responsibility.
"I have given the inheritance to your brother. He is able to manage it after I am gone. He will take care of your mother and you. He cares for you and will help you to learn."
Or, you might say to the disobedient, lazy son, "Son, you have wasted every opportunity I have made for you. You have broken your mother’s heart. The way you act, I am not sure you even consider yourself to be my son.
"I have given everything to your brother. He deserves it. I am leaving you five thousand dollars. Why don’t you use it to try to get yourself straightened out?"
Somehow, the Christian doctrine of "grace" has gotten off course. The term grace is being employed in an unscriptural manner.
The current doctrine of grace teaches that if a person will "accept Christ" in the sense of acknowledging and applying personally the fact of the blood atonement, he will escape Hell and go to Heaven on that basis. All who profess belief in the Lord Jesus Christ will receive virtually the same reward.
The profession of Christ has taken on a kind of magical characteristic. The program of salvation has become an acknowledgment of the facts of the death and resurrection of Christ. If we believe there is a God and that He has sent the Lord Jesus Christ to die for our sins, we have pleased God. Our behavior is not essentially important because we are only waiting to go to Heaven.
The current Christian message really is a philosophy rather than the Divine salvation.
There are those today, as there have been throughout the centuries of the Christian Era, who are making themselves ready. They are washing their robes and making them white in the blood of the Lamb. Every time the Spirit of judgment reveals a sin or rebellion in them they take that darkness to the Lord. The blood of the Lamb forgives the sin and cleanses them from all unrighteousness.
August 16th
TWO SONS, continued
But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; (Matthew 21:28)
Recently the Lord spoke to a minister who was preparing to teach a seminar. God said, "Do not preach about Christ. Preach what Christ preached." When the present writer first heard about the Lord telling this to a man the writer does not know, it rang true. It was difficult to understand but somehow it seemed to be correct.
Since that time we have come to see how very important that word was (and is). When reading commentaries and footnotes, especially concerning the New Testament Gospels and Epistles, one can find many paragraphs telling how great and exalted Christ is. We agree wholeheartedly with the descriptions of the majesty of the Lord.
But the paragraphs that advise us to practice and preach Christ’s commandments are few and far between. One is more apt to read that it is not necessary to keep Christ’s commandments than he is to find that if we do not keep Christ’s commandments we cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
It is a massive, grievous error. We are calling Jesus Lord! Lord! but not doing what He commands. We are building our house on the sand instead of on the rock of His commandments.
How terribly frustrating this must be to the Lord!
There is something wrong here. It is a mental assent to theological facts, not expressing itself in godly works, while the Scripture informs us that faith apart from godly works (an abstract faith) is dead.
It is true that the Scriptures stress faith. But the "faith" of the Scriptures is the faith of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. It is the faith that seeks Christ day and night. "The just shall live by faith" has little or nothing to do with belief in doctrine, it is speaking of the life lived in humble dependence on God.
It never was God’s intention that a profession of belief in Christ would be the whole scope of the Christian discipleship and that the behavior of the believers would be cast into an inconsequential role. This is obviously unscriptural.
It is God’s intention that the Lord Jesus Christ be the Rock, the chief Cornerstone, the Door of the Kingdom of God, the Center and Circumference of the entire creation.
On this Rock the glorious Church is being built; not glorious because it professes belief in Christ but glorious because of the radiant Glory of the indwelling Christ revealed in the character and works of the Church.
The Christian who is not growing in good works is defeating the purpose of God in saving him or her.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
The reason the righteous are saved with difficulty is that salvation is the removal of sin from our personality and our transformation into the image of Christ. The fiery trials we experience are removing sin from us and teaching us total dependence on Christ for every detail of life.
August 17th
TWO SONS, continued
But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; (Matthew 21:28)
The Christian who is not bearing the fruit of good works will be cut out of the Vine by the Father.
Something has gone wrong with the Gospel of the Kingdom. The results of the error can be seen in Christianity’s loss of testimony—loss of the only testimony that glorifies God, which is the testimony of good works. Is the Kingdom of God primarily a set of doctrines that brings us exemption from the eternal moral laws of God—from the Kingdom law of sowing and reaping? We do not think so.
Is the Christian Church actually a favored group of Gentiles who, because of their statement of belief in the facts of the atonement and resurrection, are released from the rules that govern all other men? Are these people destined to be whisked away to do nothing in Heaven forever, while a Jewish Kingdom of God proceeds to establish righteousness and praise among the nations of the earth? We do not believe such to be the case.
How shall God respond to His two sons?
God answered the first son and said, "My son, My son, how I rejoiced over you in My love! You were quick to receive correction. You employed your time wisely and well. Your sins were those of ignorance, and through My grace you outgrew them. When you stumbled and fell you repented, confessed your sins, and with My assistance took up your cross and marched forward.
"I noted very carefully and was deeply gratified when you made those extremely difficult decisions. I saw you give up the desires of your soul to the point of death. This is the kind of sacrifice I accept—the sacrifice that is selfless, being as a whole burnt offering to the Lord.
"Indeed, you did set aside your own life. At times your cross was heavy and cruel but you guarded and observed the precious words of My beloved Son. You did what He said to do. You followed Him every mile of the way as He revealed Himself (and Me) to you.
"I was with you in your prayers. I opened the Scriptures to you. I gave you a love for the saints, and a breadth of soul so you were able to overlook their shortcomings as I overlook their shortcomings (and your shortcomings). You were loyal to your wife, your family, and your friends. Now you have their love and respect—that which could not be purchased with a king’s treasure.
"Although some have wounded you, you have found the virtue needed to forgive them, through the body and blood of My Son.
"You have been diligent and conscientious in the ministry Christ has given to you and have placed the work of the Kingdom ahead of your own interests. As a result, a multitude of people have been helped and strengthened in their attempts to find God. You have no idea how many have been blessed, for the influence of one righteous person spreads across humanity as the waves across the ocean. The Body of Christ is nearer to My standard of perfection because of your faithfulness.
"No person on the earth or in Heaven can speak against you. I am He who justifies you. You have kept your relationships with people holy to the best of your ability, always looking to Me for guidance and strength. I know you stand ready to do My will by My grace because your life has trained you to do that. I now am ready to reveal to you the pleasure of a grateful Father and God."
Then the Father spoke a powerful word. Before the astonished view of His son there opened up a scene of wonder and glory. He gazed on the glorious and huge kingdom being given to him—that already had become part of his personality although he did not realize it until now. He saw many people whom he knew. (I cannot speak further of his reward because it belongs to another age.)
The members of the Bride must be found worthy by the Lord, and their worthiness is demonstrated by their patience in affliction.
August 18th
TWO SONS, continued
But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; (Matthew 21:28)
God answered the second son and said, "It is true that you did not choose to serve Me with your whole heart. Although I yearned over you with a father’s love you refused to accept correction. Change is difficult for every person. You simply were unwilling to make the effort. You wasted the greater part of your time. When you desired something you went ahead and obtained it, even though it harmed your relationship to Me and injured other people. You rebelled against My will, following instead your own impulses. You were afraid if you did obey My will you would be harmed and deprived of things of value. In this manner you continually revealed your distrust of My intentions toward you.
"You refused to take up your cross, choosing instead the path of pleasure. You did not follow Jesus at all. You called Him Lord but you did not do what He said. Indeed, you did live your own life and attempted to use the Name of Christ to further your own interests and pleasures. You were not a good and faithful servant. You seldom made an effort to pray or to read the Bible. There is no love of your Christian brothers and sisters in you, only bitterness and suspicion.
"You divorced your wife because of your lust. If you had asked Me, I would have saved your marriage. You left your children at an impressionable age. Your son is a drunkard because you had nothing further to do with him. Your daughter is living in fornication instead of marriage because her mother grew to hate you and put in your daughter a distrust of all men. You married a self-willed, rebellious woman and the both of you have been living in adultery ever since. The man whom you hate is not as bad as you think he is. But in any case, I cannot forgive you while you are full of hatred toward him.
"You have abilities dwelling in you that would have been very helpful to a certain assembling of saints that gathers in your town. So that those saints would not suffer loss I have given to another man what was to have been your inheritance. Do you see that galaxy of stars over there? That is the man who took your place in the assembling.
"I am the merciful God. In My boundless mercy I found you when you were a Gentile without hope, in the guilt of your sins, in the filthiness and pride of your self-centeredness and self-love. I said to you, ‘Live!’ and you came to life in My Presence. I forgave your many sins. I taught you to take up your cross so you would have the opportunity to overcome your self-centeredness. I gave you the gift of My Son and put My Spirit in you. I watched over you night and day and guided you with My eye. Many times I forgave your ignorance and foolishness. All these things I did for you so that I would be your God and you would be My son.
"In return, you chose to follow Satan, the world, and the lusts of your flesh. You professed belief in Christ but by your works you denied Him. You did not choose to be filled with My Spirit, you chose instead to be filled with death and Hell.
"Like Esau, you have sold your inheritance that your belly may be satisfied. I cannot bless you. You have not chosen Me to be your God. I am not choosing you to be My son.
"Depart from Me into outer darkness."
And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:30)
God leads every saint through much tribulation and suffering. Such suffering is a judgment on us, a separating of the good from the evil in our personality.
August 19th
HOW CHRIST’S WORD ABIDES IN US
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (John 15:7)
"If my words abide in you."
What does it mean to have Christ’s words abiding in us or remaining in us?
The answer to this question gets at the heart of what the new covenant is.
The new covenant is one of transformation, of change of personality. Divine grace contains the virtue and power that produce the desired change.
The old covenant, the Law of Moses, included righteous, holy statutes and ordinances that bring life and prosperity when they are observed. Numerous Jews, such as the mother and father of John the Baptist, were blameless in terms of the observance of Moses.
However, the rank and file of the Jews did not attain God’s goals for them. God’s goals for them were that they would behave righteously, be a separate holy people unto Himself, and obey His commandments stated in the Law and the written Prophets and brought up to date by the contemporary prophets speaking in the name of the Lord.
God summarized the intent of the law as doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God.
These goal are eternal. They never change from eon to eon. They always have been, are now, and forever shall be the requirements for fellowship with God.
We are under a new covenant but the goals remain the same. The difference is that a higher level of attainment of the goals is required under the new covenant and infinitely superior grace (enablement) has been provided that we may attain the goals at a superior level than was possible under the Law of Moses.
God was not pleased with most of the Jews under the old covenant. They behaved unrighteously, keeping fellow Hebrews as slaves long past the seven years, for example. They violated the rules of holiness by marrying Gentiles.
They refused to obey God's laws concerning the Sabbath and concerning the making of images. Also they sought help from Gentile kings rather than trusting the Lord.
When they offered sacrifices they presented blemished animals instead of the perfect specimens demanded by the Lord. They held back their tithes. Sometimes they offered the required sacrifices when their heart was far from God, like people sitting in church on Sunday morning and thinking about the Super Bowl.
God was not pleased with them and so He authorized a new covenant. The new covenant is described in the Book of Hebrews.
Let us think about the new covenant because it has to do with Christ’s words abiding in us.
First of all, the new covenant is not primarily one of forgiveness, as was true of the animal sacrifices under the Law of Moses. The new covenant is one of transformation.
Under the new covenant God Himself is to write His righteous laws in our heart and in our mind. This is what it means to have the Word of Christ abiding in us.
Two aspects change from covenant to covenant. The demands on the human personality to behave righteously are increased and the availability of God's Glory and assistance are increased. The goal, however, never changes for it is the moral image of the unchanging God.
August 20th
HOW CHRIST’S WORD ABIDES IN US, continued
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: (Hebrews 8:10)
Christ is the Word of God made flesh. We human beings are the flesh being made the Word of God, living epistles, as the Divine laws are engraved in our heart and mind. They are written in our mind so we understand them and in our heart so we obey them.
The process of writing the law in our heart and mind is the mainspring of the new covenant. Let’s see how it works, for this is what salvation is. It is not that the writing of Divine law in our personality leads to salvation, rather it is what salvation is—an important distinction.
When we begin our Christian walk we assign our old adamic personality, that born of our mother and father, to the cross with Jesus. We count ourselves crucified with Christ. Every part of our old personality must go to the cross, the good as well as the bad, or the program won’t work.
Next, we count our new born-again personality, that which is born of God when we receive Christ, as already having been raised with Christ to the right hand of the Father. These are not figures of speech. We actually, although in the spirit realm, have been born of God and actually have risen with Christ to the right hand of the Father, far above all other personages in the heavenlies.
Our body and soul are kept locked up under the blood of Christ and therefore free from condemnation. Our new spiritual personality is dwelling in Christ in God on the highest thrones.
Now the program of salvation, of change, begins.
As we pray, read our Bible and think about the commandments of Christ and His Apostles, gather regularly with fervent believers (if possible), serve in the church, give, seek God’s will, tend diligently to the needs of our family, and do all else associated with wholesome Christian living, the Lord begins to reveal to us the sins of our personality.
We are not under condemnation because our old personality is kept under the blood of the atonement. Now God is ready to begin to bring out these hidden enemies one at a time and deal with them.
Let us say that someone hurts us. A flaming arrow has hit us—perhaps from a fellow believer of the same church.
The moment of truth is here. We have a decision to make.
Our first personality is ready to climb down from the cross. "They are not going to do that to me!" "It isn’t fair!" "I’m going to get even!" "If they think they are going to get away with that they have another think coming!"
The Word of Christ says, "God will forgive you if you forgive those who harm you."
We now have a choice to make and that choice is one of those that will determine our eternal destiny.
The covering of the blood of Christ gives us the start we need. We are discipled by the Word of God until we arrive at maturity as measured by the full stature of Christ.
August 21st
HOW CHRIST’S WORD ABIDES IN US, continued
Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. (II Corinthians 3:3)
If we, as so many Christians do, choose to get off the cross and try to harm the tool God has used to uncover the sin in us, we will continue in spiritual death. No salvation will take place. If we continue to ignore what Christ has said we will save our adamic life and then lose the Kingdom of God in the end. We will remain a bitter, spiritually dwarfed person.
But if we go to prayer and ask Christ to help us to keep His commandment by forgiving the individual who harmed us, something very, very powerful takes place. Divine grace steps in. The Virtue of Jesus Christ enters us through the Holy Spirit. The vengeful part of our adamic nature dies on the cross. In its place comes the Life of Jesus Christ. A new creation appears.
This is how the new covenant operates. This is what salvation is. The death and new life do not bring us to salvation, they themselves are the salvation of God under the new covenant.
This is how Christ’s Word is to abide in us so we may always have our prayers answered.
Death, and life. Death, and life. Death, and life. The old dies. The new lives. We continually are crucified with Christ. We continually are living by the Life of Christ and therefore remain without condemnation.
Are you having problems with worldliness, too much television watching, involvement in the American sports idolatry, preoccupation with money? Come to Jesus. He has the power. The power! He will stretch forth His mighty hand and yank such worldliness out of you. In its place He will install Divine life. This is salvation.
Are you bound with the lusts of the flesh, adultery, fornication, pornography, drugs, alcohol, a violent temper? Come to Jesus. He has the power. He will cast all such darkness from you. In its place He will put His own Nature. This is salvation.
Do you gossip, criticize, slander the church members, seek to draw a following after yourself? Are you stubborn, self-willed, self-seeking? And then you wonder why your husband won’t serve the Lord?
Come to Jesus. He will set you free. Adam will die and Christ will live in you. This is salvation. This is the new covenant.
Are you disobedient to God? Are you unwilling to stay in the prison you have been put in? Are you ready to leave your spouse and children and run off with some wicked person (probably a "believer")? Come to Jesus. He has the power to change your heart.
Why should you five years from now wake up to the fact you have betrayed those who trusted in you. Roll over in bed (in your imagination) and take a hard look at the unprincipled person who removed the crown of glory from your head; who took you away from your precious wife and irreplaceable children; who caused your mother and father to grieve over the son they had such hopes for, were so proud of.
I hope the thought makes you sick. It ought to!
To enter the Kingdom of God means the inward, adamic nature is crucified and the Divine Nature of Christ is so fused with the human soul and spirit as to produce a new inward nature. This process does not happen instantaneously but line upon line, rule upon rule, command upon command. Here a little and there a little our adamic nature is crucified and Christ is formed in us.
August 22nd
HOW CHRIST’S WORD ABIDES IN US, continued
Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. (James 1:21)
Wake up! Shake yourself while there still is time! Come to Jesus. He has the power! The power! He will kill that snake coiled up in your heart. He will put eternal life in you and you will walk forth free from the snares of Hell. This is how grace operates. The gift of Divine grace is infinitely more than forgiveness. It is the power of God in Christ to set you totally free from the person and works of Satan.
Satan is after you, make no mistake. He hates to lose a servant. He is wise, cunning, crafty, skillful at deceiving the believers.
Come to Jesus. He has greater wisdom, greater cunning, greater craftiness, greater skill. He will release you from the chains. This is the new covenant. This is salvation. This is eternal life. This is the operation of Divine grace. This is the Kingdom of God.
You can see that the Divine salvation is not pointed toward Heaven or toward any other place. Salvation is pointed toward fellowship with God and toward participation in the many roles and tasks assigned to the royal priesthood. Apart from your change from Adam to Christ participation in the Kingdom is impossible. Adamic flesh and blood life cannot possibly enter the Kingdom of God, only the new creation which is born of Christ and formed from the Life of Christ can enter the Kingdom.
Let me give you an illustration of the true nature of the Christian salvation.
Let’s say that there was a wealthy Englishman who decided to help a boy.
He went to the East End of London and chose a young man. He brought the boy to his mansion and gave him a fine room.
The philanthropist said, "Welcome to your new home." Then he charged the boy strictly: "I am going to raise you as a son. You do not know very much about our manners and ways of doing things. You are used to living in dirt, speaking Cockney, stealing, fighting, lying. We don’t do that around here.
"We are all your friends. We want you to have a nice home and to grow up as a valued member of our household. When you are older we will help you get the education you would like to have."
This is a pretty good picture of grace. God comes to a Gentile and invites him into the royal family to stand in the palace among the princes of Judah. There is nothing the Gentile has done to earn this—he is a boy off the street. He is ignorant of the splendor of the palace to which he has been invited freely. He has lived in Gentile corruption all his life. His ancestors were hardly out of the caves when the elders of Israel were eating and drinking in the Presence of God Almighty.
This is the gift of God’s grace we cannot possibly earn.
When God testifies we are a coheir of Christ He is not giving to us "by grace" a uniform or a title. He is declaring that we shall be prepared by Himself, through education, experience, and the transformation of what we are, to rule the nations of the earth.
August 23rd
HOW CHRIST’S WORD ABIDES IN US, continued
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. (I Peter 1:23)
But what comes next? One of two things.
The boy will appreciate what has been done for him. He will take advantage of the lessons in culture presented to him, working hard to learn the manners of the house and to make his new father proud of him. Little by little change will come in his actions, his speaking, his thoughts.
When he is older he will decide on a career and go off to school. There he will study hard—again to show his appreciation for being removed from the slums and made a worthy member of an illustrious household.
We would not say he had earned his place in the family. Rather he responded appropriately to the gift given him. He worked it out. He proved himself worthy of the good fortune bestowed on him.
But suppose the boy decided the old fool (not realizing the iron discipline that had made the man wealthy) was soft in the head. "Dad will give me anything I want." He began to sneak out at night with his old friends. Pretty soon he was bringing them in through his bedroom window where they drank and fooled around with girls.
It became evident to the household there was no change in his actions, his speech, or his thinking. Once in a while he would pretend to be fitting into the household but it was evident he was conniving so he could live in luxury but maintain his old filthy ways.
When the time came for school he enrolled in college where he continued to drink and womanize, failing every course. He was a drunken lout—a disgrace to the family that had adopted him.
Now you tell me. How will the father respond to this?
You are right, he will disown him and look for a more worthy candidate.
Can you see from this illustration how Dispensational thinking has destroyed the reality of the Kingdom of God?
We are saying (in Dispensational thinking) that no matter whether the boy becomes a worthy member of the household he is part of the home forever because of the gift given him in the beginning.
I wonder how many passages of the New Testament directly deny this point of view? There are a number of them.
We must be proven worthy of the Kingdom of God. There are several verses of the New Testament speaking of the need for us to behave in a manner worthy of the Kingdom of God. It is not at all a case of our attempting to earn the gift of grace or to improve on it in any manner. It is rather that we must prove we are worthy of it. This clearly is scriptural.
The fruit of the Spirit cannot be imputed to you. It has to be grown in you as you cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
August 24th
HOW CHRIST’S WORD ABIDES IN US, continued
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16)
In showing that the concept of Divine grace as an unconditional amnesty independent of any lasting change in our behavior is totally unscriptural I will present just one verse taken from among the many. If the reader is an inquirer after truth the one verse will suffice. He will notice the rest of the passages as he studies the Bible.
But if the reader is bound to hang on to the traditions of Dispensational thinking that have brought the Christian churches to the present state of moral corruption, he would not be convinced if we presented twenty-five passages that clearly stated the believers who live in the appetites of the flesh, continuing in the old adamic nature, will kill their spiritual life.
Such blind traditionalists will ignore every Bible passage, throw dust in the air and cry "I’m saved by grace" for the space of two hours, and then return home to continue in their eternal spiritual babyhood.
There is a knee-jerk reaction today to anyone who dares question the concept of salvation as a sovereign action that guarantees our eternal safety independently of our behavior. The suggestion that maybe we are not as safe as we thought proves to be overwhelmingly threatening to people.
Anyway, here is the passage. Notice it carefully. It is a bomb.
Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. (Revelation 3:4)
The church in Sardis was one of the seven golden lampstands.
We are speaking of the believers in Sardis, not the unsaved, because the people addressed all had "garments."
Of all of these people "saved by grace" only a few had not "defiled their garments."
What does it mean for a Christian to defile his or her garments? It means to practice the sins of the flesh; to live in the malicious ways of the world, not taking up our cross and following Jesus.
What will be done for those who have kept themselves pure by following Christ? They will walk with Christ in the white robe of the royal priesthood.
Why will they walk with Christ in the white robe of the royal priesthood? Because they have proven themselves worthy of the gift of grace by keeping themselves clean through confessing and turning away from their sin.
What about the majority of believers in Sardis? They will not be permitted to walk with Christ in the white robe of the royal priesthood.
Why will they not be permitted to walk with Christ in the white robe of the royal priesthood? Because they have not been found worthy to do so.
Why have they not been found worthy to do so? Because they have continued to walk in the appetites of the flesh. They regard God as a soft-headed old fool who will give them anything they want and will keep on forgiving their carelessness and disobedience because of His "love and mercy."
We are wrong in this. The sword of judgment is hanging over America. Unless the churches repent we are going to have a Gentile holocaust terrible beyond imagination.
God’s wrath is as great as His love. Divine wrath and Divine love do not dilute or compromise each other. Each is perfect and complete when it is exercised.
God is not altering the Divine law of sin and death, of obedience and life. Rather, God is altering us until what we are and do brings life instead of death.
August 25th
HOW CHRIST’S WORD ABIDES IN US, continued
And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred. (Mark 4:20)
We believers did not choose Christ. Christ chose us. He has chosen us that we might bear fruit and that the fruit would be lasting.
The fruit we bear is the moral image of Christ. We keep the commandments of Christ. The fruit is borne first in us and then in those whom we influence.
God has planted a Vine. The Vine is Christ. It is God’s will that the Vine fill the whole earth with the fruit of righteousness and praise to God.
Every Christian without exception is called to be a fruit-bearing branch of the true Vine. If we will abide in the Vine the very Life of Christ will flow through us such that our actions, our words, and our thoughts are conformed to Christ’s image.
How does Christ’s Word abide in us? As we have described. As we are willing to put to death through the Spirit of God the works of our fleshly personality, the Word of God will take the place of that which has been killed The resulting change in our behavior is the fruit God is looking for, the image of His Son.
As we are willing to let God kill us and raise us, the power of our resurrection spills over to other people and the Life of Christ is born in them. In this way Divine fruit is born in us and in those who hear us.
We Christians owe a debt to our nation. The unsaved people depend on us to be a moral light to guide them. When we are not bearing that light, the fruit of righteousness to which we have been called, the people will turn against us. As Jesus said, we will be gathered in bundles and burned.
The Christian who is not revealing in his or her personality the light of good works is not fulfilling his or her role in society. Man or woman, boy or girl, we have been called to show forth righteousness and praise before the nations.
