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Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (I Corinthians 6:9,10) |
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"But Brother Thompson, if what you say is true then most believers in the United States are not in line for the blessing of the Lord at His appearing." |
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This precisely is what I am saying and intend to keep on saying in order to save as many of the believers as I can from the wrath of an angry Christ. |
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If there are ten victorious saints in the United States then these ten will receive the rewards assigned to the overcomer. The Word of God will never, never change. No matter how many of us gang up against God and His Word, nothing will change. If you as a Christian live in the appetites of your flesh you will reap destruction in the Day of Resurrection. If you as a Christian sow to the Spirit of God you will reap eternal life in the Day of Resurrection. |
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No amount of reasoning will change the Kingdom principle of sowing and reaping. If things don't change among Evangelicals the end is going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth. |
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If we continue in sin we neither have seen nor known Jesus Christ the Lord. Period! |
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Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. (I John 3:7) |
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If there were no verse in the Bible other than I John 3:7 we would know that we have been deceived. We would know the current Evangelical doctrine is incorrect. |
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Let no man deceive you. It is not always the devil who deceives us but often man. It is up to you to not let some person convince you you can ignore the commandments of Christ and His Apostles and still be accepted of the Lord. |
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The believer who practices righteous behavior, obeying the commandments of Christ and His Apostles, is righteous just as the Lord Jesus is righteous. |
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Isn't this what it says? |
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He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. (I John 3:8) |
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I John 3:8 does not mean if you commit a sin you no longer are of Christ but of Satan. In terms of the entire Book of First John it is a warning to the Christian who would continue in sin thinking he is being saved "by grace." It is a reaction against Gnosticism, particularly against antinomianism (we are saved by grace apart from works of righteousness). |
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John is pointing out that we can detect a true Christian by his behavior. If he practices righteousness he is of Christ. If he is continuing in sin he is of the devil because whoever continues to sin is following the ways of the devil. |
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To be continued. |
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For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, slander, gossip, arrogance, disturbances: and lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and debauchery which they have committed. (II Corinthians 12:20,21) |
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The Lord Jesus was not revealed in order to forgive the works of the devil but to destroy the works of the devil in your life and mine. |
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Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (I John 3:9) |
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The part of your personality that has not been born of God is sinful. It is up to you to pray to the Lord continually for strength to make your animal body obey the commandments of Christ. |
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The part of your personality that has been born again of Christ will not sin because it is of the Divine Nature. |
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Our first, adamic nature must serve and obey God until the new Divine Nature comes to maturity in us. If we do not obey the commandments of Christ and His Apostles Christ will not be formed in us and we are facing destruction in the Day of the Lord. This is what the Apostle Paul teaches in several places (Romans 8:13, for example). |
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In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. (I John 3:10) |
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How do you know a child of God? It is the believer who is keeping the commandments of Christ and who loves his brothers and sisters in the Lord. |
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How do you know a child of the devil? It is the believer who is not keeping the commandments of Christ, who is filled with slander, gossip, criticism, backbiting, malice, unforgiveness, strife, anger, a divisive spirit. |
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If you are in a church situation that is causing you to be filled with slander, gossip, criticism, backbiting, malice, unforgiveness, strife, anger, a divisive spirit, and you can't get victory no matter how hard you try, let me suggest that you go to a church with which you are in agreement. The Holy Spirit cannot work in an assembling divided in this manner. |
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I don't think anyone could accuse us of distorting the passage from John we have selected. Our interpretation follows the teaching of the entire text. But you can see readily, if such is the case, what implications this has for current Christian teaching. |
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John speaks much of the need for us to keep God's commandments. Some have taught that the only commandment we must obey is to believe in Christ and that the only law is the law of love. |
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This is not true. The New Testament is filled with commandments. |
