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SERMONS ON PASTOR’S PAGE—WWW.WOR.ORG
Copyright © 2010 Trumpet Ministries, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
It seems that the understanding of God’s Kingdom, and also of the manner in which we are being fashioned by the Lord, is becoming increasingly clear. Perhaps these brief thoughts drawn from my sermons will be of help to the saints of the future.
The Lord Is Our Refuge; Our Fortress
Set Free From the Law of Sin and Death
Following the Cloud and the Fire
Attaining to the First Resurrection
Becoming the Throne of God, continued
Fruitfulness and Rulership out of Death
The Royal Priesthood, continued
From Moses to Joshua, continued
From Moses to Joshua, continued
Possessing All of Our Inheritance
The Battle for the Body, continued
The Battle for the Body, continued
Deliverance From Sinful Behavior
SERMONS ON PASTOR’S PAGE—WWW.WOR.ORG/PASTOR/PASTOR.HTM.
Introduction—Welcome to our site. You may notice some ideas that are new to you. Hopefully they will be helpful, or at least cause you to stop and think about what is being said.
We have come to the conclusion, after 60 years as a Christian, that some of our traditions need to be looked at again in the light of the Scripture. Our position is, if our tradition does not square with the Bible, then we need to change the tradition and not the Bible.
We certainly question the idea that our behavior does not affect our salvation, or that our salvation does not affect our behavior. Our salvation normally will be revealed in our behavior.
We question also the doctrine of the pre-tribulation "rapture."
The "prosperity" and "faith" messages do not fit the Scripture, as far as we are concerned.
We look for the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth, rather than eternal residence in Heaven. Have you ever tried to find in the Bible where we are supposed to spend eternity in Heaven?
We want to be with Jesus where He is—in the center of the Person and will of God, not stuck in an unscriptural mansion somewhere.
The Gospel of the Kingdom is beginning to be preached in all the world for a witness. After that, the end of the Church Age will be here
Call on the Lord. Ever since Adam and Eve chose to act independently of God, their descendants have been afflicted with this most deadly of all behaviors. You know, God was present in the Garden. All Eve and Adam had to do was to go to Him and ask if eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil would be good for them. They chose rather to use their own judgment, based on what the serpent had told them.
(2/7/2010) This is my first Sunday back in the pulpit since the fall that broke my right femur. That was on Sunday, 9/13/2009. The fall was on the stairs in my home after returning from the morning service. I am in pretty good shape now, although I am using a cane to prevent falling while I am mending.
Stan Josephsen and Lloyd Darlington have filled in with preaching during those five months. From what people told me, they did an outstanding job. Our Church Council continued with the business of the church in my absence, including the annual business meeting. My thanks go out to Stan, Lloyd, the Council members, and the congregation, all who steadfastly continued with the message of righteous behavior we have preached in Poway for over thirty years. Thanks also to John Arterberry who fashioned a chair so I can sit behind the pulpit while I am preaching.
The burden of the morning has to do with the historical error of mankind. The error is that of acting independently of the wisdom and will of Christ. It is as true of Christians as it is of non-Christians. We simply are not aware, many of us, that Christ wants to direct our lives. We are seeking to please Christ without knowing exactly what He desires of us as an individual.
I am persuaded that most Christians do not realize they can conduct all the aspects of their daily life in the Presence of the Lord Jesus. When the Apostle Paul urged us to pray without ceasing, he did not mean that twenty-four hours of every day we are to beseech Christ to keep our ninety-five year-old aunt from dying. He was speaking rather of living our life in the Presence of Christ.
How do we "pray without ceasing"? We start each morning by committing ourselves to Jesus, asking Him to get us out of bed on time. At my age, one needs supernatural help to get up in the morning!
Then there is the decision, for many of us, of what clothes to wear. Then the decision of what to eat and how much to eat (if we have food). How many cups of coffee to drink. Perhaps helping the children off to school. During the first hour we may have made a hundred decisions.
Now, there are two ways in which we can make a decision. We can bring our desires, experience, and knowledge into play and do what we think is the best. Or we can look up to Jesus and ask His assistance as we bring our desires, experience, and knowledge into play.
Did you know the Book of Proverbs advises us not to lean to our own understanding but to acknowledge Christ in all our ways? This is what it means to pray without ceasing.
Do you know what happens to you if you persevere in this manner of living? Eventually you can say with Paul, "It is not I who am living but Christ who is living in me." To live by the Life of Jesus Christ is our very highest goal.
What kind of world would this be if every person looked to Jesus for every decision he or she made? What would have happened in the Garden of Eden if Adam and Eve had looked to God to see if they were supposed to eat the forbidden fruit?
The American ideal is the self-possessed individual who is "in control." This may be the American ideal but it is not God’s ideal. The self-directed person is a loose cannon in the universe. This is why the world is in such an uproar.
Having been a Christian for 65 years, I am fairly well acquainted with the manner in which churches and denominations operate. It is very seldom that one hears of a church or a denomination waiting to hear from God before it embarks on a plan. The assumption is that we are to go into all the world and build Christian churches.
You may notice, in Matthew, that Christ did not charge the multitude of believers and disciples to "go into all the world." He spoke to eleven chosen individuals whom He named Apostles.
And Christ did not command them to build Christian churches, but to make disciples. There is a vast difference. One can build a church that has few or no disciples in it. A disciple is someone who denies himself, takes up his cross, and follows Christ at all times. How many genuine disciples are there in your church?
I do not know how often the missionaries of today hear from the Spirit of God as the Apostle Paul did. I think in many instances we are working for Christ instead of obeying Christ and following His directions.
I believe the Lord Jesus has new and surprising things for us today, if we will get our eyes off what has been and just look to Jesus. Maybe–just-maybe–He has some ideas that will more than conquer the spiritual darkness into which we are sinking in America.
A corollary of the willingness of the believers to seek to work for Christ instead of listening to what Jesus actually wants, is the practice of looking for spiritual formulas for success. We have arthritis, so we do this. We need money, so we do this. We want to save our marriage, so we do this. We need healing, so we take this approach.
Believe me, we are entering the hour of darkness in which no man can work. In order to survive and help others we absolutely must "die in the Lord." Only the wisdom and power of Jesus Christ will be able to operate in the coming days.
Therefore, when you are facing a need, do not try to use a formula for success. It may have worked at one time. It will not work in the future. Check out the eighteenth Psalm and see what King David did when he was in trouble.
In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears. (Psalms 18:6)
"I called to the Lord"! Can you hear this? David called to the Lord. He did not attempt to wait for the sound of marching in the mulberry trees or do anything else that had worked in time past. David called to the Lord.
In my experience, this concept is violated continually as Christians seek to employ some recipe for spiritual success. In fact, people travel to locations where God has moved in time past, hoping that somehow God will repeat what He has done before.
God does not repeat Himself, ordinarily. But people want to "work the moves." They would rather water the plants in the sanctuary, or organize a parade, or do whatever, in order to get God to move. They may use a computer to find out what parts of the world need evangelism.
All of these religious efforts are attempts to find something that will "work." Why don’t we quit doing this and call on the Lord? God is not broke. Jesus is in control. He is not confused or impressed with the vain boasting of today’s political leaders.
If you want to be shocked, read the rest of Psalms Eighteen and see what took place when David called on the Lord. These kinds of results are not obtained when we assume from reading the Bible what Christ wants, and then set out to accomplish it with money and human talent and effort.
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
The Lord Is Our Refuge; Our Fortress. There are many promises in the Bible informing us that God will protect us in the time of trouble. I think most Christians know of these promises. But God’s promises may not mean too much to us until we are in serious trouble. The days ahead in America are going to be dreadful and very threatening. We need to keep ourselves under the protection of Christ.
(2/14/2010) It may be true that the ninety-first Psalm is one of the more familiar of the passages that deal with the time of trouble.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. (Psalms 91:1-4)
I would like to point out an aspect of the promises of this familiar Psalm:
"Dwells in the shelter."
"Rest in the shadow."
"He is my refuge."
"And my fortress."
"Saved from the fowler’s snare."
"Saved from the deadly pestilence (disease)."
"Cover you with His feathers."
"Under His wings."
"Your shield and rampart (an embankment for defensive purposes)."
Do you see the commonality here? In order to be protected we have to abide in Christ.
I hope I am incorrect, but I don’t believe many believers in America actually abide in Christ. They are good religious people, church people, but they have not been taught what it means to abide in Christ.
You can think of Christ as a castle. One type of castle has an outer wall surrounding the outer ward. Then there is an inner wall surrounding the inner ward. The inner ward is where the people and animals conduct their lives.
There are towers in the inner ward, sometimes consisting of rooms at three levels. The rooms are entered by climbing a spiral staircase. These rooms are where people reside.
If an enemy breaks through the outer wall he is faced with an even higher wall, the inner wall. If he manages to break through the inner wall he will find that the inhabitants of the castle have taken up their positions in the towers.
The towers are large and solid, and have arrow loops so that the defenders can shoot at anyone in the inner ward; and also at anyone in the outer ward if the tower forms part of the wall guarding the inner ward.
If a person goes out through the inner and outer gates, and across the drawbridge, the several defensive elements no longer will protect him.
So it is in Christ. If we go outside of Him, the promises of protection in the day of trouble no longer can be relied on. Did you know that? It is not enough to say "Christ will protect me." He will not protect you, even if you name His name, if you do not abide in Him.
Now, how do we live in Christ, in the Castle God has constructed?
Living in Christ requires a conscious effort at all times. We always must be aware that He is present, even though we may not feel it. His Presence and protection are there if we are praying continually.
In my own experience, I find that I am confronted with numerous choices throughout the day and part of the night. Should I eat this or that? If so, how much? What time should I go to bed? What time should I get up? What should I do before I go to work? What should I do when I return from work? And so forth. There are numerous such choices each day for many of us, aren’t there?
Now, how we decide what we should do at each point of decision will determine if we are living in Christ.
If we just choose to do what we want, or what seems pleasurable, or what has proven in time past to be the best choice, or what we are afraid not to do, or what we feel is expected of us, or what we believe will bring the best results, then we are not living in Christ. We are living in the flesh, according to our own resources, experiences, and talents.
There is another way of making a decision. This is to look to Christ in every instance. As the Bible says, "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." This admonition is found in the Book of Proverbs.
"But how about little things I do every day, like eating breakfast or taking care of the children?" ("In all your ways")
Yes, bring Christ into those decisions also. Bring Christ into every decision. Talk to Him constantly. "Pray without ceasing."
"But I can’t do that. It is too hard!"
Many activities are too hard when you first attempt to do them. You could not play music on the piano the first time you tried. It is only after years of practice that one can play the piano or violin with any kind of assurance.
So it is with abiding in Christ. It is going to take you a period of time and unrelenting practice to bring Christ into every decision. But this is how you:
Dwell in the shelter.
Rest in the shadow.
Make God your refuge.
And your castle.
Are saved from the fowler’s snare.
Are saved from the deadly disease.
Stay under His feathers.
Remain under His wings.
Make God your shield and rampart.
Another important illustration of dwelling in Christ is Noah’s Ark. It was a day of Divine judgment. God called the righteous into a place of protection. They were saved through the Divine judgment by remaining in the Ark.
If they had stepped out of the Ark during the rain they would have been destroyed with the wicked.
I have just described what the Bible means by "walking in the light." It is when we walk in the light of God’s perfect will that the blood of God’s Lamb cleanses us from all sin.
It may be true, although I hope it isn’t, that most believers in America are not filled with eternal life. I think there are many who have no eternal life at all, they just have made a profession of belief in Christ but they do not abide in Christ.
When the Lord said, "He who believes in Me shall never die" He meant those who were spiritually alive and abiding in Him.
I do not know where all the nominal (dead) Christians go when they die. Perhaps to a place of instruction where they have a chance actually to receive Christ into their lives, or else to reject Christ altogether. American people do love their independence of thought, speech, and action!
Divine judgment will fall on America soon, I am convinced. Today God is calling those who love and serve Him into a place of abiding in Christ. If they turn away from the wickedness of America, they and their loved ones will be saved during the destruction, just as was true of Noah and his family. But those who choose to live their lives in the ways of the world will be destroyed.
"Isn’t it enough to pray and read my Bible each day, and go to church on Sunday?"
No, it is not. These are necessary activities. But their purpose is to bring you to the place where you are abiding in Christ at all times, in every detail.
You can attain success in abiding in Christ. But you will have to bring the best that you are, the best that you have, to this challenge, this war, if you are to gain the complete victory Christ desires that you have.
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3)
He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. (Psalms 112:7)
I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. (Psalms 34:4-7)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
The Righteous and the Wicked. In our day the wheat and the tares are coming to maturity. The rise of lawlessness in our own country and in the rest of the world is obvious. What may not be as obvious is the way the Spirit of God is moving on some of the Christian believers. While the Christian denominations stagger forward in their spiritual blindness, frustrated because they are not making the impact on the world they desire, individual believers are following the Spirit of God as He leads them on to the fullness of redemption.(2/21/2010) As I prayed about the sermon this Sunday, the thirty-seventh Psalm came to mind. I have preached many times from this Psalm. Yet, its message is so relevant, as wickedness and unbelief increase in our country as well as in the remainder of the world, I thought I would have another go at it.
The Psalm tells us not to fret because of evil men, nor to envy wrongdoers. I think fretting is going to be a major problem with us who love Jesus.
The New Testament commands us to rejoice in the Lord always. We are told that we are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. When we fret, which, of course, is what Satan desires, we are not rejoicing. We are coming down from our high place in Christ that we may contemplate the works of Satan among mankind. We are disobeying the command not to fret.
We pastors need to be more firm, perhaps, in urging our congregation to refrain from spending our time cursing the darkness.
"But if we don’t curse the darkness, the wicked will prevail," some may say. Well, it is certain we are not going to accomplish anything by disobeying the Bible. If we are in a position to prevent wrongdoing, that is one thing. But to just fret about the evil in the government does nothing but weaken us spiritually.
Each of us can pray. That is one thing we can do. I have prayed much about the evil I see in our government. You know what? The Lord is telling me that our enemies are prospering because the covering of God is lifting from our country.
And why is the covering lifting? Because of sin, particularly that of abortion. We can rail against the liberals and what they are doing; but until abortion-on-demand is made illegal, all of our efforts, financially, militarily, politically, will end up only in disaster. God will never accept a country which is murdering its children.
One thing to keep in mind is that eventually evil men will wither and die away. The infallible Scriptures promise this; and for this reason we are not to fret. Sometimes God is doing something we do not understand, and we need to pray and ask Him what He is doing before we begin to rage about what sinners are doing.
If we will heed the Scripture, and trust in the Lord and do good, we will be taken care of. We do not have to spend our time fretting about the actions of the lawless.
The fourth verse of Psalms 37 is one of my favorites. It informs us that if we will delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart—not just provide our needs, but grant us the desires of our heart.
I don’t know about you, but I am a dutiful, conscientious person. It is difficult for me to know what the desires of my heart are, because I am so loaded down with responsibilities and worries.
So I have to get before the Lord to find out what it is I really want. But when I do, I often am surprised. Then I am assured that if I keep on delighting myself in the Lord, I finally will receive what I truly desire. Why, then, should I fret about the corruption brought about by lawless people?
I am old and experienced enough to see the stupidity that is being practiced in our nation and it is difficult to quit fretting about it. But fretting does no good. I can pray, and find peace by doing this. You can too.
We are to commit our way to the Lord. Proverbs advises us to acknowledge God in all our ways. I am endeavoring to do this, right down to the smallest decision.
I am tying my shoes. I miss a turn and one of the laces knots up. Now I can rage and fume, particularly if I am late for a meeting. Or I can stop yanking on the lace and look up to the Lord for help. When I do this, the knot comes undone as I work on it. Try it for yourself!
And then there are the major decisions that face every pastor, and every other person as well. "What should I tell this person?" "What should I do about that individual who is causing division in the church?" Of course I can act out of anger, but that only compounds the problem. Or I can commit my way to the Lord. As you might guess, doing this will solve the problem.
Then God makes our righteousness evident. If we ask God’s help, and do what He counsels, we act righteously.
You know, the only people who do not know what righteousness is are the Christians. Why is this? It is because we have perverted Paul’s teaching of grace to mean that we must believe in Christ, but it is not necessary to obey what He and His Apostles have commanded.
We have been instructed to believe in Christ and also informed that if we do not obey Him there is no trouble because we are "saved by grace." This means we will be brought up to a mansion in Heaven and spend eternity admiring how rich we are.
Indeed, it is time for a reformation of Christian thinking!
The scepter of Christ’s Kingdom is one of righteousness. We have been taught that this means we are righteous because we believe in Christ, or are identified with Christ.
How do you like that for a masterful lie?
The result of believing our righteousness is one of belief, and not integrity of behavior, has resulted in a religion that is not bearing witness of Christ. Now the pollsters are telling us that people are leaving the churches. Why shouldn’t they?
The churches are teaching a lie.
The world knows that anyone who really is serving God will behave righteously. The Christian churches are the only group of people, it appears, who do not understand this, believing in a mystical, fruitless "grace."
When we commit every decision and action to the Lord, He causes the onlookers to witness true righteousness. They glorify God when they see our good works. The Christian churches are demanding that the leaders of our government act righteously, while every work of the flesh is being practiced by the Christian people.
There must be a billion people in the world who adhere to the Muslim faith. There is a part of this group who are villainous terrorists. The majority are ordinary people who want to serve God according to their lights. These people, whom God loves, will never, never, never come to Christ when they see how the American Christians behave.
The testimony of America reaches around the world. It is coming from Hollywood. This is where the Muslim people receive their impression of America.
I have felt for some time, that in view of the severe Divine judgment that is to fall on America, it may be too late to save our nation from destruction. But each of us as an individual believer can draw near to Jesus, thus saving ourselves and our loved ones. Let’s you and I do this.
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Living by His Life. It may be true that the greatest confusion in Christian thinking lies in the transition from Moses to Christ. Are we under at least part of the Law? Are we completely free from the Law? Does being under "grace" mean there are no laws governing our behavior? I have never heard this problem resolved clearly. It seems today, in Evangelical thinking, the majority opinion is that "we are not under the Law but under grace," meaning that if we believe in Jesus we will go to Heaven when we die no matter how we behave.(2/28/2010) I came to Christ in 1944. I was taught by fellow Marines that the purpose of the grace of the new covenant is to forgive us, since we are unable to meet God’s righteous demands. Then we would be eligible to go to Heaven when we die. Since that time, probably before you were born, I have found this to be the prevailing doctrine of most, if not all, Christian churches.
According to the Scriptures, this is not the purpose of the grace of the new covenant. The purpose of the grace of the new covenant is to forgive all of our sins so we will be able to focus on the work of the Holy Spirit as He creates the Life of Christ in us. As the Life of Christ is formed in us, we begin to meet God’s righteous demands. The objective of the new creation is to create us in the image of God in order that we might please God and have fellowship with God wherever we are.
Paul was upset with some of the Christian Jewish leaders.
When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, "You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?" (Galatians 2:14)
Then the Apostle Paul explained the only manner in which we can be free from the demands of the Law of Moses:
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)
It simply is not true, and an error of the greatest magnitude, that because of "grace" we are free from the laws that govern our behavior. It is only as we have died to our first life and now are alive in Christ, and living by His Life, that we are free from external laws.
Until we are living by the Life of Christ we are under the moral laws of the Old Testament. There never is a time when a person is not under one of God’s laws. Either we are living by the Life of Jesus, and therefore being directed by the Spirit of God; or we are under the Law of Moses. There is no place in between, that is, for a lawless person, and still be accepted of God.
There are at least six major goals toward which the disciple is to press. Each of the six is to be true of us eternally: righteous in character and behavior; completely holy; totally obedient to God; love for God and our neighbor; always filled with joy; abiding in peace in our calling. The only way in which these goals can be attained to is to live by the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no greater challenge to the disciple of Jesus than to live by His Life. From the time of our birth we are endeavoring to stay alive in our original inward and outward natures. We are a person. Like all the other creatures of God we fight for our life.