When the Christian churches do not, by their example of righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God, provide moral guidance to the secular society, they will be attacked by that very society. The secular people will know intuitively we are not fulfilling our role and they will have their revenge.
We think the next few years will be critical in America. If we Christians will humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face, and turn from our wicked ways, God will hear from Heaven, forgive our sins, and heal our land.
But if we persist in the lawless-grace-rapture heresy that has destroyed our moral strength and rendered the Scriptures incomprehensible, not turning to God, not putting away the filthiness of the flesh, then the moral abominations and consequent persecution and destruction that certainly will follow will remind us that our destiny as Christians is not to be carried off to Heaven but to be the light of the world.
Our God has given us an honored place in His house. Let us not disappoint Him but become a worthy member of the most distinguished family of all. This we can do through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our role in life is not merely the informing of other people concerning the Christ of history. Our role is to demonstrate, to reveal, His indestructible, incorruptible resurrection Life that is dwelling in us.
August 26th
RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (II Timothy 2:15)
Previously we discussed the concept of seeming contradictions. We would like to take this idea a step further because it is crucial to the changing of Christian thinking concerning the relationship of God’s grace to righteous behavior.
Remember, in resolving these seeming contradictions we are not speaking of balance. We think balance has more to do with the diet fed the sheep, that is, we are not to harp continually on one aspect of salvation such as Divine love, or Divine wrath. Faithful pastors and teachers attempt to provide a balanced diet. For example the attention given today to the "rapture" teaching is far out of balance in terms of the little emphasis given it in the New Testament.
The problem with the application of balance is that "balance" can be used to dilute truth. We cannot dilute the perfection of the Divinity of Christ with the perfection of His humanity in an attempt to balance aspects of His Nature.
Neither are we, when referring to the resolving of the faith-works controversy, speaking of the possibility of "earning salvation." We cannot earn a salvation that is being offered freely by the Lord and has been paid for by the blood of Christ. Rather we are speaking of something quite different, and that is the correct manner of determining Divine truth when seemingly contradictory statements are made by the writers of the Scriptures.
Here are a few of the seeming contradictions found in the passages of the Scriptures:
Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Jesus does not bring peace but a sword.
Believers are not judged. Believers are judged. God gives us mercy. We shall reap what we sow.
We have been elected according to the foreknowledge of God. We are to labor to make our calling and election sure.
Prostitutes enter the Kingdom. The works of the flesh cannot enter the Kingdom.
We are justified by the gift of grace apart from any works of righteousness. We are exhorted to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
How are we to approach these seeming contradictions? We shall present two incorrect and destructive ways, and then the three components of the correct way. After this we shall select one seeming contradiction, the one involving the gift of God versus the necessity for righteous behavior, and show how the incorrect way of approaching this particular seeming contradiction has tended to destroy the churches of America and is preventing the depth of repentance and moral change God is demanding in the last part of the twentieth century.
The first incorrect way of approaching a seeming contradiction is to accept the one part of the seeming contradiction and to ignore the other. The part we have accepted then becomes an axiom. It is unassailable truth from which conclusions are drawn. If a seemingly contradictory idea is suggested by any passage of Scripture it is discarded or else treated in some manner that renders it incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial.
This is, of course, what we have done in the case of the truth that salvation in Christ is a gift from God, and with its seeming opposite, the believers are commanded to live a godly life.
The second incorrect way of approaching a seeming contradiction is to develop a compromise that waters down each position. A good example of this is the adding of parts of the Law of Moses, such as the Sabbath day, to the Christian salvation. The Law of Moses is not rigorously observed and salvation has strings clinging to it.
The written Word of God tries the spirits. But the sons of God are not led by the written Word but by the Spirit of God. To attempt to be led by the written Word produces a religious, Christ-murdering spirit.
August 27th
RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH, continued
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: (Romans 3:21,22)
The third way of approaching a seeming contradiction is to accept both positions as equally valid, equally necessary to salvation. We have not done this with faith and works. The result has been moral destruction.
We must accept all of the passages without doubt or compromise. They all are the Word of God. The New Testament remains unimpaired. We hold resolutely to the plenary verbal inspiration of the accepted Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. If therefore there is a seeming contradiction, and yet all is equally true, what method shall we employ to arrive at the Divine will?
Three aspects must be considered if we are to rightly divide the word of truth and resolve all seeming contradictions. We must consider carefully the immediate contexts of the passages under examination. We must consider carefully the entire context, that is, the entire Scriptures. We must consider carefully under what circumstances a given passage is to be emphasized. If we will apply these three considerations we will find no contradictions in God’s Word and we will not create havoc in the Church of God as we have done in the past.
Now, let us look at the doctrine of concern to us. Are we saved by faith, or by works, or by some compromise in which we are "saved" by faith and then try to do good? Or is it true that both faith and works are essential aspects of salvation? If the latter is true the present Christian churches have a problem of enormous proportions. Before we begin with our three considerations, the immediate context, the entire context, and the circumstances governing application, let us mention an important factor, and then drop it because it will add complexity that may not be needed at this point.
The important factor is this. Salvation has little or nothing to do with going to Heaven. As long as we think of salvation as being a ticket to Heaven our arguments become hopelessly confused. The process of salvation is that of being conformed to the image of Christ and being brought into untroubled union with God through Christ. It is not a program designed to qualify us for eternal residence in Heaven.
The reason we must be changed into Christ’s image and brought into union with God’s Person and will is first to please God and have fellowship with Him, and second to be authorized and competent to perform the various roles and tasks necessary to the establishing and operation of the Kingdom of God. Three of the many roles and tasks are as follows: to be a living stone in the Temple of God; to be a member of the Bride of the Lamb; to be a judge of men and angels. None of these many roles and tasks are possible to us until we are in the image of Christ and resting in God’s Person. This is not to say however that we cannot in an elementary measure enter the roles and tasks before we have attained the fullness of image and have entered perfectly the rest of God.
Heaven is a place. The goal of salvation is not a movement from one place to another (the earth to Heaven) but a change in the individual so he or she always is acceptable to God (the meaning of righteous). The reader will see immediately how our concept of what it means to be saved has a most significant bearing on our discussion of whether we are saved by grace or works or some combination of these or by both.
Heaven is more down to earth than we realize. We are looking for Disneyland in the sky but God is looking for the growth of Christ in us.
August 28th
RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH, continued
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (John 15:6)
The concept that Christians are saved (usually meaning they will go to Heaven when they die) apart from the observance of moral law (which is antinomianism—an ancient heresy) is derived largely but not exclusively from Paul’s arguments in the early chapters of the Book of Romans, John 5:24, Romans 8:1, Romans 10:9,10 and Ephesians 2:8,9.
On the other hand, the concept that Christians must keep the commandments of Christ and His Apostles can be found in such a large part of the New Testament, beginning with the Gospels, that one must say with all fairness it has far, far greater scriptural support than is true of the belief that Christians are saved without any necessary transformation of their personality.
Christ said, "If you love me you will keep My commandments." That alone should warn us there is another side to the "faith alone" argument. Christ is God!
Paul on several occasions pointed out that if we live in the flesh we will die spiritually. The writer of Hebrews cautioned us that the plant that does not bear fruit will be burned. James argues that faith without works is dead.
Peter advises us of the need to suffer in the flesh in order to be purged of sin.
If we are on solid ground thus far, let us apply our three considerations.
We shall take one passage from Romans that we believe would be acceptable to many Christians as being representative of the current position that we are saved by the gift of God’s grace apart from righteous works on our part.
For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. (Romans 5:17,18)
Here is an excellent statement of the position that we are saved by the gift of God’s grace in Christ. If we employ this as an axiom from which conclusions are to be drawn and forget the rest of the Bible we have a good foundation for antinomianism, that is, the philosophy of salvation apart from adherence to any moral code.
Now we turn to our three considerations. What of the immediate context? What is this passage talking about?
When we look carefully at Romans, Chapters Three through Five we find that Paul is contrasting faith in Christ with the Law of Moses, not with doing justly, loving mercy, or walking humbly with God, or doing to others what we would have them do to us, but with the works of the Law of Moses—circumcision, the Sabbath, the feast days, the laws governing leprosy, the laws governing agriculture, the dietary laws, the animal sacrifices, and the covenantal form of the eternal moral law—the covenant known as the Ten Commandments.
Paul was contending with those who were attempting to mix the Law of Moses with the redemption offered through Jesus Christ.
For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. (Romans 4:13)
"Abraham, or to his seed, through the law."
If you do not bear the fruit of Christ's image in your life you will be removed from the Vine. Does this mean you will be lost? Yes it does, if being saved means you are part of Christ.
August 29th
RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH, continued
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 4:5)
The immediate context of Romans 5:17,18 is Paul’s argument against the Judaizers. Paul was reasoning with Jews about the role of the Law. Paul was not informing Gentiles they no longer were obligated to behave righteously.
Now we must consult the larger context.
The main question is, are we safe in concluding we are saved by the gift of Divine grace independently of a change of behavior on our part?
The larger context consists of the entire Scriptures, all of which thunder "God would never issue a covenant that does not require obedience to His commandments!"
However, we need go no further than the sixth chapter of Romans. Apparently Paul recognized that his arguments against the Judaizers could be used as a license to sin. The sixth chapter of Romans is a refutation of today’s doctrine that faith in Christ frees us from the obligation to keep the moral law.
Now, there must be no confusion here. It is not enough to say "we stand in grace but we ought to try to do good." It is this kind of sloppy thinking that has destroyed the churches in America.
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Either our acceptability to God depends on a change in our personality or it does not.
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Either there are spiritually fatal consequences to not abiding in Christ or there are not.
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Either a new righteous creation is an absolutely essential and integral aspect of salvation or it is not!
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Either we shall surely die or we shall not surely die!
There can be no compromise here if we are to arrive at truth!
What, then, does Paul state in the sixth chapter of the Book of Romans?
In the sixth chapter of Romans Paul states clearly and unequivocally that the Christian (not the unsaved but the Christian) has the opportunity to choose to be the slave of sin or the slave of righteousness.
If the Christian chooses to be the slave of sin he or she will reap death.
If the Christian chooses to be the slave of righteousness he or she will reap eternal life.
Take a moment right now to open your Bible and read Romans Chapter Six. Pay particular attention to verses one, four, six, twelve, sixteen and twenty through twenty-three.
How could anyone claim this chapter is not addressed to Christians? How could anyone claim these passages do not state that the choice is ours whether to obey righteousness and live or to obey sin and die?
If this is the case, then the conclusion drawn from the earlier chapters of Romans that the gift of Divine grace does not require a corresponding change in our personality toward righteous behavior is ruled out.
Considering the immediate context we must say the argument is pointed primarily toward Jews, telling them they can be righteous apart from the works of the Law of Moses.
Considering an enlarged context we must say the conclusion that the gift of Divine grace does not necessitate righteous behavior if eternal life is to be gained is ruled out.
Christ is the Vine. You are the branch. The fruit of righteousness the Father is looking for is grown on the branch.
August 30th
RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH, continued
For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. (Ephesians 5:5)
Considering under what circumstances the truth that God has granted righteousness and life to us as a gift apart from the Law of Moses should be stressed, we conclude this argument would apply most beneficially to someone who was attempting to earn righteousness by the observance of the Law of Moses or by some other moral code. God has given us righteousness based on a covenant conceived and administered by Himself. For us to then set out to attempt to earn righteousness by following our own set of rules is to bring confusion and incompetence to the covenant.
However, the doctrine of the gift of grace would not be appropriately explained to a Gentile who was saying, as so many do today, "I know I should do good but God sees me through Christ and so I am saved no matter what I do." This would be to pour gasoline on the fire and to lead the novice to spiritual and moral destruction.
God has presented different sides to the one truth because of the different sides of the problem of man’s need for redemption. In one instance we stress rest in Christ. In another instance we stress awake to righteousness and quit your sinning. One major problem of today’s preaching is that we attempt to force our axiom on every person in the same manner without a sense of the will of the Spirit of God for the specific occasion.
Now, let us go to the other aspect of the seeming contradiction. Let us look at what those who stress righteous works would consider to be a fair presentation of their position.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)
In the immediate context Paul was speaking to the Gentile Christians of Galatia. Paul was informing them that they were not to attempt to add circumcision or any other aspect of the Law of Moses to the salvation that is in Christ. Then Paul explains carefully, in the second chapter, that in throwing off the yoke of the Law of Moses he is not giving them permission to sin. What Paul is teaching is that although he no longer is bound by the Law of Moses he still does not sin. Why not? Because Christ is living in Him. Paul tells the Galatian Christians they are going to reap what they are sowing, that God is looking for a new creation of righteous behavior. This is the immediate context of Galatians 5:19-21 (above).
Now, let us think about the larger context. Is there any passage of the Scriptures (as there was in the case of the position that we Christians are saved by the gift of Divine grace apart from works of righteousness) that obviously renders our conclusion invalid? There is at least one passage that could be so interpreted.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5)
We cannot look to both Moses and Christ at the same time. Moses produces righteous behavior by obedience to what God has said. Christ produces righteous behavior as we offer our body a living sacrifice to God, counting ourselves crucified with Christ and living by His Life.
August 31st
RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH, continued
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; (Titus 2:11,12)
Does Divine grace teach us that God has sovereignly declared us righteous with no effort on our part? What do you think? A glance at the entire Book of Titus will reveal an emphasis on righteous behavior rather than free grace.
But perhaps what we are saying here is that even if we do not obey the several admonitions to godly behavior found in the Book of Titus, righteous behavior still is not critical because we are saved by grace. Remember, we are addressing Paul’s statement to the Christians of Galatia that if they continue to sin they cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.
Does Titus 3:5 weaken the strength of Galatians 5:19-21, and if not, why not? It is our opinion that Titus 3:5 does not alter our conclusion from Galatians that the sinning Christian will not inherit the Kingdom of God. We think rather that two different aspects are being presented. The first, as in the early chapters of Romans, that salvation proceeds from a covenant that God sovereignly has issued through Jesus Christ and we cannot earn it by any amount of righteous works.
The second aspect has to do with how we work out the covenant, how we work out our salvation. If we do not permit the salvation of Christ to operate in our daily life our spiritual life will die, as in the parable of the sower. We will be cut out of the vine, as in John, Chapter Fifteen. We will die spiritually, as in Romans 8:13.
When would we apply the position that good works are a necessary part of salvation? Not when an unsaved individual in deep depression and guilt is reaching out to God for help or when a devout Jewish person is racked with guilt being unable to keep the Law. On these occasions an emphasis on God’s gift would be in order. We think the Spirit would agree to this, although on some occasions the Spirit of God works in ways contrary to our immediate understanding.
How, then, do the two ideas of grace and righteous behavior come together? They come together in the following passage.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
We are God’s workmanship. He reaches down and saves us for the purpose of creating us in Christ Jesus unto good works. If we quote Ephesians 2:8,9 apart from verse 10 we have a distorted, very destructive view of the Christian salvation.
We mentioned earlier a complexity that can be added to the above discussion. The Bible does not teach that eternal residence in Heaven is the goal of salvation. Although there certainly is a Heaven in the spirit realm where God, Jesus, and the saints and holy angels reside while preparations are being made for the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth—given all of this, Jesus still does not present Himself as the way to Heaven. Jesus is the way to the Father—an altogether different concept.
Jesus is bringing us to God, not to Heaven as to a place.
To move unredeemed believers from the physical realm into the spirit realm accomplishes nothing. Sin began in the spirit realm and is perfectly at home in the spirit realm, in the heavens. Salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ, not in the heavens.
RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH, continued
And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. (Revelation 2:23)
Let us offer a new definition of salvation for your consideration.
Salvation is our change from the adamic nature to the image of Jesus Christ and our being brought into untroubled union in God through Christ.
Salvation is not addressed to Heaven or to any other place, only to our change of personality.
I can’t imagine any sincere Christian having much trouble with our definition that salvation is the power of God through Jesus Christ to change us from a sinner to a saint. After all, if any individual be in Christ there is a new creation, old things have passed away, all things have become new and all things are of God. It is the new creation that is at issue. I think we all understand this.
But look at what this new (and perhaps acceptable) definition does to our argument!
How can one maintain we are saved apart from works when it is the works that themselves are the purpose of the salvation?
How can one maintain that once we have been saved we never can be lost, unless he means by this that once we have been transformed into righteous behavior we never can be untransformed?
To add one more complexity—our present Christian teaching stresses the opening move in our salvation. However the Scripture teaches clearly that salvation has a specific beginning, a specific process, and a specific conclusion. The Scripture adds that we are not saved until we endure to the end.
We are saved when we believe in Christ and are baptized in water.
Then we have to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, holding our confidence steadfastly to the end, being careful not to draw back to destruction.
Finally we are kept by the power of God unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
I think God is saying that the American churches are to repent during the last few years of the twentieth century, that if they do our nation will be blessed; if they do not disaster will overtake our country. It appears to me that the level of repentance God is demanding cannot come about until we Christians realize we are preaching our traditions and not the Scripture, and that God is insisting His commandments be kept.
The depth of spiritual-moral evil on the horizon is so much worse than anything we have encountered thus far that apart from the most sincere repentance and turning to God the Christian churches will flounder in moral weakness and sin. We are not to seek power. We are to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, a Divinely inspired righteousness that will work out demonstrably in the lives of the saints. When we turn to God and start seeking righteousness God will pour out all the power we need to be more than conquerors through Christ.
In so doing we shall save ourselves and our nation.
God's plan for man, including man's obedience to the eternal moral law, his acquiring righteousness by faith, the Divine insistence on purity of heart, meekness, and a number of other conditions and relationships, has not changed from the time of Adam and Eve and never shall change.
September 2nd
TO EVANGELIZE OR TO MAKE PROSELYTES?
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:19,20)
I am writing the present essay out of experience and the resulting personal conviction. Sometimes when you’ve been through something yourself it helps others. If this discussion helps you and gives you peace, praise the Lord!
During the last few years we have had questions in our church over evangelism— "getting people saved." Ours is a teaching church with a burden to build up the members of the Body of Christ. Many of the people around the world who get our books and tapes are evangelists, chaplains, pastors and so forth who are busily engaged in evangelism. So we feel we are helping in that direction.
However our personal commission is to go into all the world and make disciples, teaching them to keep God’s commandments. This precisely is what we are doing with our tapes and books in, the Philippines, several countries of Africa, Israel, India, Nagaland, the United States, Canada, England, Hawaii, Guam, Denmark, and in other places I can’t remember because I don’t have our map with the flags on it in front of me.
Some time back a concern in our assembly arose centered around the idea that everyone is supposed to be an evangelist and our church should be converted into an evangelistic center.
Our response was to appoint a Minister of Evangelism and offer assistance in whatever program of saving souls was undertaken. "But," we said, "we know God has called us to do what we are doing. Our ministry is bearing fruit worldwide and we are not going to change until we hear from God."
Unfortunately, this was not enough. After a period of time several people found another place to attend that may have more of an evangelistic thrust.
Sometimes it seems those with a gift of evangelism have tunnel vision such that they cannot see the other ministries of the Body!
Recently we had a meeting of our teaching elders and officers to discuss a lingering uncertainty about whether we actually should be pressing on the congregation to "get out and save souls." An interesting discussion followed which examined the role of the evangelist and the place evangelism has alongside the remaining gifts of the Holy Spirit given to the Church to bring us into the mature stature of Jesus Christ.
To be "saved" in the narrow sense means not to be destroyed in the day of God's wrath, not to be assigned to the Lake of Fire. To be "saved" in the fullest sense means to inherit all that the Lord God has spoken concerning man.
September 3rd
TO EVANGELIZE OR TO MAKE PROSELYTES?, continued
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. (I Corinthians 12:12)
As we were in bed that night after the elders’ meeting, in the process of falling unconscious it seemed the sweet Presence of Jesus was there. You know what I mean? He seemed to say the following. You be the judge whether it is in accordance with the Scriptures.
While we make no claim that these were the precise words used, this was the burden. And I am checking it out in prayer as I am writing and it seems to be the general idea.
The evangelist is a gift given from the ascended Christ.
All members of the Body of Christ have not been given the gift of evangelism.
Some members have been given the gift of intercession; others, leading worship; others, serving; others, working miracles; others, teaching; others giving and so forth.
Every ministry without exception is to operate according to the will of the Holy Spirit just as the parts of the human body operate according to the brain. (This was stressed.)
Every member of the Body can, as the Spirit directs, act as an evangelist, or intercessor, or can serve, or give, or work miracles, or teach. We can "see" with our fingers when in the dark, but this is not the customary use of the fingers.
It is true also that some members of the Body of Christ exercise more than one function, as Paul was an apostle, a teacher, and an evangelist.
No member of the Body is more important than another just as no member of the human body is more important than another. The importance of any particular function derives from the present need. When you need to run away from trouble your feet are more important than your hands.
Each Christian is to let his or her light shine. This does not mean he or she is obligated to "tell others about Jesus." It means he or she is to live righteously. (The emphasis was on the need for Christians to live righteously, that this is the light of the testimony.)
There is no verse of the New Testament that directs the believers to act as evangelists to everyone they meet. The New Testament directs us rather to bear witness by doing the works of righteousness. Then, if anyone asks us concerning our great hope we are to meekly answer their questions. (I wonder what would be true in the United States if the Christians bore witness by living righteously rather than by trying to make converts to their religion!)
Only the Father can draw people to Jesus. When we set out in our own strength to "save" people we are as blind leading the blind.
The Great Commission instructs the Lord's apostles to make disciples of all nations, teaching them to keep the Lord's commandments. We have changed the commission to mean every believer is to go into all the world and tell people they do not have to keep the Lord's commandments, just believe and they will go to Heaven when they die.
September 4th
TO EVANGELIZE OR TO MAKE PROSELYTES?, continued
And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. (Jude 22,23)
The Lord Jesus will make each of us fishers of men as we carefully follow Him. We are not to take our eyes off Jesus and in the blindness of the flesh attempt to "bring people to Jesus." We are to look always to Jesus so that the Spirit of God may show us whom the Spirit is dealing with.
Then we are to listen to the Spirit, because the "four steps of salvation" may not be what the person needs at that time. It may be a word of comfort, or wisdom, or a friendly hand, or perhaps just an example of godly behavior.
One sows, one waters, but God gives the increase. Other people have labored and as we follow the Spirit we find our part in the worldwide harvest.
The several functions of the Body of Christ are as the pipes of a great organ. If a cat walks across the keyboard of an organ the product is discord. But as a master organist plays a Bach fugue he builds a cathedral of sound that inspires and uplifts as each pipe sounds according to the direction of Johann Sebastian Bach and the organist.
So it is true that the Body of Christ will build itself up and then radiate Divine Light to the world when each pipe sounds according to the direction of God and Jesus Christ.
This is the end of what we got last night from our Friend in high places. What do you think? Sound like the Lord?
There seemed to be two emphases. One was that all ministry is to be conducted by the Spirit of God. Well, we know this is true because in some cases the Lord told those who were ministered to to go and tell their city, and in other instances He said tell no man. Have you noticed in the Gospels that when the Lord told some people to keep their mouth shut they went out and broadcast what they had seen and it caused trouble for the Lord?
The other emphasis of our pre-unconsciousness instruction (while we were on our face before the Lord, as Bob Mumford puts it) was that the purpose of salvation is to produce righteous behavior in us, and that it is the righteous behavior the world is waiting to see.
When I first became a Christian I was given Joshua 1:8 to memorize and advised that we will never prosper while we are acting in an unscriptural manner.
The stress on "saved to save others" is unscriptural. The stress on growing in righteous behavior is scriptural. Shall we obey the Scriptures or our traditions?
This struggle over the thought that the world is going to Hell and I need to get out and save others began in my mind over a half century ago when I became a Christian.
The numerous passages of the Epistles that warn us concerning the consequences of sin are often preached to the unsaved, but none of them were written to unsaved people. Unsaved persons are already dead in their sins. It is the Christians who will lose their eternal life, who will slay their own resurrection, if they continue to live according to the lusts of their flesh.
September 5th
TO EVANGELIZE OR TO MAKE PROSELYTES?, continued
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: (I Peter 3:15)
I was informed that I should "testify" to everyone I met, I was "saved to save others," that I should "burn out for Christ," willing to stagger with malaria across a rice paddy until I fell in and drowned if I could "bring one soul to Christ," that it would be worth it to crawl on my knees over broken glass from here to China to bring "one soul to Christ."