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I have chosen the fifth chapter of the Book of Ephesians for an example of New Testament commandments. Also in this chapter there is a stern warning concerning the consequences of not keeping the commandments. I could have chosen passages from other Epistles just as easily. |
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To be continued. |
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For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:13) |
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It is in the area of the stern warning concerning the consequences of not keeping the commandments that the battle is joined. I think most sincere Christians would agree that we should keep the New Testament commandments, the exhortations of Christ and His Apostles. The problem is, today's teaching is that even if we don't keep them we still go to Heaven by grace. |
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You will soon discover that the fifth chapter of the Book of Ephesians does not agree with the teaching that even if we do not do what the Apostles and Christ have commanded we still will go to Heaven by grace. |
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Remember, the famous passage about being saved by grace is also in the Book of Ephesians (2:8,9). Is Paul now contradicting himself in the fifth chapter? Or is it possible that by ignoring Ephesians 2:10 we have misunderstood 2:8,9? I don't think Paul was so stupid he would contradict himself in the same epistle. Do you? |
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Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; (Ephesians 5:1-3) |
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Fornication—let it not be once named among you. This is a New Testament commandment. What if we don't obey it? |
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All uncleanness—let it not be once named among you. This is a New Testament commandment. What if we don't obey it? Will Christ be formed in us anyway? Will we go to Heaven anyway by grace? |
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Covetousness—let it not be once named among you. This is a New Testament commandment. What if we don't obey it? What if we continue in the greedy amassing of money? Will we go to Heaven anyway by grace? |
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Numerous Christians in America are destroying their spiritual life because of their interest in laying up quantities of money. The Bible teaches if we have more money than we need we should assist the brother or sister who is poor. The Bible teaches also that we should lay up treasures in Heaven. |
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But many believers greedily store up money for their old age—much more than is reasonable. Then they die before they use it and their children waste it. Will Christ be formed in them in any case? |
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What about the Kingdom of God? Will greed affect our entrance into the Kingdom of God? |
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Let it not be once named among you as becomes saints. The term "saints" means holy people. What if a believer does not lead a holy life? Is he or she saved anyway? |
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Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. (Ephesians 5:4) |
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Filthiness—let it not be once named among you. A commandment. |
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Foolish talking—let it not be once named among you. |
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Such behavior is not suitable, not fitting for a Christian. It should not be found among us even once! |
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Give thanks instead. A New Testament commandment. |
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To be continued. |
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He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. (Revelation 22:11,12) |
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(We are still referring to Ephesians 5:1-4, from the previous essay.) |
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What if we ignore the commandments of Christ and His Apostles? What if we keep on in moral filthiness and foolish talking (the two go together because lust makes an individual silly, it destroys stern character). Do you hear foolish talking in your assembling? Many Christians have a hard time refraining from foolish talking! |
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The question is, can we keep on with fornication, all uncleanness, covetousness, moral filthiness, and foolish talking, and still go to Heaven by grace when we die? Will we hear anything negative at the Judgment Seat of Christ because of such behavior? |
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Well, will we or won't we? It is time to make up our mind. The coming of the Lord is at hand. How serious was Paul when he wrote these commandments? |
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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) |
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No immoral, unclean, covetous (greedy) person has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God. What? But but but— |
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A couple of questions arise. |
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Is Paul talking to Christians? Of course he is. Otherwise he would be implying that if the unsaved ceased their moral filthiness and greediness they would inherit the Kingdom of God. Of course Paul is speaking to the saints in Ephesus. |
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Will a believer in Christ be barred from the Kingdom of Christ and God if he or she continues in sin? Of course! This is what the Word of God states, unless Paul was not speaking by the Spirit of God. |
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If I am barred from the Kingdom of Christ and of God can I still go to Heaven and live in a mansion? |
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The New Testament does not talk about living forever in Heaven in a mansion. This is something we made up. The New Testament, beginning with the four Gospels, is speaking of the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. The stuff about mansions in Heaven although traditional actually is mythology. (When you pick yourself up off the floor you may continue.) |
