The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Time Is At Hand, #3

Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. (I Corinthians 3:1—NIV)

My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, (Galatians 4:19—NIV)

If all the people on earth were to "accept Christ" and go to Heaven it would not solve God's problem (nor would it solve ours, although we do not realize this). God's problem is that people are not righteous, holy, or obedient to God.

The only time God's problem is solved is when an individual abandons himself or herself to the Holy Spirit and begins to serve God with a pure heart. I know no true Christian would disagree with this. But the mad rush for more members continues, and so the churches are filled with spiritual babies.

If the pastors were to tell their congregations that no person can be a Christian until he or she denies himself, takes up his cross, and sets out after Jesus; that no person can be a Christian until he or she presents his body a living sacrifice; and then the pastors were to show by their attitude and behavior that they mean what they are stating; the result would be a mass exodus of the "believers" from the assemblies. I don't know about the rest of the world, but I believe this is what would happen in America.

How about your church? Are you being told that unless the fruit of the Spirit is coming forth in your life you are not being saved? You are not entering eternal life? You are not going to inherit the Kingdom of God? You will reap corruption in the day of resurrection? Are you being told this? Well, this is exactly what the Bible teaches.

For two thousand years, with notable exceptions, the Glory of Christ has not been revealed in the Lord's people, and it is not being revealed today. The believers are being taught they can have everything they want by faith and that they are just about to be caught up in their carnality to Heaven so they will not have to face suffering. What a monstrous distortion of the Divine salvation!

But better things are on the way.

It is apparent that we are entering an age of moral horrors. Satan worship and the channeling of fallen angels are on the rise. The spiritual environment is thick with demons. The spiritual oppression is evidenced by the trouble spots around the world—wars and rumors of wars.

The Christian people do not have enough of God to stand in victory in the midst of such spiritual darkness. The Lord has a further experience in Himself, more of Christ in us, that will enable us to be more than conquerors throughout all that is ahead. Just accepting Christ is not enough. Being filled with the Spirit and speaking in tongues are not enough. The Bible shows us that more grace is on the way.

The Lord is standing at the door of each Christian personality. We are to allow Him to enter us, to dine with us, and to establish His throne in us. Only then will we be able to stand in the dark hour that is at hand.

To be continued.