I was also pressed to adhere strictly to the Bible (although the Bible said nothing about "having a passion for souls" or "testifying to everyone I meet").
One morning standing in chow line I turned to the Marine behind me and said, "I want to tell you what Christ has done for me."
He said, "What has Christ done for you?"
I couldn’t think of one blessed thing. I had been saved for two weeks and did not have a blazing testimony. It was embarrassing!
In fact, I never repented when I got saved. I was seeking God on my own when I moved into a tent with a backslidden Baptist boy and begin to pump him about the Gospel. He told me about the atonement. I received the good news and he got back to the Lord. This was in Honolulu.
A night or so later I was born again listening to the chaplain in a Quonset hut. I know when I was born again. After the service a zealous Marine (bless him!) led me through the four steps of salvation. I took the steps in a hurry so I could get out of there and marvel at the love of God that came into my soul when the Chaplain was preaching from Ezekiel about how God was longing to be our God.
I carried this load (of worry about getting everyone saved) on my back for two or three years—the obligation to tell everyone I met about Jesus. It reminds me of some of the things C. S. Lewis strained over.
One day I was wrestling with myself over this issue at a bus stop. (You can tell from all of this I do not have the gift of personal evangelism in spite of the supposed universality of this grace.) I got on the bus, went to the rear, and squeezed in next to a rather large lady. I put steel into my back, girded up the loins of my mind, and said, "I would like to tell you about Jesus."
Her response was something like "No hablo Ingles" (I hope this is correct Spanish). "I do not speak English."
That did it! I said to myself, "This simply cannot be God!"
In Christian practice, the minute a baby is born he is commanded to go out and get more babies. How about feeding the baby until he or she is old enough to get married?
September 6th
TO EVANGELIZE OR TO MAKE PROSELYTES?, continued
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (James 1:27)
The hounds of personal evangelism tracked me to Bible school. We even had a class in personal evangelism (the devil take it!) I had a friend in Bible school who was good at personal evangelism. He would get on the bus and pass out tracts (he is passing out tracts to this very day and is almost eighty years old). Everybody loves him. When I try something like this all I get are icy stares.
While in Bible school I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Soon thereafter the Lord began to speak to me about what He was going to do after Pentecost. Can you imagine? As green as grass and the Lord is giving me this profound word. This was in the late 1940s.
The wrestling match intensified. Was I to take a freighter to the Orient and begin to tell others about Christ or was I to listen to what the Lord was informing me about the feast of Tabernacles?
Souls are sliding into Hell by the moment. Babies in foreign lands who may die in infancy are going to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire because they have never heard of Christ. And I am wasting time eating lunch and thinking about what comes after Pentecost.
I went to a missionary service in the First Assembly of God church in downtown San Diego, Ben Hardin Pastor. The call to service was given. I hastened to the altar and flopped on my face while the piano player played parallel octaves with more than average facility. (He later became a Methodist minister and since has retired, which has nothing to do with my story.)
I was not married as yet. I cried to the Lord, "I will go to Tibet wearing only this sweater if this is what you want. Anything, Lord! I am ready to stagger over the horizon and drown in the rice paddy. I am ready to burn out for Christ." (Who coined this wild expression?)
"To the Regions Beyond I Must Go"!
All of a sudden I knew the Lord was going to speak to me. I turned over on my back (I was laying on the rug at the front of the church) and waited for my travel instructions.
The Lord said three words, "I love you."
I love you, when I am ready to rip it all up for Jesus?
I knew it was the Lord, so that ended that.
Well, I came to a decision. I quoted to myself from Shakespeare, I think it is, "To thine own self be true." I thought if I am ever going to be my own man I am going to have to do what I think is God.
If the world goes to Hell it goes to Hell. I am going to wait and find out what God wants me to do. What do you think of that approach?
God continued to speak to me about what comes after Pentecost, and this has led to related topics. The fruit of evangelism has occurred as a byproduct of our ministry. There is at least one fairly well known evangelist on the field who told me he is serving the Lord today because of one of our tapes. Another lady was inspired to go to the mission field because of one of the tapes.
So maybe I’ll receive a commission. But my main job seems to be to get the Christians saved.
Never take anything for granted. Persist in prayer until you know God has heard you, until you have God's mind.
September 7th
TO EVANGELIZE OR TO MAKE PROSELYTES?, continued
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:44)
As I said we had a meeting last night of some of the officers of our church. We discussed the confusion caused by the fact that the evangelists who had left said we were missing God by not getting everyone in the assembling to go out and save souls.
As we contemplated the problem we all came to the conclusion that the spirit so common in Christian churches that stresses "we are saved to save others," the constant guilt-producing emphasis on the need to "go out and compel them to come in," "the king’s business requires haste," is not of God. It is a spirit of proselyting.
The more we talked about the power and prevalence of this spirit, how it corrupts certain texts such that the fruit Jesus mentioned is the fruit of "getting souls saved" and what Paul meant when He said "that I may win Christ" actually means "that I may win some to Christ," how Sunday after Sunday the message of salvation is preached to saved people in case there is one person who is not saved, while the rest of the believers are not fed the meat of the Word, we began to feel we are dealing with something that is not of God but of Satan.
So we joined together in prayer and bound this ungodly spirit of proselyting that prevents spiritual growth, that brings guilt to church people who want to obey the pastor and yet do not have the grace to go door to door and "compel them to come in."
Hopefully this confusion will leave our assembling altogether and never be heard of again.
How can we ever find rest in Jesus and hear His voice when we feel we are not doing God’s will because we are not saving souls from Hell?
But there is more to it than this. The unscriptural concept that our first job after getting saved is to save others actually works against growth in righteousness, and we think this is precisely what Satan is after.
I personally have numerous opportunities to talk to people about the Lord. During recent heart problems I spoke to several doctors and nurses, as well as patients in the ward, about the things of God.
"Did you take them through the four steps of salvation? Did you bring them to ‘closure’?" (Lord I hate these Bible school terms. They smell like something the cat dragged in.) "Did they ‘make a decision for Christ?’"
No, I just talked to them as a friend, and in every case the conversation turned to the Lord.
In one instance a dermatologist was blasting me with carbon dioxide. I said, "This is going to turn black and I have to preach tonight."
The doctor then wanted to know all about the church and about Pentecost. The same thing happened recently in a carburetor shop. I got to talking to one of the mechanics about Aimee Semple McPherson and her miracles. This particular mechanic was a minister in the Jehovah Witnesses. He was fascinated with the account of Mrs. McPherson (who wouldn’t be?).
According to Ephesians the ministries and gifts of the Spirit are to labor until we all come to the unity of the faith. Does this mean we all will believe the same doctrine? Probably not. There is another unity of the faith that is not based in the human brain.
September 8th
TO EVANGELIZE OR TO MAKE PROSELYTES?, continued
When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. (Mark 2:5)
It’s as Oswald Chambers said, if you come at people with the idea of converting them they can smell the gunpowder. Chambers took a dim view of the idea of a "passion of souls." As I remember what he said, Brother Chambers felt the notion was suspect. It certainly isn’t scriptural.
I notice in the Gospels that when people were brought to Christ they were not impaled on the "four steps of salvation." When the woman touched the hem of His garment Jesus did not say, "We must have closure here. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You are a sinner. You cannot save yourself. You must confess Me with your mouth. You must make a decision for Christ. Now that you are saved go out and tell others how to get saved. And boys, be sure she is listed on the monthly report as a decision for Christ."
Isn’t this a bit stilted? Honestly, I think our four steps of salvation sometimes prevent people from coming to the living Jesus. It’s too unnatural, too contrived, not reflecting the breadth of God or the infinitely varied way He gets Himself into the bosoms and businesses of people.
No, He didn’t assure Himself of their theological position. He reached out and touched them. The blood stopped. "Your sins are forgiven. Take up your bed and walk." That’s our Jesus. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hey, the Man is alive. You don’t have to be catechized to be saved. You have a need? Ask the Man to touch you.
I make a practice of inviting unsaved people to take Communion. Horrors! I tell them to get saved while eating His flesh and drinking His blood. "Receive the Life of the Man! You can figure it out later. He’s alive!"
We don’t tell everyone they have to have a ministry of working miracles, why do we tell everyone they have to have a ministry of evangelism?
"Ah, but evangelism’s different!" Chapter and verse. I was told to go by the Book. Show me in the Book where every saint is to be an evangelist. There is no emphasis in the New Testament writings that each saint is to get people saved. The emphasis clearly is on bringing to maturity the Body of Christ, on personal righteousness and holiness, and the ministries and gifts of the Spirit were given by the ascended Christ for this purpose.
Satan’s purpose in pressing the concept we are saved to save others is to put the stress on external activity rather than growth in internal and external righteousness. By the doctrine of grace Satan has removed the emphasis on righteous behavior. At the same time he is pressing for constant evangelistic activity. His purpose is to prevent the growth of Christians to maturity. Satan is not threatened by spiritual babies.
It is time the pastors of America put the work of evangelism in perspective. There are numerous other ministries needed if the believers are to be able to stand during the age of moral horrors on the horizon. Every member without exception of the Body of Christ has been given a ministry. We can find that ministry only by presenting our body a living sacrifice to God. When we find our ministry we are to wait on it, faithfully serving God and man by what we have been given.
There are times when someone asks us of our incomparable hope in Christ. With meekness and fear we are to offer our bread to the hungry. We are to always have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. When we all do our part the job will get done. I have found my place and I am happy in it. I hope my contribution will be a blessing to you, and I know you will have something with which to bless those around you.
Always pray "Your will be done." This is not a passive or fatalistic prayer, it is the most powerful prayer possible. Always seek the will of God and pray with all fervor and diligence in the name of the Lord Jesus.
September 9th
IT’S TOO HARD!
And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. (Luke 16:9)
We had our discipleship class last night. A lady came up afterward and told me how she had mentioned to a pastor that she was writing a tract about being conformed to the image of the Lord.
The pastor’s comment was, "You’re being too hard."
If this remark isn’t characteristic of our country I’ll eat my Thompson Chain-Reference Bible, genuine leather cover and all.
Too hard! The Bible is too hard! You bet it is too hard for pleasure-loving people.
What’s harder than denying yourself, taking up your personal form of execution, and following Jesus?
But our whole country is like that. The standards for graduation are too hard, so change the standards! It’s too hard to lose weight, so cut the fat off your body with a knife! It’s too hard to keep from fornicating, so develop pills and vaccinations so you can keep on fornicating and not get a disease! It’s too hard to be responsible for a family, so don’t bother with marriage!
This world is not paradise. It was once and then God cursed it. The curse is still operating. You may notice there are weeds in your backyard.
The fastest way there is to lose your soul is to try to restore paradise before God’s time. The only way you can live a happy, carefree life is by breaking God’s laws and losing your personal integrity.
The present world is a testing ground for future rulers. You will be tested constantly concerning your integrity. Take the easy way, follow the line of least resistance, leave your wife and children, change partners all you want, and you will lose your soul. By that I mean the soul that was given to you by the Lord will become full of poison and corruption. You will lose control of it. You will become the slave of Satan.
Go ahead, preacher, tell the congregation the way of the Lord is easy. "Do you owe the Lord a hundred dollars? Take your bill and write down fifty."
The people you are courting now will receive you when you die. You can live with them in the cobwebbed shacks of Hell. At least there you will have friends. You would be kind of out of place with Elijah and Jeremiah in Heaven.
The Lord’s yoke is easy and His burden is light—for the individual who is doing His will. It is true that the Lord’s will more often than not leads to the death of much of what we crave. We are sinners and the purpose of salvation is to change us, not forgive us and leave us as we are.
But the Lord’s way is light and joyous compared with the way of Satan and self-will. The way of the transgressor is hard!
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is a tough message for a nation of relatively rich people. But it is the only right way, the only way that leads to the castles in the sky.
Take the easy way, live an undisciplined life, and you will have a long time to sit in remorse wishing that someone had cared enough to tell you the truth about the Lord and His demands! And that you had had brains and character enough to listen!
Where are the faithful stewards?
Christian preachers and teachers because of their overemphasis on grace are destroying man's normal association of righteous behavior with God's favor. Can we be surprised, therefore, when there is little strength of righteousness in the Christian churches?
September 10th
BECOMING THE WORD
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (II Corinthians 3:18)
We find in the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation that when Christ returns, His name is The Word of God.
Think of it, His very name is the Word of God.
John tells us He has been the Word from the beginning and now is the Word made flesh.
Gabriel told Mary His name is Jesus, meaning He will save His people from their sins.
When He appears He again will be The Word of God.
What does it mean for Jesus to be The Word of God? It means that Jesus is the living representation, the portrayal, the personification, the demonstration, the Substance of all God ever has said, is saying, and shall say in the future.
The Bible tells us we should be true and faithful. Jesus is true and faithful. The Bible tells us there is perfect joy in the Presence of the Father. Jesus has perfect joy in the Presence of the Father. The Bible tells us we are not to be afraid of bad news. The Lord Jesus is not afraid of bad news. The Bible tells us we must be righteous, holy, and obedient to God. Jesus is righteous, holy, and obedient to God.
This is a marvel beyond all marvels.
But there is something more marvelous than this!
Every saint is called to become the Word of God. Our life is to proceed eternally from the mouth of God.
We are being changed into the image of the Glory of the Lord. The eternal moral law is being engraved in our mind and heart. Christ, the living Word, is being formed in us through the operations of the gifts and ministries given by the Spirit of God.
Line upon line. Precept upon precept. We are the flesh being made the Word, the covenant of God with mankind. We are God’s covenant with the peoples of the earth for through us they can receive the wisdom and mercy of God.
You and I have about as much chance of making ourselves the Word of God as an ant does learning algebra.
But we didn’t think up this great thing and we are not doing it. God is doing it.
Let’s say that you are a liar. Many Christians are liars although they don’t like to think of their behavior in such a vivid manner.
The Bible commands us to speak truthfully. God is truthful and Psalms tells us deceivers will not stand in His sight.
So you confess your lying nature to the Lord and He forgives you and cleanses you from all unrighteousness. You do your part and then God will do His.
In the meanwhile, if you truly are living as a disciple of Jesus (the Bible promises don’t always work for the average church-attender, you have to be a disciple), Christ is being formed in you. Christ was born in you when you received Him and now He is being formed in you through the travail of the ministry as well as the circumstances through which the Lord is bringing you.
What is being formed in you is the Word of God. In this particular instance, Truth is being formed in you. When you have come to the fullness of maturity as measured by the stature of Christ, the Word of God, you will be truth incarnate. There will be no lie left in you. The Divine nature that has been formed in you does not and cannot lie.
The transformation from the human nature to the Word of God is God’s idea and He has the power to do it. Don’t you agree?
Christ formed in us results in iron righteousness and integrity, fiery holiness, and stern obedience to the Father.
September 11th
FAITH—MAGIC OR A RELATIONSHIP?
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1,2)
Faith is being treated today as though it were magic. One aspect of this is the current faith-prosperity exercise in metaphysics. If I can believe hard enough all I want will be given to me. Wishing will make it so. When you wish upon a star everything you desire will come to you. Cinderella. Peter Pan. Hollywood is great on this kind of faith. Believe you can play a trombone, and presto!
A more serious warping of faith is the current "make a decision for Christ." The idea is if we can get someone to go through the "four steps of salvation" he or she is magically transformed from a sinner to a saint. No more is necessary. The conductor is saying, "Next stop, Heaven."
This is so far from the Christian salvation it has almost no relationship to it.
While it is true that the sinner can come to Jesus and have all of his sins forgiven at once, it must be recognized that this is an introduction to salvation, not the whole program of redemption The individual is at the gateway to life. He is at the entrance to what will prove to be a long, treacherous journey before he is ready for the victor’s crown.
Let all the experienced saints say, "Amen!"
God has placed evangelists in the Body of Christ. The evangelist is kind of like a salesman. He is stationed at the entrance to the Kingdom and is inviting whoever passes by to join the party.
Sometimes evangelists oversell the Gospel. "Once you accept Jesus you will have no more trouble." I wish they wouldn’t do that. It makes the job of the pastor and teacher more difficult.
It is the job of the evangelist to announce the good news of God’s gift of forgiveness to those who turn away from the world, not to hand people a package all wrapped up and tied with a bow.
When an individual receives Christ he or she is embarking on the most wonderful of all adventures. But it is a fight to the death, make no mistake.
Once we make a profession of Christ we are to be handed over to the pastor and teacher. It is his or her job to work with us until we stand perfect and complete in all the will of God, until we attain maturity as measured by the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Faith is not a magic that transforms us into saints. Faith is a grace given to us by God so we can relate successfully to Him and come before Christ every day of our life.
As we seek always to abide in Christ we are given a portion of evil for the day and a portion of Divine good by which we can overcome the evil.
The next day we are given a new portion of evil and a new portion of Divine good—both a little more advanced than that of the previous day.
We must by faith abide in Christ each day. As we do we grow in the ability to discern between good and evil and in the desire and strength to choose the good and turn away from the evil. This is what Christian growth is. This is what salvation is—the ability to refuse the evil and choose the good.
No, faith is not a magic that transports us in our unchanged state into Paradise. Faith is our daily relationship with God and Christ. As we continually behold the Glory of the Lord we continually are transformed into the same image by the Spirit of the Lord. This is the new covenant.
I have heard marvelous prophecies go forth over people. In many instances the marvels prophesied did not come to pass because the individual did not present his body a living sacrifice.
September 12th
LAWLESSNESS
And because iniquity [lawlessness] shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (Matthew 24:12)
The main problem of the last days is and will continue to be that of lawlessness. Antichrist is the man of lawlessness.
We are so immersed in our contemporary life that the tapestry of history is not always visible to us. It is hard to realize that for most of his history man has been under severe laws. The Star Chamber, the Algerian hook, drawing and quartering, lining the road with crucified criminals, keelhauling, starving children hung for stealing a loaf of bread—these horrors no longer exist in the Western democracies.
But in America while the penalties are getting lighter the crimes are increasing in horror. It is not unusual to read in the paper of a raped, murdered child, or someone who has been carved into pieces and the parts strewn around, or a victim in a car wreck who is raped and robbed while lying helplessly in the wreckage before the police get there. Some of our larger cities are in anarchy such that people, including children, are shot for no reason at all. The punishment increasingly is diminished while the crime increasingly is rampant. Perhaps there is a relationship here.
Satan is behind the minimizing of punishment. He is hoping somehow to escape the Lake of Fire. I think Satan’s plan is to so arm people against the idea of severe punishment that they will force God to reconsider the idea of an eternal lake of fire. But Satan is deceived in this. Once the Father speaks there is no power that can change the Word.
There are two realms of lawlessness today. One is in the Western democracies. The other is in the Christian churches. Secular lawlessness in the Western democracies is produced by the notion that man can govern himself. Man is not able to govern himself. He must have strong governmental controls and quick, severe penalties for wrongdoing—wrongdoing as described by the Bible standards of morality.
I am not speaking here of returning to the Law of Moses but to the concepts of justice and righteousness found in the conscience of all people until they are corrupted by an outside philosophy, such as that of relative morality. The laws of the Bible coincide with the laws of the unpolluted human conscience because both came from the same God. The natives in the bush have stronger, more effective social laws concerning morality than is true of Americans. We don’t know where we are morally!
When someone willfully harms another person he or she should be punished appropriately and then prepared for another chance at citizenship, perhaps under supervision. A second offense should bring quick, severe punishment and more prolonged incarceration as well as preparation for eventual release. Society must be protected from criminals. It is obvious that some types of criminals must be removed from society permanently.
The other realm of lawlessness is the Christian churches. It is taught commonly that we have been freed from the Law of Moses so we can do pretty much as we please without severe punishment. The truth is, we have been freed from the Law of Moses so we can be married to Christ—an infinitely more demanding government. Because Christian people have been taught they can sin without severe, lasting punishment they do not grow in righteousness.
Now we have a lawless secular society (Antichrist) and a lawless Christian society (the False Prophet). One will assist the other in the last days and the result will be utter chaos. God’s response to the chaos will be the great tribulation. God is a God of law and will not tolerate lawlessness for any length of time. His patience should be leading us to repentance.
A church that is part of the world is of no use whatever to the world and of no use whatever to Christ. It is fit only for the garbage.
September 13th
CITIES OF REFUGE
Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man [each of them] shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. (Isaiah 32:1,2)
God has called out many disciples from the various churches to serve Him as a holy remnant. They will be "cities of refuge" for God’s elect throughout the second half of the prophetic week, the period of the great tribulation.
The Lord Jesus rules in righteousness. As soon as He has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, they too will reign in righteousness.
There will be spiritual wind and storms because the ancient rulers of the heavens are going to come down to stand against the Lord Jesus and His saints.
The ancient rulers against whom we wrestle are spiritual beings of exalted personality. At one time they had governed the universes of God’s creatures.
Dissension arose among them just as it does among the Lord’s people on earth. The Father noted the spirit of rebellion.
At the height of the discontent God spoke. He chose Jesus, the eternal Word. He exalted Jesus above all other beings. He established the throne of Jesus above all other thrones.
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Psalms 45:6,7)
The princes of the heavenlies resent Jesus. They are jealous of His exalted position as Lord of all of God’s creation. Yet they were created originally by the Lord Jesus.
Even though they were created by Him, the Word of God, they are seeking to usurp His place as supreme Head of the Kingdom of God.
The lords of the air are not convinced the Father is willing or able to cast them into the lake of fire for eternity.
At the present time they are content to watch the demons play with the flesh of the earth. But as soon as God’s holy remnant is brought to a place of spiritual strength and authority the princes will be hurled to the earth, outraged over the change in their status.
When they come to the earth, tribulation of an intensity and scope beyond man’s ability to imagine will torment the nations. Blood will flow like water and the demons will be satiated with the flesh of humans.
Man is no match for the fallen rulers. Religious man is not equal in wisdom or strength to the lords of wickedness. Converted, tongues-speaking Christians are not able to prevail against the huge, sophisticated beings who are about to attack the earth in their fury.
Only God the Father, and Jesus, whom God has made Lord and Christ, are able to prevail against the lords of darkness.
Therefore God is prepared, in the spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Tabernacles, to come down and take up His eternal abode in the hearts of those who keep the commandments of Christ Jesus.
The dwelling of the Father and Christ in the holy remnant will be the place where the devout of the earth can hide from the face of the wicked.
The King and His princes—each of them—will be a hiding place from the winds of Satan, a shelter from the storm, as rivers of water in a dry land, as the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
If you will be patient with the Lord He will make you a city of refuge for the weary and oppressed. Would you like that?
There must be a company of strong people in whom and with whom God in Christ can drive all sin and lawlessness from the face of the earth.
September 14th
A BETTER COVENANT
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: (Hebrews 8:10)
The Law of Moses could not produce people who always exhibit righteousness and praise in the sight of the nations of the earth. Yet the bringing forth of righteousness and the worship of God are God’s purposes in calling out Israel from among the nations of the earth (Isaiah 61:11).
Because the old covenant did not and could not bring about the type of royal priest God desires, God has given us a new covenant. The new covenant, while it includes the forgiveness of our sins, is not primarily a covenant of forgiveness. The new covenant is the putting of the law of God in our minds and the writing of the law in our hearts.
The new covenant includes the eternal forgiveness of our sins. The forgiving of our sins is meant to serve as a foundation on which the Lord can proceed with the work of conforming us to the moral image of Christ. We are to be transformed into new creations of righteousness and holiness. The forgiving of our sins under the new covenant never was intended to be a means of escaping God’s insistence that we be in His image. Grace is never an alternative to godly behavior, only to the statutes of the Law of Moses—circumcision, the feast days and so forth.
The new covenant is being preached today as the Divinely ordained means of escaping the Kingdom principle of sowing and reaping. It is taught that grace is an unconditional pardon, and as long as we believe in Christ Jesus we can sow sin and reap the fruits of righteousness. We have aborted the intentions of God.
We are saying to the Christian who works wickedness that he will not reap what he is sowing. We are claiming that if he accepts Christ Jesus he then can proceed to fumble ineffectively at the task of following the Lord and never be condemned for his lack of diligence. If this were true the new covenant would be virtually worthless for the Kingdom purposes of God. The new covenant would be the lesser covenant, for the old covenant at least demanded righteous behavior, bringing a blessing on those who obeyed the Word of the Lord and a curse on those who disobeyed the Word of the Lord.