Then along comes the Lord Jesus. He tells us that if we would see and enter the Kingdom of God we must be born all over again.
Now what? We are not speaking of religion at this point but of killing of our first nature as we choose to live by a new Life that has invaded our personality. If you think such death and resurrection are easy to experience, you have not attempted to make this transition.
We cannot make such a radical change in a moment. This is why the current teaching that states the moment we "accept Christ" we are born again is so misleading. The expression "born again" is not used many times in the New Testament, although what the expression implies is the heart of the new covenant.
We might be more accurate if we said, "I have decided to die with Christ and live with Christ; and if I am faithful through the years the day will come when I am a new creation, that is, I have been completely born again in Christ."
What does it mean to live by the Life of Christ? It means that our thoughts, our imaginations, our motives, our words, our actions, while they are part of who we are and what we are doing, have continually been presented to Jesus so that they reflect His thinking, imagining, motives, words, and actions. To enter this blend of us and the Lord we must pray without ceasing. This does not mean we continually are beseeching God for our needs; it signifies rather that we keep looking to Jesus and listening to Jesus as we go about our daily business.
Right now as I am typing I am looking to Jesus and listening to Jesus. I desire that He speak to His people in this hour. In fact, I looked to the Lord for the current burden: "Man is to live by every Word of God." At the time I went to sleep last night, and the moment I awakened, I was asking God what His Word is to me right now.
I looked to Him as I was eating breakfast, just kind of musing. Then I decided to work on the present topic in preparation for Sunday’s sermon. I could have put off working on the topic until tomorrow, Saturday. But as I was reviewing my E-mail I decided to look to Jesus to see if I was supposed to write the weekly essay today.
I asked the Lord what the topic should be. Immediately I "heard," "living by His Life." As I began to type, the paragraphs were formed in my mind. This is how all my writing has been done. It is a combination of His thoughts and my efforts.
The process, or program, I am describing actually is steps to the first resurrection from the dead, the inward resurrection that always must precede the outward. Also, it is the new covenant—the writing of God’s eternal moral law in our mind and heart.
My latest four books, Godwill Castle; Heaven–God’s Wonderful World; The Theology of Robert B. Thompson D.Ed.; and John and Mary Visit Heaven; and also the piano composition "God Is My Salvation," came rather suddenly with an increased Divine impetus after about a year of not writing.
It is interesting, and just like the Lord’s sense of humor, that I, who have preached over and over that Heaven is not our eternal home, should find myself writing about the spirit world, which is becoming increasingly clear to me. I tell you, learning to live by His Life is an adventure with a surprise at every turn.
Another interesting thing: I had titled the children’s book (written for children who are facing death) "God’s Wonderful World." But then I thought, people will think it is about the present world (which I do not regard as wonderful). So I added the word "Heaven." It sure is a good thing I did. I did not realize how many books are on the market with "God’s Wonderful World" as the title.
So God was leading all the way. I felt Jesus telling me to hurry up and get out Godwill Castle and Heaven–God’s Wonderful World, because a lot of blood is going to be shed in the United States as God’s covering is withdrawn from our nation because of our sin.
Heaven–God’s Wonderful World is currently available in bookstores. Hopefully some publisher will pick up the other three books.
Each moment of each day and part of each night we choose whether to keep Christ in our consciousness or whether to pursue our own thoughts, pleasures, and ambitions. Sometimes to choose what we think Christ desires rather than our own lusts and passions is a real crucifixion leading to an increase of our possession of the Life of Christ. This is why the Apostle Paul spoke of being crucified with Christ, but living nevertheless by the Life of Christ.
Living by the Life of Christ is the "rest," the primary thesis of the Book of Hebrews. We have to fight continually to enter the rest and remain in the rest. God has planned our life from the foundation of the world. Now we have to labor continually to attain to that which from the beginning was spoken concerning us.
I will say one thing: The evil approaching our country is so great no human will be able to survive spiritually and do the works of God. But Christ can survive spiritually and do the works of God. We absolutely must die to our first nature that Christ may live in us. When we do, we will reign with Him throughout the dark days of Divine judgment on the United States of America.
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Set Free From the Law of Sin and Death.The explanation of redemption, beginning in Chapter Six of Romans and ending with Chapter Eight, is not the easiest argument to understand.
(March 7, 2010). In Romans, Chapter Six, which numerous Bible teachers incorrectly apply to the unsaved, Paul tells us that when we have been baptized in water we should count that we are dead with Christ and alive with Christ in order that the body of sin that lives in us may be destroyed. Paul states that if we then continue to sin we will die spiritually, because the wages of sin is death. God, on the other hand, will give us the gift of eternal spiritual life provided we continue in slavery to righteousness and holiness.
Chapter Seven is written to "men who know the Law," that is, to Jews. Paul is saying that under the Law, while our inner nature wants to practice righteousness, our sinful nature causes us to act as a slave to sin.
I realize that Christian teachers often use Paul’s words as an excuse for sinful behavior, maintaining that as long as we are alive in the present world we can be compelled to sin. They are misapplying Paul’s argument. Paul is saying that trying to be righteous under the Law is futile, because of our sinful nature. He then proceeds in Chapter Eight of Romans to show us how under Christ, instead of under the Law of Moses, we can be set free from slavery to sin.
The exceedingly important issue with the Jew is whether he can abandon Moses and look to Christ, and remain righteous in the sight of God. This is why Paul, as he begins to explain how Christ can set us free from bondages of sin, starts off with "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ." You can leave Moses, come to Christ, and still be counted righteous. This is an awesome concept to the Jew who has lived under the Law for many years.
One troublesome area of Christian thinking is the misunderstanding that being set free from sin means being set free from the guilt of sin. Actually, when speaking of being set free from sin, we are not referring to being set free from the guilt of sin but from the sinful bondages that cause us to sin against our will. In other words, we are referring to righteous behavior.
The monumental error in the Christian thinking of our day is that Christ forgives our sin, but He cannot set us free from slavery to sinful behavior–that is, not in this present world. This misunderstanding arises perhaps from applying Chapter Seven of Romans to Christian people.
Because our tradition holds that to be saved is to be ready to go to Heaven when we die, it is difficult to understand substantial parts of the New Testament. Actually the subject of the New Testament is the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth, not the going of saved people to Heaven when they die.
The Father promised Christ that His enemies would be made Christ’s footstool. All the works of Satan are to be crushed under the feet of Christ. Therefore, putting to death the actions of our sinful nature is equivalent to Christ’s enemies being put under His feet. We understand, therefore, that it is time now for God’s saints to begin to work with the Spirit of God in putting to death all of the sinful actions of our body.
The eighth chapter of Romans is not primarily about deliverance from the guilt of sin but deliverance from the practice of sin.
Consider the following carefully, remembering this is written to "All in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints":
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Romans 8:12-14)
Please notice that we are not obliged to live according to our sinful nature.
Does the above passage sound to you like deliverance from the guilt of sin or deliverance from the practice of sin?
There are two aspects of redemption we might consider. First, the critical role of God’s Spirit in delivering us from the practice of sin.
Second, the above three verses (Romans 8:12-14) follow Paul’s statement that if we diligently live in continual obedience to the Spirit of God, then eventually the Spirit of God will redeem our physical body by filling it with Himself.
The following three verses confirm what we are saying in this essay:
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16-25)
Notice the sorts of behaviors we are to crucify:
Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
These spirits dwell in our flesh. God has designed our battles so He may choose from among His elect those who will govern His Kingdom. If we do not put these behaviors to death through the Spirit of God, we will not be given an incorruptible body when the Lord comes. But if we do put them to death through the Spirit of God, if we are an overcomer, if we are a victorious saint, we will govern the creation with Christ at His appearing and His Kingdom.
So we see that we have a part to play in our destiny. If we choose to live in victory, we will live and reign with Christ. If we choose to live as most Christians in America do, we will live and die as any other person, and then be raised and judged at the final resurrection of the dead.
Paul’s point is this: The making alive of our physical body, which will take place when the Lord Jesus next appears, depends on our being faithful in putting to death the sinful deeds of our body. If we thus are faithful, when Jesus appears, at the sounding of the last trumpet, those who sleep in Jesus will be raised from the dead and our body will be made alive in the Spirit of God. The redemption of his body, which was Paul’s goal, would enable Paul to have that freedom from his "body of death" that he so desired, freedom from the desire to sin.
One reason we Gentiles have a difficult time correctly interpreting Paul’s writings is that Paul’s goal was righteous behavior, whereas our stated goal is eternal residence in a mansion in Heaven. The true goal of the Divine redemption is righteous people. It is a change in what we are as a person, not the transfer of us from earth to Heaven.
Romans 8:13 offers us the redemption of our body if through the Spirit of God we keep putting to death the desires of our sinful nature; but–Christian or not–the assurance that if we continue to live according to our sinful nature we will not experience a change in our physical body when the Lord appears.
Paul says the same thing in the Book of Galatians:
The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8)
Perhaps we could sum up Paul’s statements in the sixth through the eighth chapters of the Book of Romans by saying that if we choose to obey the Spirit of God each day, the guilt of our sin incurred under the Law of Moses is removed on the basis of the blood atonement made by the Lord on the cross of Calvary.
Now we are free to be led by the Spirit of God. The Spirit is ready, willing, and able at all times to guide us in each aspect of our daily behavior. As we choose to turn aside from behavior that we know to be displeasing to God, the Spirit strengthens us and puts to death the sinful compulsions that are in us.
The process, or program, I am describing actually is steps to the first resurrection from the dead, the inward resurrection that always must precede the outward.
In light of some of the current teachings, let me utter a word of caution. It is true that the Spirit of God performs every act of significance in the Kingdom of God. We have fellowship with Him, as well as with the Father and the Son. We are baptized into the Name of the Spirit of God.
However, the fellowship is one-sided. The Holy Spirit speaks to us and guides us. But we never speak to Him or attempt to guide Him. We never pray to Him. We never are to sing to Him. We never are to worship Him.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of all. He died for our sins. The Spirit did not die for our sins. Christ is the Bridegroom. The Holy Spirit is not the Bridegroom. Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is not true of the Spirit of God. Jesus Christ is our elder Brother. The Holy Spirit is not our elder Brother.
Think of the Spirit as one whose Presence we feel, a Presence that comforts us. Whatever we need, we are to go to Christ who in turn goes to the Father. We can go to the Father directly, if we wish. Then the Father guides and empowers the Son so He can direct the Spirit to assist us in our hour of need. This is the actual, scriptural, management pattern of the Kingdom of God. This is what the Spirit guides us to do.
If we look to Jesus at all times, in all situations, the Spirit of God will continue to guide and strengthen us. We have been delivered from the guilt of sin and now are being delivered from the power of sin to control our behavior. (from The Theology of Robert B. Thompson)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Following the Cloud and the Fire.
During my recent devotional readings in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, I have been amazed at how present God was and how detailed were his directions. I kept wondering, "Since we are under a better covenant, why isn’t Christ just as present? Why doesn’t he give us detailed directions about building his Church, as he did about the construction of the Tabernacle of the Congregation?"(3/14/2010). Sometimes it is claimed that now that we have the New Testament we do not need to hear personally from the Lord. This is not true. All of us are faced with decisions each day that the Bible does not address specifically so we know what to do.
Should a young person go to college? Whom should he or she marry? He has two job offers. Which should he take? You want to go on vacation. Should you go, and where should you go?
The Bible tells us to commit our way to the Lord and he, not the Bible, will direct our paths.
The Bible says the sons of God are led by the Spirit, not by the Bible.
It is impossible to enter the rest of God, mentioned in the fourth chapter of the Book of Hebrews, until we commit every decision of every day to the Lord, looking to him for guidance. The role of the Bible is to enable us to tell when we are being led astray by unclean motives or spirits. In this manner the written Word is a light on our path.
In addition to the numerous specific directions God gave to Moses and Aaron, there were the Urim and the Thummin, the "lights and perfections." These were some kind of device on the breastpiece of the High Priest at which a person could inquire and receive advice in a specific situation.
I came to the place where Moses asked his brother-in-law, Hobab, to help the Israelites find suitable camping places in the desert. Can you believe this? After God had been leading them so specifically with the Cloud and the Fire! When I read of Moses doing this I become angry against him, a person I truly admire.
"Moses, why in the world did you ask Hobab to guide you when God himself was specifically leading you by day and night? What nonsense is this!" (Behold how I vaunt myself against the elders!)
Then I thought about how, during the days of Samuel, the Israelites wanted a king they could see. They were not content with the Lord leading them through the Prophet, Samuel.
Believers want a pope, a priest, a pastor, an evangelist, who will pray for them and to whom they are willing to give their spiritual proxy. Then they can give him or her money and continue to live their own life.
Why is it that God’s people insist on being guided and ruled by human beings rather than being governed and guided by the Lord? But it has been this way throughout human history. It is God, not man, who is to be guiding all human activity—every element of it.
When we humans are left to guide ourselves through life we continue to do foolish, hurtful, destructive things. Every sane individual has love, joy, and peace as his or her goal. But we simply cannot trust God to direct us to our goal. As in the case of Eve, we believe we will gain what we desire by taking matters into our own hands.
Some might respond that now we are to live by faith, meaning God is not willing to speak to us. This excuse will not hold up. The "faith chapter" of the Bible is the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews. Every example of "faith" in this chapter comes from God’s heroes of olden times. Moses certainly was a man of faith, as was Noah. Yet God spoke to them clearly.
No, it is not because now we are supposed to live by "faith." Rather it is because we prefer to lean on our own understanding. We simply do not look to Christ to guide us in every aspect of our daily life, nor do we trust him to lead us to love, joy, and peace. We would rather continue with our own works than enter the rest of God in which God conducts our life.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5,6)
To every individual who is reading my words, and who would love to live a life directed in detail by the Lord Jesus, let me tell you it is not only desirable but possible and expected. It is the way I have learned to live, after serving Christ for over sixty years. Have I made mistakes? You bet I have. But I have learned from them and am pressing on the upward way.
The sons of God are to be led by the Spirit of God. The purpose of the Bible is to keep us on the right track, because there are numerous voices in the spirit world that strive continually to deceive us and lead us astray. But if we remain prayerful and patient, meditating in the Scriptures daily, we can make a success of the Spirit-directed life.
People, including Christians, often long to hear God more frequently than they do. Well, we can, even though this fact is often not emphasized in Christian churches, and sometimes is scorned as being a frivolous, dangerous area we should not investigate.
Perhaps it is true that in many instances Christian leaders do not tell their followers that they can hear from God personally each day, if they will ask and obey. In fact, the most exciting part of our discipleship is to hear from Jesus each day. Why don’t we tell the believers that such communication is possible?
All of our discipleship is by faith. But that faith includes and results in having a daily awareness of God’s will for us on each occasion. This requires continual prayer and looking to Jesus in every situation.
I trust in the promises of God found in the Bible and read them each day. In addition, I hear from Jesus at each point of decision of my life because I continually ask for such direction. This does not mean I always hear a voice. It means, rather, that I am guided in one manner or another.
I learn about Christian conferences, gatherings, and what the promoters hope will result. Have they actually heard from Christ that they should make such an effort? Or are they doing what they imagine God wants them to do?
I remember overhearing a pastor and his associates planning a "revival" and who the speakers should be. The pastor said a certain individual should be invited because "he draws the crowds." Can you imagine the Lord Jesus saying such a thing to his disciples? Neither can I. As I recall, this "revival" did not accomplish much.
Jesus Christ said he would build his Church. When we attempt to build his Church there is confusion. Consider the multitude of competing denominations! Soon, I think, Christ will call to the dead bones and they will come together to form an army.
What do you think would happen if all the Christian leaders in the world stepped back for a moment from their programs and plans and listened to Jesus? What do you think Jesus would say to them? I believe the Holy Spirit is proclaiming today that the Christian people should turn away from their sinful ways and cease using grace as an excuse for their transgressions and rebellions. Is this what the leaders would hear from the Lord do you suppose?
What we are hearing from the leadership is a renewed emphasis on saving the lost.
It is well that those who are called to evangelize go forth to preach the Gospel to the lost. But what about the Christians in America who are not growing in Christ? Is the primary emphasis of the Spirit of God in America that we should try to "save the lost," or is it that we should lead the Christian people from their infancy to maturity in Christ? If the primary emphasis of the Spirit is that of leading the believers to maturity, then the leadership is not hearing from Christ. It is not following the Cloud and the Fire.
Which is the greater threat to Satan’s kingdom: more people who confess Christ, or a Christian who has set aside his or her own life that Christ may live in him or her? Are we more interested in overcoming the accuser or in spreading our religion?
If a Christian who is setting aside his own life that Christ may live in him is more of a threat to Satan than numerous new converts, why are our primary efforts devoted to gaining more converts? It is this kind of misguided emphasis that is a direct result of making our own plans without hearing from the Lord.
From the standpoint of the Kingdom of God, would it be more important to gain more new converts to Christianity, or to impress on the current believers the supreme need of setting their own lives aside that Christ may live in them?
There is a great need that each Christian in America come to understand that if God has called him to a high place in his Kingdom, he is going to have to die to his own ways. He is going to have to accept the fact that if he attempts to save his own life, to cause matters to go according to his own ways and standards, he may succeed in preserving his life; but in doing so he will lose part or all of his appointed inheritance.
It seems most Christian churches are implying that we should be led by the Bible. But the Bible itself states the sons of God are to be led by the Spirit. I think that people prefer to be led by the Bible rather than by the Spirit of God so they can remain in control. To be led by the Spirit we must ask Jesus to guide us, and we must obey him strictly when he shows us what he wants.
There is no adventure available to man on the earth more marvelous than that of walking hand in hand with the Lord Jesus through the minefields of life.
He will guide us through our times of sickness, trouble, financial distress, and also when the way appears to be simple and easy. We have to keep looking to him, asking him for help, and obeying what he directs us to do.
If we don’t keep praying and looking to the Lord at all times, we won’t know when the Cloud and the Fire have lifted from the Tabernacle and we are supposed to move to a different place.
It is a common practice today to ask Christ for healing, for deliverance from trouble, for money. There are instances when such a prayer is appropriate and necessary. I am not referring to this common practice. Rather I am suggesting that we use each of our distresses as an opportunity to have close fellowship with the Lord. Sometimes he leads us in new and surprising ways to the victory we need.
We cannot be led by the Spirit and then expect to plan our own way. We must ask the Lord to help us keep all of his commandments spoken to us personally, as well as those we read about in the New Testament
Following the Cloud and the Fire can be like walking on the water. On some occasions, if we are not truly hearing from the Lord, the consequences can be severe. We must have courage as we learn to be led by the Spirit, and Christ will help us if we sincerely are seeking to do his will, just as he reached out and assisted Peter.
It is kind of like flying by instrument, isn’t it!
It is acceptable to ask Jesus if we are permitted to step out of the boat. But we then do not proceed to do so. We wait until he says, "Come."
Not hearing from the Lord continually can lead us into attempting to duplicate a Divine visitation of the past. There is something of this tendency in the practice of the Israelites who were burning incense to the bronze snake that God on a previous occasion had given for the healing of those who had been bitten by snakes.
Most of us know how God spoke to Abraham throughout his life. Abraham ran ahead of God in the case of the birth of Ishmael. The Seed God had in mind came through Isaac. We always produce a wild man when we act apart from God’s leading.
I think the manner in which the living creatures, of the first chapter of the Book of Ezekiel, moved straight ahead without turning, tell us something about the life lived in the Spirit of God. We are not to be subject to momentum. Christian institutions appear to be filled with momentum. Once they get started along a certain line they continue on that same line unto the ages of ages—long after God has left.
A denomination has a large monetary and ego involvement in the revelation that was given it in the beginning. It is quite difficult for it to move when God moves. Thus the denominations are landmarks in the wilderness that show where God was at one time.