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There is a Heaven and there is a Hell. But the New Testament is not about escaping Hell and living in Heaven, it is about passing from spiritual death to spiritual life and entering the Kingdom of God. |
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Our eternal destiny is to be part of the royal priesthood, to have fellowship with Christ, to rule the saved nations of the earth. |
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You and I will be barred from eternal life, from the royal priesthood, from fellowship with Christ, and from the thrones that will govern the saved nations of the earth, if we do not become new creatures of righteous behavior. |
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Perhaps God has winked at the foolish, mythologic doctrines of the past. I don't know. I do know that in spite of the "faith alone" and "dispensation of grace" doctrines many fine Christians have come forth. But they have done so in spite of the doctrine not because of it. |
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What fruit would have been produced during the Church Era if people had obeyed Christ and His Apostles! |
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The past is past. What has been done has been done. |
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Now we are in the time of the maturing of the wheat and the tares. Christ will come to unprecedented fullness in the righteous. Antichrist will come to unprecedented fullness in the wicked. |
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There no longer will be a place in the middle. The lukewarm will be vomited from the mouth of Christ. |
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The holy will become exceedingly holy. The filthy will become exceedingly filthy. |
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The way of the Lord will be made straight. |
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Choose this day whom you will serve. |
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A one-liner for you: The blood of Christ does not keep on covering the known sin we keep on practicing. |
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And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (Revelation 21:1) |
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The last two chapters of the Book of Revelation tell us all we need to know about eternity, at least all we need to know right now. |
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There is much symbolism. The new Jerusalem is the glorified Church, the eternal dwelling place of God and the Lamb. The wall is the eternal separation between the saved nations of the earth and God's elect. |
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This is not to say there is not a real city and a real wall. We believe there is a real city and a real wall. But the city and the wall are expressions of what is eternally and spiritually true concerning them. Could you go along with that? |
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The big point, of course, is that the eternal destiny of man is not in Heaven, the spirit world, but on the earth, albeit a new earth. Since the throne of God and of the Lamb are in the new Jerusalem, the best that Heaven has to offer will be on the earth forever. I feel sorry for those stuck in Heaven when God, the Lamb, and the saints are on the earth. Don't you? |
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People on the earth will pray sideways, I guess, because all that we mean by "heaven" will be on the earth. If the saved nations want to hear from God, or to drink of the water of life, or to eat of the tree of life or be healed by its leaves, all they have to do is take a trip to Jerusalem. Of course, they must keep God's commandments if they wish to enter the city. |
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So we're looking at where we will spend eternity. God and the Lamb are there and all the saints. A real God, a real Lord Jesus, real people. |
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I don't think it means a new spirit-heaven but a new sky. There will be a new sky and a new earth. Some are saying it will be a renovated sky and earth. How can that be when it says the old sky and earth have passed away? |
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I think the new sky will be beautiful beyond description. The new earth will have to be ever so many times as large as our present earth because it must support a city of gold fifteen hundred miles high. This is awesome! What a huge situation and I believe every word of it! |
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When the first sky and heaven pass away there will be no more race of Adam. There will be a new humanity and I believe every person will have in himself or herself (if there is gender) a portion of eternal life. I think this is what it means by saying "and there was no more sea." The term sea in the Book of Revelation refers to the mass of mankind blown here and there by the opinions of people. Antichrist comes out of the sea (Revelation 13:1). |
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The new earth would not be so appealing if there were no oceans or seas. It would be worse than Phoenix, Arizona. |
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I was born in Maine and raised in Connecticut. I'm holding out for seas unless, of course, the Lord is dead set against them. But we can do without a crowd of people milling about who don't know the Lord and don't want to know the Lord. |
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And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2) |
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Do you want to know what eventually is going to happen to the Christian Church? It is going to be a holy city without spot or wrinkle. It is going to come down from God out of Heaven. It will be prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. |
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Here is the Bride of the Lamb, the Body of Christ. |