Notice what the unchanging Christ spoke through Isaiah:
Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. (Isaiah 3:10,11)
These words were addressed to Jerusalem and Judah, to God’s elect. If such were the case under the old covenant, how much more is it true under the new covenant where we have every grace of God to help us turn away from wickedness and live righteously? For us this is a new day. The winds of God are blowing away the dead leaves of Dispensational thinking. The righteous Lord has come to bring true, actual, living righteousness to His saints.
How about you? Are you ready to move into actual righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit? The Kingdom of God is at hand. Rejoice with us! Wave banners! Sound trumpets! Sing songs of war and victory! Welcome the King as He comes!
The believers who have trusted in a sovereign, unconditional grace that operates only in their mind and is separate from actual transformation of personality will come forth in the day of resurrection to discover that no new creation has been formed in them. The cold gray light of the resurrection morning will reveal their experience to have been virtual reality (for those acquainted with computer terminology), not actual spiritual reality.
September 15th
WHAT IS ETERNAL LIFE?
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:53,54)
If we would understand the statements of the New Testament concerning eternal life we must realize that the expression in its fullest sense refers to the resurrection of the body to a certain kind of life—not just to perpetual existence but to a specific kind of perpetual existence.
What does "have everlasting life" mean? Is it the same thing as going to Heaven?—as being washed in the blood of the Lamb?—as being born again?
We know that eternal life is the Substance of Christ Jesus in us. As we eat His flesh and drink His blood we have eternal life in us. If we cultivate that eternal life, learning to live by it, the Lord Jesus will raise us when He appears and we will be eternally alive with Divine Life in body, soul, and spirit.
There is the biologic life of flesh and blood and then there is eternal life. If we would attain to resurrection unto life in the Presence of God and Christ we must develop and nourish the portion of eternal life given us when we received Christ.
We must learn to think of our initial experience with Christ as being the beginning of our quest for eternal life. At the outset, righteousness is imputed to us. Our sins are forgiven by means of the blood atonement made by the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary. The Divine Seed is planted in us. We are touched with a beginning portion of eternal life, a deposit on the fullness of eternal life that will be ours if we pursue Christ until we attain to to the mark set before us as an individual.
Thus we are given a marvelous start. Now it is up to us to fight the good fight of faith, laying hold on eternal life until we attain the out-resurrection, the first resurrection from the dead.
We must always keep in mind that every aspect of salvation is an opportunity. There is a spirit of assurance among Christian people that is not based on reality. Godly assurance is a blessing but false assurance is a destructive deception.
We must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, not with a blithe, overconfident attitude that we are a favorite of God and no matter how we behave God would never punish us severely nor could we possibly lose our inheritance of eternal life. God always is looking to see if we are serving Him. There are no favorites, no respect of persons. The believer who continues in well doing will inherit eternal life. The believer who is careless, not being careful to observe the Lord’s commandments, will inherit corruption in the Day of the Lord.
We do not have to strive to bear fruit. We do have to strive to be found in Christ. We must continue in prayer, in the Word, and in diligent devotion to Jesus if we expect to have the strength to continue abiding in the Vine. The rewards go to the victors.
September 16th
SOWING AND REAPING
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. (Galatians 6:7,8)
There is an immutable law that operates in the Kingdom of God. It is the law of sowing and reaping. For every action there is a result. For every decision there is a consequence. There are no exceptions to this.
One of the catastrophic effects of the so-called "dispensation of grace" is the weakening of this iron law. The believers are not sure to what extent (if any) they will get back what they have done, especially in the form of loss of inheritance. They may be rewarded for their good works (some do not believe even this!) but they never will be punished for their sin. Their pastors and teachers stand in line to assure them that no Christian need have any fear of the Judgment Seat of Christ.
How terribly incorrect! How terribly destructive of our moral behavior!
First of all, let us assure ourselves that Galatians 6:7,8 (above) is speaking to Christians. An examination of the text of Galatians will reveal beyond all doubt that Paul is writing to Gentile believers who were being seduced by Jewish teachers. These teachers were advising the Galatians of the need for circumcision if they were to be saved.
To the Gentile Christians in Galatia (as well as Jewish Christians) Paul was saying, "You are going to reap what you are sowing."
To get anything else out of this passage is to willfully distort the Scriptures. And there are several other passages in the New Testament that state the same law of sowing and reaping.
Notice that we Christians, in terms of our behavior, reap either corruption or eternal life. We need to think carefully about this because we are apt to think in terms of Hell and Heaven, not in terms of corruption and eternal life. The expressions may not be equivalent.
Current teaching is that you obtain eternal life when you "make a decision for Christ" (an unscriptural expression). We do not "make a decision for Christ." We either come to the Man or we don’t. This is no mere academic distinction.
When you come to Christ you get a deposit on eternal life. Then you have to fight the good fight of faith constantly in order to hold onto this deposit. If you are faithful in maintaining the life given to you, you will get the whole bank account when the Lord comes.
Eternal life is something you reap in terms of your behavior. It is a deposit on eternal life that is given when you truly receive Christ into your personality. The Scripture is clear enough (the parable of the sower, for example) that you can lose your deposit if you do not obey the commandments issued by the Apostles of the Lamb.
How then do we explain the statements of Paul that salvation is a gift given to us upon our belief in Jesus Christ? What is this teaching about reaping what we sow?
The explanation is simple and straightforward. Paul, when stressing the role of faith in both Romans and Galatians, was reacting to those who were attempting to add the Law of Moses to the Christian experience. In Galatians the issue was circumcision.
Paul resolves the seeming contradiction by showing, in Galatians, that while he was not under the Law of Moses he was under an infinitely stricter law. He was crucified with Christ and was now living by the Life of Christ.
In this context it makes perfect sense for Paul to emphasize, on the one hand, the role of faith in Jesus Christ in the plan of salvation; and to state, on the other hand, that Christians will reap what they sow.
One crippling, blinding concept that pervades the Christian churches is that after the careless believer dies he will become a spiritual giant, a warrior of Christ.
September 17th
SOWING AND REAPING, continued
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (II Corinthians 5:17)
Christ did not come to excuse our sins. Christ came to make us righteous, holy, and obedient to God. In those areas of our personality and behavior in which we persist in unrighteousness, filthiness of spirit, and disobedience to God, we certainly shall reap corruption in place of eternal life.
To ignore this certainty and to maintain the present Christian posture that God does not see our sinning is to insure a very bleak future for ourselves!
You cannot blame your pastor or teacher for leading you astray. You are responsible to search the Scriptures and determine for yourself what is true. It is the future of you and your family we are talking about!
Now, let’s think for a moment about when we will reap what we have sown.
It is true, of course, that even in this life we reap what we sow.
If we are not careful with our diet and do not exercise we may get a heart attack. I did! It’s not pleasant!
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If we are not prudent with our spending we may end up bankrupt.
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If we behave in an immoral fashion we may contract a dreadful disease.
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If we smoke we may develop cancer.
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If we are dishonest we may end up in prison.
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If we overwork we may have an anxiety breakdown. I had this too. No fun!
But these penalties, however painful, are as nothing when compared with the possible suffering during the Day of Christ. In the Day of Christ we are going to reap what we have sown while in our body.
The body is of great importance in the plan of salvation. We will be rewarded or punished in our body.
There are numerous rewards that accrue to the believer who pursues the life of victory in Jesus. Many of these are listed in the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation. They include eternal life, closeness to God, power, authority, freedom from the harm caused by the second death, and finally a permanent position with Christ in His throne.
The rewards are summed up in Revelation: "He who overcomes will inherit all the glory of God, and God will be his God and he will be God’s son."
But we wish to limit ourselves at this point to one aspect of our reaping. It is that of the body from Heaven.
Two bodies are involved in the resurrection from the dead. The first body is that which we have now. It shall be raised from the dead. The body of every human being who has lived on the earth will be raised from the dead.
The second body is the body from Heaven, of Second Corinthians. The body from Heaven is the robe we will be given. It will "swallow up" our newly resurrected body.
The point is, what kind of body will our heavenly body be?
You are deciding that right now. Your heavenly body is the result of your conduct, whether good or bad.
Every decision you make, every action you take, is affecting your body that is being fashioned before the Throne of God in Heaven.
If you are developing Christian character, if you are becoming a new righteous creation, then righteousness, holiness, obedience to God, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, teachableness, courage, self-control, kindliness, generosity, are being added to your robe, your body from Heaven, your crown.
The kind of change our physical body will experience when it is raised depends directly on the faithfulness with which we have served the Lord Jesus. It is not at all true that every believer on the basis of grace will receive a body like that of the Lord Jesus.
September 18th
SOWING AND REAPING, continued
For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: (II Corinthians 5:2)
Unlike our body on earth, our heavenly body will reveal what we are in our inner personality.
If you, although a Christian, are not following the Spirit of God, are not becoming a new creation in Christ, then unrighteousness, spiritual uncleanness, disobedience to God, hate, malice, misery, bitterness, impatience, evil tendencies, treachery, stubbornness, timidity, self-indulgence, self-centeredness, self-will, unkindness, selfishness, are being added to your robe, your body from Heaven, your crown.
The body that clothes your resurrected frame will reveal all these things to the onlooker. You will be viewed with disgust. Your role in the Kingdom, if you are allowed to enter the Kingdom, will be minimal.
You are going to reap precisely what you are sowing today.
I hope everyone who reads these words takes me seriously for this is what the Scripture teaches. It’s your future we are dealing with here!
Here is the perfect justice of God.
However, the love of God has made a provision for us. We can wash our robe in the blood of the Lamb.
When you confess a sin, as the Holy Spirit guides you, the Lord washes your garment in His blood.
Let’s say you tell a lie. When it comes to your attention confess to the Lord that you have told a lie. When you take this action the Lord will wash your robe in His own blood. Then it will not appear in your house from Heaven.
The Spirit of God will lead you into the sexual fantasies hidden in your heart. Don’t be afraid to tell God all that is there (He already knows anyway). But you must confess your imaginations and actions and judge them as sin. When you do God is faithful and righteous to forgive your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
The practice of continual confession and repentance will lead you at last to the first resurrection, the resurrection of the royal priesthood.
Then as God brings you into various situations and you conquer your worldliness, lusts, and self-will through the help Christ gives you, you will add virtue to your body before the Throne of God—that with which you will be clothed in the Day of Resurrection.
However, if you do not confess and forsake your sins your robe will remain filthy. You will be clothed with corruption and filthiness in the Day of Resurrection, not with the incorruptible resurrection Life of Christ.
Let the filthy be filthy still!
All of us must face God’s judgment. We can go through it now by judging ourselves and confessing our sins and thereby attain to the first resurrection, the resurrection to life as a member of the royal priesthood.
Or we can wait until we die. In this case we will receive in the Day of Resurrection the bad things we have done.
We shall be rewarded for the things done in the body and we shall receive the reward in our body.
God gave us a spirit and soul. He placed these in a temporary, animal body. If we obey God in all things we will receive our true, eternal body in the Day of Christ.
But if we lose control of our soul to the spirit of the world, to the lusts of our flesh, or to the self-will of our soul and spirit, we will forfeit our soul to the enemy and we will be clothed accordingly.
Do you know that when you use profanity an unclean spirit is in your tongue? Your mouth is set on fire by Hell.
September 19th
SOWING AND REAPING, continued
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. (I John 3:7)
These are iron laws of the Kingdom of God and they are not tempered in any manner by grace, mercy, or God’s love. You will trifle with these facts at your peril.
Imagine the Day of the Lord, the Day of Resurrection. Your body has been reassembled and then animated with spiritual life, the life by which angels live.
You are standing beside your grave, not knowing what to expect.
The Lord Jesus comes with your body from Heaven.
Perhaps you will see some believers clothed with great mountains of fire and glory, prepared to shine as the stars forever so they may guide people to the rest of God.
With what will you be clothed in that moment?
If you have done that which is good you will be clothed with a body of life fashioned according to your conduct on earth. If you have suffered you will have in your new body the capacity to govern nations of people.
If you have done that which is evil you will experience weakness and darkness. The hold of sin will be strong upon you. You will not be happy at the thought of being close to the blazing light of Jesus, the Divine fire of God.
People will turn away from you in disgust. You will slink away to the habitations of those with personalities like yours.
What I am describing is real. It will happen some day to you. You cannot be certain that the sun will rise tomorrow morning. But one thing you do know: the moment will come when you stand before Jesus Christ to answer for your conduct on the earth.
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:28,29)
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)
Perhaps many Christians in the United States will become aware we have misunderstood the role of God’s grace and will turn to God and begin to bring forth works in keeping with their repentance. But remember: one runs into trouble if he attempts to tell a child he no longer is going to be given everything he wants and must now be subject to the denial of his desires and other discipline. You will have a howling tyrant on your hands.
No doubt the truth that we are not as secure as we thought we were will unsettle multitudes of believers. Perhaps God in His goodness will send the Spirit of repentance on us so we can successfully manage the idea that the only reliable evidence of our salvation is a new creation that works the righteous works of God. To be sure, interesting developments are ahead of us.
But no matter what others do, why don’t you go to the Bible and see what it says about the Lord rewarding every one of us according to our works. If you are persuaded we indeed shall be rewarded according to our works, Christian or not, then go to the throne of grace and tell God that from now on you want to grow in righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God.
The victorious saint is living in the Presence of the Lord. His relationship with the Lord will not change when he is separated from his body. He will continue living in the Presence of the Lord, drawing eternal life from the Head—Christ. The defeated believer is living in the pleasures of the world. He is spiritually dead now and will not be more dead when he dies.
September 20th
SOWING AND REAPING, continued
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19)
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: (Matthew 6:19,20)
And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. (Mark 10:29,30)
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)
And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. (Revelation 2:23)
And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. (Revelation 22:12)
Read carefully the above verses. In your heart of hearts, do you believe these apply to you? If not, to whom do they apply? The modern teaching is that all these Bible statements are invalid as far as Christians are concerned. We are saved by grace, meaning that salvation is an abstract legal maneuver of God that brings us to a mansion in Heaven independently of our conduct.
The defining of "grace" as an unconditional amnesty applying to Gentile believers in Christ is a monumental error that has resulted in the destruction of the Christian churches of America. Because the churches do not teach righteous behavior with any great conviction (hoping to fly away any moment in a "rapture") the secular society is drowning in the lusts of the flesh.
The so-called "rapture" is late in arriving. Multitudes of Christians have been tortured and slain so far in this century, more than in any other century of the Christian Era, statisticians inform us. Sorry, people, you should have waited for the rapture.
Where are our brains? The moral condition in America is our fault! How do you feel about this? Would you behave differently if you believed you are to be clothed with your own works in the Day of Resurrection? If so, set out to behave differently and the Lord will help you. He loves righteousness!
Death will not deliver us from sin or make us righteous. Rather death will reveal what we have done during our lifetime. It is appointed to men once to die and after this the judgment. The purpose of Divine grace is not to attempt to change this unchangeable fact but to change what we are doing now.
September 21st
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. (II Corinthians 5:10)
The Day of Judgment will be applied to mankind in two separate manners. The first applies to the royal priesthood to those who attain to the first resurrection. They are judged so thoroughly in the present world, and respond to that judgment so correctly, that their sentence is to be raised and rise to meet the Lord at His appearing. There is no further judgment applied to them, as we note in Revelation 20:4-6. The Lake of Fire has no further jurisdiction over them.
The second applies to the remainder of mankind, to those who are raised in the second resurrection. They will be judged according to their works. Their sentences will vary all the way from a few stripes to eternal residence in the Lake of Fire.
To those who comment that no individual will be saved at the second resurrection because no person can be saved by works we reply that every individual, whether of the Church or of mankind, is judged according to his or her works (note II Corinthians 5:10 above).
Christ did not come for the purpose of preventing our judgment according to our works. Christ came to transform us so that our works will merit the approval of God. Any other viewpoint will lead the seeker into the corrupting morass in which many Christians flounder in the present hour.
But isn’t it true that Jesus said if we hear His Word and believe in God we will not be condemned?
Yes, and this is true of course. The believer who presses forward each day in the moral transformation that is the new covenant is kept without condemnation by the blood of Jesus. Such an individual will find his entire life has become one of judgment as the Holy Spirit guides him in putting to death the deeds of his body. His work has been that of maintaining an unswerving commitment. He or she is an attainer to the first resurrection of the dead.
We notice, however, that many believers in America of today are not maintaining an unswerving commitment to Jesus Christ. They are not denying themselves and carrying their means of execution behind Jesus. They are not living by His resurrection power. They are not sharing His sufferings. They do not understand that such is the only true Christian life.
"Brother Thompson, how can you say this of most church-attenders in America? How do you know they are not disciples of Jesus?"
By their works!
They have been taught that Jesus loves them and has granted to them an unconditional amnesty that insures their eternal residence in Paradise. They behave accordingly. This is an unscriptural program and an unscriptural destiny.
Every human being on the earth will be revealed at the Judgment Seat of Christ. The Judgment Seat of Christ began in the first century, according to the Apostle Peter. The Judgment Seat of Christ will end when Christ and His saints sit on the great white throne and judge angels and the world.
We are not purified by ascribed righteousness (imputation), except as an initial device to get us started in the program of redemption. We are purified by the casting out of Satan, through the power of the Holy Spirit on the authority of the blood of the Lamb.
September 22nd
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, continued
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds: (Romans 2:5,6)
Every person who has lived on the earth, Christian or not, will be judged according to his or her works. As we have noted, the Christian remains without condemnation provided he is following the Spirit in putting to death the deeds of his flesh. The judgment of God is always on the deeds of our flesh. God has made provision for us through the blood of Christ that authorizes and empowers us to judge and put to death through the Spirit the deeds of our flesh. As we do this we are attaining the earlier resurrection, the resurrection of the royal priesthood.
It appears that most Christians of our day, having been taught incorrectly, are not putting to death the works of their flesh. They are lying, stealing, betraying their marriage vows, dabbling in witchcraft, gossiping, slandering, causing strife and division (they are not peacemakers), engaging in adultery, fornication, pornography. They are molesting their own children. They abuse their body with drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. They are covetous, seeking money instead of the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
They do not understand the program of continual judgment that is operating today. They are not appearing before Christ today that their sins may be confessed and cleansed from them. They are under the delusion that God sees them through Christ and they have nothing to fear at the Judgment Seat.
We Christians of America are horribly, horribly deceived!
We are not showing forth righteousness in our personality. As a result the secular world has no moral light. Judgment is soon to fall on the United States unless the churches repent.
The demons fear the coming Day. The Christians do not fear the Day of the Lord. Why? Because they have been taught that how they live does not matter because they are "saved by grace." Thus we have made Divine grace an excuse for our sins. We are not scriptural in this.
We have been commanded to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. But we do not fear God and are not trembling at the thought of the coming Day of Judgment. In our filthy pride we are willing to reverence God but not fear Him.
We do not know the terror of the Lord.
Whatever the rest of the church world does, you can save yourself and your family. Pray, humble yourself, call on the Lord, turn away from your sin. If you will do this the Lord Jesus will come to you. He will help you confess your sins and turn away from them. He will make you a new righteous creation.
Then you will have boldness in the Day of Judgment because the love of Christ has been perfected in you.
But know of a certainty that if you, Christian or not, do not humble yourself, do not pray, do not call on the Lord, do not turn away from your sin, you will experience agony and corruption in the Day of Christ.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!
Many Christians of today are living under Divine condemnation without realizing it because they have not expressed godly sorrow concerning their sins and have not repented of (turned away from) them with nearly enough vigor and resolution. Their sense of God’s approval is a deception.
September 23rd
THE FOUR GREAT TYPES
Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: (Exodus 12:3)
There are many types, or symbols, or illustrations, however you wish to refer to them, in the Old Testament. They give concrete expression to the spiritual realities of the new covenant.
We have identified four major types:
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The seven feasts of the Lord.
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The seven furnishings of the Tabernacle of the Congregation.
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The seven days of creation.
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The seven stages of the journey of Israel from Egypt to Canaan.
Each of these four great types tells us something about God’s plan of redemption. God’s plan of redemption begins when we are in the moral image of Satan and have Satan’s spirit working in us. God’s plan of redemption concludes when we are in the image of Jesus Christ, in spirit, soul, and body and living in untroubled rest in God through Christ.
God’s plan of redemption can be viewed in seven steps. These seven steps are not seven rungs on a ladder but as seven facets of one diamond. The diamond is Christ and so when you have Christ you have all of God’s redemption. But it is in the working out that we encounter the seven stages of development.
Okay so far? Review if you need to.
The first feast of the Lord is Passover. The first furnishing of the Tabernacle was the Altar of Burnt Offering. The first of the days of creation was the giving of light. The first stage of Israel’s journey was the exodus from Egypt.
Do you see how we did that?
Taken together we have a picture of redemption. We begin the plan of redemption when we accept the blood of God’s passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, as the covering that protects us when God judges the demon gods of the world.
We begin the plan of redemption when we come to the Altar of Burnt Offering. We bow our knee at the cross of Jesus Christ and confess we cannot save ourselves. God will meet man only at Calvary. If we are too proud to humble ourselves and come to Calvary we cannot even begin the journey of redemption.
We begin the plan of redemption when God speaks light into our soul and we see the Lamb of God hanging on the cross of Calvary. If we accept the Spirit’s gentle invitation we move into the plan of redemption and the light is separated from the darkness in us.
We begin the plan of redemption when we leave Egypt, the spirit of the present world. We must make up our mind once and for all that this world is not our home and we desire to enter the Kingdom of God.
Since we now are going to march through the remaining six stages of redemption, make sure you understand what we have written thus far. Go back over it until you see what we are getting at.
Forgiveness makes it possible for us to come to God so we can be saved from all that is of Satan and brought into all that is of God.
September 24th
THE FOUR GREAT TYPES, continued
Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. (Exodus 30:18)
The second feast of the Lord is Unleavened Bread. The second furnishing of the Tabernacle was the Laver. The second day of creation was the dividing of the waters by means of the firmament of heaven. The second stage of Israel’s journey was the crossing of the Red Sea.
When we accept Christ we must put away the leaven of malice and wickedness in which we lived while part of the world spirit. Another figure is that of circumcision. For us to be part of God’s Israel we must be willing for God to cut away the fleshly impulses of our heart. We must experience a circumcision of the heart if we are to enter God’s covenant.
The Laver speaks of our death and resurrection in water baptism and also of the washing of our personality by the Word of God. When we go down into the water of baptism we are entering the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.
As we read the Scriptures the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin. Then we are to confess our sin so that God may forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is a continuing program by which we wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb.
The dividing of the waters portrays what happens to us when we receive Christ. Heaven in the form of Jesus Christ enters our personality. Heaven divides between our spiritual life and the carnal, animal life of our soul and flesh. The unsaved person is one chaotic mass in terms of the Divine redemption. The individual who receives Christ enters the separating of the carnal and the spiritual, thus making him or her, for a season, a divided personality.
This is why Christian people often act in foolish ways when compared with a disciplined worldly person. We sometimes find more competence in professional people who are unconverted than we do in Christian professionals.
When you tear down a machine in order to rebuild it you lose the use of the machine for a season. So it is that we Christians are being taken apart that we may be reassembled in time to come. And so we often behave in a silly, undisciplined manner.
Christians are usually decent people but we must remember that a division has taken place in our personality. We must be careful we do not fall into a gap of lawlessness in which we are under neither the Law of Moses nor the law of the Spirit of Life.
A baptism of fire is near for us Christians. When it happens to you, hold on. God is ready to bring you to a higher position in the program of redemption.
The new Christian must go through the Red Sea, so to speak. Jesus Christ is holding back the waters of death so you may pass through safely. When the water closes, Satan, who is trying to follow you, will drown. What comes up on the other side is the beginning of a new personality.
It is God’s goodness that knocks down every stone of our life until there is not one left on another. All we have built for our self-glory is demolished. Then God in Christ comes to us and builds His own place of rest.
September 25th
THE FOUR GREAT TYPES, continued
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. (Genesis 1:9)
The third feast of the Lord is firstfruits. The third furnishing of the Tabernacle was the Table of Showbread. The third of the days of creation was the appearing of vegetation. The third stage of Israel’s journey was the arrival of the Jews on the east bank of the Red Sea and the beginning of the march through the wilderness.
The feast of firstfruits notifies us that we have been born again. Our new inner nature has been raised to the right hand of God in Christ. The fruits of righteous behavior begin to appear on the face of our "land."