It happened in a church service that a man yelled "Hallelujah"! As soon as he did, the Spirit of God fell on the assembly and they had a great meeting.
Guess what he did the following Sunday? And guess what happened? You are correct: nothing!
I think sometimes church fill in with music the vacancy left by the absent Spirit of God. It reminds me of the Jews placing the Altar of Incense in the Holy of Holies because the Babylonians had removed the Ark of the Covenant. I like music, but music ordinarily does not form Christ in the believers.
Because we do not always have the immediate Presence, direction, wisdom, and guidance of Christ we may turn and begin to worship what God has done in the past. We may go to a place like Wales, or Azusa Street in Los Angeles, in the hope that God will repeat what he did previously.
A prominent evangelist was known to have gone to the grave of a person greatly used by the Spirit in the hope that her mantle would fall on him.
Sometimes relics are venerated.
We may study the Divine interventions in the lives and ministries of outstanding Christians of the past in the hope of finding what "works," that is, what draws in crowds of people. We do not appear to be equally interested that the Spirit of God builds up the believers in Christ. Thus our motives are suspect, aren’t they?
We just can’t seem to grasp that Christ chooses whom he will, when he will, how he will, where he will, and uses that person in the manner Christ knows will build his Church. We are not always willing to follow the Cloud and the Fire and send Hobab home.
I think sometimes if the present nation of Israel would look to God instead of to world opinion it would emerge in victory from the present distress. Israel needs a prophet who hears from God more than it does a statesman who hears from the United Nations.
It is such a delight to hear directly from the Lord Jesus, why do people insist on governing their lives apart from him?
I was taught in Bible school that the Apostles looked about for population centers, for the most advantageous location from which the Gospel could be spread. I never have found such a thing in the Book of Acts.
There is a human desire to solidify, to establish, to instutionalize an intervention of God. "Let us build three tabernacles." Why are we unwilling to look for the fresh intervention of God instead of seeking the past Glory?
There was the manna each day in the desert. There was the memorial jar of manna stored in the Ark of the Covenant. Do these teach us that God is willing to give us grace for the day; that as our days are, so shall our strength be?
There can be a reasonable amount of planning in the life of a disciple, but he always must be looking to the Lord for every action, not taking anything for granted.
Yesterday’s manna has a bad smell.
I may be accused of being impractical. I am eighty-four years old and have been a disciple for over sixty years, so I think by this time I am a fair judge of what is practical and what is a fantasy. Actually, much Christian activity is impractical from a Kingdom standpoint, although humans may regard it as practical and understandable.
I must say, when the churches maintain when we die we go to live in a mansion with a backyard filled with diamonds, walk in our golden slippers on a street of gold and play a golden harp, and have no other responsibilities for eternity, they are in no position to accuse me of being impractical, illogical, or unscriptural.
I am ready to agree that it certainly is easier to pursue the activities of our religion than to wait on the Lord moment by moment. I think many of us would rather water the plants in the sanctuary than spend an hour in prayer before the Lord. How do you feel about this?
It requires considerable experience before we can avoid many of the pitfalls in the path of the believer who is seeking to be led by the Spirit. This is why there are elders in the assemblies. Experience is the coin with which we buy wisdom. By the way, God never will rebuke you for questioning spirits. You can test spirits all day long and God will not be insulted.
A statement by Jeremiah has remained with me through the years:
Then Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of the LORD and said to me, "Buy my field, please, that is at Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for you have the right of possession and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself." Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. (Jeremiah 32:8)
"Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord."
Can you see in this statement how even Jeremiah tested his revelations against what actually took place?
When thinking about following the Cloud and the Fire, it is necessary to realize the importance of learning to deal with deception. Because the power of Satan over people was broken on the cross of Calvary, Satan uses deception to gain control over people.
Satan is a master of deception. Sometimes Christians in their ignorance believe they cannot be deceived if they pray and read their Bible. I am here to tell you, based on personal experience, that you can pray fervently, read your Bible every day, and go to church on a regular basis, and still be deceived.
When we come to Christ we may have open doors in our personality through which Satan can work his works of deception. We may have a romantic nature, or a greedy, covetous personality. We may always be striving for preeminence or leadership, to be in control. We may have a murderous or hateful nature. The door to our personality may be along the line of intellectual pride.
Satan studies our personality profile. He estimates the best tactic to use to get us into his power. If we are a romantic person he will not use a crudity of some sort. If we have a hateful nature he probably will not seek to tempt us with money
We may have many dimensions of our sinful nature that can be dispatched readily if we are willing to follow the Holy Spirit as he points them out. We are to confess and renounce them with all our might, asking Christ to help us.
But then there are these kings!
The kings are kept shut up in the Cave at Makkedah, so to speak. When the Lord sees we are strong enough to withstand his dealing with our kings, he brings them forth.
Sometimes Christ lets us wrestle with a king of our personality throughout our discipleship. This is how we gain a conquering personality. We never yield to the king, but he just doesn’t leave as readily as some of the lesser traits.
On occasion the Lord permits us to be deceived. Satan reasons with us until we accept the king as being of God, even though the Scripture lists him as unclean. If we remain prayerful in the midst of our deception, Christ finally will bring us out. We have learned a hard, hard lesson that we will not soon forget. This is the manner in which Christ may deal with a major aspect of our sinful nature.
Deception comes through our mind, our reasoning. We may be well versed in the Bible, and this usually is helpful. We may be determined to serve the Lord. But it is our personal cross that is the wall against deception.
We become deceived when we attempt to make our life pleasurable. "God is so good! Surely he wants me to have her, or him, or this thing, or that circumstance." Be exceedingly careful with anything you crave—that you simply have to have in order to be happy. This is the arena of deception.
God has promised to give the desires of their heart to those who delight themselves in him and his righteous, holy ways. And indeed he shall! He is bound by his unchanging Word to do this. But every such burning desire must be slain, and then raised in Christ, before we can receive it without being bound by it.
Before, it was an idol. Now it is an enlargement, a blessing, and no sorrow shall be added to it.
Deception is very prevalent among Christian people. Regular church attendance helps. Often a person who is deceived will receive spiritual assistance just by being in the company of other praying people.
However, it is in faithfully carrying one’s cross of self-denial that by far is the best protection against deception. This world is not Heaven, and any attempt to make it Heaven will almost certainly lead the believer into deception.
If you suddenly realize you, a devout Christian, have been deceived, maybe for years, do not panic. Go to Christ, ask him to forgive and deliver you. He may require some sort of restitution. If he does, pray and ask his help as to what he wants you to do.
Sometimes it is nothing more than to withdraw from what you have been doing and go on your way in victory. On other occasions the Lord will direct you and help you to make things right if you have stolen something or offended someone.
If you have sinned against your wife or husband, it is best that you do not confess what you have done to the injured partner just to get rid of the feeling of guilt. You may really hurt him or her unnecessarily.
Or if you have hated someone. You do not have to confess that to a person. Keep your confessions to a minimum and just work it out with the Lord. Satan will try to take advantage of you and urge you to do something that will hurt someone, or otherwise cause unnecessary trouble.
The thing is, you have learned a hard lesson. Get right with the Lord and go on your way, a sadder, wiser Christian. Christ will help you to do just that.
I also might mention "passivity," another trap into which the person may fall while attempting to follow the Cloud and the Fire. This error is made by the fervent believer. He desires to be an empty vessel, filled with God and moved by the Lord just as a puppet would by one holding the strings.
One of the signs that the believer has fallen into the trap of passivity is that he cannot stay with a decision. He makes a decision, and then he changes his mind. This going back and forth continues until he is disabled.
When a believer is climbing out of this pitfall the solution is to pray, make a decision, and then stay with it even though he "feels" he is not doing what the Lord wants or what is best in the circumstances. He is to keep staying with his decisions until his will is razor-sharp. In order for this procedure to work correctly the believer must continually be looking to Jesus and committing everything he does to the Lord.
The Lord does not want empty vessels. Just be yourself. Keep on pressing forward and accept your chastenings. You will be cast down and frustrated on numerous occasions. Keep praying and pressing forward in Christ.
A sailboat cannot steered until it is in motion. Commit your way to the Lord constantly and do what is before you if it is reasonable. If you wait for the Lord to speak you probably will wait for the rest of your life. God does not like being forced to speak.
Pray much. Take one small step. Look at the fruit. If it is good, take another small step. Look at the fruit. Keep praying. If you are going in the wrong direction, Jesus will correct you.
But if you go in your closet and pray all night, it is possible nothing will happen. If it does, it probably will not be the Lord.
This especially is the case with young people. Go to college. Get a job, Follow your desires after you have prayed. If you pray and fast, asking the Lord to speak to you, you probably will be deceived.
Get out in the educational or work realms of your culture. When the ungodly correct you, listen to what they say. They probably are giving you good advice. If you can see it is good, wholesome advice, don’t reject it because they are ungodly.
We Christians tend to be smug and conceited. We think we know more than the people of the world or people of other races or religions. We often are incorrect in this. We need to listen to their comments and weigh them carefully. They may be correct in their judgment of us, and we need to humble ourselves so we can profit from their observations.
Keep praying, take your knocks and learn from them, get up and press forward in Christ. He loves this kind of courageous, consistent, determined attitude.
I have been in the Pentecostal movement for many years. I have heard much prophesying. Some of it was from the Lord. Some was not. I do not say this to discourage any believer who wants to launch out in prophesying. But I will say when something you state does not bear witness with other Christians, or does not come to pass, admit that you need to be a bit more careful. It was prophesied over me that I was going to die. This was many years ago. Just remember, when it is God who speaks, the rooster crows.
Our Lord Jesus is our example of how to live in the Presence of God. Christ did nothing, thought nothing, said nothing, apart from the Father. This is the rest of God toward which we are to press.
We can get a flavor of this perfect obedience to the Father in the following expression:
Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. (John 11:6)
The Lord Jesus knew that Lazarus was sick and would die, but he did not go to Bethany immediately. He waited for the Father to tell him when to go. This is how we should make our decisions—always waiting to hear from Christ.
Notice in the following passage how Christ was following the will of the Father closely. Every one of Jesus’ steps was ordered with great care. So will ours be, if we ask God to carefully control our actions.
We see in the passage that this was not true of the disciples:
Therefore Jesus told them, "The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right. (John 7:6)
When learning to follow the Cloud and the Fire, it is helpful to learn to live in the "now," not in the future or the past. Just make it a habit throughout the day to ask the Lord for the next step, even though you are in the midst of your work routine. It might save your life someday!
We are not to go to the mulberry trees at the next battle just because we are too lazy to seek the Lord afresh!
Joshua was tricked by the Gibeonites. He didn’t ask the Lord about them. This is why we are to pray about everything and not take anything for granted.
"Do whatever he tells you," Mary said. This is the whole idea, isn’t it?
Don’t forget, your life on earth is a pilgrimage, just as was true of the camps of Israel in the desert. You may stay at one place a short time, or a long time. If God has moved you to one place it does not mean you are to stay there forever. Follow the Cloud and the Fire.
The Lord Jesus wants us to have a happy heart, confident that he will take care of the future. This may be difficult to do, especially in times of trouble or sickness. But if we ask God to create this happy, confident, cheerful spirit in us, he shall do it. Such optimism is not carelessness, it is based on God’s faithfulness.
The book, Godwill Castle, was given to me as I followed the Cloud and the Fire. The piano composition, "God Is My Salvation," was given to me as I followed the Cloud and the Fire. As for the publishing of these, that will be up to Christ. He will take the initiative in this task in his time, should he desire they be published.
Only one life ‘twill soon be past; only what’s done by the Lord will last."
In our day the Ark of God is coming down the road, so to speak. If we lay our hand on it, attempting to assist or modify it, we will die spiritually. If we just let God have his wonderful way we will live and experience great blessing.
In the new world of righteousness God will bring into existence, every citizen will be living in the Spirit of God and not according to his or her thinking or ambition. We can begin our preparation for the new world by looking to our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, for every aspect of our life.
All who choose to accept the Kingship of Christ and are willing to be directed by him shall be saved.
All who choose not to accept the Kingship of Christ and who refuse to live by Christ’s will rather than their own will, are now, and forever shall be, lost to the Presence and blessing of God.
You, dear reader, can inherit all the glory of Christ’s Kingdom. But you absolutely have to set aside your own life that Christ may live in you.
If you choose to do this, the Lord will help you. You will be so glad that you have made this most important decision of all. If you do not choose to be part of Christ in this manner, you will be shaken out of the Kingdom in the coming days. Only what is part of Christ will survive the shaking.
With Christ’s assistance you can follow the Cloud and the Fire until you reach your land of promise, your unique destiny, your own castle.
And now I want to sound the trumpet to all believers in America. If you wish to survive during the coming days of Divine judgment upon America you are going to have to know how to follow the Lord one step at a time. If you attempt to use your own judgment, wisdom, training, or any other source of direction, or take anything for granted, you very well may run into danger thinking you were escaping or going to a place of safety.
I say also to other people, including Muslims, Hindus, agnostics, atheists, and all other leaders and followers —I say to you that in the days of trouble that are coming, if you seek Christ and ask for his guidance and help, he will help and guide you. You do not need to join another religion or throw away your Scriptures.
I am not speaking about a religion. Christ is alive. I will not bear a false witness. I have followed this Man for over sixty years. He is alive and I am living what I am teaching here. He has great power and wisdom. He will help you if you call on him. He has helped and still is helping me. Try it and see for yourself that whoever calls on the name of Christ shall be saved.
Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, "Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you." So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island." (Acts 27:23-26)
(Taken from "Following the Cloud and the Fire," an excerpt from The Theology of Robert B. Thompson. Copyright © 2010, by Robert B. Thompson.)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Faith. God has not given us faith so we can change God’s mind. God has given us faith so we can hear God’s voice clearly and obey Him diligently.
The righteous are to live by faith, according to Habakkuk and the Apostle Paul. This is how we are to live. Living by faith is not speaking about theological belief. The contrast, in Habakkuk, is between those who are "puffed up" and have unrighteous desires, and those who are not puffed up and who have righteous desires.
The person who is living by faith is walking humbly with God, not thinking and acting according to his or her own desires and goals.
(3/21/2010) The eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews is one long definition of "the righteous shall live by faith." It tells us what the Bible means by "faith."
We are informed that "faith is being sure of what we hope for." The term "hope" is significant. Many of the errors of today emphasize getting what we want "now" from God. Actually, the Christian redemption is a vision of the future. This is why patience is such an important part of our salvation.
"Sin" is a shortcut to what we want. We become deceived when we seek to live in pleasure with our desires satisfied immediately.
God commended the heroes of faith of history because they lived their lives according to the vision of God they held, not in terms of their present circumstances.
When we look about us at the marvelous works of the universe, we become aware of the might and glory of God. We glorify God by faith because of His handiwork in nature, although He remains invisible to us.
Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable to God because in his heart, Abel was worshiping God in faith. Cain gave his offering out of duty. His heart was elsewhere, as sometimes is true of the church people of our day when they are singing hymns.
Abel’s faith instructs us that God is more aware of our heart than He is of our offerings or our religion. If our heart is not in our religious service, then God is not pleased with us.
Enoch was obsessed with God. Because of Enoch’s faith, his thoughts continually were focused on the Lord rather than on his earthly circumstances. God was pleased with Enoch’s attitude; and God is pleased with our attitude when we keep Christ in our consciousness at all times.
Noah’s obedience to God is an excellent portrayal of faith. Notice that Noah did not "dare to believe God," as we say today. Rather Noah "dared to obey God." "Faith" and "obedience" are synonymous.
I wish to emphasize this concept. Faith is not our attempt to change God’s mind or get God to do something. Faith has to do with our seeking God until we know what He wants of us, and then obeying Him promptly and diligently.
The errors in today’s Christian teaching seek to put man in control. Man is to discover and practice spiritual principles that will move God’s hand. Man in control of the power of Christ is nothing less than the "False Prophet," the deceiver who will assist Antichrist in his effort to gain control over the nations.
Historically, neither the religious nor the secular realms have emphasized the daily, diligent doing of God’s revealed will. This is the central problem of life on the earth, and it will not change until Christ returns in His Kingdom and His will is done in the earth as it is in Heaven.
Faith is used today as a synonym of "presumption." This is what we would expect of a society that is in love with itself, that seeks pleasure rather than God. There are so many books and tapes that tell us how to have power with God; how to move God’s hand. There does not appear a hint of such an attitude, in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews.
Rather, the focus in the "faith" chapter of Hebrews is on seeking and obeying God. None of the people described here were trying to "do great things for God" by "stepping out in faith." Rather they were occupied with obeying God, and in some cases with their survival.
What do we hear today? We by "faith" are to take spiritual dominion over our city. Try to find that sort of thing in Hebrews, Eleven!
The temptation of Christ in which Satan counseled him to jump off the roof of the Temple in Jerusalem is the sort of action that is presented today as faith. "Find a passage in the Bible and dare God to fulfill it at your command." This is what Satan was saying, along with many Bible teachers of our day.
"Take hold of God and make Him do what you want." Can you imagine such an attitude? Yet, how is this different from "take the gifts of the Spirit and go out and save a lost and dying world"?
"Dare to be a Daniel." Personally, I do not believe even Daniel would have dared to be a Daniel. Rather, all Daniel wanted to do was to be left alone while he prayed to God.
We have a choice today, don’t we? We can go to the Lord Jesus, and at every moment of our waking hours ask Him what He wants us to do. This is how we live by every word that comes from the mouth of God. This is how we live by faith. (What a wonderful adventure such a life is!)
Or we can do, as I was taught in Bible school, "Go forth to the nations and burn out for Christ." Of course, none of our teachers had any intention of doing this; but it was what everyone seemed to be saying.
I wish we all would cease from our own works and find out what Christ wants each one of us to do. Our nation, America, is sinking into sexual lust rapidly and no human agency can arrest this trend.
But how about prayer? When I pray, the Lord seems to tell me that we American people are getting what we deserve, the kind of government we deserve. We have asked for Tash, and Tash has come (to quote Lewis).
The word of the Lord to me is, encourage everyone to get close enough to Jesus to hear what God’s word is to them as an individual. Then they will save themselves and their loved ones when God begins to judge America because of its love of money and excessive and perverted sexual activity; and also because of the practice of abortion-on-demand.
(Taken from "True Bible Faith: II," an excerpt from The Theology of Robert B. Thompson. Copyright © 2010, by Robert B. Thompson.)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Faith Continued. The righteous are to live by faith, according to Habakkuk and the Apostle Paul. This is how we are to live. "Living by faith" is not speaking of theological belief. The contrast, in Habakkuk, is between those who are "puffed up" and have unrighteous desires, and those who are not puffed up and who have righteous desires.
In our day, faith often is viewed as a sort of magic by which we can manipulate the spirit and physical worlds and get what we want. However, that does not fit the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews, does it? I think the "faith chapter" would suggest that faith is the act of persevering in the face of difficulties because of our confidence in the word and faithfulness of God.
(3/28/2010) There are at least three misconceptions believers have concerning "faith."
The first misconception is that by faith we can manipulate the physical and spirit realms. Faith is a kind of magic. This thought obviously appeals to people.
The second misconception is that the adamic personality can generate faith. If we try hard enough we can believe something into existence.
The third misconception is that we can use "faith" as we see fit. The truth is, all genuine faith in God resides in God Himself. Sometimes God gives faith to us as a gift, but only to accomplish His own purposes.
Joshua commanding the sun to stand still, and Jesus multiplying food and cursing the fig tree, give the impression that if we could just believe strongly enough we could work miracles. In actuality, there do come times when God invites us to command one thing or another. But these incidents originate in God, not in our desire to work miracles.
Miracle-working faith is one of the gifts of the Spirit. But to utilize properly the gift of miracles, the believer must be walking in the light of God’s will, closely following the Lord Jesus at all times. In the last days, Christian people will seek spiritual power in order to glorify themselves. These Christians compose the False Prophet.