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The Bride must be prepared. We have taught in previous essays that there will be a firstfruits of the Bride, as mentioned in the nineteenth chapter of Revelation. The firstfruits makes herself ready. She washes her robes in the blood of the Lamb. She purifies herself. She will be raised when the Lord appears and will rule with Him over the saved nations of the earth during the thousand-year Kingdom Age often referred to as the Millennium. |
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But the entire Church, including not only the warlike remnant but the whole complement of God's elect, God's Israel, will not come down to the earth until the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age. |
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The Song of Solomon has some things to say about the firstfruits of the Church and then the entire Church. |
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My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners? (Song of Solomon 6:9,10) |
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Notice that the Lord is speaking here of a special group from the larger Church. She is "the choice one." Notice also that she is associated with war. So it is that the remnant God is calling out of the churches today is becoming conscious of God's war and God's army. Even their hymns and choruses are taking on a more militant character. |
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The story of Gideon, perhaps the clearest type of the coming of the Lord, portrays a remnant who win the battle on behalf of all Israel. David also won the battle for Israel. |
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Christ is a Man of war and so part of the Bride nearest His heart must be skilled in battle. |
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The following is especially revealing. |
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Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies. (Song of Solomon 6:13) |
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In order to be successful every battle involving the Kingdom of God must be fought by two armies, the army of judges and the army of angels. The judges announce the will of Christ. The angels fight in the spirit realm. |
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The army of judges is formed from the saints. Our business is to announce the will of Christ. We do the binding and loosing. We remit sin and retain sin. The keys have been given to us. |
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But, like the judge of any court, we do not perform the execution of sentence. The execution of sentence is carried out by those who bear the sword, so to speak. |
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To be continued. |
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And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. (Mark 4:8) |
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How often have Christians sallied forth in some enterprise only to be turned back by the enemy. This is because they were not following the Head, Christ. When Christ goes forth to battle announcing the will of the Father, Michael and his angels respond with the power to bind and to loose in the spirit realm. |
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Later on in the Song of Solomon we see that the firstfruits of the Bride assists the less mature members to find their place in the Kingdom. |
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The firstfruits of the Bride, the hundredfold, is described as follows: |
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I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour. (Song of Solomon 8:10) |
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The "wall" refers to the defense against evil constructed in the Lord's holy remnant. |
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The "breasts like towers" speaks of fruitfulness, and the dominion that always results from fruitfulness. Here is perfect man: in God's image, married to Christ, enjoying total fruitfulness and dominion. |
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Then we have the sixtyfold and the thirtyfold: |
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If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar. (Song of Solomon 8:9) |
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If the individual at least has developed some defense against sin, being a "wall" but not having attained the fullness of fruitfulness and dominion, her more mature sister will build on her a palace or battlement of silver. She will gain more strength for the battle and thus be more useful to Christ in subduing and preventing all future rebellion against the Father. |
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If she is a "door," being unable to cope with the onslaught of sin, her older sister will enclose her with panels of cedar. Cedar is the decorative wood used in the interior of the Temple of Solomon. |
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So we see there is a firstfruits of the Bride and then there are those not as accomplished in war. We must always keep in mind that through His Church God is responding to the ancient rebellion of the angels. The Divine redemption is designed to deal with the rebellion that already has occurred (and yet is taking place) and to provide a guarantee against future rebellion. |
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It is because of past rebellion and the possibility of future rebellion that so much of the Bible has to do with war. Only a strong Church following a Lord mighty in battle can guarantee that the Father will never again be troubled with rebellion on the part of His creatures. |
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The rewards of life, nearness to God, and dominion go to those who overcome, to those who have proved during this life that they are ready to serve Christ and to stand against the enemy. They will suffer in this world but they will be crowned with glory and honor in the coming ages and will be given the thrones of glory that govern the works of God's hands. |
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Let us make sure we take the Lord's side in every instance, proving ourselves to be faithful soldiers of our King, Jesus Christ. |
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A one-liner for you: We don't develop skill or muscle when Christ is fighting all the battles and doing all the work. |
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