The Table of Showbread (Bread of the Presence) symbolizes the new Life of Christ that is in our personality. It is the Substance of the Divine Nature. Through the Virtue of it we are able to overcome the corruption that is in the world through lust.
On the third day of creation the waters were gathered together to one place and the dry land appeared. This made possible the appearance of vegetation. Again, this is a portrayal of the born-again experience. The fruit God is looking for in mankind, which is the moral image of Jesus Christ, is seen in our life for the first time. This marks the beginning of our transformation into the image of Christ.
Israel now stood on the east bank of the Red Sea, ready to begin the march through the wilderness. Egypt, the known, was behind them. Their destination was Canaan, the land of promise, the place of milk and honey, the area that did not have to be irrigated from the Nile but drank of the plentiful rain from the sky.
But between the Jews and the milk and honey lay a forbidding desert of sand and rock under a blazing sun.
So it is with us. Our goal is to be in the image of Christ and to be living in untroubled rest in the Father through Christ. But between us and the Glory of God Almighty at whose right hand are eternal pleasures lies a spiritual desert of sand and rock under a blazing sun.
Sometimes the Gospel is preached today as though we are going to fly to Paradise on flowery beds of ease, as the old hymn has it. But it may turn out that instead of floating through flowery beds of ease we may find ourselves sailing through bloody seas.
But God will send us manna every day—grace for the day.
We have emerged from the death of the cross and now, in our reborn spiritual nature, are at the right hand of God, far above every other authority and power. Satan, the world, our flesh, our self-will, will seek continually to tear us down from our exalted position, to take from us our crown of life and righteousness.
If we are not diligent these forces of darkness may succeed!
But if we will keep our eyes on Jesus we will arrive finally at the fullness of God. There is no power that can take us out of Jesus’ hand.
It is pure Glory to have Christ and God dwelling in us, even when we are in difficult circumstances. But Paradise is another name for Hell when we do not have Christ and God. Christ is our goal. Paradise will follow.
September 26th
THE FOUR GREAT TYPES, continued
And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:1-3)
The fourth feast of the Lord is Pentecost. The fourth furnishing of the Tabernacle was the solid-gold Lampstand. The fourth of the days of creation was the creation of the sun, moon, and stars. The fourth stage of Israel’s journey was the giving of the Law.
After we believe, repent, are baptized in water, and are born again of the Substance of Christ, we are to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. The Pentecostal outpouring began two thousand years ago and continues every time a believer looks up to God in order to be filled with God’s Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is God in the Church. He gives and directs the gifts and ministries and also guides and empowers us as we become righteous, holy, and obedient to God in character.
No growth in Christ’s image is possible apart from the enablement of the Spirit and no ministry is to be conducted apart from the direct supervision and enablement of the Spirit. The reason the churches have accomplished so little of eternal value over the Church Era is that the ministry has been conducted by the will of man rather than the will of the Spirit.
The solid-gold Lampstand portrays Christ—Head and Body. This is the Servant of the Lord who will return when Christ comes to maturity in the members of His Body.
The fact that the Lampstand is solid-gold tells us that no part of the eternal testimony of God comes from the flesh of man. God alone can bear a true witness of His Person, will, way, and eternal purposes in Christ.
The fourth day of creation takes us to the heavens. There shines the sun (Christ), the moon (the Bride of the Lamb), and the stars (the victorious saints of all ages). The light of Christ, of the Bride, and of the victorious saints comes from the Spirit of God. The term Christ means the One anointed with the Spirit of God.
Jewish tradition informs us that the Israelites came to Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day after the Passover. The term Pentecost is related in the Greek language to the number fifty.
To this day the Jews, on the annual celebration of Pentecost, celebrate the giving of the Law.
One of the great errors of current Christian thinking is that Christians are under no law. This is not true. It indeed is a fact we no longer are under the Law of Moses when we count ourselves crucified with Christ.
But if we would be free from the law of sin and death, which is the interaction between our flesh and the Law of Moses, we must obey the law of the Spirit of Life in Jesus Christ. The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ is a far stricter law than that given to Moses.
The Holy Spirit descended as a Dove on Jesus because there is no sin in Jesus. But the Holy Spirit descended on the early believers as tongues of fire. This is because there still is sin in us. It is the Holy Spirit who deals with the sin that is in us.
The Holy Spirit, working by the authority of the blood of Jesus, leads us in putting to death the deeds of our sinful flesh. We are baptized with the fire of Divine judgment. If we cooperate with the Spirit of God, following Him faithfully in every aspect of life, He will set us free from the law of sin and death working in the members of our body.
Christianity actually is nothing more nor less than the unfolding of true Judaism, that is, of the revelation given to Moses and the Prophets.
September 27th
THE FOUR GREAT TYPES, continued
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. (Leviticus 23:24)
The fifth feast of the Lord is the Blowing of Trumpets. The fifth furnishing of the Tabernacle was the Altar of Incense. The fifth of the days of creation marked the beginning of animal life. The fifth stage of Israel’s journey included the constructing of the Tabernacle of the Congregation and the organizing of Israel into an army.
A part of the Christian Church has been at Pentecost since the early days of this century. The Pentecostal movement has been expanding since the middle of the century and now is termed Charismatic.
But the Ark is never stationary for long. God now is moving ahead to the Blowing of Trumpets.
The Blowing of Trumpets is the coming of the Lord of Hosts to declare war against His enemy. It is the beginning of the end of Satan and His followers.
We notice an increase in war choruses, the waving of banners, the playing of tambourines in a militant manner. The Holy Spirit is pointing us toward war and judgment, the war and judgment that will attain their climax at Armageddon.
To the individual believer it means that Christ is ready to wage war against the sin in his nature. All worldliness, lust, and self-will must be brought forth, judged, and put to death.
The believer cannot do this alone. Christ will not do it alone. It is the sword of the Lord and of Gideon if there is to be total victory.
The number five is symbolic of entrance into the Kingdom. We find the Altar of Incense, the fifth furnishing of the Tabernacle, at the entrance to the Holy of Holies. After we move past the Lampstand (Pentecost) we are faced with the prospect of death to our self-will, a difficult death indeed! Death to self is more demanding on us than death to sin because it deals with what we are, whereas death to sin has to do with forces alien to us—the sin that has entered our personality, particularly our flesh.
The fifth day of creation produced the beginning of animal life—fish and birds. After we are filled with God’s Spirit and move forward in the Lord, Christ begins to be formed in the depths of our personality (the fish). Also we become increasingly aware of life in the heavens (the birds). We are becoming a new humanity, a humanity that is thoroughly of man and thoroughly of God, just like our Lord. It is not enough to have a spiritual life in the heavens. We also must have integrity and strength in the inner part of our personality.
As we follow the Lord the great "whales" of solid character, courage, integrity, judgment, are created in our personality as well as an infinite variety of lesser "fish." We become a new humanity, solid in transformed human character and well acquainted with and a participant in life in the heavenlies.
The fifth stage in the journey of Israel was the construction of the Tabernacle of the Congregation and the forming of Israel into an army. During the last fifty years we have witnessed an unprecedented emphasis on the Body of Christ (the Tabernacle) and a call to war (the forming of the army of the Lord).
We used to sing "Sweet Hour of Prayer." Now it is "Summon Thy Power O God!"
This is just the beginning!
The Divine redemption is not a religion. On the one hand it is a personal discipleship to the risen Jesus of Nazareth. On the other hand it is a kingdom—a kingdom that will be brought into the earth suddenly and with great violence.
September 28th
THE FOUR GREAT TYPES, continued
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:26)
The sixth feast of the Lord is the Day of Atonement. The sixth furnishing of the Tabernacle was the Ark of the Covenant. The sixth of the days of creation emphasized the creation of man. The sixth stage of Israel’s journey was the series of battles to subdue the land.
The Day of the Atonement (Yom Kippor) is the most solemn day of the Jewish year. The ten days from the Blowing of Trumpets to the Day of Atonement are known as The Days of Awe. This is because of the belief that God judges the world during this period.
It has been almost fifty years now that the Lord spoke to a certain Bible student and said, "The Day of Atonement portrays the judgment of the Church."
Having no knowledge either of the feasts of the Lord or the judgment of the Church the student was mystified but realized it was the Lord. The following forty-nine years have proven the truth of the message.
There is no question but that God is ready to judge His people in America and throughout the world. Wherever people are willing to confess their sins and turn away from them the Presence of God is experienced.
We need in our day, perhaps as never before, a tremendous conviction of sin to come upon the churches. Perhaps if we call on the Lord for rain in the time of latter rain we will have the outpouring of Glory and judgment we are hoping for. The Glory of God is highly desirable. So is conviction of sin if our nation is to be saved from destruction.
But should we experience a marvelous revival of Divine Glory and conviction of sin, the final results will be disappointing if the outpouring of the Spirit is not followed by sound doctrine, the doctrine that Divine grace is an enablement of righteousness and not an alternative to righteousness.
It is taught today that we stand in grace such that we ought to do good but God sees us through Jesus and so we are without condemnation whether or not we sin. If you think about it, such a warped understanding of grace provides no real basis for repentance.
True, lasting revival must have a sound, scriptural foundation under it. We must come to understand that God does not see us through Jesus, God actually sees our sins. Godly behavior is not a "nice" thing we do when we feel like it or during seasons of refreshing. Godly behavior is the only valid evidence of salvation and is itself salvation.
The sixth furnishing of the Tabernacle was the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark, containing the memorial jar of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the Ten Commandments (which we have discussed previously), represents perfected Christian character.
On the sixth day of creation man was made in the image of God.
The sixth episode of the journey of Israel was preparations for invasion and the actual invasion of the land of promise. So it is with us that as we experience the spiritual fulfillment of the Day of Atonement we bring the Ark of God’s Covenant against the worldliness, lust, and self-will in our personality, and in the Day of Christ will bring God’s holy Person and ways against the demons of the world.
If you are a saved, Spirit-filled individual you may have noticed that the Spirit of God is making you aware of the sin in your personality. You are to judge these behaviors as sin and resist them by the Spirit of God. In this manner you become reconciled to God’s Person in actuality rather than just legally by ascribed righteousness.
The Lord is separating out His army today. The test is how you drink the water. Do you stick your head in the pond or do you watch carefully what you are doing while you are drinking?
September 29th
THE FOUR GREAT TYPES, continued
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD. (Leviticus 23:34)
The seventh feast of the Lord is Tabernacles. The seventh furnishing of the Tabernacle was the solid-gold Mercy Seat. The seventh day of creation is God’s rest. The seventh stage of Israel’s journey was rest in the land of promise.
The three great symbols of Judaism are the Altar of blood sacrifice, the Lampstand, and the Booth.
The Altar of blood sacrifice tells us that God will meet man only through the blood of the cross of Jesus.
The Lampstand informs us it is God’s will that every saved individual think, speak, and act in God’s Spirit.
The Booth portrays the eternal purpose of God—that man become the eternal dwelling place of God. We were brought into existence that God might have a living temple through which He can relate to His creation. Man is the eternal throne of God, the chariot of God.
Every human personality contains a throne room. When we come to Christ, King Self is on that throne. But Christ, and God in Him, wants to sit on the throne of our life.
Much pain is required for most of us before we can get King Self off the throne. But it is of the essence of the Kingdom of God that God sit on the throne. There is only one legitimate will in the universe—God’s will.
After God in Christ has been established firmly and eternally on the throne of our personality we are invited to sit with Them in Their throne. This is the rest of God, the goal of redemption.
The feast of Tabernacles portrays the rest of God. Man was created to enjoy God forever in the booth of his own person. When we open the door to the knocking Christ we sit down at the table and eat His flesh and drink His blood. This is how we marry the Lamb. This is how we are raised from the dead.
The Mercy Seat of the Tabernacle of the Congregation is the end of our quest. Jesus is not the way to Heaven but to the Father. To go to Heaven would satisfy no one. (It didn’t satisfy Satan or his followers!) Only God Himself finally can satisfy the longing of each soul. Human fulfillment is possible only in the Person of God.
On the seventh day God rested. There were no evening and morning because the rest of God is eternal.
The people of God did not attain perfection when Joshua brought Israel into the land of Canaan. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
The Jewish Sabbath is a portrayal of the eternal rest into which the Christian is called, the rest where we do not think our own thoughts, speak our own words, practice our own behavior. We are to think, speak, and act in the Person of God through His Spirit. This is how Jesus lives. This is how we are to live for eternity. This is the transcendent fulfillment of the Sabbath.
A mark has been set before you. The mark is that you be in Christ’s image, body, soul, and spirit and abide forever in untroubled rest in God through Christ.
Is this what you truly want?
It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
Before Christ is finished He will have accomplished His goal of revealing the Glory of God through His saints in the sight of the nations of saved peoples of the earth.
September 30th
QUALITY CONTROL
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14)
Many modern corporations have a quality control department. This is where the inspectors evaluate selected items from the assembly line.
Let us say we are machining quarter-inch bolts. Let us say further that these are part of a sophisticated range finder and must be machined to plus or minus one ten-thousandth of an inch.
The inspector uses his micrometer (perhaps now it is done with a computer) to determine whether we are within or outside the specified tolerances.
Can you see that quality control is impossible apart from the dimensions and tolerances specified on the blueprint? How do you know when the bolt is correct without clearly defined objectives?
So it is with every kind of system. If we do not know precisely what the objective is there is no way of knowing when we get there or how close we are to getting there.
One of the major problems of Christian thinking today is we do not have clearly specified objectives. Apart from these quality control is impossible.
Salvation often is viewed as being open-ended. Since we have no clear goals let us concentrate on the means. Should the coffee and doughnuts during the break be free or should we charge for them? This is how you drive a systems engineer crazy.
The assumed goal of salvation is eternal residence in a mansion in Heaven. There indeed is a place in the spirit realm called "Heaven" where God, Christ, and the saints and angels dwell (although probably not in mansions since it doesn’t rain there or get cold as far as we know). However, there are two problems with this goal. The first is that quality control is impossible since we do not know if we have reached our goal until we die. The second problem is that neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament presents eternal residence in a mansion in Heaven as the goal of salvation.
John 14:2, the venerable passage confirming the goal, is not talking about Heaven. The context of the chapter is the abiding of the Father and Christ in the believer. The "mansions" are properly translated rooms. God’s House is not Heaven, this is not scriptural. God’s eternal House is Christ and those who are part of Christ. Thus saith the fourteenth through the seventeenth chapters of the Gospel of John.
The true, scriptural goal of salvation has two aspects: transformation into the image of Christ and untroubled rest in the Father through Christ. Christ is not the way to Heaven but to the Father.
Participation in the roles and tasks of the royal priesthood are not possible except as we attain both aspects of the goal of salvation.
Quality control indeed is possible once we know the goals. We can assess our progress or lack of it in becoming a new creation in Christ while we yet are alive. (If you need assistance in evaluating your progress ask your unsaved neighbors to help you.) Also we can assess our progress or lack of it in subordinating our will to the will of the Father.
God the Father dwells eternally in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the "Zion" in which God finds perfect rest. Christ is the House of God. There is no other house of God.
QUALITY CONTROL, continued
For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. (I Corinthians 11:31,32)
Any systems engineer will inform you that when you change the goal of your system you must make changes all the way back down the line. Every department, every effort must be organized in terms of the new goal. Cost effectiveness, for example, is impossible until your goals are clearly expressed. All of the quality control instruments that measure progress must be designed in terms of clearly defined goals.
Paul did not say, "I press toward I know not what because I don’t know where I’m going." Paul wanted to be with the Lord of course. Who wouldn’t if he was chained to a Roman soldier all the time. But going to the Lord was Paul’s hope of a joyous future, not the goal of his redemption.
Paul said, "I press toward the mark." Paul was not talking about getting saved, obviously. His words were written after churches had been established and epistles written.
Paul was seeking the perfection described as attaining to the out-resurrection from the dead. Paul was laying all else aside that he might win Christ, that he might live by the power of Christ’s resurrection and share His sufferings.
These goals are nearly unknown to the Christian churches of today. God is not pleased with this fact because God knows we will never make progress toward the goals set before us until we know exactly what they are (and what are the penalties and losses of inheritance associated with not attaining to the goals).
Every time a new feast of the Lord comes around on the Jewish calendar the Jews are commanded to cease what they are doing and pay attention to the Lord.
A new feast of the Lord is here in our day. We are moving past Pentecost to the spiritual celebrations of the Blowing of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles. It is time to slow down and listen to what God is saying.
Someone advised a farmer who was chopping wood that his axe was dull and it was time to sharpen it. The farmer said, "I don’t have time to sharpen the axe, this wood needs cutting."
This is the case today. We can keep on looking all over the place for Moses so we can revive him. But Moses is dead! Christ is moving from the twenty-third to the twenty-fourth Psalm. He is taking off His shepherd robes and sandals and putting on His armor.
The gentle Shepherd is becoming the Lord, strong and mighty in battle, a Commander of Battle so fierce Genghis Khan appears gentle and benign. Julius Caesar was a kindergarten teacher by comparison.
Jesus is not half-Shepherd and half-Warrior. When He is Warrior He is fierce beyond belief. The world has never seen the likes of King Jesus when it comes to the ruthless destruction of His enemies.
The slain Lamb will return and confront His murderers.
"Kiss the Son that you not be destroyed when His anger is kindled." "His wrath can flare up in a moment," the NIV proclaims.
It appears that the Apostle Paul toward the end of his life still was striving to attain to the resurrection from among the dead, and that the first resurrection is a mark, a prize given to those who are "perfect."
October 2nd
QUALITY CONTROL, continued
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? (II Corinthians 13:5)
Total war is being declared. Satan and all that pertains to him will be driven from the earth. The wrestling match is approaching its righteous conclusion.
If you are a believer and yet have a heart to compromise with wickedness, change or get out of the way.
The kings from the East are on the horizon.
New goals are before us. When God said we are to be conformed to the image of Christ this is what God meant, and He is not pleased with our changing His goal to that of residence in a mansion. The very fact that our goal would be to take our ease in a wealthy setting in Paradise reveals that we have no heart for God and no understanding of the Kingdom that is coming to the earth.
When Christ prayed we would be one as He is one with the Father, this is what Christ meant. He is not pleased with our changing His goal to that of residence in Heaven in a useless, cumbersome mansion. Do we picture the Lord of Glory cooped up in a mansion? How ridiculous!
We must listen to what God is saying today. The Spirit is speaking to the churches about war, about repentance, about righteousness, about deliverance from sin and self-will, about the coming of God and Christ through the Spirit to make Their eternal abode in us (the actual, contextual meaning of John 14:2-6).
God’s system engineers must redesign the operation to conform to the newly expressed goals. Quality control must be instituted so we can understand whether we are making progress, whether the system is working.
To continue in the past ways of thinking and preaching may accomplish much good. But those who are hearing from God will move forward. This has been true in every generation.
We have compassed the mountain of Pentecost long enough. The cloud is lifting from the Tabernacle. The ram’s horns are sounding. Moses and Aaron, followed by the tribe of Judah (praise), are moving toward Canaan. The dancers and singers are out in front. The rest of the tribes are proceeding according to the designated order.
Where are you? Are you going to remain here forever while the entrepreneurs are selling prayer cloths, ripping you off with "Christian" fetishes and amulets?—booking concert tours around the country?
Are you moving forward with Christ? Are you pressing toward the mark set before you? Or are you going to sit here while your brothers go to war? Be sure your sin of indifference will find you out!
If you are frightened at the thought of moving toward the enemy in the land, ask Christ for His courage. He has enough for everybody. Leave the timid in the Lake of Fire. You move forward toward the glorious inheritance waiting for you.
Get on the side of the Conqueror. Nothing can stop you. The Bible tells of the happy ending. No other power is as great as our Father. The demons understand well that the time has come and they are trembling.
Be a Caleb. Claim your mountain!
Let’s go!
Abiding in Christ is a matter of decision-making. Your daily life is filled with decisions. Either you look to Christ for the right decision in each instance, great and small, or you look to your own intelligence, experience, and desires. Also, you must pray, read the Bible, and gather with the saints. Remember, every decision you make without looking to Christ is loss for Christ and loss for you.
October 3rd
THERE’S ENOUGH TIME
I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. (John 17:4)
I am a type-A, time-urgent personality. Are you? It’s not good for your health. But what can you do about it? There’s so much pressing on us in America! Somebody has to do the work while others are at the parties.
I like what Jesus said: "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do."
That speaks volumes, doesn’t it? It tells us that when we are serving God there is a specific job to do. When it is finished, it is finished. The task is not open-ended.
I can remember as a public-school teacher what it feels like to never finish the job. No matter how hard you worked, how many papers you brought home, there simply was no way to accomplish all that needed to be done.
Let all the grade-school teachers say "Amen!"
After twenty-five years out of the classroom I still have nightmares about not making progress in all the subjects listed on the report card. What a frustration! Do you have frustrating dreams?
It’s not this way with God. God has given us something to accomplish on the earth. We do not have to agonize about souls going to Hell, or the people starving to death in the world, or even the fetuses being aborted in America; unless, of course, God Himself directs us to do something about it.
The Bible commands us to cease from our own dead works and enter the rest of God. The "rest of God" means that God finished everything from the beginning of the world and now is resting. Our task is to enter that rest, not just any rest but the rest of God. As we do we flow with the flowings of the Godhead.
Jesus told His brothers that their time was always ready but His was scheduled. When you are abiding in Christ your time is scheduled. It is like a dance in which Christ does the leading. You don’t have to carry the weight of the world on your back. But you do have to present your body a living sacrifice to the Lord in order to prove His will for your life.
When you do each day what God tells you to do, the blood of the starving and mutilated is not on your hands. If you are not seeking God and doing His will, God will hold you accountable for not serving your generation.
Is there enough time to do what you are supposed to do? Yes, there is. God would be stupid to assign you a task and not give you enough time to finish it.
You have something you are supposed to do, no more and no less. There is time enough to finish it. There may not be time enough for you to do all you want to do but there is time enough for you to do all God wants you to do.
Then you’re ready to come home.
You don’t die when you’re old but when you’re ripe, the Russians say.
Who wants to wait until they’re rotten?
All God asks is that we cease from our own works and receive the heaven and earth, and the personality and role, He has chosen for us.
October 4th
ENTERING THE REST OF GOD
For if Jesus [Joshua] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. (Hebrews 4:8)
Joshua brought the children of Israel into Canaan, the land of milk and honey, the promised-land inheritance, the rest of God. The Israelites never did receive the fullness of the inheritance because they were stoutly resisted by the inhabitants of the land.
As soon as we endeavor to rest with God in the blessings of His creation we discover there are enemies already living in the places assigned to us and that they will resist being dispossessed.
The present inhabitants of "our land" are crafty, diligent opponents who are determined to destroy us. It is impossible for us in our own wisdom or strength to obtain our inheritance. We are flesh and blood. The enemy is spirit. He is wiser, stronger, and more experienced than we.
Every time we attempt to enter God's rest something happens that produces unrest, pain, unbelief, sin, rebellion or some other evil or troublesome situation. Such opposition is caused by the enemy, with God's permission. God is using the enemy to humble us and to instruct us, to teach us discipline, and to make us know that man does not live by bread alone but by the words proceeding from the mouth of God.
Even though the works were finished before the world was created, and the land of promise is legally ours by inheritance, yet it is impossible for us to enter. What do we do? We come to Christ and follow Him as He destroys His enemies because He and we have the same enemies.
We learn to follow the Holy Spirit into the land of promise. We labor in the Spirit of God to enter our rest, our inheritance in Christ. Anyone who is of the opinion that we just fall into the fullness of Christ by accepting Him as our Savior, and then continuing with our business as usual, has no idea of what it means to enter the rest of God.
Entering the rest of God requires total diligence on our part. We must give ourselves to Christ wholly if we expect to make any progress. No one can be a disciple of Jesus until he forsakes all he has, takes up his cross, and follows the Lord Jesus.
We cannot earn the rest of God, but we must follow the Holy Spirit every second of every day of our lives in order to wrest the inheritance from the hand of the enemy. The Christian discipleship is a battle to the death. There is a crown of glory to be attained. Let us make sure we do not lose the reward but are followers of those who through faith and patience obtain the fullness of the inheritance.
The promises of glory and authority are to the victorious saints. To be an overcomer requires all that a person is and possesses. Christ must become the center on which life revolves in worship and obedience. Anything less than total devotion to Him will prevent the seeker from laying hold on the fullness of God's rest. We must labor with everything that is in us to enter the rest of God.