When it comes to healing the sick, or raising the dead, or turning water into wine, we are not to thrash around, trying to believe for the miracle. Rather we are to follow the Lord Jesus as closely as we can, continually looking to him to see what he is going to do and what part we are to play.
Jesus’ mother said, "Whatever He says to you, do it." This precisely is the way we are to work miracles. If it is to fill the pots, or take the hand of the dead man and raise him up, or put clay on someone’s blind eyes, we are to do it. We are to obey Christ in every detail. We are not the healer, the miracle worker. The Lord Jesus is. We exercise true Divine faith when we look to Jesus and obey His command.
The faith by which the righteous live is not that of working miracles. Rather it is found in gaining victory over the spirit of the world, over the lusts of the sinful nature, and over walking according to our own plans rather than seeking to obey Christ. True faith always obeys Christ. It is not an attempt to believe for something we think is a good idea.
The faith by which the righteous live is that of "persevering in the face of difficulties." Every true Christian learns that much of our life includes persevering in the face of difficulties; working out our salvation with faith and patience. We have to learn to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
One example of faith might be that of parents whose daughter has joined the army. They receive notice that their daughter has been captured by the Taliban. Jesus whispers to them that Sally is fine. They continually battle the mental pictures of Sally being raped and tortured by the Taliban soldiers, choosing by faith to believe what they have heard from the Lord.
There may be a person seeking employment. Without a job he will not have enough money for food or to pay the rent. He has a wife and children to support. By faith he keeps believing God will help him in his trouble, meanwhile doing all he can to earn enough money to keep going.
We American Christians have not experienced a great deal of persecution. The day may come when we by faith have to stand true to the name of Jesus. This may mean jail and forced association with wicked people. We remember that if we deny Christ, He will deny us before the Father.
A young person might have to endure mocking and rejection if his faith requires that he not go along with his friends as they drink and take drugs. The young Christian must exercise consistent faith by refusing to go along with the crowd, when his friends are inviting him to do sinful things. The Christian girl must by faith keep herself pure.
It will require strong faith in America in the future to resist the temptations to sexual misconduct. Sexual lust is becoming so intense in America that it is difficult to resist. Only the Christians of strong faith will be able to overcome the temptation to engage in immoral, even unlawful, immoral conduct. By faith we turn away from that which is unclean, and the Spirit of God helps us when we hold up the shield of faith against moral temptations.
It is so easy to grumble and complain when things go wrong in our life. By faith we keep on rejoicing in Christ, even when we feel we are in the lowest level of a pit.
The Bible commands us to rejoice in the Lord always and not to fret. As we see the evil practiced by the leaders of our government, as the wicked boast themselves, we have to exercise faith if we are to obey the Bible command to not fret because of evildoers. To refrain from fretting will be especially difficult as we see America, against the will of the majority of the people, being changed from a democratic to a socialistic country.
Sometimes we feel the Lord is requiring us to do something that we see no reason for. Perhaps Noah wondered if it really was necessary to build a huge ark. When we are certain it is the Lord who is speaking to us and we are not being deceived, we must exercise faith and obey Christ. We must trust Christ even when we do not understand Him.
To be a disciple we must deny ourselves and turn away from the world. Faith is required if we are to do this.
It requires faith if we are to be content where God places us. Discontent with one’s assigned position is the original sin.
We by faith must continue to believe there is a reward for serving the Lord. We must place our treasures in Heaven, realizing we may never possess them until we die and enter the spirit world.
An outstanding high school senior in our city, Poway, California, recently was raped and murdered. Her parents scarcely are able to cope with their loss. But cope they must; and coping will be possible if they have faith that their Chelsea is in a delightful land, far, far more pleasant than what is true today on the earth, and that when they die they will see their daughter at her loveliest.
On occasion God promises us something. The fulfillment of the promise may be many years away. Meanwhile circumstances may arise that seem to prevent our ever gaining what has been promised to us. By faith we keep on trusting God to keep His word. It is in the interval of time between the vision and its fulfillment that holy character is formed. "Faith is being sure of what we hope for."
By faith we do not grasp this present world. We understand it is preparation for life in a better, eternal world. The purpose of the present world is to teach us about God and to select and train the future rulers of the Kingdom of God.
By faith we understand that our present physical world was made from the spirit world, and the two worlds therefore are similar. It is the spirit world that is full of peace and love, and is eternal. The present world is temporary. It is the valley of the shadow of death. By faith we know this to be true and are looking forward to our death as release from a nightmare.
By faith we know that God loves us and is leading us to joy, even though our present circumstances are miserable. By faith we understand that God is good; and if we obey Him we will attain to the love, joy, and peace that are eternal.
Every true Christian is given a cross to bear. This may mean he is denied something he wants fervently, or is forced to endure a situation he detests. By faith he does not force his way out of this prison, thus breaking God’s laws. He endures patiently, knowing that by doing so he will acquire a better resurrection.
The above statements describe how the righteous live. When we try to escape the demands of discipleship in order to have a more pleasant life, we open ourselves to deception.
His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." (John 2:5"
(Taken from "True Bible Faith: III," an excerpt from The Theology of Robert B. Thompson. Copyright © 2010, by Robert B. Thompson.)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
He Who Overcomes. The second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation speak of the rewards to "him who overcomes." Personally, I do not believe enough attention is paid to these two chapters. It is like they are not in the Bible; or else they apply to all believers whether they are living in defeat or in victory.
An even more startling statement is made in the twenty-first chapter of the Book of Revelation, where God has said that the believer who "overcomes" will inherit all the promises made in the first six verses of this chapter, and God will be his God and he will be God’s son. What does this say about the defeated believers?
(4/11/2010) There is one thing about the Bible. Either we believe every word or we don’t. I choose to believe that every word of the accepted manuscripts is the Word of the one true God.
This adherence to the Scriptures has led me into positions that are not in keeping with much of today’s presentations. I certainly adhere to the fundamental view concerning the blood atonement and the literal return of the Lord. But so much tradition has been added to this fundamental view that I find myself at odds with the current preaching and teaching.
If we are to take the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation, and the seventh verse of the twenty-first chapter, we must conclude that the believers in Christ are divided into two groups. There are those believers who overcome the obstacles presented in the two chapters; and then there are those who do not overcome these obstacles.
Even more challenging is Revelation 21:7. Are we to conclude that only those who live victoriously in Christ are God’s sons?
He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. (Revelation 21:7)
And the Greek term here is "son," not "child" as in John 1:12. Also, as many as are led by the Spirit, they are God’s sons, we find in Romans.
Now, are we to say that there is a difference between God’s children and God’s sons? I do not like special, mystical interpretations of the Bible. I want an interpretation that comes on boldly in both Testaments, like a huge truck on which you can kick the tires. You know what I mean?
I don’t like to dabble with novel interpretations. If it doesn’t lie clearly in the Book, then I don’t have time for it.
But you know, there is something here of value. The second and third chapters of Revelation tell us of many rewards, or increments of growth, or positions of responsibility, however you wish to view them, that are the inheritance of those who live victoriously.
Now, this is the problem. These increments of growth, or spiritual capabilities, are those we assign ordinarily to all saved people!
Some have taken the position that all believers are overcomers by virtue of their having "accepted Christ." But I do not think this position can be defended. The two chapters are written to the churches, so I think it is reasonable to assume that everyone addressed has "accepted Christ."
If every believer in the "seven churches in the province of Asia" is an overcomer by being a member of one of the seven churches, then the two chapters do not make much sense. After all, each of the seven churches is rebuked by the Lord because of its works.
If we are going to adhere to a straightforward interpretation of the Book of Revelation, then we must conclude that Jesus is saying: "To each one of you who chooses to overcome the problems present in your church I am giving increments of spiritual growth which qualify you for the first resurrection, and will climax with your being seated with Me on God’s Throne.
And, I might add, being referred to as God’s son.
While the two chapters do not mention the first resurrection, it is implicit in the fact that the victorious saints will be governing the nations with Christ during the thousand-year Kingdom Age.
So we have here a line of thought that definitely is contrary to the gospel to which we have been accustomed. We are saying that there are members of Christian churches, and then there are individuals who through Christ are able to gain victory over the problems that beset their churches. It is these individuals who will inherit the increments of spiritual growth promised to the victorious saints, and who possibly forever after will be designated as God’s sons.
I hope you can see how radical this position is. But the important thing is not that it is radical, the important aspect is that it obviously is what the infallible Word declares.
If we conclude that the position we have outlined indeed is true to the Scriptures, then there should be some evidence in the Old Testament that God intends to have a Church that is divided into two parts: those who were able during their lifetime on the earth to overcome the numerous forces coming against them; and those who believed in Jesus but for whatever reason did not live in victory.
There are several examples in the Old Testament, as well as statements in the New, that portray this division of the Christian Church. One of the prominent examples is that of the Tabernacle of the Congregation. The Tabernacle Tent was divided into two parts. There was the Holy Place, and then the Most Holy Place, separated by the ornate Veil. Please keep in mind that that Tent is a portrayal of the Church, the Body of Christ.
Also, we think of David’s reign over part of Israel, and finally over the entire country. And then there was the division between Judah and Israel.
In the Book of Revelation we find the two marriages of the Lamb. The first at the beginning of the thousand-year reign. The second at the coming down from Heaven of the new Jerusalem.
And notice the "firstfruits" of the fourteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation. They are treated differently from the remainder of the elect.
The eleventh chapter of the Book of Revelation tells of the two Lampstands. One Lampstand is the Lord Jesus. The other Lampstand is the Lord’s firstfruits.
In any case, the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation portray clearly that there are the churches, and then there are the victorious saints.
Why would there be a division of the one Church? It is because there are many members of God’s elect–in fact the majority of members–who simply are not willing or able to overcome the deceptions of the enemy that abound in the "valley of the shadow of death" (life on the present earth). Those who do overcome these deceptions are a minority.
If you find this hard to believe, look at the members of any Christian church and notice how many are denying themselves and patiently following Jesus each day. If you find one out of a hundred of the members who really are cross-carrying saints, you are in a church that is above average in spiritual growth.
If the important issue were that of dying and going to Heaven, living in victory in the earth would not be so crucial to God’s purposes. But God is looking for individuals who prove, by their willingness to stand true regardless of the opposition, that they have a personality strong enough in righteousness to govern the works of God’s hands. God then will appoint them in places of rulership when He sets up His Kingdom.
Jesus Christ overcame that which came against Him, and He is King over all. They who through Him manage to overcome, are the nobility of the Kingdom. It is just as simple as that.
It seems to me that this separation between the victorious saints and the defeated saints will endure throughout the Kingdom Age (which we term the Millennium). But how long after that I am not certain. Perhaps we can notice that David’s "mighty men" always were an integral part of Israel. Yet they continued to be famous because of their exploits in war.
So maybe David’s mighty men suggest to us that these who overcome always will be referred to as "God’s sons," while the rest are children of God. I do not wish to make a big point of this and start a new denomination called "God’s sons." But I am aware that the Book of Revelation is sealed with a special blessing and a special curse; and that if two of the twenty-two chapters are devoted to the subject of overcoming, we certainly should be hearing more about this subject than is true today in America.
Suffice it to say, there is a reward for serving the Lord. If any person, male or female, young or old, chooses to not only believe in Christ but also to follow Him in genuine discipleship, forsaking all else in order that he or she may cleave to Christ at all times throughout his or her lifetime, I believe he or she will find himself or herself one day transformed into a great pillar of light and glory who will serve as a patriarch over a vast multitude of people throughout the endless ages of eternity.
He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. (Revelation 21:7)
(Taken from "He Who Overcomes," an excerpt from The Theology of Robert B. Thompson. Copyright © 2010, by Robert B. Thompson.)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Attaining to the First Resurrection.
The concept of the first resurrection of the dead, although it is set forth clearly in the Scriptures, does not seem to be familiar to many Christians.(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:5,6)
(4/18/2010) I think the current belief is that the first resurrection is for all who have made a profession of belief in Christ. But this does not fit the words of the passage. Rather, the first resurrection is the regaining of the bodies of those who have, through Christ, overcome the world, the lusts and passions of their flesh and spirit, and their self-determination.
It ought to be clear to any sincere reader of the Book of Revelation that the promises we ordinarily associate with being a Christian are reserved for the "overcomers." But the idea of only the overcomers inheriting the promises of the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation is not always preached and taught with emphasis, as it should be.
The second resurrection, which comes at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age, is for every individual who did not attain to the first resurrection. At the second resurrection, the majority are carried over to citizenship on the new earth. The minority are imprisoned in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.
We notice in the third chapter of the Book of Philippians that the Apostle Paul was striving to attain to the resurrection that is out from among the dead. It would be ridiculous to believe this meant Paul was striving to be saved, to go to Heaven instead of Hell when he died.
If Paul was not attempting to attain to salvation, what then had he set before him as a mark? Whatever it was, or is, we certainly do not hear much about it today.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)
Paul was laying aside everything, counting it all as garbage, that he might attain to the resurrection that is out from among the dead, that is, the first resurrection.
What is so special about the first resurrection? The first resurrection is that of the kings who will govern the nations of people who survived the return of Christ with his saints to set up the Kingdom of God on the earth. At that time, those people of the nations who helped the members of God’s elect will receive eternal life, inherit the earth, and be governed by the saints. Those who did not assist the members of the elect during their time of testing on the earth will enter eternal punishment.
The rest of the dead will not regain their bodies until the end of the Kingdom Age, whether they are of God’s elect or of the remainder of mankind. At that time, those in the Book of Life will be separated from the wicked and saved to the new world of righteousness.
I believe the Scripture is clear enough concerning the firstfruits of the royal priesthood who will govern the "sheep" nations throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age.
Also, I may be correct in saying that those who attain to the resurrection out from among the dead will not only govern the saved nations but will minister to the majority of the royal priesthood who still are being prepared for their descent to the new earth to govern the citizens of the new earth. This is my understanding, according to the eighth chapter of the Song of Solomon.
Thus the ruling kings will be able to govern on the earth for the thousand years, and also minister to the rest of the Body of Christ who still are in the spirit world. The victorious saints will be able to be in two or more places at once, just as is true of the Lord Jesus.
Having stated my view of the advantage of being in the first resurrection, that which will take place when the Lord Jesus next appears to the earth, let me proceed to discuss how one attains to the first resurrection.
We note first, as I said previously, how the Apostle Paul laid aside all else and pressed forward with singleness of purpose in order to attain to the first resurrection. Such fervency is required if one is to be with Paul and the other Apostles when the Lord returns.
However, I would like to describe how one attains to the resurrection of our inward nature, which is absolutely necessary if we are to participate in the resurrection of our outward nature, that is, our physical body.
From my point of view, the resurrection of the inward nature is described best in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. A careful review of the sixth chapter will reveal the relationship between partaking of the body and blood of Christ, and the inner resurrection.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:54)
Is Jesus referring to the outward resurrection in the passage above? Let us think of it this way: The inner resurrection is to be taking place each day of our discipleship. The death resident in our old nature must be being replaced by the life that is in the body and blood of God’s Lamb, Jesus Christ.
The outward resurrection, then, will take place as a final step of attainment, having been preceded by the daily steps of exchanged life throughout the life of the disciple. The outward resurrection will take place when Jesus returns.
Now, how do we eat the flesh of Christ and drink his blood?
Each day we have at least one opportunity to choose whether or not to do what we feel Christ would have us do. Sometimes we have several opportunities.
When we pray for wisdom and strength, and do the right thing, we are fed in the spirit realm with the body and blood of God’s Lamb. When we continue to walk in our own desires we are not fed with the body and blood of God’s Lamb. We remain in our dead spiritual state.
When we are fed with the body and blood of the Lamb we receive eternal resurrection life in our inward nature. When we continue in our fleshly, adamic nature we do not receive eternal resurrection life in our inward nature. We remain unchanged.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it. (Revelation 2:17)
The "hidden manna" is the body and blood of the Lamb. The white stone is a voting pebble, meaning that the recipient is being voted into the ranks of the chosen.
The thoughtful reader can see instantly that as we make godly decisions each day we are attaining to the resurrection of our inward nature. At the coming of Christ, that which we have attained to by following the Lamb and obeying him will extend to our outer form.
When the Lamb appears in the sky, those "eagles" who live by his body and blood will be caught up to him because they are an integral, eternally inseparable part of him.
One of my favorite verses is found in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. It is as follows:
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. (John 6:56,57)
Here is my personal affirmation of faith: I am learning to say, one step at a time, "What’s next, Lord?" I want to live this way forever, living by the Presence and Life of the Lord Jesus.
You may remember the morning and evening lamb of the Old Testament. Twice a day two young lambs were offered as a burnt offering. While they were being offered, wine was being poured out next to the Table of Showbread in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle.
This ceremony tells us that each day we are to be partaking of the body and blood of God’s Lamb, as we present our body a living sacrifice to the Lord.
Say to them: 'This is the offering made by fire that you are to present to the LORD: two lambs a year old without defect, as a regular burnt offering each day.
Prepare one lamb in the morning and the other at twilight,
The accompanying drink offering is to be a quarter of a hin of fermented drink with each lamb. Pour out the drink offering to the LORD at the sanctuary. (Numbers 28:3,4,7)
Aren’t the above passages a wonderful portrayal of the daily walk of a consecrated Christian? Each day we eat of the slain Lamb and each day we drink his blood, thus attaining to the first resurrection, the resurrection that is out from among the dead.
Dear reader, you can do it. You can, through the Lord Jesus, overcome the Antichrist spirit of the world, your own sinful nature, and your insistence on living your life apart from the Lord Jesus.
For myself, I am finding righteousness, love, joy, and peace by living by the wisdom and strength of Christ in every aspect of thinking, speaking, and acting. I do not claim to have attained, to be perfect, but I am pressing on the upward way.
In the third chapter of Philippians Paul says he had not attained. But by the time he wrote Second Timothy, the crown of righteousness and life was his.
It can be this way for you and me. If we keep on pressing forward in Christ we can attain to the first resurrection, the resurrection of the firstfruits of the royal priesthood, who will be given back their physical bodies when Jesus comes.
(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:5,6)
And so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection (Greek: out-resurrection) from the dead. (Philippians 3:11) (from The Theology of Robert B. Thompson)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Eternal Life. God Himself is Eternal Life. The Holy Spirit is Eternal Life because He is of the Person of God. The body and blood of the Lord Jesus are Eternal Life because they are of the Person of God. The more we have of God, the more Eternal Life we possess.
(4/25/2010) I think we sometimes regard eternal life as a reward we receive for "accepting Christ." It is our ticket to Heaven and immortality. I don’t suppose most of us think much past the idea of going to Heaven and living there forever. Sometimes added to this is the idea that once we get the ticket we never can lose it.
I do not believe these are scriptural concepts. Eternal life is the Life of God that comes to us through the Spirit of God. It is substance. It is the body and blood of Christ. He Himself is the Tree of Life.
Unlike the ticket concept, we can have eternal life in degrees. Each day we are to lay hold on eternal life by exercising godly behavior. Eternal life is the fruit of our pursuit of righteousness and holiness.
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:23)
It is clear from the above passage that deliverance from sinful behavior and slavery to God leads to holiness. The result of such behavior results in eternal life.
It is interesting to note that eternal life is a transformation of what we are in personality. At one time we lived by the sinful life of adamic flesh and blood. Now the Lord Jesus has given us of Himself so that we live a holy life, the very Life of God. This new life by which we now are living has little to do with where we are, whether in Heaven or upon the earth.
Just because we are in Heaven does not mean we have eternal life. We receive eternal life through interacting with the Lord Jesus. We do not receive eternal life by going to Heaven. If there is a passage of Scripture that states that all the creatures in Heaven have eternal life, I am not aware of it. If there is a truth more needed in Christian thinking today, I do not know what it is.
The following is a passage that is very important to me:
Just as the living Father has sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me shall live because of me. (John 6:57)
The point here is the idea of "feeding." The prevailing viewpoint seems to be that if we once make a profession of Christ, we have our "ticket." We have eternal life. We will go to Heaven when we die and live there in a mansion forever.