That labor is not the wearisome striving of the religious seeker. The labor that is effective in the Kingdom of God is the labor of perceiving the mind of the Holy Spirit and then resting in the strength of God while the Spirit brings victory.
As we enter the "Tabernacles experience" we notice a change taking place in our relationship with the Lord. He Himself is becoming our salvation. No longer are we able even to think anything by our own wisdom or knowledge. He Himself becomes our mind, our prayer, our salvation, our health, our wisdom, our help, our strength.
October 5th
THE COMING OF THE SAINTS
And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 4:3)
The evil forces of the end-time will rule from the cities of the earth, or perhaps all the cities will be combined into one large city. It seems that the major portion of the frightful judgments of the last days will be poured on the cities, on the headquarters of the rule of Antichrist and the great babylon (man-directed Christianity).
The Lord and His army will invade these centers of demon rule. They will tear down every wall, every defense that people will erect against Christ's appearing. The sons of God will enter every home, judging the inhabitants concerning their attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the horror stories with which we entertained ourselves as children there are descriptions of monsters coming to our windows and peering in. We shrieked in horror at the imaginary sight of weird faces as we huddled in our house in terror.
The reverse of this will come to pass during the Day of the Lord. The practitioners of every ungodly, filthy, demoniacal wickedness will be cowering in their houses in that day. Then at the windows of their dwellings will appear what will be to them the most tormenting sight in the universe—the faces of God's saints radiating a pure light as bright as the sun. The Divine brightness will expose every filthy practice, every unclean deed, word, and fantasy in which the demon-possessed revel.
The peoples of the earth already are practicing in their homes filthy works that the saints are not allowed to mention. In that day the filth will have reached its climax. The Spirit-filled saints of the Lord will break into every dwelling, bringing the Divine light into the private moral cesspools.
The demon-possessed will crouch in their dark corners in terror just as the demons screamed in fright whenever Jesus of Nazareth came close to them. Their homes may be barricaded in those days but the righteous will break into their privacy unhindered.
The Day of the Lord will surprise the hypocrites like a thief in the night.
So great will be the onslaught of Christ and His army that the earth will shake. The heavens also will tremble. The army of Christ will affect not only the wickedness in the earth but in the heavens as well.
Every person, spirit, and thing in the universe, physical and spiritual, will tremble when the army of the Lord begins its march. All acts of men and angels will be brought into judgment. Nothing will be able to stand before the advance of this army. It is the avenger of all the sin and rebellion against God that has ever occurred. The army is filled to overflowing with the power and fire of Divine judgment. God has delegated to His army the execution of His wrath, and the army is instantly obedient to God.
The sun, moon, and stars will cooperate with the saints by ceasing to give their light, just as in the time of Joshua. Darkness will cover the earth, but the light coming from the sons of God will be as many suns.
The Light of the Lord's Presence will bring into terrible contrast the distinction between what is holy and what is unholy, what is clean and what is unclean. The brightest light in the world in that day will be the Light of God Almighty in Christ radiating from the invading troops.
Habakkuk trembled when he saw the army of the Lord. And he was a prophet!
Where are you in this picture?
When the Lord appears from Heaven His power and glory will be revealed in His saints on the earth and in the clouds of the heaven at the same time. This follows the type of the flood of Noah where the "fountains of the great deep" were "broken up" at the time the "windows of heaven" were opened.
October 6th
THE EXODUS
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (I Thessalonians 5:3)
The world will be exclaiming, "Peace and safety!" Then there will appear signs in the heavens. The sun and the moon will be darkened. The sign of the Son of Man will appear for all to see. The heavenly Moses has appeared to call His people out of Egypt. "Pharaoh" will attempt to reassure his people, but plague after plague will descend on the world. The people of the Lord will be hidden under the hand of protection of the Lord God just as Israel in Goshen was not harmed by the plagues that fell on Egypt.
Darkness will cover the earth and oppressive spiritual darkness the people. Suddenly, light will appear on the people of God. The Lord God now is ready to "roar from Zion." The trumpet of God will begin to peal, shaking the earth. Michael will give his war cry. Suddenly the saints of all time will be filled with resurrection life. Their dead bodies will arise and stand on their feet.
To the consternation of the rulers and peoples of the earth, every dead saint will come from his place of burial and stand on the earth. There will be a time of rejoicing among God's people as they are reunited in holy fellowship that will far exceed in glory any previous occasion in the history of God's dealings with mankind.
Antichrist, the rulers, the peoples of the earth, who one moment before had been declaring peace and safety, must now stand and—to their excruciating horror—watch the saints of God embracing each other and praising the Lord. God has prepared a table before His people in the presence of their enemies. The living Christians will gather together with all who have died in Christ. Such a time of praise! Such a time of rejoicing, of reunion of family members! There is nothing the peoples of the world will be able to do about it other than to look on in trembling—and tremble they shall!
The most awful thing yet will then occur. The most powerful sound ever to stir the air will be heard. Christ will cry: "Come up here!" The saints of God will begin to ascend just as Jesus ascended in the sight of witnesses. They will go up through the air to be with the Lamb of God, their bodies having been changed so there is no injury to them. There will be multiplied millions of them—as clouds that hide the face of the sun.
The people left on earth will now proceed to destroy each other. They will turn on their rulers with cursing and murderous hatred. They will hurl down the pieces of silver with which they have betrayed Christ and demand an answer of the evil forces. Like Judas, they will realize they have betrayed Christ and are lost forever. The result will be anguish of spirit, weeping, gnashing of teeth. Just as Judas was driven by despair to commit suicide, so people will attempt suicide but will not be able to take refuge in death (Revelation 9:6).
The bowls of God's wrath will be poured out. Plague after plague will strike the earth. Humans will howl in torment, cursing God, cursing Christ, cursing the Christians. They will be mocked by the demon hordes.
After the world has writhed in pain for a season, the ungodly must endure another great terror. Down from the heavens with the speed of light will thunder the Lord and His army. Filled to overflowing with the wrath of God, invincible, ready to avenge the injustices of the world, will appear the sons of God. Men will scream in terror for the mountains and rocks to hide them from the face of the Lamb. Death itself will flee away in fear in that day.
This is a true vision of the future. It is time now to prepare yourself and your family.
Satan has no fear of the plans and programs of the Christian churches. But Satan is in trouble when the churches abandon their own resources and turn to Christ in trembling humility and repentance, seeking His will in every detail.
October 7th
THE AUSTERITY OF GOD
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. (Romans 11:22)
In the Kingdom you can be as young as you want to but you never can be older than you are.
No one wants his father to be a child. It’s nice if your father will play games with you, but there come times when you want Dad to lead the way.
It seems our culture in America has become childish. One of the passages of Scripture talks about a displeased God putting children in charge of a nation. I think that sometimes we long for a godly individual who is ahead of us in character, who stands as a beacon of wisdom, strength, and integrity in times of crisis.
We do not need political leaders who are continually suing for peace, grinning at us and trying to please us.
God is gentle and kindly, perfectly able to play with babies and young children. In fact, God delights in such.
But as we grow in Christ we find that God becomes increasingly austere and stern. There is no foolishness here. He expects us to endure long seasons during which we are denied what we want, times of perplexity, sometimes darkness, sometimes pain, sometimes agony.
As the Lord said, God expects you to come in from the field about ready to drop, and then to gird yourself and wait on Him. He does not want to find self-pity in us. He does not expect grumbling or complaining from His sons.
Faith must be exercised. We must remind ourselves constantly that no matter what happens to us, God is seeking our good.
It is time for us to get serious. God is serious. God is austere. "I know you are an austere man," the lazy servant said. While He is ready to play with His children He expects us eventually to begin to grow. The sign of growth is that we are better able to discern between good and evil and have increased strength and willingness to choose the good and reject the evil.
In order to grow in such discernment and ability we must be willing to experience increasing hardness. God begins to reveal to us the depths of the spiritual and moral horrors of Hell arrayed against us. As we are able to bear it God permits us to experience some of the sufferings of Christ. These sufferings are severe!
We need to become more acquainted with the austerity of God. He can have better fellowship with us if He doesn’t have to keep babying us and sending His angels to change our diapers.
Lead on, O King eternal. We know you are the one Leader with the wisdom and strength to keep us from harm and to lead us to that which is lovely, joyous, peaceful.
We know you are austere and are glad for it. We need that kind of strength in a silly, fatuous, undisciplined age. Father, we want to be just like You.
Help us to grow up until we can have fellowship both with the goodness and the severity of God.
If God and Christ were to remain external to our personality the demands on us would be a small fraction of what they are. But because God and Christ are seeking total union with us, desiring to enter us and become one with us and we with Them, our character transformation must be total.
October 8th
GOD OR COWS?
Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan. And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? (Numbers 32:5,6)
Israel was preparing to go across the River Jordan and attack the Canaanites. The Jews were occupying the land of Moab on the east side of Jordan.
The tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh owned much cattle. They came to Moses and asked that they be allowed to inherit the land of Moab instead of the country on the other side of the Jordan. They said Moab was an excellent place for their cattle and they wanted to make it their home.
This may sound like a reasonable request to us. In fact, this would provide more territory for those of Israel who inherited the land across the Jordan.
But Moses became very angry!
Moses understood that the whole purpose of the journey through the desert was to obtain that which the Lord had promised—the land of Canaan. Moses knew also that to disobey the Lord was asking for trouble.
"Will you ever learn?" Moses roared. "As if we don’t have enough trouble, now you want to settle on the wrong side of the Jordan!"
The cattle lovers responded, "Look. We will go across Jordan and fight alongside our brothers so they can get their land. Then we will come back here and settle down with our families and cows."
Moses said, "All right. But you better be sure you do what you are saying."
This all sounds reasonable. But think about it.
The Ark, the Tabernacle, the priesthood, Moses, Joshua and the elders, the singers and musicians, the Glory of God, were about to cross the Jordan.
Do you think Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh cared about these? They did not! They had milk, butter, and hamburgers on their mind.
Have you ever been around cows much? They are not intelligent like horses and dogs. A cow barn does not smell nice. Cows are placid in their bovine manner but not truly inspiring. They hardly can be compared with the Shekinah when it comes to glory and power.
Can you imagine the Lord and His army returning on cows? It is not an inspiring thought.
I like cows as much as the next fellow. But when you put cows next to the Ark, the Tabernacle, the priesthood, Moses, Joshua and the elders, and the singers and musicians there really isn’t much comparison. And think about the manifest Glory of God that was traveling with the Jews! Not a difficult choice except for Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh. Kind of shortsighted, don’t you agree!
So it is today. People have their "cows" they are weighing against the Glory of God in Christ. Perhaps they are having difficulty deciding between the Baby Jesus and the other inhabitants surrounding the manger.
How long will you halt between two opinions? Do you want to spend eternity with Jesus or with your "cows?"
Don’t wait too long!
Moo!
What will it be for you, a crown or a frown?
October 9th
IN MY FATHER’S HOUSE
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2)
Here is one of the verses that governs Christian thinking. The only problem is it doesn’t mean what we think it means.
Let us deal first with the venerable "mansions." It means room or abiding place. How long will we keep talking about mansions in Heaven when no verse of the Bible speaks of mansions in Heaven? Do we just enjoy being wrong? Or is it that we all hunger for a house bigger than what we have?
I suppose wealthy Christians talk about the mansion they are going to get in Heaven with seventeen bedrooms, ten and one-half baths, and a circular driveway a quarter mile long.
There may be mansions in Heaven for all I know. I will find out quicker than I otherwise would if people keep preaching about mansions in Heaven!
First of all, it doesn’t rain and it isn’t cold in Paradise. Second, if you have lived as a victorious Christian you will have a body like Jesus. In this case you would find a mansion confining to say the least.
So forget the mansions. What is the verse talking about? It is talking about the Father’s house. We are so taken up with the thought of a fancy home we can’t perceive that the issue is the Father’s house. All of this is for the Father, not especially for us!
The Father’s house is not Heaven. The Father’s house is Christ and those who are part of Christ. Jesus is telling us He is not to be the only room in the Father’s house, He is going to the cross and then to Heaven to prepare a place for us in Himself and thus in God. Jesus is the way to the Father, not the way to Heaven! Whether we know it or not what we want is God!
The Lord Jesus is the chief Cornerstone in the Father’s house. We are living stones in the same house. All that is taking place in us is so the Father can find rest. How can God rest in Heaven when the angels are rebelling?
The fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John is speaking of the spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Tabernacles. God is creating a tabernacle for Himself, as the martyr Stephen told the Sanhedrin. The eternal temple of God is one of the main subjects of the Scriptures.
The following verse tells us we are the mansion of God.
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode [mansion] with him. (John 14:23)
The word "abode" in the preceding verse is identical to the word "mansion" in verse two. Bible scholars could have saved us endless confusion and speculation if they had been consistent in the translation of the Greek term.
Now tell me, in your hope for the future, would you rather live in a large house and have all that cleaning to do, or would you prefer to have the living God Almighty and Jesus Christ His Son live in you for the ages of countless ages?
Would you rather get a house from God or be the house of God?
If you choose the latter there still is some housecleaning to do. But the Holy Spirit will help you do it if you will cooperate with Him.
Mansions in Heaven? Perhaps, if that is what we truly desire. But mansions in Heaven certainly is not an emphasis of the New Testament.
The Christian salvation is not a ticket to Heaven. The new covenant is the creation of Christ in the believer such that he keeps the eternal law of God by nature. Forgiveness is a means of keeping the believer acceptable to God while the transformation is occurring. The goal of the new covenant is fellowship with God, not eternal residence in Heaven.
October 10th
WORKING OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12)
When we employ the grace-Heaven model of salvation, Philippians 2:12 (above) does not make sense. What is there to work out? We "make a decision for Christ," are forgiven our sins, and wait to die to go to Heaven. There is no "working out" of salvation.
When we employ the grace-transformation model of salvation the verse makes perfect sense. The goal of the grace-transformation model has two sides. The first side is our change into the moral, and eventually bodily, image of Jesus Christ. The second side is our entrance into the rest of God, that is, into untroubled abiding in the Personality of God.
The grace-Heaven model leaves us with nothing substantial to do in the way of affecting our salvation. The grace-transformation model demands our total attention every day of our discipleship.
We can think of salvation as a continuum. The individual on the one end of the continuum is in the moral image of Satan and has the spirit of Satan in him. The person on the other end of the continuum is in the moral image of Jesus Christ and has the Spirit of Christ in him. When we first come to Christ, believe, repent, and are baptized in water, we still are in the moral image of Satan. This is extremely important for believers to understand because many of them believe that by accepting Christ they have suddenly become new creations. Your neighbors can tell you better than this! Ask them!
It is a fact that in many instances people do make a great change for the better when they accept Christ. But this is a honeymoon period. After a few months it will become clear that not all the old things have passed away. Right? But we have made the all-important start. Our sins have been completely forgiven, we have the Spirit of God, and the Divine Nature has been born in us.
Now the journey through the desert begins. The Holy Spirit is in charge of us. We receive a portion of evil each day and a portion of Divine good that is sufficient to enable us to overcome the evil. The Holy Spirit points out to us what there is to overcome, the immediate challenge. When we are faithful in praying and doing whatever else is necessary to overcome the evil, we move forward toward our goal of change into the image of Christ and union with God.
When we are not faithful in praying, when we become angry with the tools God is using to test us (often other people), or angry with God Himself, we do not move forward on the continuum. Instead we become bitter and full of resentment. Multitudes of Christians are bitter and full of resentment. This is because they do not understand the program of redemption. They have not been encouraged to take everything to God in prayer. They have not been taught that their goal is change into the image of the Lord and this is why it is absolutely necessary for them to keep gaining the victory over sin.
As long as we view eternal residence in Heaven as the goal of our salvation we will not understand the New Testament writings and probably will flounder in our discipleship. When we realize clearly that it is our change into the image of Christ and our rest in God’s Person that in fact are our salvation we will cease railing against the tools God uses and get on with the program of confessing our sins and obtaining the Virtue of Christ. In so doing we shall be able to keep singing and dancing in the heights of Zion.
Are you bitter, mean, and unforgiving? You are not profiting from the lessons the Holy Spirit is attempting to teach you. You are going to have a miserable resurrection. Turn to Christ and ask Him to remove your filthy garments before it is too late. I am speaking to experienced Christians!
It is not true that at Christ's appearing you suddenly will be transformed in personality, changed from what essentially you are.
October 11th
STARTING FROM THE TOP
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:1-3)
The elect start at the Throne of God—as high as it is possible to go in the Kingdom. Then they must go back and work through each aspect of redemption one step at a time.
By faith we begin at the top, the summit of the new Jerusalem. Then faith is worked out in our thoughts, our words, and our actions. If we do not press forward in faith until our personality is a new creation, our original position in Christ is placed in jeopardy.
By grace, by the Lord’s deliberate action, we are placed spiritually on the highest throne. It is possible, however, to pervert God’s grace into lawlessness and immorality.
We start at the right hand of the Father spiritually. Then we obey God until what we are in total personality is identical to our spiritual assignment. What we have initially, when we first receive the Lord Jesus, is a "firstfruits" of redemption. Because the firstfruits is holy, having been offered to the Lord, the rest of our personality and our household are holy to the Lord. As soon as the firstfruits has been received, God begins the work of judging (reaping) the remainder of our personality and also, in many instances, our household.
Notice the exalted position of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: (Ephesians 1:20,21)
The Lord Jesus can be brought no higher. He is "far above" every other authority. The Father has given Him all authority, all power in Heaven, on the earth, and under the surface of the earth in the dark caverns located there. Jesus is on the highest throne. All things are being put beneath His feet by the Father. Then, a remarkable statement is made by the Apostle Paul.
Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us [hath made us alive] together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:5,6)
When we were dead in our sins, God gave us the resurrection life by which the Lord Jesus lives, and then made us part of His ascension so we are seated on the unbelievably high throne of the Lord Jesus.
When we receive Christ Jesus, although we are dead in our sins at the time, God makes us part of Christ’s crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Now we are located in Christ in God at the highest level of the ruling city, the heavenly Jerusalem. We have done nothing to acquire such an exalted station, the position in Christ given us from the creation of the world.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)
Called, justified, and glorified—all in the past tense! We can go no higher. We are at the highest place we ever shall attain. We have the greatest authority we ever shall possess. We are as close to God as it is possible to be. God has brought us on eagles’ wings to Himself.
The coming of the Lord Jesus in the clouds of glory will be a revelation, a manifestation of a marvelous creation that already is in the earth but not visible as yet. We are talking about the portion of Christ that is here now in the personalities of the victorious saints.
October 12th
JUDGMENT AND GLORY
And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. (Genesis 2:8)
And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, (Revelation 16:10)
The greatest contrast imaginable is that between the scenes portrayed in the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis and the horrors described in the Book of Revelation; the contrast between the peace and beauty of Eden and the roaring inferno of the last days.
The result of the transgression of Adam and Eve has been thousands of years of agony and death. The history of mankind has been tragic. But of all the catastrophes of history, including the Holocaust perpetrated on the Jews by the Nazis, nothing has occurred as yet on the scale outlined in the Book of Revelation.
We may wonder, why would God permit such awful torment and chaos to be visited on the earth? There are good reasons. First we must point out that the Lord God takes no pleasure in the pain that comes upon man. The anguish man experiences is of man’s own doing. It grieves the Lord to see a single human being suffer pain and confusion. It is the conduct of man that brings pain and confusion upon him. Spiritual laws are inviolable. Certain kinds of behavior bring love, joy, and peace. Other kinds of behavior bring murder, torment, and anxiety.
God has done all in His power to save man. If God went any further in controlling the conduct of people they would cease to be human beings and would be puppets possessing no will or judgment of their own.
God is permitting Satan to realize and express all that is in his personality. The exposure of Satan’s personality will continue until sin and self-will have been brought to maturity. God’s purpose in allowing Satan to utilize the physical world to portray the consequences of his ambitions and lusts is to provide an object lesson for the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth. All the creatures of God now have portrayed before their eyes the results of not abiding in the will and love of the Father. Indeed it is a horrible sight.
At the same time, God is bringing forth sons in His image. God’s sons will be filled with glory and, under Christ Jesus, will reign supreme over all the works of God’s hands. The angels are ministering spirits for these heirs of the Divine salvation. But before the sons are fully born (to be fully born as a son of God we must be born of woman, born of the Spirit, and raised from the dead) they must be thoroughly exposed to Satan’s being and works.
Each son must of his own will choose to abhor Satan and cleave to God. The Lord Jesus Christ came to help us do that. God’s Glory is revealed, not only in forgiving sinners but in bringing forth sons in His image—sons who, under the most difficult of circumstances, have chosen to obey their Father in all things.
We are drawing near the days of vengeance. It may be true that the hour of temptation already is upon us. Even now the tares may be being removed from the wheat. The foolish virgins may be running out of oil.
The spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Tabernacles is the coming of the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit to make Their eternal home in the personality of the saint. The spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles is the provision God has made for His saints so they may be able to stand during the age of moral horrors that is on the horizon.
October 13th
THE SOLUTION TO GOD’S PROBLEM
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:27)
Salvation is deliverance from the guilt, power, and presence of sin.
When we Christians think of the future, whether it be residence in Heaven, or life on the new earth in the Holy City, or service with Christ on this earth during the thousand-year Kingdom Age, we assume sin no longer is present with us.
Although we have come to trust in God’s mercy during our life on earth, if we think about it we would not want to live in Paradise, in the new Jerusalem, or on the earth during the Millennium, if we and those around us still are behaving in a sinful manner but were forgiven by grace.
How would you like to live in Paradise or in the new Jerusalem if people still were envious, spiteful, angry, jealous, lustful, slanderous, covetous, as they are today in the Christian churches? Suppose you were told it doesn’t matter how people behave because God has forgiven us by grace? How would you feel then?
What if you were given a beautiful, large mansion to live in but the people were angry, spiteful, and treacherous as they are today in the Christian churches? Is this part of your hope for the future?
If you will take a little while to consider this problem seriously you may find you are assuming that not only the guilt but also the urges and presence of sin have been dealt with somehow. You hope that sin can never enter Heaven—not even your sin. Am I correct?
If so, then salvation must include deliverance from the guilt, power, and presence of sin if it is to produce the kind of world we desire to live in.
Even if no death or trouble followed sin, the true saint in his or her heart does not wish to live in a sinful environment.
Christians understand that the guilt of our sin was taken care of on the cross of Calvary. The message of forgiveness through the atoning blood of Christ Jesus has been preached and taught to the ends of the earth.
However there is a problem with today’s preaching concerning the guilt of our sin. It is that the message of deliverance from guilt, if it is to be presented according to the Bible standard, should always be accompanied by a demand for the most sincere, vigorous repentance. Very often the forgiveness is emphasized today but not the vigorous repentance.
The lack of emphasis on thorough repentance may account at least in part for the moral weakness and confusion so evident in the churches.
The power and presence of sin are another matter. It appears that the Christian preachers and teachers have come to believe that salvation is primarily forgiveness. If such were the case the new covenant would not be any more effective in dealing with the problem of sin than was true of the Law of Moses.
We must always keep in mind, if we would understand the plan of redemption, that it operates primarily for God’s benefit. God has a problem. His creation is in rebellion. God’s solution is to create sons in the image of Christ who are able, because of their mature character, to sit as judges and rulers over the creation.
If every person on earth were forgiven his sins it still would not solve God’s problem in any manner. But one individual who presses forward in Christ until he is in the moral image of Christ and at rest in God’s will, is a definite part of the solution to God’s problem.
Every doctrine that comes from God leads to righteous behavior. The grace-Heaven teaching does not lead to righteous behavior and therefore is a most dangerous and destructive deception.
October 14th
THE SERVANT OF THE LORD
Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. (Isaiah 42:1)
The Servant of the Lord is Messiah. Messiah (Christ) is the One anointed with the Oil of the Holy Spirit. In ancient times it was customary for the Jews to anoint kings and priests with olive oil as a sign of their high position. Christ is not Jesus’ last name. Christ is the title Jesus has as the Anointed Deliverer from God. Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ.
The Servant of the Lord also is Israel, the people God has anointed with His Holy Spirit to reveal His Person and law to the nations of the earth.
The Messiah (Christ) and Israel are closely related, except that Jesus Christ is the One who has been with the Father from the beginning.
The great revelation of the Bible is that Christ, the Messiah, includes not only the Divine Head, Jesus Christ, but also a Body. We are going to capitalize the Body of Christ because it is an inseparable part of the Lord Jesus Christ and also to distinguish it from the physical body of Jesus Christ.
Christ, the Messiah, includes the Lord Jesus the Head and also the members of His Body. Please note that Jesus is not merely one member of a many-membered Christ. Some have fallen into this error. Jesus Christ is the Lord and supreme Head of the entire universe of God let alone of the Church. The Lord Jesus is the Center and Circumference of all the works of God and all shall be summed up in Him. He alone is the slain Lamb and the Bridegroom.
Having established this rock forever let us proceed to describe the nature and destiny of the Servant of the Lord—Christ, Head and Body.
Messiah (Christ) is coming. The Jews know this. The Christians know this. "When Messiah comes" is the song of Jews and Christians. What Jews and Christians do not always understand is that the term Messiah includes all who are anointed with the Spirit of God to bring deliverance to God’s elect and justice to the saved nations.
You may notice in our writings that we make a difference between the elect and the saved nations. Let us hasten to explain. God’s elect are Israel, the physical people of Israel of the Old Testament and the Christian Church (including Jews and Gentiles) of the New. All of these are the one Bride of the Lamb, the elect of God, Israel, the Church, and in the sense in which we are speaking, the Messiah of God. They are not the Lord Jesus but they are His Body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
The saved nations are the remaining peoples of the earth who have been accepted of God because they have believed the testimony of God’s elect. Until you come to realize that God’s elect are one anointed company with the Lord Jesus as the Head, and that they as a governing priesthood are forever separate from the saved nations of the world, you will understand neither the Old Testament nor the New. I know this sounds arrogant of me to make such a statement but I am too old and tired to waste time trying to be humble.
It is fashionable in science to test a hypothesis by assuming it is true and then examining the consequences of your position to see if they line up with the relevant phenomena. Assume that the statement in the preceding paragraph is true and then read the Bible to see if your hypothesis covers the bases.
As we draw near the closing of this age we are beginning to understand that the land of promise is the glory of Heaven brought down into the earth. It is the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth that is the Gospel message. The inheritance of Christ is in the earth and earth's peoples.
October 15th
THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, continued
He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. (Isaiah 42:2)
Let us proceed with our description of the Servant of the Lord.
The Servant of the Lord, the Christ, the Messiah proclaimed in the Book of Isaiah, includes the Lord Jesus Christ, the exalted Head, and all who are an integral part of Him. We become an integral part of Christ, of Messiah, by first being born of Him and then by abiding in Him throughout our discipleship until He comes to maturity in us.
He, Christ, is the Vine. We are the branches from the one true Vine. We are not little christs running around, we are part of the one true and only Anointed Deliverer from God.
The Lord Jesus Christ came to deliver the members of His Body and to make them oaks of righteousness. When we grow up in the Head our job will be to serve as rulers and priests of those whom God has spared from destruction, that is, the members of the saved nations. They are our inheritance. Without the saved nations we would have no inheritance.
Fruit does not appear on the Vine but on the branches. As we abide in Christ His Life causes righteous, holy, and obedient behavior to be seen in our personality. When the nations see our good works they will glorify God.
We are the moral light of the world because the one true Light of God is being formed in us.
It is the plan of God that Jesus Christ, and we as an integral part of Him, fill all of the creation so that righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God is seen everywhere. This is the Father’s solution to the rebellion of Satan and his angels.
We are the one Seed of Abraham if we are part of Christ. There are not two seeds, a Jewish seed and a Gentile seed, there is only the one Seed, that is, Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, only Christ, only one new Man.
The Church is looking for Christ to come and whisk us away to Heaven. How ridiculous! How utterly illogical and unscriptural! How mythological!
Take the light, the witness, the branches of the Vine, to Heaven? Why?
What about the world? What do you think the world is going to do without the salt, the light, the Presence of God in Christ in the saints?
No, the Day of the Lord is not the going of Messiah it is the coming of Messiah.
The world is filled with corruption. Many areas of the United States are cesspools of moral corruption.
Murder, rape, abortion, perversion abound. How wonderful are our First Amendment rights! Let us now concentrate on football and baseball for they certainly are more significant than the trouble in the Middle East or the poverty in Africa.
Has God cut away much of what has been true of your Christian life? Rejoice and expect abundant fruit to come of this. Branches that are not pruned are soon full of growth that is not productive.
October 16th
THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, continued
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. (Isaiah 42:3)
The debasing of God’s handiwork will be halted soon because God and His Lamb are coming to drive all the corruption from the face of the earth into the dark fires that give no light. The tide will come in, and when it withdraws the raucous clamor of naked flesh and the jungle beat of transistor radios will be silent. The peace of God will reign supreme.
Christ and His saints, God’s judges, will direct the invincible angels. Those of the nations who embrace the Presence of God in the saints will be brought into a new age of righteousness. Those who resist will decide their own destiny, and there is no recourse. The holy will remain holy and the filthy will remain filthy.
The world is killing itself because it does not understand the laws that govern our relationship to God and other people. God, our Father, views with sadness the drunken orgies of His creatures. But the destruction will continue until we of the churches are willing to overcome Satan through the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and through loving not our own life to the point of death.
Until at least some of the believers are willing to go to the cross with God, Heaven will retain the army of Christ that is being prepared to descend and put an end to the murder of fetuses, to the violating and prostituting of children, to the perverting of the minds of the young, to the destroying of the environment, to the accumulating of the resources of the earth by the wealthy few, to the hordes of filthy spirits suffocating the peoples of the earth with a blanket of moral filth.
Messiah will not come and bring justice until Satan is overcome by the stern obedience of the saints.
Messiah is coming. Christ is coming. Joy to the world for the travail of the creation is bringing forth the Kingdom of God. Now will justice be brought to the meek of the earth. The power of the oppressor will be destroyed beyond repair.
When Christ appears we will appear with Him provided we are part of the solution and not still part of the problem.
Until we are totally consecrated to Jesus Christ we are still part of the rebellion against the Father. In this case we will not appear with Jesus when He returns. What use would we be? How are we to go through the earth and compel obedience to Jesus when we ourselves are still disobedient?
The army of Christ is composed of dead-living people. They are crucified with Christ and the life they now are living they are living by the faith of Christ. Living by faith does not mean they are holding to truths of theology. It means every thought, every word, every action of their personality is wrought in Christ and by Christ. They look continually to Jesus for every aspect of life, every decision they make. This is what it means to live by faith.
There are not too many who live like this, but there are some.
God will not have fellowship with people who are not observing His laws of righteous conduct. The servant of the Lord always is called in righteousness.
October 17th
THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, continued
He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. (Isaiah 42:4)
Let me put the challenge to the young people. Forget what you have seen in the churches. Just be thankful the churches have brought you this far.
Now get a vision of the Lord high and lifted up. He is calling you up to be with Him and to be in His image. Never mind what others do. Reach up, up, up to the full stature of Christ.
What we are seeing in the churches of today is not the full stature of Christ to which we have been called. There is much, much more for the believer who will allow God to prune, prune, prune, prune. Reach up again. Press upward. Let every nerve in your personality be focused on doing the will of Christ.
Paul at the end of His life was still seeking to win Christ. Be like that. Count that you have not yet attained that to which you have been called.
Climb the highest mountain in God. Others may choose to dwell in the valley of nominal Christianity. The brightest flowers, the richest fruit, are on the highest peaks.
Are you up to it? Will you fight for God’s highest? Will you get up again when you are knocked down and fight on?
There are some who will succeed. Join the Lord’s army. Every soldier has learned to march in his or her rank. Gideon’s army will return with the Lord and set this world right.
We are surrounded with scoffers, critics, slanderers. I am speaking of believers. Never mind them. You press forward until you are ready to solve God’s problem, to march against the sin and rebellion in the world.
God upholds His Servant. He is the Mighty One of Jacob. We have no strength at all but God has all power. The nations are as a drop in the bucket to Him. There is no way you or I are going to change the world. But God can and will change the world if we will obey Him sternly and promptly.
There is no disappointment, no discouragement in Jesus. God will keep us going. To overcome us the enemy would have to overcome the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
God delights in us because we have chosen to serve Him. We stand for righteousness in a world filled with wickedness.
God has put His Spirit on us so we can be part of the royal priesthood, the Servant of the Lord. By God’s Spirit we build up one another and by God’s Spirit we bear witness to the world of the atoning death and triumphant resurrection of Christ. We can do nothing at all apart from God’s Spirit.
Our role is to bring justice to the nations. The nations already are in confusion and pain but today’s agony is nothing compared to what is ahead. There is no solution for mankind apart from the return of Christ—Head and Body. It is they who will bring righteousness, peace, and joy to mankind.
All the rulers of the Kingdom of God must drink the cup of suffering, must be imprisoned until all self-rule has been destroyed out of them, and must be baptized with the fires of Divine judgment.
October 18th
THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, continued
Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: (Isaiah 42:5)
We do not have to strive to bring the Kingdom to the earth. Our efforts should be directed toward pressing into Christ. Then when Christ is ready to move we shall move with Him. Nothing can resist those who are moving in Christ!
Jesus will work with each individual, no matter how weak, until the person is able to serve God.
Messiah, Head and Body, will bring truth with Him. (We are speaking of the entire Christ as one Person, which it is—one new Man.) Truth is rare in our day. But Christ is Truth and will bring truth with Him.
Truth does not merely tell us what a thing or event is. Truth tells us why the thing is or the event took place. Science collects facts but only Christ knows the reason behind the facts, what everything signifies.
Justice is yet to come to this world. That which the most optimistic of Utopian dreamers have visualized is a pigsty compared with the new world of righteousness and glory that lies ahead. All things are working together for good to those who love God, who have been called according to His purposes in Christ.
The peace and joy that are to fill the earth will not drop down from Heaven. They will proceed from the personalities of Christ and those in whom Christ is living. The reason we go through the training we do is that we might be prepared to bring peace and joy to others. Those who are living in the flesh, following their self-will, are of no use in the grand plan. They are still part of the problem. It is those who have given all to follow Christ, as did the Apostle Paul, who will be able to appear with Jesus and bring Paradise back to the earth.
Righteousness, peace, and joy will follow the sons of God wherever they move through the earth. All demon powers will be driven to the underworld where they belong. The mountains and hills will begin to sing and all the trees of the field will clap their hands and break forth into singing, Isaiah says. Perhaps this animation of nature will be more literal than would first appear. A dead nature will come to life.
The sons of God will be revealed and a creation cursed with corruption will emerge from its chains. The massive gates will begin to open and the prisoners will gasp as the first rays of light penetrate their cells. The material creation is to be loosed. The Jubilee is at hand.
But first there must be those who will give all to Christ that He may enter them and prepare them for the Day of days that is at hand.
God has called each believer in righteousness, not imputed righteousness but an actual righteousness that proceeds from the forming of Christ in him or her. By forming His Word in us God is making us His covenant with mankind. We ourselves, having the Word engraved in our personality, are the new covenant. We are the light of the nations.
God is holding our hand. There is little we can do except seek Christ with all our might, day and night, night and day, and then obey Him implicitly.
Make the seeking of the Kingdom of God and His righteousness your chief interest. Then God will use you to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from their prison.
He has kept the good wine until now.
Emotional experiences can be helpful but it is the Word of God that makes disciples. The disciples learn and obey the commandments of Christ and His Apostles.
October 19th
TRUE CHRISTIANITY
But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. (Philippians 3:7)
Antichristianity is the employment of every means, of anything that appears to work, including the power of God if available, to enable ourselves and certain other people of our choice to enjoy a secure, happy, and successful life. We take for granted that it is morally right and God’s will for people, especially us and our loved ones, to be happy and healthy now and to enjoy "nice" things in this world. Our goal is our own betterment and sometimes the betterment of others. Also we would like to have as much fun and money as possible.
True Christianity is found in seeking God in order to work with Him to accomplish His goals in our own life and in the lives of others. We must lean as completely as possible on our ever-increasing union with God in order to determine what God’s methods and goals are, not taking for granted what we are to do or how we are to do it. We seek God because we love Him and desire to glorify Him.
God’s wrath is on Antichrist because the Antichrist spirit is man making himself God, man preserving his individuality against God, man striving to use what God has given him—and God Himself if possible—in order to gain security, pleasure, and achievement.
Before the peoples of the centers of civilization become fully aware that the plagues of the last days are coming from God’s hand they will persecute viciously any who would dare suggest it is sin that is causing their problems. When the inhabitants of the cities finally recognize that the plagues and disasters of the end-time judgments are coming from God they will curse God and blaspheme His name. People will band together against God and His saints, becoming part of the adversary, Satan. The wicked will be the body of Antichrist.
Indeed, God does plan to make people happy and prosperous for eternity but only as part of Himself. Sometimes it is necessary for us to be unhappy and restrained, perhaps for a long period of time as we measure time, in order for us to attain the happiness and prosperity that come as we are part of God. Any gain we make that is not part of Christ is loss to Christ and to us.
The individual who attains security, happiness, status, fame, ability, health, power, fulfillment, apart from union with God through Christ, who accomplishes anything at all apart from Christ, is a potential antichrist. If he does not set aside all he is, all he has accomplished, becoming nothing in order that he may be fully born again in Christ, he never will see the Kingdom of God. God will not receive him. He is another god and will dwell in eternal night. He is a source of doom to himself and those whom he influences.
To overcome Antichrist is to take God’s side against man making himself God—against our own determination to become God, to be like God apart from union with God, to maintain our own way against God. The human being who becomes angry with God, whether or not he is a Christian, is of Antichrist. He must repent of this grievous sin, humbling himself and asking God to forgive him for such blasphemy.
No matter what has happened to you, God is always righteous, always compassionate, always fair, always loving.
Consider Calvary and then say that God does not love you!
There are many vines in the world, many ideologies and forces. A human being is decaying protoplasm in the universe until he or she is attached to a vine. Only Jesus is the true Vine, the Vine that bears eternal righteousness, peace, and joy. All other vines lead ultimately to corruption, death, and eternal remorse.
October 20th
DECEPTION
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. (Matthew 24:4)
Deception has always been a problem for Christians. Given the nature of deception, how are we to keep from being deceived? If we knew when we were deceived we would not be deceived.
First we must recognize that the strongest among us can be deceived. The believer who thinks that because he reads the Bible and prays he can never be deceived, is deceived already. The Lord did not say, be sure that Satan does not deceive you but rather that no man deceive you. However, deception comes originally from Satan although he works through people.
Satan does not possess the power to force the elect away from Christ. Satan attacks the mind. He convinces us of a lie and we then enter into one sin or another, thus placing ourselves in Satan’s power. In the realm of wisdom we are no match for the fallen cherub. How then are we to make certain we are not being deceived?
Only God can prevent our being deceived. Salvation is of the Lord. No person can keep himself in the truth except as the Lord assists. This is important to understand. Notice the following:
Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: (II Thessalonians 2:9-11)
Notice that the passage above is referring to a man, to Antichrist, but that the "deceivableness" that proceeds from Antichrist is actually the "working of Satan." Notice also that if we do not receive the love of the truth, God Himself will send delusion upon us. The expression above, "the deceivableness of unrighteousness," gives us the key to protection from deception.
It is unrighteousness, wickedness, that deceives us. God has commanded us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We are not to strive for happiness but righteousness. This is the will of God for us. We are to deny ourselves, take up our personal cross, and follow the Lord Jesus. As we do this we achieve right standing before the Lord. Multitudes of believers in our day are not willing to deny themselves. They are not seeking righteousness and God’s Kingdom first. It is the pursuit of happiness instead of righteousness that makes us vulnerable to deception.
Remaining in the Lord’s prison, carrying our cross and following after Christ, requires a lifetime of patience accompanied by a considerable amount of tribulation. Satan studies our personality. He sees where our areas of strong desire are. Our areas of strong desire are often the gifts of God to us and are the places in our personality of the greatest danger as well as the greatest opportunity for fruitfulness in the Kingdom. Satan uses people to present us with an opportunity to gain what we desire fervently. Then he places in our mind the thought that what has been presented is natural, right, and must be of the Lord because it feels so good. In addition there may be signs and omens that reinforce the idea that this new experience or hope is of the Lord.
There is only one protection from deception, and that is to take up your cross and follow the Master.
There will be mighty signs and wonders performed in Jesus' name in the days in which we are living. Are you mature enough to test the spirits no matter how powerful the manifestations may be? The False Prophet will call fire down from heaven in Jesus' name.
October 21st
WHAT FAITH IS NOT
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. (Romans 12:3)
No term is more familiar to Christians than faith. Faith is discussed in association with Divine healing, financial need, and success in living the Christian life. It is important we understand the difference between mental faith and scriptural faith and how to apply scriptural faith in our hour of need.
There has been a "word of faith" teaching, the idea being if we "speak the word," creative energy will be released that will arrange or change our environment as we desire. This is to have faith in faith instead of in the Lord Jesus. It is actually a metaphysical practice, as we see it, and not Christian at all. There has been the teaching that faith is merely confidence in experience.
Faith often gets confused with presumption. "If I smash my glasses God will heal my eyes. If I cash a check with no money in the bank God will deposit the money." If you have tried one of these you now are a sadder but wiser person—if you lived and are not in prison!
There is a modern concept that faith is a spiritual force we can use to manipulate our surroundings. We can learn to use faith to get what we want. We can command the angels. This is the spirit of religious delusion that has "two horns like a lamb" and that speaks "as a dragon" (Revelation 13:11). It is to attempt to use the power (the horns) of Christ (the Lamb) apart from entering into the death and resurrection of Christ. It is to remain a spiritual single and yet try to draw on the bank account of Christ.
Perhaps the most common use of the word faith is to refer to a doctrinal position or denominational affiliation, for example the Catholic faith, the Episcopal faith, the Pentecostal faith. "The just shall live by faith" (sometimes used today to mean stedfast belief in one’s doctrinal faith) was the cry of the Protestant Reformers. However, doctrinal faith is not the "faith" of the Scriptures, of the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews. "The just shall live by faith" has little to do with a confession of faith in theological facts.
There is a "gift of faith" that the Holy Spirit gives to some Christians. Smith-Wigglesworth of England apparently possessed the gift of faith. Sometimes God gives us special faith for our own need. Such extraordinary faith is quite different from "trying to believe," as every person knows who has experienced a special gift of faith to solve a certain problem. We are commanded by the Apostle to not step beyond the actual confidence God has given us.
It is God who gives one individual a certain amount of faith and another individual a different degree of faith. We must use the faith we have but not attempt to force results when we do not have enough God-given faith to accomplish our goals. We must learn to distinguish between what we as a person can do and what only God can do. When we are sick we are commanded to call for the elders of the church. This we can do. Only God can heal us, but we are directed to call for the elders of the church. We must do what has been commanded if we expect God to do His part.
The Lord Jesus invited us to ask in His name for whatever we desire. This we are to do but only the Lord Jesus can grant our request. We are not to place our faith in faith but in the Lord Jesus. It is the Lord who grants our request. It is not that our imagination or spoken word sets in motion "spiritual forces" that bring the answer.
Being in God's army does not depend on whether you drink the water but how you drink the water. Also, ask the Lord about the water before you drink it. Maybe it's the wrong water!
October 22nd
WHAT FAITH IS
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)
It is characteristic of our man-centered times that we are trying to put faith in the hands of people so we can control the outcome. This hardly was the case with the heroes listed in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews.
In the first verse (above) we see the terms "substance," "hope," "evidence," and "things not seen."
First of all, substance. Other translations have "assurance." The substance or assurance comes to us when God speaks, whether to us personally in the Spirit or in the written Word. We must keep in mind, however, that the letter without the Spirit kills. The letter of the Bible doesn’t make alive as does the Spirit.
There has been considerable confusion in Christian circles as people have seized on a passage of Scripture and "claimed it by faith." Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t. But what comes from God always works!
The words of the Scriptures are not alive nor are they life-giving until they are made alive by the Spirit of God. Many of us have had the Lord make a passage alive to us. Then it works the way it is supposed to.
But we can’t just pick out a passage and say that this is the Word of God to us at this particular moment. You can have a sick person in front of you, lay a Bible on them, say "He sent His word and healed them," and have the person die in front of you.
You can’t use the Bible this way! No individual in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews tried to use the Scriptures this way. They dealt with the living God, not with the scroll! So it is today.
Things hoped for. What is your hope? Do you want God or a mansion in Paradise? Here is how you can tell. How happy would you be in a perfect paradise of love, joy, and peace if Jesus wasn’t there? Be honest now!
The true saint wants God above all with or without Paradise. The Father knows who the true saints are! Suppose Jesus asked you to just be with Him and you never were permitted to do anything. He just wanted your company like He did the disciples in Gethsemane. Would you be willing to go unnoticed? Watch how you answer, you may be tested.
The evidence or conviction. True faith holds a certainty concerning the Character of God. This certainty can only come from the hand of God. It brings the Bride through the mud still persuaded that having Jesus is worth every suffering. I heard of a missionary that starved to death trusting God. I cannot verify the story but I do not doubt it. But . . . But . . . But . . .
I know what the Scriptures say about God’s provisions. The Scriptures can never be changed. But sometimes we are not aware of the bigger picture. We are to hold to God no matter what happens to us or our loved ones. We know God is absolutely good, absolutely trustworthy, absolutely righteous no matter what happens. Are you convinced of this beyond all doubt?
Things not seen. Even if we could see God it would not change our judgment of His Character, and faith is just that—our judgment of God’s Character. Satan could see God but he and his followers have no faith in God’s Character.
Whatever happens to you or me doesn’t change God’s Character. God demonstrated His goodness on the cross of Calvary. Some day we will see and know as we are known. But whether such sight and knowledge result in joy or anguish depends entirely on how we have behaved when we couldn’t see.
The saints of all ages have more in common than they have differences. This is why the Spirit of God, in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, uses Old Testament personalities, beginning with the second son of Adam, to teach Christians the meaning of "the just shall live by faith."
October 23rd
THE ELECT AND THE SAVED NATIONS
For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. (Isaiah 60:12)
And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. (Revelation 21:24)
Since in these essays I sometimes make a distinction between God’s elect and the saved nations maybe I better explain. Israel, God’s Church under the old covenant, and the Christian Church, God’s Church under the new covenant, are a people chosen from the ranks of mankind to represent God to the rest of the nations of the earth. The word church means "called out from."
The members of the Church were chosen from the beginning of the world through the foreknowledge of God. God has chosen them for glorification. They will attain their calling if they, as brothers of Jesus Christ, will cooperate with the Spirit of God. Thus each Christian, Jewish or Gentile (the Gospel is always to the Jew first for the Jews are the original chosen people), is a firstfruits of mankind to the Lord. This is not because they are better than anybody else, it is because God has chosen them.
Basic salvation is another matter. To be saved is to be spared from destruction in the Day of Divine Wrath that is coming, the Day of the Lord, the Day of Christ. It is God’s will that everyone be saved, although not everyone will accept the Divine salvation. To be saved we must believe that Jesus is Lord and be baptized in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
To become a member of the Church, the Body of Christ, is an exceedingly high calling. To attain such closeness to God requires a lifelong following of the Holy Spirit. It is a race. It is a fight. It requires all that an individual can bring to it, as we see in the words of the Apostle Paul in the third chapter of the Book of Philippians.
We cannot choose to "just be saved" and ignore the standards of discipleship. If we are called to be a member of the Church then we will be judged according to this calling. To those to whom much has been given, of them will much be required.
One of the primary reasons for the milksop, puerile preaching of the Gospel in America is that the ministers are emphasizing "getting saved" and in many instances are virtually ignoring the severe demands made on every member of the Bride, such as taking up our cross, denying ourselves, presenting our bodies a living sacrifice to God, enduring hardness as good soldiers, not entangling ourselves with the world.
"We are saved and that’s all there is until we’re caught up to Heaven in a rapture! Until that merry event let’s all have fun in the Son."
The true disciples of Jesus Christ throughout history have left bloody footprints in the snow. They have pressed toward the heavenly calling. With every breath of their body they have called on the name of the Lord, turning aside from the moral corruption of the world, living in dens and caves of the earth, as Hebrews tells us concerning the members of the Church under the old covenant.
Each of them has stood in triumph before the Lord Jesus. Each has attained a better resurrection. Compare them with today’s silly prattlers about grace. They make us look ridiculous. God’s standards for His Church, His eternal temple and priesthood, have never changed. Either we follow Christ with a perfect heart or we will never end up as part of the royal priesthood.