However, eternal life does not come to us as a ticket but as "food" which we must feed on continually. The "food" is the body and blood of Christ. Christ is the Tree of Life. We must eat of Him every day.
If we are to partake of Christ each day, and thus lay hold on more and more of eternal life, we must practice Christian behavior.
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (I Timothy 6:11,12)
God gave His Son that we might not perish but have eternal life. Until we receive the Life that is in the Son of God we are dead spiritually, little more than an intelligent animal.
God’s goal for us is that we might live for eternity in our body. Our opportunity to receive this gift was lost when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Now through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Tree of Life, we can gain eternal life in our body.
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Romans 8:11)
The redemption of his body was the goal of the Apostle Paul, the resurrection from the dead.
We attain to the redemption of our mortal body in two steps. The first step is the resurrection of our inward nature. We lay hold on inward eternal life each day of our discipleship, by pursuing righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. We save ourselves by doing these works.
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. (I Timothy 4:16)
If we are faithful in the work of laying hold on inward eternal life, when Jesus next appears our flesh and bones will be raised from their place of interment and clothed with our body of eternal life that has been formed in Heaven. Our body of eternal life is formed in Heaven as we lay hold on inward eternal life today.
This program of redemption does away with the last enemy, which is physical death.
There are several errors in today’s preaching. Perhaps one of the most damaging is the concept that God is going to save our present personality by bringing it to Heaven to live in a mansion. This would be humorous if it were not so harmful to Christian growth.
True salvation proceeds as we surrender our first personality to Christ, day by day, line upon line, that we may replace it with a new life. Another way of saying this is that as we live a victorious life we are given to eat of the Tree of Life.
It is the new life that inherits the Kingdom of God and is the Kingdom of God. It is the new life that will be clothed with the spiritual house from Heaven. As far as location, whether our redeemed body is on earth, in the air above the earth, or in the spirit world, is not significant. Redemption is not a change of where we are but what we are.
Christ entered the world and walked among us. He is the Tree of Life. We are dead flesh until we begin to partake of Him. He is God’s gift to us, but we have to prove ourselves worthy of this unparalleled gift by setting aside our own life as we follow the Spirit of God at all times, every day and every night.
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
The expression "eternal life" is not referring primarily to living a long time. Rather, eternal life is the knowledge of God and Christ; and is found also in the body and blood of the Lord Jesus. "Eternal life" does not refer to duration of existence. Rather, it is a kind of life.I suppose the main difference between the "ticket" doctrine of eternal life, and the true, covenantal doctrine of eternal life is that in the covenantal doctrine, eternal life is not viewed as a one-time pass into Heaven but is seen as a daily working out of the Divine redemption. Also, unlike the "ticket" doctrine, it is seen that we possess eternal life in degrees, according to the effort we have made to walk with God.
(5/2/2010) It is absolutely true that eternal life is a gift. However, it is the gift of an opportunity to attain to eternal life, not a ticket that is handed out to us on the basis of our "accepting Christ." I enclose "accepting Christ" in quotes because what often happens is a religious confession of sorts, not a genuine receiving of the Man, Christ Jesus.
That eternal life is "the gift of an opportunity to attain to life" can be seen in the following passages:
But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (I Timothy 6:11,12)
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. (I Timothy 4:16)
Today too much emphasis is placed on what Christ does in the work of redemption. It absolutely is true that all redemption proceeds from Christ. But the New Testament teaches plainly that many responses are expected from us, such as presenting our body a living sacrifice; taking up our personal cross and following the Lord Jesus. If we do not do our part, the work of redemption ceases.
Can you imagine how greatly this understanding is needed today in the Christian churches?
It is obvious from the Book of Romans that eternal life is not a package tied with a bow that is just handed to us. Rather, unlike what was true of the Law of Moses, eternal life is now made available to us. But we have to "take hold" of it by pursuing godly behavior.
The Apostle Paul toward the end of his life was still endeavoring to "take hold" of the inward resurrection which is the prerequisite for receiving the first resurrection, that is, the redemption of the physical body that will occur when the Lord next returns to the physical world.
It appears we have made eternal residence in Heaven the goal of the Christian redemption. It assuredly is not. The goal of redemption, according to the Apostle Paul, is the making alive of our inward nature, and then, when the Lord returns, the making alive of our physical body.
I think sometimes that Christians believe being resurrected means going to Heaven. Resurrection has nothing whatever to do with going to Heaven. Resurrection means making alive what has been dead, whether the personality is in Heaven or upon the earth.
"Death" means the Spirit of God is absent.
The Apostle Paul had as his goal the complete resurrection of his inward nature. This would mean that he was living by the Life of Jesus rather than by his own life. Such resurrection of the inward nature is the necessary prerequisite for the making alive of the mortal body. God never shall make alive the physical body of any person until first the inward nature has met God's requirements for that individual.
Faithful Enoch, and also Elijah, were carried into Heaven, apparently. But that is not resurrection.
In the parable of the sower, the Lord spoke of three degrees of fruitbearing in those who have a noble and good heart, retain the word, and who persevere.
The fruit that is to be borne always is from the Spirit of God. The more of the Spirit ,we have, the more fruit we bear. The fruit is the moral image of Christ, and untroubled rest in the center of God's Person and will.
The forty-seventh chapter of the Book of Ezekiel also tells us of levels of the Spirit. There are the three levels that follow the Divine judgment on us, and then there is the fourth level, the waters to swim in.
The three levels of Ezekiel speak of the increasing work of redemption. The fourth level is the Fullness of God. At this point we are planted by the River of Life and have become a tree of life, like our Lord, because we are filled with our Lord.
The water of eternal life will go out from us into the dead sea of mankind, bringing eternal life to all who will receive it. Thus there is a vast inheritance to those who will never cease pressing forward in the Lord Jesus. This was how Paul lived.
Both the Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." All who are thirsty may come and drink freely of the water of eternal life.
It is my point of view that every member of the new world of righteousness will have a portion of God's Spirit in him or her. There will be no more "sea" of people who are living according to their fallen nature and who can be swayed by demagogues.
How much of the Spirit we possess depends on the diligence with which we obey God each day. God gives His Spirit to those who obey Him.
If we will bear our personal cross and follow Jesus diligently all our life, we will be of enormous benefit to God and mankind, and also to ourselves and our loved ones.
Let's do it!
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
The Fullness of God. Read Ephesians 3:1-21.
There are at least three major platforms in the work of redemption. There is the basic platform of forgiveness through the blood atonement. There is the development of the Life of the Spirit in us. Finally there is what the Apostle Paul sets forth as the "Fullness." These three platforms are pictured by the three levels of water, in Ezekiel, Chapter 47.
The fourth level, of Ezekiel, is that of service as a tree of life growing on the bank of the River of Life. Isaiah, Twelve, that describes the personal testimony of those who are filled with the Fullness of God, speaks of how they with joy bring forth the water of Life to the dead people of mankind. The Lord Jesus also, during the feast of Tabernacles, spoke of the living water coming from those who believe in Him.
(5/9/2010) And to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:19)
Paul's prayer for the saved, Spirit-filled saints in Ephesus was that they might be strengthened in their inner nature until they were filled with all the Fullness of God.
As we press forward in the operation of redemption we experience three deaths and three resurrections before we can bring forth eternal life to others to the extent God desires.
The first death is our death to the world. We die this death when we are baptized in water, signifying that we have died to the world and have risen to live with the Lord Jesus in newness of life.
We experience the second death and resurrection as we resolutely put to death through the Spirit the evil deeds of our old personality and come to life in the Spirit of God.
We enter the third death and resurrection as we keep saying, "Not my will, but Yours be done." We maintain this attitude while we patiently are enduring the prisons we are placed in. Our motivations must be given over to the will of God so that His will is done in the earth. This is the Kingdom of God, the rule of God over our personality.
Throughout our lifetime on earth (and perhaps for eternity, I do not know) we are to keep on knowing more of Christ, experiencing more of Christ.
Have you noticed in the Scriptures some of the startling passages concerning our life in Christ? The following is one of my favorites.
Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. (John 6:57).
I can't speak for you, but it is the desire of my heart to feed on Jesus until His Life is my life. This promise is in the Scriptures, so it is available to whoever will.
Another passage that has been very meaningful to me is as follows:
That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:21-23)
Now take a deep breath and notice carefully what is being said here. This is one of the most remarkable prayers in the Bible.
"That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you."
The Father and the Son are totally One, because the Father is in the Son in His Fullness and the Son is in the Father in His Fullness. The members of the Wife of the Lamb are to be one in the Oneness that is God.
"May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."
The purpose of our being created one in God is that the world may believe that the Father is the One who has sent the Son. This is the true goal of our election. It is not that we might spend eternity in Heaven. It is that the people of the nations may come to realize that Jesus Christ is from the Father. God wants the world to hear His beloved Son and obey Him.
"I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one."
The Lord Jesus has received the Fullness of the Glory of God because He is an inseparable part of God. We cannot receive from Christ the Divine Glory until we are an inseparable part of Christ. God will never give His Glory to another!
"May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."
Here is an extremely interesting statement. God's purpose is to bring the members of His Church into the oneness with Him that is true of Jesus Christ so that the world will understand that God loves His elect just as He loves His only begotten Son.
It is time for us Christians to grow up into the Fullness of Christ. We have been redeemed through the blood atonement, it is true. But the world does not see God in us.
We have been baptized with the Spirit of God, it is true. But the world does not as yet see Christ in us. In fact, in many instances the people of the world are disgusted with the antics of the church people.
But God gave His Son so that the spiritually dead of mankind might not perish in their corruption but come to Divine Life. This resurrection cannot take place until the elect are willing to do God's will rather than their own, are filled with the Fullness of God, and are in their places as trees of life growing on the banks of the River of Life.
Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. (Ezekiel 47:6,7)
If you wish to be a tree of life bringing eternal life to the dead sea of mankind, then tell God about it and press forward in Christ. If you do, Isaiah, Twelve will become your personal testimony:
Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:2,3)
These promises are for you and me; but we are going to have to pursue Jesus with total diligence if we are to attain to all the Fullness of God!
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Election. Arminianism and Calvinism are two somewhat divergent philosophies regarding being saved. Arminianism appears to emphasize that being saved is the free choice of each person. Calvinism, on the other hand, appears to emphasize Divine foreknowledge and election regarding being saved.
(5/16/2010) The seeming discrepancy between free will and election proceeds from seeking to interpret the Bible deductively–fastening on a few passages and ignoring the others. The Bible has to be interpreted inductively. The believer must accept every passage of Scripture as God's Word. Any seeming contradictions must be understood as proceeding from our limited understanding of the whole counsel of God.
The Scripture teaches clearly that whoever believes the Gospel and is baptized in water shall be saved.
The Scripture teaches clearly that God draws to Jesus whom He chooses.
Are these two truths contradictory? Not at all! As we follow Christ diligently we understand that both are true.
One aspect of the problem is that scholars often do not seem to recognize that there are two classes of saved people. One class consists of God's royal priesthood. The other class is the members of the nations who believe and are baptized.
Whoever, of the nations of the earth, believes the Gospel and is baptized shall be saved. This is God's unchanging promise. They shall be held over to citizenship in the new world of righteousness.
Then there are those, like the Apostle Paul, who are struggling to the end of their days to grasp that for which they have been grasped. This struggle is true of every member of God's elect priesthood. They are "Israel." They struggle with God.
The saved members of the nations must seek to live according to the Bible; for it is possible to turn back into the world after having been baptized in water. Then they are as a dog that returns to its vomit.
The members of the Church, the elect, must make their calling and election sure by embracing the virtues of godly behavior.
In no case, whether of the elect or the saved members of the nations, does Christ "do it all." We could wish that He would! But He doesn't. The New Testament is filled with exhortations to righteous behavior. I know that some teach that salvation is ordained of God and no matter what we do we will, when we die, go immediately to Heaven to live in a mansion.
They are mistaken as to means and ends.
The position that any person can choose to attain whatever position in the Kingdom he or she desires is acceptable to the American ideal of equality of opportunity. However, this is not true of the Kingdom of God. Our position in the Kingdom is God's choice.
If we are to grasp that for which we have been grasped by the Lord, we have to obey Jesus Christ strictly and consistently. It is entirely possible for someone to steal our crown of righteousness, life, and authority if we are not diligent.
The people of Israel are an excellent example of election, and also of the danger of not obeying God after we have been called out from the nations of the earth.
God has dealt with no other nation on earth as he has with the Jews. This election continues on through to the new Jerusalem, the gates of which are inscribed with the names of the families of Israel. The gifts and callings of God are without repentance.
The ninth chapter of the Book of Romans includes clear teaching on the matter of Divine election. If we are to accept this chapter as being the Word of God, we cannot in conscience deny the reality of election. "God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.
Again, Paul states that before the twins were born, God loved Jacob and hated Esau.
If we cannot accept Paul's statements about election, why should we accept anything Paul wrote? Of course, this seems unfair. I think we Americans are just going to have to get used to the fact that God is the Potter and human beings are the clay. The Potter can form the clay into whatever He wishes.
Can any person choose to follow Christ? Of course. Jesus will never turn away anyone who comes to Him, unless that individual knowingly and willfully has chosen to disobey Christ.
Where all of this comes together is that no person can even want to come to Jesus unless the Father draws that person. Even the desire to come to Jesus proceeds from God.
Sometimes people are afraid they have blasphemed the Spirit of God and are afraid they are doomed. I tell them that if they even have a desire to be accepted by the Lord they have not gone past the point of no return.
So much depends on our desires! If we are wise we will ask God to give us His desires for us. I pray this prayer frequently. We do not know what will bring us love, joy, and peace; so we are wise if we ask God to give us His desires for us. Then He can give us the desires of our heart.
There is a practical effect of clearly understanding the role of elect. It helps us realize we are not of the world. Christ has called us out of the world to be part of the royal priesthood. We are not of the world as He is not of the world. The word "Church" means "called out." Did you know that?
We are not to compare ourselves with the unsaved. The local assembly is infinitely more than a social gathering. It is supposed to be the Light of God among men. It is a prophet, a lampstand, a witness of Almighty God. The local church should have a healthy social component, but its first purpose is to reveal God to the world.
The follower of Jesus Christ is a "saint," a "holy one." As such he is to come out from the world, as the Spirit enables, and touch not the unclean thing. He is to purify himself in the fear of God, putting out of his personality all that is not clean in the Lord's sight.
I mentioned before the conflict between the "free will" and the "elect" philosophies of salvation. At one time the "elect" emphasis prevailed. Today the "free will" emphasis is prevailing. Hopefully the pendulum will swing back to the middle so that election and free will are assigned their rightful places in Christian thinking.
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
The Servant of the Lord. The Book of Isaiah tells us about the Servant of the Lord. The Servant of the Lord is Christ, Head and Body. Each of us who is a member of the Body of Christ finds what our role is by studying Isaiah, Chapter Forty-two, and related passages.Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. (Isaiah 42:1)
The passage above is speaking directly to each member of the Body of Christ. It is telling us that he or she is God's servant. The Christian preaching of today seems to be stressing that God is our servant. He is not. God's will is the only legitimate will in the universe.
There is no part of the Bible that tells us of the good that will come to us if we do not do God's will instead of our own. But for those who set themselves to do God's will, and only God's will, the Bible offers us an inheritance more glorious than our wildest hopes and imaginations.
Each member of the Servant of the Lord, the Body of Christ, is upheld by the Father Himself. This means that during the chaos that is approaching America, those who believe will find that the everlasting Arms are under him or her.
Each member of the Body of Christ is a chosen one. Many people are called to partake of the Kingdom of God. But to qualify for the responsibilities and inheritance of the servants of the Lord, we must pass from the ranks of the called to the ranks of the chosen. We do this by faithfully following Christ, bearing our personal cross.
God puts His Spirit upon us because we are obedient to Him.
"He will bring justice to the nations." This thought may be new to us. The traditional view is that once we "accept Christ" we will go to Heaven when we die. What we will do there is not clear, except that we will recline at our ease forever in our mansion while an angel pops grapes into our mouth.
It becomes apparent at once that the traditional view of the Christian salvation is far removed from what the Scriptures tell us. We have not been saved, filled with God's Spirit and built up by the gifts of the Spirit so we can spend eternity doing nothing of value. God has called us, chosen us, and built us up through the ministries of the Body of Christ so we can bring justice to the nations.
As we look about us today we can see the efforts being made to bring about a world government with the power to enforce its rules on the citizens of every country. This might be beneficial, if it were not for the fact that the rules of the world government will conflict with the values of Christian people.
There finally will be "peace and safety," but it will be a peace and safety in line with Satan's personality and desires. We Americans had better awaken from our comfortable beds, because our nation rapidly is being prepared to be a part of this world government that does not know, fear, or honor God.
The Servant of the Lord has been chosen by the Father to bring justice to the nations. The stated purpose of the world government will be to bring justice to the nations. But the world government always will fumble and end up denying justice to many people. This is because the evil nature of unregenerate people will be self-serving, personally ambitious. The result inevitably will be iniquities, lies, and treacheries of every kind. Governments always are like this, it seems.
However, it is not God's desire that the nations of the earth live in injustice. God has permitted the past 6,000 years of agony and insanity so angels and people could see what happens when angels or people follow their own will.
I think the time is up. The audio-visual instruction has been completed. A few more agonizing, insane years of the rule of self-seeking man and self-seeking angels, and Christ shall appear with His righteous angels, and called, chosen, and faithful saints. The resistance of the nations will be smashed with the rod of iron created in the victorious saints. Righteousness, love, peace, and joy will fill the people of the nations of the earth as the saints, having been filled with Christ and taught by Christ, assume the thrones that govern the earth.
"He will bring justice to the nations." This is the Word of God, less shakable than Gibraltar. It shall take place! We who have been chosen to be members of the Servant of the Lord must endure many frustrations and pains while the rod of iron is created in us. But our inheritance is God and the people of the nations whom God chooses to save.
It will be worth it all when we see Jesus and are invited to share with Him the greatest treasures of all—people.
I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, (Isaiah 42:6)
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Perhaps we would change this to say, "God so loves the Church." But this is not what is written. God loves the world!
God does not love the present world spirit, for that spirit is Antichrist. But God loves the people of the world, and He desires that as many as possible have eternal life instead of a dead spiritual nature that does not know God or have fellowship with Him.
Because of His desire, God has called out of the world His Church, His servant. For two thousand years God has been calling out His servant, the members of the Body of Christ and bringing them through every conceivable testing and experience. God is not doing this so His servants will be happy doing nothing in Heaven but so they will be able to bring eternal life to whoever will come and drink, and thus come to know God and to have fellowship with Him.
God makes us to be a covenant for the people of the nations. If they will do what we say, we on our part will open their eyes to God; we will bring them out of the prison of spiritual death and separation from God; we will open the door of their dungeon so they may come out into the Light of God's Presence.
Perhaps God makes it possible for us to do some of this work today. But the redemption of mankind will come with the return of Christ and His saints and holy angels. The creation is travailing in pain today, because the Kingdom of God is about to be brought forth.
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. (Romans 8:19-21)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
The Ruler. The Father has made the Lord Jesus Christ the Ruler of all God has created. The Father has ordained that the Lord have a number of brothers who are to govern along with Him. In order for this to occur, Christ must be formed in His brothers. According to the Scriptures, the brothers of Christ will be brought forth in the closing days of the Church Age.(5/30/2010). Notice the following prophecy, the Word that I think gave to the three travelers from the East the knowledge that Christ was to be born in Bethlehem:
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. (Micah 5:2,3)
"Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites." This is speaking of the "ruler in Israel," who obviously is the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus has not asserted His rulership over the nation of Israel, because the time had not come of the Church to bring forth Christ in the members of His Body. Jesus has determined that His brothers shall rule with Him and share in the inheritance.
I am inclined to believe the time has come for Jesus and His brothers, the members of the Body of Christ, to return and deliver the Jews from their oppressors; and this is why the Scriptures are opening to us the way they are.
The following passage may suggest that the forming of Christ in the members of His Body may be a somewhat sudden event:
Hear that uproar from the city, hear that noise from the temple! It is the sound of the LORD repaying his enemies all they deserve. Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son. Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?" says the LORD. "Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?" says your God. (Isaiah 66:6-9)
Before the Church went into labor, the Son, Jesus Christ was born. But then, just as soon as Zion travailed in birth, she brought forth the brothers of the Lord. This warns us that events in the spirit realm will develop quickly from this point forward. The spiritual darkness will increase, but so will the Light of God.
First the Son, born without travail. Then the travail and the brothers are born.
Notice the travail of the Church:
"She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth."
Do we find evidence in the New Testament of the birth of the brothers of Christ?
The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. (Revelation 12:4,5)
The child who is born at this moment is not the Lord Jesus. It is His brothers. The "woman" here is not Mary, it is the Church.
The members of Christ's Body are caught up to God and to His throne. This is an event we experience. As we keep praying until we "pray through," we feel in ourselves that we have overcome the darkness of the world. We sense that we have been caught up to the Throne of God and are seated with Christ in the heavenlies.
Are the saints actually going to govern along with Christ?
Notice the following:
In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13,14)
Of course, the Person "like a son of man" is our Lord Jesus.
But notice carefully the following:
I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. I approached one of those standing there and asked him the true meaning of all this. So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things: "The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth. But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever." (Daniel 7:16-18)
The interpretation of the vision is that "the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever."
The "one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven," is the Lord Jesus. But the interpretation of the vision is that "the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdoms and will possess it forever."
I take from this that either "the clouds of heaven" are the saints with whom the Lord comes, or their coming is the same as His coming in that He is in them and they are living by His Life. Even if they are the clouds of heaven mentioned here, it still is true that it is Christ in them; for it is certain we cannot rule apart from the Life of Christ in us.
When Christ walked the earth it was the Father who was doing the works and announcing His own Words. This is what Jesus told us. But the Father Himself was not visible to us.
I do not think it is too much of a stretch to think of the appearing of the governing saints to be actually the governing of Christ who is in them; but yet when the Lord returns, in some instances it will be only the saints who are visible.
It is true and scriptural that we are to be made one with Christ as He is One with the Father. This is the prayer of the Lord. Also, Paul, in Romans, tells us that we have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Him who is the Firstborn among many brothers.
So, in accordance with the Scriptures, Mount Zion, the Church of the Firstborn, is in travail today. You and I are experiencing these birth pangs. They demand our compliance in the deepest roots of our being.
We have been destined to sit with the Lord Jesus on the highest throne of all. The price attached to such an exalted position is the highest possible. All that we think, say, and do must be given to Jesus until we are living by His very Life. Only then will we be a part of the One to whom the Father has given authority, glory, and sovereign power over all peoples, nations, and men of every language. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
God is not building up the members of the Body of Christ so they can go to Heaven but so they can return with Christ and bring justice to the peoples of the earth.
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
The Two Witnesses. God always has a witness of Himself in the earth, and shall up to the time that the Lord Jesus appears. God's witness tells of His Person, His will, His way, and His eternal purpose in Christ. There is a great deal of preaching today, but I think a true witness may be in short supply.
(6/6/2010). According to the Bible, there will be one last witness before the Church Age comes to a close. The witness is set forth as "two witnesses," because it will be composed of Christ bearing witness within His victorious saints.
The tenth and eleventh chapters of the Book of Revelation really should be one chapter. The vision begins with the coming down from Heaven of a huge, powerful angel, with one foot on the sea and other on the land. He is fiery, representing Divine judgment; and he had a rainbow over his head, revealing that his authority comes from the very Throne of Almighty God.
Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. (Revelation 10:1)
I think this mighty angel has come already. The seventh (last) trumpet is about to sound, at which time we will be changed into immortality.
The mighty angel shouts causing the seven thunders to speak. The seven thunders are the fullness of Divine power. But they cannot be released as yet because the Christian ministry at this time is characterized by self-will, self-direction.
And he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. (Revelation 10:3)
Although the seven thunders are being restrained, the hour has come for the mystery of God to be accomplished. The mystery of God is Christ in us. The Scriptures, both Old Testament and New, show us that in the final hours of the Church Age, Christ will come to maturity in those who are living by His body and blood rather than by their own natural life.
But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets." (Revelation 10:7)
The final witness that is to be borne will be given by those who "eat" the Word of God rather than merely read it. It will be as honey in the mouth, but it will crucify the inner nature until Christ is formed in the saint.
I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings." (Revelation 10:10,11)
The words on the scroll are the prophecy that is to be given at the closing of the Church Age.
The saints, who eat the book, are destined to "prophesy again" about peoples, nations, languages, and kings. The Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached as a witness to all nations, and then the end of the Church Age will be here and the Kingdom will come to the earth through Christ—Head and Body.
Notice the "prophesy again." The first prophecy was on the Day of Pentecost. These are not prophecies to build up the members of the Body of Christ but prophecies to the world of the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth.
But first the saints must be judged (measured), especially those who are crying "Not my will, but Yours be done." While this judgment is taking place, the weaker Christians will be trampled on by the ungodly. I believe we can see the beginning of this prophecy today, as there is a separation between those who are living by the Life of Jesus and those who are casual concerning Christ and His Kingdom.
I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles." (Revelation 11:1,2)
As soon as the saints have been judged, the power of the seven thunders will be given to them. They no longer are self-directed. Christ, the one Witness is directing them. The saints constitute the other witness.
The two olive trees speak of the double portion of power, symbolized by the power given to Elisha. This is the "again prophecy," the first prophecy occurring when the Spirit of God was poured out at the beginning of the Church Age. First the power of Elijah. Then the power of Elisha.
These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. (Revelation 11:4)
The end-time saints will not be primarily teachers of the Bible. Rather, their role will be to announce and bear witness of the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. Notice that Elijah and Elisha were not characterized by what they taught. Rather they were witnesses, reminding the Jews of their God.
This tremendous witness will be given over a specific period of time. Then the power of the witness will be withdrawn, and the results of the witness will be sifted. Many who bore the witness will succumb to lust, worldliness, and personal ambition (Sodom, Egypt, and Jerusalem). Those who are able to stand will be hidden away by the Lord.
When an unusual anointing is bestowed, marvelous acts are performed. When the anointing is lifted, character is revealed.
In the last days there will be spectacular signs and wonders. The two witnesses, Christ and (in) his victorious saints, will work colossal miracles, as described in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Revelation.
But there is another set of people who also will work miracles. These are described in the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation.
Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. (Revelation 13:11-13)
The above miracle worker is often referred to as the False Prophet.
So now we have two sets of people who work miracles in the days of Antichrist. The False Prophet is composed of people who work miracles but are not cross-carrying disciples. They speak with the voice of the dragon (I will! I will!) while they demonstrate the double portion of power (the two horns of the Lamb).
The two witnesses, on the other hand, are judged before they are entrusted with the power of the seven thunders. They have died to their own self-will.
These two kinds of people are in the earth today. The first group is seeking power rather than to walk in humility with the Lord Jesus. The second group, the true, victorious saints, are learning each day to look to the Lord Jesus for His will in every detail of their life.
Now when they (the two witnesses) have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. (Revelation 11:7)
Now we have come to the time when Antichrist will be allowed to exercise great power. His spirit and way will prevail in the earth. However, even in the deepest moral darkness, when ignorant people are crying "Peace and Safety," there will be deliverance available in the remnant whom God has hidden away.
At the time of the greatest spiritual darkness ever to be experienced on the earth, Christ will appear. The power of the witness will be restored. The true saints will be caught up to Christ in a cloud.
But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on. (Revelation 11:11,12)
Do you remember how the dead man touched Elisha's bones and came to life?
Now the seventh angel will sound his trumpet, and the saints will receive immortal bodies. They will descend with the Lord, and the kingdom of the world will become the Kingdom of God and of His Christ—Head and Body.
God is preparing His witnesses in the present hour. They are measured, and measured, and measured again. Every particle of their personality is being examined. They must become dead-living people before they can be entrusted with the total power of the seven thunders.
It is not impossible to cooperate with the demands of the Holy Spirit as He prepares us for the final witness. But we must be prepared to give everything to Christ.
This final, terrifying witness is God's love for mankind. God wants as many as possible to repent so they will be saved when the Kingdom of God comes with power and by force is established among the nations of the earth.
The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 11:15)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
The Baptism With Fire. There is a baptism with the Holy Spirit. This is the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish observance of Pentecost. There is a baptism with fire. This is the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish observance of the Day of Atonement. During the previous century, numerous believers were baptized with the Holy Spirit. During the present century, numerous believers will be baptized with fire. Our God is a consuming Fire!
(6/13/2010). "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." (Matthew 3:11)
As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. (Matthew 13:40-43)
Notice the timing: "At the end of the age." We are here now.
Please notice also that at the end of the age, everything that causes sin will be weeded out of the Kingdom of God. Also, all who do evil will be weeded out of the Kingdom of God. All this at "the end of the age."
It appears that for the two thousand years of the Church Age, the Christian salvation has been regarded as one of forgiveness, grace, mercy, etc. Now a radical change is here. The Christian salvation still is one of forgiveness, but the emphasis is on the removing of sin and sinners from the Kingdom of God. The Savior has become the Man of War. Moses has become Joshua. The twenty-third Psalm has merged into the twenty-fourth Psalm.
It had to happen sometime, didn't it? We know intuitively that the Kingdom of God is not a kingdom of people who are continuing to sin. The new Jerusalem is not a city of those who do not do God's will. But when will the sin be removed—not the guilt of sin, but the sinning itself?
"At the end of the age." The time is now. The place is wherever we are. The program involves God and our cooperation with God.
Christ will not do it alone. We cannot do it alone. It is the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, so to speak.
The Fire of God will burn the sin out of our personality. If we refuse to cooperate with the Lord, we ourselves will be removed from the Kingdom of God—Christian or not. It is a purging of the Kingdom, not a purging of the world!
Each one of us carries a suitcase loaded with snakes. Our snakes are in three categories: our love for and trust in the world system; the lusts of our flesh; and our self-will, self-determination. The Holy Spirit deals with each of these areas of sin in a different manner.
Concerning our love for the world spirit: we take the first step by being baptized in water, reckoning ourselves crucified with Christ. Then each day we make an effort to keep our involvement in the world, in the Antichrist spirit, to a minimum. We are not of the world and we need to act like it.
As we make this determination, God helps by bringing tribulation on us so that we have to keep praying fervently in order to come successfully through our problems. When we do our part by being in the world but not of the world, the Fire of God gives us the wisdom and strength we must have if we are to live a victorious life in the Lord Jesus.
Concerning the lusts of our flesh: the Spirit of God keeps pointing out to us the specific uncleannesses in our thinking, speech, and actions. Sexual lust, for example, is a major problem in the world today. Numerous leaders in the government and the churches are falling into sexual sin.
When we become aware of a specific fleshly sin, we are to confess it, denounce it as fit for the Lake of Fire, renounce it, turning away from it with all the strength we have, and then come to the Lord Jesus for wisdom and help so we do not fall into the same pit again. Many believers of today are going to be torn down from their high position in Christ because they are yielding to the fiery temptations that afflict our flesh.
Satan works with deception, particularly but not exclusively in the area of sexual lust. The only manner in which we can avoid being deceived is to take up our personal cross and carry it behind Jesus each day. This world is not Heaven, and when we try to make it heavenly we fall into deception.
Also, we are to pray constantly, "Do not lead me into temptation but deliver me from the evil one." God hears this prayer if we are sincere and fervent.
Concerning our self-determination: of the three areas of sin, self-determination is the most difficult to deal with, and the most prevalent in Christianity.
I believe God has impressed on me that the only way to survive the coming age of moral horrors in America is to be very close to the Lord Jesus. I make it a practice at all times to talk to Jesus about everything I am doing, sometimes praying for help. In this manner I keep in the Lord's Presence.
But as I look at how the denominations and the churches approach their work, it is as though they are doing what they think is best for Jesus and His Kingdom, but they are not actually hearing from Him. They are taking for granted that He wants everyone on earth to make a profession of faith in Jesus. But is this actually what Christ wants? They are guessing, I believe.
There has been much talk about the timing of the so-called "Rapture." But has anyone heard from the Lord or are they offering their opinion?
Concerning the welfare of America: there are calls for repentance so our nation will be saved. But is this what Christ wants? Or has the practice of abortion-on-demand pushed America over the edge where Christ is not willing to hear our prayer for our nation? Do we know for sure, or don't we? It is not enough to just assume this is what God wants.
The principal problem of mankind is that of making decisions apart from Christ. This problem began in the Garden of Eden. It has continued to the present day. It exists in secular society and it exists in the Christian churches.
How many believers of our day are listening to Jesus and obeying Him diligently? I think there may be numerous believers who do walk with Christ through the day. But I do not know of a Christian organization or group that waits on the Lord. They all seem to have an idea of what Christ wants; but their decision so often is mental, not prophetic.
What would happen if every Christian organization stopped what it is doing and assigned some people to pray until God revealed His will?
According to what I was told by Einar Gislason, an Icelandic pastor, it was by assigning an individual to remain in an oxhide tent until he heard from God that Christianity was chosen as the religion of Iceland. It is a thrilling story!
To put it simply, we Christians must cease taking things for granted, assuming what Jesus wants today. Rather, we are to keep petitioning Him to make His wishes known. I do this. He has instructed me to seek Him fervently in every decision of life, down to the smallest detail, and to encourage others to do the same. No decision we make during the day or night is too insignificant to merit the Lord's attention.
I think Jesus is saying that we now are entering the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish Day of Atonement. It is a time of being reconciled to God as He points out the various sins of our personality. We confess our specific sins as being unworthy of the Kingdom of God. We judge them as evil. We denounce and renounce them with all of our strength, plus Jesus' help.
Some denominations may have a true call to go forth and bring the Gospel to the spiritually dead people of the world. But I believe Jesus is telling me that what He desires is that His people turn from their sins and listen to Him at all times for directions for their life.
Those who make the change from self-determination to the rule of Jesus over their life will save themselves and those who hear them, throughout the coming age of moral horrors in America.
It is time for the baptism with fire that we might be reconciled to the Consuming Fire.
But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, (Malachi 3:2,3)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Holiness. God is holy. He has commanded us to be holy as He is holy. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Holiness is that important. But what exactly is holiness? Holiness is God Himself.
(6/20/2010). God Himself is Holiness. All that is of God is holy. All that is not of God is not holy. Thus we see that Divine calling, and obedience to God, are part of true holiness.
There are holiness of dress and speech. But these are not holy unless God has ordained them. They are nothing more than religious practices, although the believers may be people of integrity and sincere in their actions.
We must be careful at this point, however. In early Pentecost there were strict opinions about dress, makeup, hairdos, usually aimed at women as we see. Then there was a reaction to these outward holiness guidelines. The pendulum swung too far the other way. Now Christian people could go to X-rated movies, swear, drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, and do as they please. "To the pure all things are pure," they cry.
However, not all things are pure to the Lord Jesus. They simply do not know the Lord and how important holiness is to God. I guess they forgot Paul said, "Come out from among them and touch not the unclean thing.
The truth is, a Christian should look like a Christian; talk like a Christian; dress like a Christian; act like a Christian. Common sense tells us this; but sometimes common sense is in short supply, isn't it?
If a believer does not know how to act like a Christian or look like a Christian, all he or she needs to do is to ask Jesus, or an unsaved person. Either one will set the record straight.
The filthiest aspect of the human personality is self-will. The Pharisees murdered the Lord because of their self-will, reflected in their love to be preeminent.
There is no foolishness, silliness, giddiness, joking, mischief, abandonment to revelry, spite, insincerity, lying, or duplicity in God. These are unclean spirits. They are not holy.
When we are brought before God our speech must be sound, sincere, void of craft or guile of any sort. This is why little children can stand in His Presence.
There is an ultimate sincerity and lack of foolishness in Gethsemane and Calvary. This is why the thought of them is such a comfort to us when we are suffering and at the end of our strength.
There is a romantic spirit that comes from God and is holy. God created such things as music, poetry, sunsets, and sunrises. This spirit leads us to the new Jerusalem.
There is a romantic spirit that comes from Satan and is unclean. This spirit results in treachery, despair, and sexual perversions. It leads to torment and finally to Hell.
A matter is holy if it includes the Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. A matter is not holy if it does not include the Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
How are righteousness and holiness related? Righteousness has to do with our behavior toward people. Holiness has to do with the relationship of our thinking, speaking, and acting toward God.
Ordinarily, truly holy people will behave righteously and are people of integrity. However, God may choose someone to be holy; but while he is coming to maturity he may from time to time behave unrighteously. We see this in the case of Jacob lying to his father.
One way of looking at holiness is that there is an absence of unclean spirits. God is totally spiritually clean and wants us to purge ourselves from all spiritual filthiness of the flesh and spirit. The Holy Spirit will accomplish such purging if we will cooperate with Him.
When we are totally in God's moral image, totally free from unclean spirits, and totally at rest in the very center of His Person and will, then we will be totally holy. May God grant this for each one of us.
I think the essence of holiness is obedience to God. It is true that God may regard us as holy if we are seeking to please and obey Him, and not be behaving as yet in total obedience to Him. But in the final analysis, the person who truly is holy is the individual who is committing all of his or her ways to the Lord.
Our God is a Consuming Fire. All that does not proceed from Him cannot possibly survive His Presence. The time soon will be here when God shakes the heavens. Then all that has not been wrought in Christ, especially religious people and their works, shall be removed.
At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken, that is, created things so that what cannot be shaken may remain. (Hebrews 12:26,27)
When the above passage mentions "created things" it is referring to the works of human thinking and ambition. None of them will survive the Divine shaking. Only that which God brought forth in Christ is holy and unshakable and shall remain in God's Presence.
As I grow older I increasingly am aware of how much Christian work and activity is coming from the good intentions of Christian organizations and people. How often do denominations cry, "Let us go forth and save the world." They are assuming that this is what God wants, because of the Great Commission.
But they do not seem to realize that the New Testament describes a covenant of the Spirit of God, and must be interpreted and obeyed only as we wait until we hear from the Lord Jesus.
Thus our well-intentioned Christian work may not be holy and may be subject to shaking and removal. God may not be authorizing it.
For years I have been making it a practice to listen carefully to what Jesus is saying. His word to me has been consistent. "It is time for God's people to listen to His Spirit as He points out to them those areas of their personality that are not holy. They are to diligently confess, denounce, and renounce these unclean areas. The Holy Spirit will help all along the way."
God is not speaking to me about going forth and trying to save the world. Is He to you? Rather He is telling me to advise His people to listen to Him and to obey Him. God has new and surprising things to show us that will survive the shaking and will enable us to stand in Christ throughout the age of moral horrors that America is entering, and to help others to stand.
Is Christ saying this to you, or is He urging you to go out and save the world?
The behavior of the leaders of our government and their supporters in the mainstream media, is difficult for some of us to understand. It appears obvious to me that our nation is being destroyed from within. So many people seem to be devoid of common sense.
I realize this is God's punishment because of our tolerance of abortion-on-demand and other abominations. We have been given minds void of judgment. So our country increasingly is being weakened. If I am not mistaken, other nations of the world are seeing this destruction and are rejoicing that the once mighty America is falling to its knees, like so many great empires of the past.
Numerous sincere Christians are humbling themselves and praying that God will restore America. May God hear them and grant their prayer, provided we do not return to the present abominable practices.
There came a time in the history of Israel when God declared that He would not spare the nation from destruction. On one occasion God told Jeremiah that the people who surrendered to the Babylonians would be spared.
My point is, we need to hear from God before we tell Him what we want Him to do. Do you agree with that, or are you willing to pray against what God has determined? If we keep praying, and keep listening, then we will be able to pray in line with God's Spirit.