There will be nations of saved people, nations whose only calling is to receive the Presence of God dwelling in the royal priesthood. They are the inheritance of Jesus Christ and therefore our inheritance.
You are not called just to be saved from destruction. You are called to be a member of the governing priesthood. Serve the Lord with all the strength you have or another will take your crown! Be careful what you do with your talent. The consequences of carelessness are dreadful!
There will be three groups of people in the age to come: the Church, the nations of the saved, and the lost.
October 24th
GOD SEES US THROUGH CHRIST—OR DOES HE?
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: (Colossians 2:10)
The Scriptures can be misinterpreted. I wonder sometimes if God deliberately guided the writers so that whoever wishes to distort them may do so and have "solid" scriptural support. There is a great Divine truth in Colossians 2:10 (above). It is that God sees us perfect and complete in Christ. What a blessing to the conscientious soul who thinks God never is pleased no matter how hard he tries! However, this great Divine truth is being perverted today. It is coming out as, "No matter what you do God sees only the righteousness and holiness of Christ."
The teaching that when we sin God sees only the righteousness of Christ runs counter to the bulk of passages of the New Testament. If God does not see our behavior, how are we to judge ourselves? Why did Paul deliver the incestuous believer in Corinth to Satan for the destruction of his flesh? This makes sense?
The modern commentators write (concerning the incestuous Corinthian), "This sinful believer never was a true Christian!" Never was a true Christian? According to the Scripture the brother began as a Christian and ended up as a Christian. Did he slip out at some point and then slip back in again? You don’t handle sin by becoming a non-Christian and then a Christian again. You handle sin by confessing it and turning away from it. And there is no point in doing this if God doesn’t see it in the first place. (The sorrowful believer of Corinth repented.)
What, then, does God mean when He says He sees us perfect in Christ? He means that if we do what He says in the New Testament our ultimate glorification is assured. God has the authority and power to forgive and transform those who continue to abide in Christ.
God sees us as perfect and lord of the nations (under Christ). Does this mean He will not judge our behavior and chasten us severely? The Bible says He will! Does this mean we cannot possibly end up in outer darkness or have our name blotted from the Book of Life? Not according to the Scriptures it doesn’t!
In order to cut a straight course in the Word we have to read the whole book. We can’t pick out our favorite ideas and throw out the rest.
According to the Bible, if a Christian sins and does not repent he or she is flirting with spiritual death. This is true from Matthew to Revelation. The fact that God sees us as complete in Christ, apart from an observance of the Law of Moses, and envisions our glorification, does not mean when we sin it goes unnoticed!
Colossians 2:10 is found in the Book of Colossians. Also found in the Book of Colossians is the next verse:
In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: (Colossians 2:11)
We are supposed to put off the body of the sins of our flesh. Receiving Christ each day results in a circumcision of our heart.
But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; (Colossians 3:8,9)
If God doesn’t see our anger, malice, filthy talk, why is it so important that we put off the old man with his deeds? This world would be a better place if everyone would read the whole Book of Colossians and believe what it says.
The Bible is known as the "good Book." When it doesn't make people good it is being misunderstood.
October 25th
THE KINGDOM FROM HEAVEN
From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17)
The Kingdom of Heaven (Kingdom of God) is God in Christ in the saints performing God’s will.
The Kingdom of Heaven is the new Jerusalem, the Wife of the Lamb, the Body of Christ, the Church, the eternal Temple of God.
Christians speak of "going to Heaven" as though our goal were to go to a place—to a Paradise that will put an end to all our pains and dreads.
But the Scriptures speak of entering or inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven. This is a somewhat different concept from that of merely going to a delightful place.
Because God, His Christ, the saints, and the holy angels have their residence in the spirit realm above us in beautiful surroundings, the goal of the Christian salvation often is thought to be that of entering this desirable environment when we die. The idea that the principal objective of the Christian believer is to enter the spirit Paradise when he dies is one of the most widely embraced concepts in all Christendom.
We may be looking forward to residing for eternity in the spirit realm above us. But the Scripture teaches that the Kingdom of Heaven is coming to the earth. In that day the "heaven" to which we aspire will be located in the earth.
Because the Kingdom of Heaven is God in Christ in the saints performing God’s will, the "heaven" we desire is not primarily a place but a state of being, a state of being based on a set of relationships with God and people. "Heaven" will be a city, the new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem is above us and we hope to see it and become part of it when we die. Nevertheless the Kingdom of God primarily is a state of being based on relationships with God and people. Let us explain.
We think of Heaven in terms of mansions, jewels, valuable minerals, and sometimes as a beautiful garden of birds and flowers. All these are present in the spirit Paradise above us to which the saints go when they die.
But let us reflect for a moment. What we actually desire is righteousness, peace, and joy, as well as freedom from sorrow, fear, and pain.
Now, what is it that brings peace and joy to our heart?
The peace and joy of a human being can come only from his relationship to God and to people.
There are individuals on the earth who can afford to own a mansion, jewels, gold, silver, and other articles of value. Their mansion may be secluded in an Eden-like setting—a paradise on the earth.
It is not unusual for such persons to be miserable most of the time. Sometimes such idyllic environments are filled with hatred, greed, violence, immorality, and other sinful attitudes and behaviors. Often there are scenes of strife with children in rebellion against their parents.
Notice that these wealthy estates may contain most of the tangible elements that are often mentioned when we are describing the beauties of Heaven above. Yet there may be far more anguish present than there is peace of mind.
It is clear that mansions, gold, silver, jewels, and paradisiac surroundings cannot by themselves bring peace and joy.
On the other hand, picture a humble dwelling in which lives a family filled with the love of Christ and love for one another. There, we must agree, is the essence of what we mean by "heaven." It is not the external things that bring peace and joy to our hearts, it is relationships.
Our salvation has to do with our relationship with Christ rather than with moving from earth to Heaven. We hope for the resurrection so we can resume our life on the earth.
October 26th
THE TRUE NATURE OF THE AMNESTY
And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. (Revelation 2:23)
Christ has come as the great Jubilee, the Divine Redeemer. He has proclaimed an amnesty to those who will turn to Him and believe in the atonement He has wrought for them.
However, the terms of this amnesty do not make provision for our continuing in sin. The amnesty is for the truly repentant.
For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. (Hebrews 10:26,27)
Christian scholars who do not understand the conditional nature or the purpose of the amnesty conceive of the Christian redemption as a forgiveness that God hands out to us so we can enter Heaven when we die regardless of how we live on the earth. This is a misconception of both the goal and the process of the Divine redemption.
The purpose of redemption is not to bring sinners into Paradise. The purpose of redemption is to make it possible for sinners to repent, to turn to God, to be delivered from the power of Satan, and to inherit eternal life.
Redemption does not bring the old personality into Paradise; rather, it creates a new personality that belongs in Paradise by nature.
Christ did not come to earth in order to bring back to Paradise the sinful and rebellious. Christ came to the earth in order to turn sinners from the power of Satan to the power of God. Christ was revealed for the purpose of undoing the works of Satan (I John 3:8).
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. (Acts 26:18)
There are "Christians" today who do not show mercy, who are spiteful, who force their will on others, who do not practice the virtues that the Lord Jesus set forth in the Sermon on the Mount. Such people would turn any paradise into hell.
The believers have been taught, in some instances, that the proclamations of Jesus concerning righteous and holy behavior do not apply to them because they are saved by "grace." They are trusting that in the moment of their death they will be able to hold God to the current formula of "salvation," and God will be required to declare them guiltless. God then will place a crown on their head, a rod of iron in their hand, and they will govern the nations of the earth as one of God’s royal priests.
They seek to manipulate God to their own advantage as they have sought to manipulate people all through their life.
They, perhaps without realizing it, are attempting to mock God.
Salvation does not work this way.
Those who, having made a profession of Christ, continue to walk in the ways of the flesh, especially those who are harsh with their fellow servants, will receive in the Day of Christ precisely what they have given. As they have done so will it be done to them. They have denied others their rights and their rights will be denied to them. As they have sown so shall they reap.
This is why it is so important to distinguish between the scriptural "entering the Kingdom of Heaven" and the traditional "going to Heaven when we die."
The end of Satan's kingdom comes, not when we are forgiven but when we are delivered.
October 27th
CHANGE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. (Joshua 1:2)
The Book of Joshua is an illustration of what will occur at the end of the Church Age and the beginning of the Kingdom Age. The death of Moses and the installation of Joshua as leader portray the change of the Lord Jesus from Shepherd to Commander in Chief of the army of God.
Historic changes take place in the Kingdom of God from time to time. Such changes are very unsettling for the people involved but also offer wonderful opportunities for those who have the opportunity to participate. The change from the leadership of Moses to the leadership of Joshua was one such important step in the Kingdom. God promised to give to the Israelites every place where they set their feet but only when they followed His specific directions. God has promised to give us that which we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus but only as we follow His specific leading. The promised land of the Hebrews was set forth clearly:
From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. (Joshua 1:4)
The land of promise of the Christians is not set forth in the Scriptures with such definition, it must be gleaned from the Old and New Testament writings. Joshua was exhorted to pay close attention to the "Book of the Law." The Christian doctrines of our day are filled with traditions and errors of all kinds. If we are to press forward in God we must discard much of what is being taught today, particularly the understanding of Divine "grace" as an alternative to godly behavior, as a covering of the continued sinning of the believers. It is time now to return to the Book!
The Spirit of God is telling us to get ready for the big push forward in the Kingdom. We are close to the coming of the Lord and preparations must be made. God is ready to guide and assist all who will listen and obey Him so they may stand in total victory throughout the tremendous conflict that lies ahead.
The present hour is a time to listen carefully to the Spirit of God. Whenever the Jews came to a new feast of the Lord (as today we are moving past Pentecost toward the spiritual fulfillments of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles—Leviticus, Chapter 23) they were commanded to cease from their regular work.
God is ready to do marvelous things in our day, but we must receive the instruction and provisions He is offering now so we shall be ready when God moves. There will be tremendous opportunities ahead for every believer who will cease from his own programs and listen carefully to the Lord.
The Reubenites, the Gadites, and half of the tribe of Manasseh wanted to remain on the east side of the Jordan and take care of their cattle. It did not matter to them that the Glory of God, the Ark, the Tabernacle, the priesthood would depart from them or that their brothers would have to fight.
The two and a half cattle-loving tribes resemble the believers of today who are occupied with the things of the world and have no heart for the Glory of God. They will have to fight for their inheritance in the Lord whether or not they wish to do so.
The two spies sent out by Joshua portray the dedicated disciples in the present hour who are being sent out by the Lord to press into the promises of God. They will return to the Church and describe the good land they have seen.
The Kingdom of God is at hand! Are you interested?
Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles are at hand, ready now for careful attention and acceptance by the Church. This may be the first time in history when such a large part of the Church is at the place where this kind of progress in Christ can be made.
October 28th
PARADISE AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43)
A dramatic change has occurred in the preaching of the Gospel. What began in the first century as a call to repentance in light of the soon coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth has been altered to a flight of the believers to Heaven. This alteration has serious consequences. The most serious consequence is that much of what Paul commanded has become irrelevant. Paul taught that we had to be changed so we could be part of the Kingdom of God, that those who sin cannot inherit the Kingdom.
The Christians today do not understand the difference between Paradise (Heaven) and the Kingdom of God. They view salvation as a movement from earth to Paradise rather than what it is, the forming of Christ (who is the Kingdom) in the believer. Satan would love it if all the believers would go to Heaven and stay there in mansions doing nothing of significance. But the thought of Christ being formed in a believer sends the demons scurrying for cover.
Yesterday, Sunday morning, a young lady approached me after the service and said, "Pastor, you mentioned that Paradise is a place and the Kingdom of God is some kind of abstraction. I’ve been here seventeen years and I don’t understand the Kingdom of God." This started me thinking and so last night during the service we talked some about Paradise and the Kingdom of God.
I have now (Monday morning—supposed to be my day off) taken computer in hand to reward you with a continuation of the discussion of Paradise and the Kingdom of God. MacDonald said in Phantastes something to the effect that he had started to write and didn’t know where it was going. This is the condition I am in now because the Kingdom of God is a tremendous subject. I trust the Holy Spirit to give understanding at this point.
First of all, it is interesting that John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostle Paul preached the Kingdom of God. This was the original Gospel message. "Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand," as though the Kingdom is coming to the earth.
At some point in the early history of the Church the message changed to, "Repent so you can go to Heaven." How this happened I do not know. It probably had something to do with the philosophy of Gnosticism and the influx of pagan religions as Gentiles brought into the originally Jewish assemblings their beliefs concerning life after death, fertility symbols, and other ideas that have become part of the Christian tradition.
I do not wish to make a cause célPbre of Christmas trees and Easter eggs, but the issue of Paradise versus the Kingdom of God has direct practical bearing on the way we Christians work out our salvation.
I looked at the statement of faith of our denomination (which is as good as any denomination!) and do you know what? The Kingdom of God is not mentioned. Since we are fundamental believers, how can this be? Check out the statement of faith of your denomination and see if you can find any statement about the Kingdom of God. You may not.
How could it be that a Bible-believing denomination does not mention the Kingdom of God in its statement of faith? How did we get off the track? We still pray the Lord’s prayer, most of us, about the Kingdom of God coming to the earth. But we are looking forward to getting out of here, and you can’t blame us for that these days. In any case we are mixed up and it is time now for the Lord to get us back on the track concerning the Kingdom of God.
There is Paradise and then there is the Kingdom of God. By the way, the manner in which we currently use the term Heaven makes it synonymous with "Paradise," at least for our purposes here. So when we say "Paradise" think of Heaven.
Christ's goal is not to bring us to beautiful homes in Heaven but to the place of rest in the Father. It is the same rest Jesus enjoys—God resting in Him and He in God.
October 29th
PARADISE AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD, continued
How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. (II Corinthians 12:4)
Paradise is a place. If you were wandering around the Persian Gulf a while back you would have seen a sign that said "You are now entering the country of Eden. Get your passport ready."
After you entered Eden and traveled east for a while you would come to another sign, "Paradise City Limits."
Paradise is a place. In Paradise was everything we could ever want in Heaven, including the Presence of God. There were no mansions because the weather was nice, like in Heaven.
Because we sinned God drove us from the garden and lifted Paradise out of Iraq up to the third heaven where it is to this day.
From some of the statements of the Prophet Isaiah it appears that Paradise will be restored to the earth when the Lord returns. The children will love this.
There was a man hanging on a cross next to Jesus. We know nothing of the history of this individual. But we know he was a true man because he didn’t blame other people for his misbehavior.
But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:40-43)
"Today you will be with Me in Paradise."
The criminal said, "Lord, remember me when You come into your kingdom."
Your kingdom! He recognized Jesus as a king.
Then note Jesus’ answer: "Today you will be with Me in Paradise"; not in the Kingdom but in Paradise.
Why? Because Paradise is a place. Soon after this statement the man and Jesus were walking in the garden of God.
Why not the Kingdom of God? Because the Kingdom of God is not a place where you can take somebody. You can bring someone under the rule of the Kingdom but not into the Kingdom itself. Let us go on to explain.
The Kingdom of God is God in Christ in the saints governing and blessing the creation of God. The Kingdom of God came into existence when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead.
The Kingdom of God is being created in response to the rebellion of the angels. The purpose of the Kingdom of God is to get the snakes out of Paradise. Sin is not only possible in Paradise, sin began in Paradise!
At some point in an era so far back in time as to be incomprehensible to us, Satan was one of two cherubim who overshadowed the Throne of God with their wings. While in the holiest area of all of the Paradise of God it came into Satan’s heart to rebel against God and to set himself above the other creatures of God.
he purpose of the Judaic-Christian salvation is to solve the original problem of disobedience to God.
October 30th
PARADISE AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD, continued
He that hath an ear, let him her what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of tahe tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)
Going to Paradise does not solve the problem of sin. Sin began in Paradise. Going to Heaven will not solve the problem of sin for you. Sin began in Heaven around the Throne of God.
All people could ever desire was to be found in the garden in Eden, including the Presence of the Lord, as we said.
There was also a snake from Heaven there. Think of it! A snake from Heaven!
One thing was missing. Can you guess?
The Kingdom of God.
If the Kingdom of God had been formed in Eve she would have said, "Get behind me, heavenly snake!"
If the Kingdom of God had been formed in Adam he would have said, "Eve, why did you do that?" They both would have spoken in Hebrew, of course.
You want to remember Eve was a sanguine creature, impulsive, whimsical, very dramatic, flitting from one interesting object to another, always pirouetting around and chattering merrily. Adam was a choleric personality but he loved his butterfly and indulged her. Eve was just what Adam needed to keep him from getting careless. However she had just made a serious move.
Had Christ been formed in him Adam would have brought Eve immediately before the Lord, asked forgiveness, got some clothes from the Lord, and promised that neither of them would eat any more apples. Something like this.
Are you beginning to get the picture? Paradise is a place. The Kingdom of God is the rule of God. If Adam or Eve or both of them had had the Kingdom of God in them they would not have sinned.
We teach that you have to be born again to be saved. What do we mean by saved? Do we mean we go to Paradise when we die? Or do we mean we are saved from sin so if we are tempted we do not eat apples when we have been told not to? Obviously going to a peaceful garden and being immunized against sin are not at all the same thing. Do you agree?
By now you probably are wondering whether or not you are saved.
The Bible does not say we have to be born again to be saved. It says we have to believe and be baptized to be saved.
Aren’t being born again and believing and being baptized the same thing? Hardly.
Let me ask you. Is to believe something and to be immersed in water the same thing as being born?
To believe is one matter. To be baptized in water is something else again.
To be born of God, to actually be born of God, is a different matter. Belief, water baptism, and being born again may take place at the same time but they are not the same thing, obviously.
An age of moral horrors soon is to engulf the world. The assortment of myths and errors we term the Christian religion will be weighed in the balances and found wanting.
October 31st
PARADISE AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD, continued
And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. (Mark 1:15)
In America we use the term born-again Christian. We don’t know what we are talking about. We are referring to a religious conversion of some kind.
The Apostles, as recorded in the Book of Acts, never preached being born again.
To be born again is not referring to religious conversion. It is speaking of the Divine Substance of God being planted in our personality, as in the parable of the sower.
The parable of the sower is the main parable of the Kingdom of God. The seed that is sown is the Word of God, or Christ. In one instance the seed is snatched away before it germinates. In another it is crowded out by the cares of life and dies. In another it is in rocky soil (a hard heart) and does not send down roots. In time of severe trouble it withers and dies.
In a fourth instance the seed falls on an honest and good heart and brings forth eternal fruit. The amount of fruit varies from one person to another.
It is the Kingdom that is born in us (Paradise is not born in us!), and this is why we must be born again to see or enter the Kingdom.
The Kingdom of God is Christ, the Word of God, born in us. As Christ then is formed in us through all the graces God provides, we become increasingly righteous, holy, and obedient to God.
The only valid proof that Christ is being formed in you is that you are growing increasingly capable of recognizing good and evil (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for which Adam and Eve were not sufficiently prepared) and increasingly willing and strong enough to reject the evil and choose the good.
Can you see that this is God’s response to the original rebellion?
If Adam and Eve had been able to discern between good and evil, and willing and strong enough to reject the evil and choose the good, they still would be with us.
Can you seen now why Satan has diverted Christian thinking from the Kingdom to going to Paradise to live forever in a mansion? Satan desires that every believer go to Heaven to live in a mansion and do nothing so Satan can be free to enjoy himself. What Satan wants is for sin to continue in the earth.
The Kingdom of God is the Word of God formed in us a line at a time. It requires patient endurance if we are to be able to stand up under the dealings of God.
What is the big picture? The big picture is that of God creating people forever. Of the increase of Christ’s Kingdom and of peace there shall be no end.
What is going on now? Now there is being formed a governing priesthood. The priesthood is being prepared to govern God’s children forever. We are, as James says, a firstfruits of mankind.
Christ is the Vine. You are the branch. The fruit of righteousness the Father is looking for is grown on the branch.
PARADISE AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD, continued
To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: (Acts 1:3)
First the nobility, then the rest of the country. Make sense? If God did it the other way around it would not accomplish God’s goal of an earth filled with righteous behavior.
We presently are trying to survive in a moral cesspool. Country people will understand about cesspools. We are drowning in filth in the United States. A recent cartoon had George Washington saying something like, "Why are they observing my birthday when character doesn’t count any more?" I don’t even want to repeat the things discussed in the newspaper. The same is true of England from what I hear. Both were godly countries at one time.
God knows what He is doing. Out from the cesspool will be drawn shining jewels—saints who will serve God under any condition.
These are the Kingdom of God.
When the Lord Jesus returns from Heaven He will bring His jewels with Him. They will govern the works of God’s hands forever.
The reason there will be no sin in the Kingdom Age to come is not that the possibility of sin will suddenly disappear, it is that God’s righteous kings will have the authority and power to prevent sin from taking place.
You either will rule or be ruled in the world to come. There will be no more unwalled Edens.
Will there be sin in the Kingdom of God? No. Sin is not present in the Kingdom. Sin was present in Paradise but will not be present in the Kingdom because the Kingdom is God in Christ governing from within our personality.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)
We read this and think, "If we do such things we will not go to Heaven." Or, "If we do such things we will not be saved."
Paul did not preach about going to Heaven. Paul preached about our being ready for the Day of the Lord, for the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth.
There is no adultery, strife, or drunkenness in the Kingdom of God. The voice of Satan is heard in Heaven to the present day, accusing the saints. But when the Kingdom is formed sufficiently in the saints they will speak the word of judgment and Michael and his angels will drive Satan from Heaven.
But don’t the prostitutes enter the Kingdom before the chief priests and the elders? Yes, they do, but they do not enter as prostitutes. The prostitutes enter the Kingdom by humbling themselves and turning from their wicked ways. This the chief priests and the elders will not do.
It must become true that our whole personality is reconciled to God in actuality, and it is not true that the personality of most Christians has been reconciled to God. There is much darkness in every one of us that is at war with God, with God's will and purpose in us.
November 2nd
PARADISE AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD, continued
Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him. (Acts 28:31)
Think about the parables of the Lord Jesus. Not one of His parables is about Paradise, about Heaven. They all are about the Kingdom. They show us that the Kingdom is something that takes place inside of us.
If we are saying that the Kingdom of God is God in Christ in us, two questions arise: first, how can angels cast people out of the Kingdom at the end of the age? and second, how can we see Abraham sitting down in the Kingdom if the Kingdom is an inner formation of personality?
The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; (Matthew 13:41)
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. (Luke 13:28,29)
What about the new Jerusalem in this picture? And where does the idea of salvation fit in?
The answer to all of these questions is this: The Kingdom of God indeed is the forming of God in Christ in us. This is the new covenant—the writing of God’s law in our heart and mind.
This is the Kingdom proper.
Then there is the sphere of influence of the Kingdom. The sphere of the influence of the Kingdom is the immediate environment of the Kingdom and also the larger area that the Kingdom governs.
To be saved in its primary sense is to be permitted to enter eternity under the auspices of the Kingdom. Thus a saved person can be part of the Kingdom proper or merely be governed by the Kingdom.
All other people are contained outside the Presence of God—the worst of all possible fates.
At the end of the present age the angels will remove sinful people from the beneficial influence of God in Christ.
At the end of the present age it will be possible for us to see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the prophets in the Kingdom of God and yet we ourselves not be allowed to partake of the Presence of God in Christ.
The new Jerusalem is actually a place that expresses in its elements the virtues being formed in the personalities of the saints while they are seeking God during their imprisonment in the present cesspool.
To be saved is to be allowed to enjoy the paradisiac environment that always will follow those who are members of the Kingdom of God. Each member of the Kingdom is greater than the greatest of the prophets. Each member of the Kingdom is as a highway to Zion. He can pass through the waters of bitterness and make them a spring of refreshing.
The parables of the Lord Jesus describe the inner Kingdom (such as the parable of the sower--Matthew 13:3) and also His return in the glory of the outer Kingdom (such as the parable of the talents--Matthew 25:14).
PARADISE AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD, continued
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. (Romans 14:17)
The practical aspect of understanding the difference between Paradise and the Kingdom of God is as follows: If you view the Christian salvation as a way of entering Paradise when you die, and God’s forgiveness through Christ as your free tic