"Be holy, because I am holy," says the Lord." If we would see the Lord and live in His Presence we must be holy.
What does this mean? It means each day we are to bring more of our thinking, speaking, and acting into conformity to Christ's will for us. It increasingly must be true that our personality and behavior are reflecting the current Word of God to us.
"Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. (II Corinthians 6:17,18; 7:1)
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. (I Peter 1:15)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Becoming the Throne of God. God intends for Christ, Head and Body, to be His Throne. The holy city, the new Jerusalem, is Christ–Head and Body. The new Jerusalem shall govern the creation for eternity.
(6/27/2010). The work of placing His Person, His Throne in us, has begun today. We may notice in the Book of Revelation that to the last of the churches our Lord says, "I stand at the door and knock." Then He says that to him who overcomes will be given to sit with Christ on His Throne just as He overcame and sits with His Father on the Father's Throne.
"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." (Revelation 3:20-22)
From my point of view, the passage above is telling us that Christ wants to enter and have fellowship with us. As He does, we become the Throne of God. Christ Himself is the Throne of God, and when He is dwelling in us, we become the Throne of God.
I am glad He said He would eat with us and we with Him. He dines on our obedience and worship. We dine on His body and blood. He did not claim that because He enters us we would become a powerful person who will control or save the world.
It appears to be inherent in human beings that we want to govern other people. In some individuals the desire to govern others is so strong they become politicians. Then their intense desire to gain and maintain a political office often leads them to make decisions that do not truly benefit those over whom they rule, just as long as they remain in office.
Obviously, to such people the concept that God is setting His throne in us can be seen as a means to power and glory. This is the reverse of what God has in mind.
Even the disciples of Jesus argued among themselves as to who would be the greatest. Jesus responded that whoever is to be greatest must be the servant of all. The politicians of today, regardless of their philosophy of government, speak of how they are going to benefit the people. Very seldom is this the truth. The truth is they want to rule other people.
To say to such a person that he or she is supposed to serve, not seek preeminence, would be a mortal wound. He would have to experience a change of heart before he would be glad to serve others without thought of how it would benefit himself.
As far as I can tell, and I certainly hope I am mistaken, I do not believe there is a government on the earth today that is not filled with lying, bribery, treachery, self-seeking, love of preeminence, supplanting, gossip, backbiting, dishonesty, and every other satanic trait.
When God is on the throne of our heart we are free from such guile and treachery. We have a love for those whom we are serving. Our heart is pure toward God and toward people.
So no, the fact that God is installing His Throne in us does not mean that now we can order people and circumstances to conform to our will. Rather we are learning to wait patiently on Christ as He shows us His will and then guides and empowers us so we may perform His will.
You may remember that Satan offered Christ the kingdoms of the world. Jesus replied that He never would worship Satan, only God. Those today in positions of political leadership are often doing the will of Satan although they may not realize it.
I have been saying for years that in our day the Christians are going to be divided into two groups. The majority will seek power so they can go forth and minister to a "lost and dying world," doing great things for God, as they imagine. There will be a minority who will continually seek increased fellowship with the Lord Jesus so they may do His will and only His will.
You can see the difference. The majority will attempt to use God to accomplish what they believe to be pleasing to Christ. The minority will worship and obey Christ; and out from their close fellowship with Him will be borne the powerful testimony of the closing days of the Church Age.
A prophecy was given recently to a Christian denomination. The Spirit said to this large group of believers that there were problems in their midst and they needed to repent and make things right. What the leadership interpreted from this prophecy was that the denomination is to go forth and save the world.
Now we can understand why the Word says, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
How do we get ears to "hear" the Spirit, and eyes to "see" God? I know that if we are to see God we have to be holy. We have to have a pure heart.
I do not know how we get "ears" to hear. Maybe it is by waiting on the Lord and not running ahead of Him. Or maybe it is by Divine appointment. I am not certain. But to derive from this recent prophecy that we are to go out and save the world reveals that not everyone has "ears" to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
The fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of John exhorts us to "abide" in Christ. Now, what does it mean to abide in Christ and He in us? It means that we are to be continually inviting the Lord Jesus into every word we speak, every thought we think, and every action we take. Our whole personality and life is to be filled with Jesus. We are members of His Body; and it is His greatest wish that we would open the door to Him at all times so He can live His Life in us.
If Jesus is living His Life in us, is it not true that we now are the Throne of God, in that Jesus is the Throne of God?
The fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John speaks of many "rooms" in the Father's House. The Father's House is Christ, plus the members of His Body. The proper inhabitants of each room are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
When we are ready, and at rest in God's Person and will, we then can express our personality in our "room." Now there are four persons in our room: the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and ourselves.
Next, after we are in proper relationship to God, God gives us people to love and care for. Some members of Christ's Body can receive a few people as an inheritance. Others are destined to be patriarchs in the new world of righteousness. They will share with Christ millions of people whom God accounts worthy of salvation.
It is paradoxical but true that by being more concerned with God than with people we do the most good for people. It flies in the face of today's emphasis on how good people are; how we always ought to be concerned with their rights and comforts regardless of God's will for them; how God is so in love with people He never would permit them to suffer. The paradox is that the more we love God the more able we will be to bless and help people.
The majority of believers, whom we mentioned earlier, will think of our being made the Throne of God as an opportunity for self-aggrandizement. They will seek miraculous powers, as so many Christians are doing today.
Christian people, who are not content to follow after Jesus bearing their cross, and are seeking powerful gifts of the Spirit, are becoming the False Prophet. They will assist Antichrist during the closing days of the Church Age.
The minority will think of our being made the Throne of God as that which their heart cries out for–a close fellowship with God. They will enter the eternal dance with their Lord. Although they place pleasing God as the most important aspect of their life, and serving people second in importance, as always is true of the Lord Jesus, they will, as does Jesus, succeed in being the greatest possible blessing to the world.
The concept that everyone eventually will be saved, because God is too good to let people suffer very much, is a satanic lie. It comes from Satan who is hoping that people will persuade God to save him from the Lake of Fire. The truth is, he, and all those who love him, will spend eternity in the fire.
As far as rebellious people are concerned, those who will not obey Christ, the Prophet Isaiah tells of their eternal destiny:
"As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me," declares the LORD, "so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD. "And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind." (Isaiah 66:22-24)
The above is the Word of God to us. Let God be true and every man a liar!
In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land," declares the LORD, "men will no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of the LORD.' It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. (Jeremiah 3:16,17)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Becoming the Throne of God, continued. A throne is the center of decision-making. The person who sits on a throne exerts his or her will in selecting among alternative actions. Thus a throne is the position of exercising will.
(7/4/2010). The very essence of the Kingdom of God is the doing of God’s will. "Your Kingdom come. Your will be done." The Kingdom of God came into existence when the Lord Jesus Christ cried out to His Father, "Not My will but Yours be done."
Christ was being tested to see if He would do God’s will even though it meant the loss of God’s Presence–perhaps for eternity! Realizing who Christ is and His background, this test passes our ability to comprehend.
Christ passed the test, an angel being sent from Heaven to strengthen Him. As a result, Christ now has all authority and power in the heavens and upon the earth. He is Lord over all other lords; King over all other kings.
We read in the second chapter of the Book of Hebrews that to "man" is given authority over all the works of God’s hands. We do not as yet see this authority given to man, but we see Jesus. Jesus is representative "man," the first of many brothers. Yet He is exalted above all His brothers and the Firstborn from the dead.
God has led His people through many dangers, toils, and snares, as the old hymn says. There has been a purpose for each crisis, each intervention. They are not aimless. The Divine plan of redemption is pointed toward a specific goal. The goal is men and women who are to sit with the Lord Jesus on His Throne.
It is in our day that the climax of redemption is approaching. Thus the most important issue in our life today is that of learning to do God's will on every occasion.
In the Book of Revelation Jesus told us that He is knocking at the door, that is, at the door to our personality; in particular, the door to our will. Then a verse or two later, He tells us that the person who overcomes, as He overcame, will sit with Him on His Throne, which is the Throne of God.
This is what is taking place today. Jesus is asking us to let Him enter. When He enters us He has fellowship with us. He dines on our obedience and worship. We dine on His body and blood. He now is present with us and also in us. We are abiding in Christ and Christ is abiding in us. Now we will bear the fruit of His moral image, and also the fruit of being in perfect rest in the center of God's Person and will.
In order to be at perfect rest in the center of God's Person and will we must obey Christ in every situation. This means, at every point of decision in our life, from the smallest to the greatest, we must look to Jesus for the right choice, the correct action, the action that is in line with the will of God.
We do not open to Christ on one occasion and from then on He is dwelling in us. He is knocking at the door every time we make a decison. He constantly is knocking at the door. We constantly are opening to Him that His will may be known to us. This is the Kingdom of God–the doing of God's will in the earth.
Every time we look to Christ when we are faced with a decision, and choose to do what seems to be what He desires, the next decision becomes easier. We keep on looking to Jesus and obeying Him. This is what it means to overcome. We overcome, as Jesus helps us, every factor that would cause us to be disobedient.
The New Testament speaks of "overcoming." What we are to overcome is our willingness to act independently of God.
Man has been created to be the throne, the resting place of God. We cannot possibly find perfect fulfillment until God is reigning within us. It is only as God is living and ruling in him that man is more than an intelligent animal.
Babylon is man acting independently of God in the ecclesiastical world. Laodicea is man acting independently of God in the realm of God's elect. Antichrist is man acting independently of God in the secular world. The False Prophet is man acting independently of God in the world of spirits.
Becoming the Throne of God is a definite experience. It takes place as we keep inviting the Lord Jesus into our life, looking carefully to Him in all matters, day and night. This means we are praying without ceasing, as the Apostle Paul exhorted us.
Such is the new covenant–the putting of God's will in our heart so we want to do it, and the writing of God's law in our mind so we understand what it is that God wants.
God does not make His will known to each of us in the same manner. Some believers hear God's voice in their inner consciousness. Others may just sense what God wants. Still other believers may seek to obey the Scriptures, praying constantly for guidance.
Perhaps the fifth and sixth verses of the third chapter of the Book of Proverbs are of great significance in our day. We are told to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean to our own understanding. We are promised that if we will acknowledge the Lord in all our ways, He will direct our paths, making the right way straight before us.
The antichrist world spirit derives its wisdom and knowledge from education and the media. Since the media are proliferating in our day, the minds of most people are conformed to the tremendous lie that the world spirit is.
Paul advises us not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. In order to be transformed by the renewing of our mind we have to constantly invite Jesus into our decisions, great and small.
The ability to keep looking to Jesus and listening to Him is going to be of supreme importance in the coming days. Little by little a one-world government is approaching. The idea is to put an end to wars between nations.
However, as we notice, every government on earth is corrupt, filled with lying, treachery, slander, self-seeking, and every other destructive attitude and practice. This will be true of the coming one-world government. It will be governed by evil people–people who profess to be seeking the good of others but who do not have God's wisdom because they do not glorify God, only themselves.
This especially may be true in the United States of America. In time past the leaders of our government, although they were not without sin and self-seeking, did give glory to God and exhorted our citizens to pray.
It is not so today. God is being ignored. The idea, as someone expressed it, is that thinking is more profitable than praying. There are few other lies as great as this.
From the time of Adam and Eve, mankind has been under the impression that we are supposed to carve out our own destiny. This is the opposite of God's desire. God wants people to seek Him and His will in every circumstance of our life. Only then do we obtain righteousness, love, peace, and joy.
But our country and its leaders are not doing this, choosing to better the world by their human efforts. They do not glorify God nor do they seek His help in solving our numerous problems.
Thus the United States is on its way to having a much lower place among the nations. Finally its values and traditions will be swallowed up by a one-world government, which will be presided over by self-seeking men and women who do not know the Lord Jesus.
We Americans are not to fret over this. Rather, each one of us is to live as closely to the Lord Jesus as he can. In so doing the individual will become the Throne of God. Also, he will save himself and his loved ones throughout the chaotic days ahead of us.
The new Jerusalem is the glorified Christian Church that will be established on the new earth after the thousand-year Kingdom Age. Notice that the Throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, located in the saints on the earth for eternity.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. (Revelation 22:1-3)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Living in the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God guides us in the two great works of redemption: release from all that is of Satan; and change into Christ’s image and rest in the center of God’s Person and will. We must live in the Spirit; think in the Spirit; behave in the Spirit; speak in the Spirit. Little by little we are to bring our entire personality under the control of the Spirit of God.
(7/11/2010) Those of us who speak in tongues refer to ourselves as "Pentecostal." This name is derived from the fourth of the seven Jewish celebrations. The Holy Spirit fell on the assembled disciples when the Jewish celebration of Pentecost had come. This is why so many Jews were assembled in Jerusalem to witness this event.
My wife and I have been "in Pentecost" for over sixty years, so we have had considerable experience with Pentecostal people. I will say that the Spirit of worship in a church in which speaking in tongues is exercised is more fluent than in other Christian churches, regardless of the level of righteousness and holiness of the other churches. This can be verified by experience.
God knows what He is doing. When He established speaking in tongues as the way of entering the rest of God, then that is the way we enter the rest of God. It is my firm belief, however, that many fine Christians have the Spirit of God although they never have pressed through to speaking in tongues.
I am of the opinion that most of us do not understand the role of the Spirit of God in our life. It may be noted that Jewish people, who often have a sense of God's workings, associate the celebration of Pentecost with the giving of the Law on Sinai. It is believed by some scholars that the law was given at the time of the feast of Pentecost, that is, fifty days after the first Passover.
So the Holy Spirit is more than the Comforter who guides us into all truth. He is our Law, the law of the new covenant. He is to be obeyed as He leads into deliverance from sin and also into the development of Christ in us.
The expression, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God" (Romans 8:14), follows and explains the preceding verse, which warns us about living according to our sinful nature. The Spirit of God, if we are listening to Him, is always leading us to put to death the actions of our sinful nature and to press into the eternal life that results finally in the immortality of the body.
For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Romans 8:13,14)
The Law of Moses is the servant who brings us to Christ. This relationship between the Law of Moses and the new covenant is not always explained clearly.
Are we under any part of the Law of Moses? No, if we have "died with Christ" and are living by His Life, the Life of the Spirit of God.
When we are following the Spirit of God each day, we are without condemnation. The righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us.
In order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:4)
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. (Galatians 5:18)
What does the Apostle Paul mean when he states that the new covenant is not of the letter but of the Spirit?
He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (II Corinthians 3:6)
Now, precisely what does Paul mean by "the letter kills but the Spirit gives life"?
Paul means that attempting to obey the text of the New Testament, which consists of the words of Christ and His Apostles, without looking to the Lord, results in confusion and a religious spirit.
The reason there are so many divisions among the Christian denominations is that the ministers as well as the people are endeavoring to follow the text of the New Testament as though it were the same as the Law of Moses. Since one person interprets a passage one way, and another person interprets it in a different way, we have division.
The Scriptures did not come through the human mind. The Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, came through holy men who were moved by the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures can be rightly understood only as holy people are moved by the Holy Spirit.
Take the Book of Revelation, for example. How many devout teachers of the Bible have constructed timelines in connection with their explanation of the meaning of the Book of Revelation. It appears that every such teacher disagrees with the other teachers.
The only manner in which the words of Christ and His Apostles can be interpreted is by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. They cannot possibly be understood or applied correctly by scholars using their intellectual processes.
In order to understand and apply the words of the New Testament we have to have apostles. Teachers learn from other teachers, and soon we have a hodgepodge of error. This is true today. Every once in a while God sends apostles to the Body of Christ. They are people whom Christ draws to Himself and explains what He has said, is saying, and yet will say to the Body of Christ.
If ever a generation needed an apostle it is the present generation. There are ministers today who claim to be apostles; but it is not evident that they are. And so error is heaped on error.
There are numerous errors in current Evangelical theology. Perhaps the most damaging of all is the current presentation of Divine grace as an alternative to growth in righteous behavior. The emphasis on an "any-moment rapture" of the believers also is damaging, because it is leaving the Christian people unprepared for the moral chaos we are entering.
The pattern of redemption that God has followed in the Protestant Reformation is revealed in the seven feasts of Israel. We have been at feast number four, Pentecost. Now the Spirit of God is moving us into the fulfillments of the last three celebrations: the blowing of Trumpets; the Day of Atonement; and the feast of Tabernacles.
The true apostles of Christ will be explaining to us the fulfillments of the final three observances, because this is what the Spirit of God is telling us about today. This does not mean they will necessarily refer to the seven feasts of Israel. But they will emphasize the fulfillments: the Lord coming to cleanse His people; the reconciliation of our whole personality to God; God making His Throne and settling down to rest in prepared saints.
Those who are following the Spirit of God are finding themselves moving into these fulfillments, although they do not always understand what is happening to them.
In conclusion let us say that the new covenant is a covenant of the Spirit, not of the letter of the New Testament. The Spirit will never lead us contrary to what Christ and His Apostles have spoken and written. But the Spirit will, using both the Old Testament and the New Testament, tell us what Christ is saying today.
The Spirit will enable us to correctly understand and apply the Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, until the Morning Star arises in our heart and we think, speak, and act in the Spirit of God, just as our Lord Jesus always does.
And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (II Peter 3:19)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Entering God's Rest. God worked for six days. Then He rested. During those six days He created not only the physical creation but also the Kingdom of God, all the way through to the coming down of the new Jerusalem to rest upon the new earth—and beyond. At that time the names of His elect were written in His book. Since this is true, our task in life is to press into that to which we have been predestined. As Paul said, we are to grasp that for which we have been grasped.(7/18/2010)
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalms 139:15,16)And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30)
It seems to me that the passage above implies that mankind is divided into those who have a special calling, an election assigned to them, and those who do not.
There have been many arguments in time past about the possibility of an elect who are predestined to be saved. These arguments are vain, for the following reasons:
First, the elect are not called to be saved but to be brothers of Christ, being conformed to His image.
Second, the Scriptures teach with utmost clarity that there is the Church, the new Jerusalem, the elect, and then nations of saved people who walk in the light of the new Jerusalem.
Third, being predestined to and called does not mean that we are going to attain to our high calling no matter how we live. It is entirely possible for us to lose our crown of life and righteousness. The Scriptures teach this fact also with utmost clarity.
Since any believer can validate the above three facts by searching the Scriptures, I would like to pass on to the present burden: entering the rest of God.
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. (Hebrews 4:1)
Entering the rest of God is the thesis of the Book of Hebrews, although the range of topics in Hebrews does not always appear to be related to this primary thesis. It is evident, however, that Hebrews has largely to do with pressing on past the initial works of redemption.
As far as the elect are concerned, the goal of their life is to enter the rest of God. This means we must believe that God has called us to be a member of the royal priesthood. Therefore we are not to scheme how we may arrive at some other goal of our own choosing. Our task in life is to seek Christ constantly, to lay aside all else, as did the Apostle Paul, and grasp that for which we have been grasped.
To enter our assigned role in the Kingdom of God necessitates our patiently enduring numerous tribulations. Our most intense desires remain unfulfilled while we wait as cheerfully as we can in God's prison. As the Prophet mentioned, "We are shut up and cannot come forth."
Every one of those who are called to be the brothers of Christ must experience the sufferings of Christ, the sufferings of the cross. Our personal cross is not a delight. It is painful at times. If we fasten on it, it will grind us to powder. We must continue to think of our blessings, what we do have and can do, and not what we do not have and cannot do.
There are those who have been called to the royal priesthood, the governing body of the Kingdom of God, who come quite a ways toward their goal. Then the stress becomes too much for them and they lash out in the flesh. How disappointing this is to the Lord who had such high hopes for them.
We can come out from the bondage of the world spirit, and put to death the sins of our flesh as the Spirit points them out to us. But it is that third area at which some believers draw the line. They are not willing to give up their personal desires and obey Christ as He leads them toward the goal God has set before them.
What often happens is that the believer is placed in a situation in which people do not meet his or her standards. The believer becomes so enraged at the seeming injustice he is suffering that he no longer can hear the quiet voice of the Spirit.
When we find ourselves becoming angry with people, that often is a sign God is using them to perfect us. Why should we be angry with the tools God uses? That does not make sense. Let us rather look to Jesus to see what He wants us to do.
We must accept the fact that we are not going to be treated fairly in this present world. The Lord Jesus was not treated fairly. Pilate handed Christ over to be crucified when Pilate could find no reason for doing this. Christ was entirely innocent, and Pilate knew it.
This sort of injustice will be our lot until we, like Christ, give ourselves over to the will of God. Only then will we be able to hear that still, small voice of the Spirit and know what the next step on our journey is to be.
We always are to pray, and keep on praying, that God will give us the desires of our heart. And He will, in His time. But we must not give in to our fleshly impulses and take matters into our own hands, as Satan counseled Eve to do. The minute we do this we no longer can hear what Christ is saying to us through the Spirit.
I do not doubt there have been many ministers of the Gospel who have explained clearly the rest of God and how we are to press into it. However, I have not heard this subject preached. This suggests to me that it is in our day that the Lord Jesus is explaining to His disciples this all-important subject.
Well then, what exactly is our goal, our rest and God's rest in us.
Perhaps the strongest of the Old Testament types, concerning the goal of the Christian discipleship, is Canaan, the land of promise. The Israelites were saved out of Egypt in order to have their own home in Canaan, the land of milk and honey.
But what does Canaan stand for? I would say it stands for the rest of God, that is, the condition in which our life is focused on doing Christ's will at every moment. It stands for pressing past our natural life and entering the resurrection Life of our Lord. It is God's intention that we find perfect righteousness, love, joy, and peace in the very center of His Person and will.
So many Israelites died in the wilderness and never attained to their goal! The writer of Hebrews warns us about this and urges us not to stop moving forward until we have entered God's rest.
Beyond all doubt, one of the greatest hindrances to a clear understanding of the Kingdom of God is the traditional belief that the spirit Heaven is the land of promise, the fulfillment of the symbolism of Canaan. It assuredly is not! While there certainly is a spirit Heaven, where Christ, His saints, and the holy angels may be found, residence in Heaven is not the rest of God, the goal of the Christian redemption.
First of all, there is no passage of Scripture that points toward residence in the spirit world as the goal of redemption. Second, we would have to wait until we die in order to enter God's rest.
When we die, we are not faced with walls of Jericho, so to speak. The land is not divided up among us. We do not have to drive out the enemy. The entrance of Israel into Canaan is nowhere near being a type of the rest spoken of in the fourth chapter of the Book of Hebrews.
To go to Heaven is a change of place. To enter God's rest is a change of personality, a change of what we are. Contrary to popular belief, dying and going to Heaven does not change what we are. The only way we can be changed is by interacting with Jesus on a daily basis.
I don't believe the term "Heaven" is found in the writings of Paul. Paul expressed a goal. Paul's goal is to attain to the resurrection that is out from among the dead, the first resurrection. This is the resurrection of the members of the royal priesthood. They will be raised when the Lord next appears.
This first resurrection must be attained to, as Paul pointed out so clearly in the third chapter of the Book of Philippians. To maintain that Paul was laying aside all else so he would be qualified to go to Heaven when he died is so unrealistic as to be not worthy of discussion.
Truly, the venerable tradition that our goal is to go to Heaven prevents any logical thinking concerning the salvation we are to work out with fear and trembling.
There is a multitude of Christian people who look to the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. There is a smaller number who have learned to walk in the Spirit of God to a lesser or greater extent.
Now Jesus is looking to see how many will press forward until they find rest in God's Person and will. Doing so requires that we abandon our own plans for our life in favor of resting in that plan written in God's book during the original creation. The plan is to make man in God's image. The number of those who have enough faith to trust God to this extent may be quite small.
But to him who overcomes the desire to preserve his own life in order that he may enter God's Person to this extent, will be given all things of the new creation. God will be his God and he will be God's son.
Let each of us then pray that for eternity we will be found abiding in the very center of God's Person and will. There we always shall have righteousness, love, joy, and peace.
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Canaan, and the Rest of God. Traditionally, Heaven has been viewed as that which is symbolized by Canaan, the land of milk and honey. Thus, going to Heaven when we die is considered to be the goal of our salvation. This concept well may be the most destructive of all the man-made interpretations of the Scriptures.
The major doctrinal errors of today, such as the ideas that "grace" is an alternative to righteous behavior, "eternal security," and the unscriptural "pre-tribulation rapture," are all based on the idea that the goal of our salvation is to go to Heaven when we die and live there forever in a mansion.
(7/25/2010). I am eighty-five years old and have walked with the Lord Jesus for more than sixty-five years. During the last four or five years, I have become more aware of the spirit world. The spirit world is much like our own world, which is not surprising since our world was made from the spirit world. In fact, if the curse were lifted, and the Spirit of God filled the earth, and God removed Satan and all his works (and that actually is going to happen), I think we would be pleased to stay right here after we died.
Something to think about, isn't it?
But let us consider for a moment the true goal of salvation, the inheritance of the righteous. It has nothing to do with moving from earth to Heaven. Our primary inheritance is to be changed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, both internally, and then at His coming, in outward form.
Equally important is that we be at rest in the center of God's Person and will. When these two objectives have been fulfilled, then the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit will make us Their eternal dwelling place.
Included in our inheritance are those whom God has given us to care for, and then the farthest reaches of the earth.
You easily can verify these aspects of our goal, our inheritance, by examining the Scriptures.
Is there a Heaven where God, Christ, the saints, and holy angels are? Of course. But it is not our home, except during the period before Christ sets up His Kingdom on the earth. Eventually the spirit and physical worlds shall become one new world of righteous behavior.
I stress "behavior" because for so long we have been accustomed to believe that the only righteousness we ever can know is that which is ascribed to us. We always will be miserable sinners, it is supposed. The truth is, Christ desires to make us a new creation of righteous behavior.
The Kingdom of God does not consist of miserable sinners who are righteous only by ascribed righteousness but victorious saints who are in the image of the Lord.
Now let us think for a moment about the practical outworking of what I am teaching. The practical aspect is that we do not enter our land of promise by dying and entering the spirit world. We enter our land of promise now, today, by following the Lord Jesus as He guides us through His Spirit.
The Book of Hebrews refers to our Canaan, our land of promise, as God's "rest."
God's rest is our state of being when we are abiding in the center of God's Person and will. Obviously, there is a great difference between waiting to die so we can go to Heaven, and pressing each day into God and His will.
Can you see why I said at the beginning that the concept of our goal being to go to Heaven when we die is not only unscriptural, it is a major hindrance to most believers? It puts them in a waiting mode rather than pressing, as did the Apostle Paul, into that which God has appointed for them.
All I wish to say in this briefest of essays may be found in the third and fourth chapters of the Book of Hebrews.
The Jewish believers being addressed in the Book of Hebrews were seasoned Christians, having been saved through faith in the blood atonement, filled with the Spirit of God, and had survived persecution and also tasted the powers of the coming age. They were more spiritually advanced in the things of Christ than is true of most of today's Christians, it appears.
We would expect the writer of Hebrews to congratulate them on their religious accomplishments, comfort them with the assurance of salvation, and point them toward their mansions in Heaven as their reward when they died.
Instead the Book of Hebrews is largely a rebuke, an exhortation to them to enter further into God, that is, into God's Person and will for them.
Notice in the third chapter of Hebrews how the writer compares our salvation with the journey of Israel from Egypt to Canaan. I would suppose that most of us recognize that Israel coming out of Egypt is a type of our being saved by repenting of our life in the world, and being baptized to show that we now are dead to the world and alive in the resurrection of Christ.
Perhaps a smaller number of us view the time spent in the wilderness of wandering as symbolic of the rigors of our discipleship. I think some reject this symbolism because it does not fit their understanding of Divine grace. However, it is clear that the writer of Hebrews accepts the wilderness wandering as a portrayal of the many dangers and sufferings of our pilgrimage.
But then the writer warns his audience that they were in danger of not inheriting the land of promise, just as the Israelites, except for two people, did not enter the land of milk and honey. It is obvious the writer believes that it is possible for a Christian to "die in the wilderness" and not attain to the goal set before him.
The "believers" often do not grasp that for which they have been grasped!
Then the writer exhorts us to "make every effort to enter that rest," that is, into the state of being where we are resting in God's Person and will.
So the primary issue is, what does Canaan represent? If we think of Canaan as representing going to Heaven when we die, then the idea of making every effort to enter God's rest does not make sense. Either we, as Paul, are pressing with all diligence that we may grasp that for which we have been grasped, or we are waiting to die until we go to Heaven.
It easily can be seen that we are facing a major problem in Christian thinking. Either we are to be "saved," filled with the Spirit, and then wait to die to enter our land or promise; or we are to be entering it today as we follow the Spirit of God in all of our thinking, speaking, and doing.
How often the Christian salvation is viewed as being a waiting to go to Heaven where (we think) our problems will be solved! Our dangers and afflictions are thought of as being random attacks of Satan.
Thus when we die we are unprepared for what we will face in the spirit world.
Would we be more able to march in victory, ready to walk with Jesus when we die, if we perceived our daily battles as part of the process in which we move toward our goal, the rest of God?
There are different ways of coping with our tribulations. We can become angry with God, or feel sorry for ourselves, or blame people. God is not pleased with these responses. The correct manner in which to respond to problems is to keep seeking Jesus for understanding and deliverance. In this manner we grow in God's Person and will, entering our land of promise.
One primary characteristic of Canaan is that it was filled with enemies who had lived there for hundreds of years. God told Abraham he could not possess the land until the sin of the Amorites had matured. So it is today, isn't it, that sin is coming to maturity? Consequently God is ready to give us the land; but we have to take it by fighting the enemy that dwells in us.
There are three major enemies that prevent our dwelling contentedly in the Person of Christ and His will for us. The first enemy is our looking to the world for our survival and security. The second enemy are the sinful forces that dwell in our flesh. The third enemy is our self-will, our determination to live our life the way we want instead of looking to Jesus for every decision we make.
If we are to enter God's rest, our Canaan, we have to be ruthless. There is to be no compromise with the spiritual darkness that has lived in us throughout our lifetime.
First, we must refuse to be involved in the world spirit any more than is necessary. This world is not our home. The earth is our home, but the spirit of the world is Antichrist, and we can never find peace in it except as we follow Jesus carefully.
Second, as the Spirit of God points out to us the sins we are committing, we are to confess them specifically; denounce them as evil; renounce them with all our might, and turn to Christ for forgiveness and cleansing.
Third, we must remain in the prison in which Christ permits Satan to place us. We cannot have what we intensely desire. We are forced to remain in situations that are unpleasant. And this crucifixion may persist for many years. Thus we have to place our treasures in Heaven.
It is in God's prisons that the self-will is burned out of us. We have to suffer just as the Apostle Paul had to suffer; just as Christ Himself had to suffer. We have to be made weak until we are living by the wisdom and strength of Christ rather than by our own wisdom and strength.
Until these three areas of spiritual darkness are overcome, we cannot possibly find eternal rest in God's Person and will.
So today we have been brought to the Jordan. The Jordan River symbolizes death to our self-determination. We have left Egypt, the world. We have received the Law of the Spirit, symbolized by Mount Sinai. And now we are at Jordan. We must be circumcised in our heart. The daily manna is about to cease and we will be given to eat of the corn grown in the land of Canaan.
Who among us is willing to take up his or her cross and follow the Master into Canaan, into the rest of God? It will cost us everything. But not to do so will result in eternal loss that may be irreparable. We may never again have the chance to follow our heavenly Joshua into the fullness of our assigned inheritance.
Have I not commanded you? "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
The Feast of Tabernacles
The Feast of Tabernacles. There were seven "feasts of the Lord." Each of the seven feasts has a kingdom-wide fulfillment and each has a personal fulfillment in the life of the individual believer in Christ. The kingdom-wide fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles is the eternal reign of Christ. The personal fulfillment 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.
(8/1/2010). 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 Israelites were commanded to dwell for seven days in "booths" made from the branches of trees. After the seven days had been completed there was an eighth day of great rejoicing.
The feast of Tabernacles was a season of thanksgiving because of the fruits of the preceding harvest season, and also a time of joyful anticipation of the soon coming of the seed rain (former rain) that marks the commencement of the new agricultural year.
The new heaven and earth reign of Christ is the kingdom-wide spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, when all the saved will rejoice with incredibly great joy over the things God has accomplished. The eighth day signifies the first day of the new week of eternity, the week that has no end.
How wonderful it is to realize that the "morning" of life will just be beginning at the time that the new Jerusalem descends from the new heaven and comes to rest on the new earth!
The kingdom-wide fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, which will take place at the end of the thousand-year period known as the Kingdom Age, will be marvelous far beyond any poor picture we have the ability to paint. But the personal fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles in us as individual believers is even more marvelous than the kingdom-wide fulfillment.
As is true of all the feasts of the Lord, the kingdom-wide fulfillment of Tabernacles and the personal fulfillment flow into each other, are dependent on each other, and find their significance in each other.
According to our understanding, the personal fulfillment of Tabernacles in the saints is at hand and will find increasing expression throughout that darkest of hours just before Jesus returns (Isaiah 60:2), culminating in the appearing of Christ and His saints in the clouds of heaven. 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.
Even today we are being prepared for the indwelling of the Fullness of God in us, as the Holy Spirit enables us to put to death the deeds of our flesh and also to experience the crucifixion of our self-love and self-will.
The fourteenth through the seventeenth chapters of the Gospel of John discuss some aspects of the personal spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Tabernacles.
The term "mansion," which appears in John 14:2, is not referring to fine homes in Paradise. The proper translation, according to the current usage of the English language, would be dwelling place, or place of abode.
The Greek word translated mansions, in John 14:2 of the King James Version, appears in verb form in John 15:4 and is correctly translated abide, in the King James Version.
The "Father’s house" is Christ—Head and Body. It is the "good olive tree," of the eleventh chapter of the Book of Romans. Each of us has been invited to become a room in the eternal Temple of God.
Perhaps the most pertinent verse concerning the personal fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles is John 14:23:
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 with him.
The term abode in the verse above is the same Greek noun translated mansions, in John 14:2. John 14:23 is not referring to the personal fulfillment of the fourth Levitical feast, the feast of Pentecost. The feast of Pentecost is fulfilled when we are baptized with the Holy Spirit.
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; (John 14:16)
John 14:23 is referring, rather, to the personal fulfillment of the seventh Levitical feast, the feast of Tabernacles. The Father and the Son enter us through the Holy Spirit and make us Their eternal Temple. It is the Lord’s will that we be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19).
John 7:37-39 also is speaking of the fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles.
Jesus was observing the rejoicing of the eighth day of the feast of Tabernacles, that "great day of the feast." The priest was bringing water in a golden bowl from the Pool of Siloam and pouring it on the Altar of Burnt Offering. The twelfth chapter of Isaiah was being sung.
At that time:
. . Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37-39)
This Scripture is fulfilled in a measure when we receive the Holy Spirit. But the maturity of the fulfillment has been reserved for the Day of the Lord.
When the Father and the Son sit on the throne of our heart in the complete fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, the water of life will flow from the Throne of God in us. We will become "rivers." The Glory of the Lord will pour from us until it covers the "sea" of mankind.
And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. (Ezekiel 47:9)
Ezekiel 47:9 is the fulfillment of John 7:38. The Lord is cleansing us today in preparation for the coming of the Father and the Son to dwell in us in a greater measure than we have known. John 14:23 is a definite experience, as definite as being born again or being filled with the Holy Spirit. Unlike the baptism with the Spirit, however, the fulfillment of the Tabernacles experience proceeds over a period of time as we are cleansed of sin and as we learn to live in God’s Person and Presence.
The definite experience, the personal fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles, that is coming to us is described in the twelfth chapter of Isaiah—the words that were sung as the Jews celebrated the feast of Tabernacles.
Let us think about the words of Isaiah, Chapter 12. As the individual enters the personal spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Tabernacles these words become very meaningful. We understand then what the Spirit of Christ was proclaiming in Isaiah.
And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. (Isaiah 12:1-6)
"And in that day . . ."
The expression "that day" is used throughout the Book of Isaiah, and also in John 14:20. It refers to the Day of the Lord, the day when Christ comes to rule in our heart in untroubled, unconcealed splendor. "The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day."
". . . thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: . . ."
For two thousand years Christian people often have pointed toward themselves and their works. But as we enter the fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles the Lord Himself becomes the glorious Center of our attention. We praise Him always!
". . . though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me."
Every Christian must go through periods of chastening, of judgment, of warfare. God is not pleased with what Satan has brought about in our personalities. The tribulations through which we enter the Kingdom of God are part of the spiritual fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, the reconciling of us to God’s righteous and holy Nature. They are Divine judgment on the works of Satan that are in us.
Many times the suffering is intense and prolonged. It indeed is a fiery trial. How we desire to escape from the Lord’s prison! But in order to escape from God’s prison we must break God’s laws.
After we have suffered awhile, He who has wounded us binds us up. The chastening of the Lord creates patience and the peaceable fruits of righteousness in us. Our sins and self-seeking depart from us. We enter rest in God and God enters rest in us. Our warfare has been accomplished, our iniquity pardoned.
"Behold, God is my salvation; . . ."
In all our prior dealings with God He has been separate from us. He has saved us, healed us, given us wisdom, helped and strengthened us in every way. God has done these things for us and in us.
But 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.
Sometimes it is difficult for us to "let go." Without our realizing it there are things we do that constitute our "religion." Our set of beliefs and practices are "earning" our salvation to a certain extent, although we Christians would reject that concept if it were brought to our attention. Nevertheless we trust in these religious behaviors and perceive them as being our salvation.
Oftentimes, as God begins to move us into the fulfillment of Tabernacles, events in our lives take place that cause our religious activities no longer to be effective. We discover that one by one the things and thoughts in which we trust are being removed from us. We attempt to hold on, to preserve our former relationship, our former kind of contact with the Lord. But if it is the Lord who is making the change we never again will be content with the old way.
It seems there are people whom the Lord never moves past the salvation experience and others who do not proceed beyond the Pentecostal experience. They do not understand our behavior as we enter the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles. In fact, we ourselves many times are perplexed over the dealings of God with us.
We do know that something is taking place in our relationship with the Lord Jesus. God is shaking loose our grip on Himself and in its place is substituting His grip on us.
". . . I will trust, and not be afraid: . . ."
The prospect of "letting go and letting God" can bring fear to us. We have trusted for so long in our own grasp on God that the experience of "letting go" and allowing the Lord to work His works in us may cause us to be afraid. We are afraid to trust that the Lord is redeeming us according to His own foreknowledge and will, that it is God’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom.
If we would move past the "waters to the ankles" into "waters to swim in," we must be willing to follow the Lord wherever He leads (Ezekiel 47:3-5).
We move along prayerfully, watchfully, observing the results of what is taking place in us. The wisdom from above always is pure, always peaceful, always full of good fruit. Whenever we feel pushed, fearful, driven, that is not the Lord, ordinarily. The Lord’s ways are joyous, full of love and hope. This is not to say there are not seasons when we are tested to the limit.
". . . for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; . . ."
The darkness is coming during which no man can work. It is at the doors. Christian works and institutions of all kinds will crumble under the spiritual darkness and oppression that will shake the earth in the near future.
God has made special provision for His elect that will enable them not only to stand throughout the great tribulation but also to finally overcome the darkness. This special provision is the personal spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles.
God will enter His people and be their strength and their song. Neither Satan nor Antichrist nor the False Prophet can stand before God in His people.
The world and the fleshly churches will be deceived and overcome by the forces of Hell. But the believers in whom the Father and the Son are dwelling will be able to persevere throughout all calamities. God working through them will crush Satan under their feet (Romans 16:20).
It will not be the saints who are persevering and finally overcoming Satan, it will be God who, through Christ, is dwelling in them. The victorious believers will sing and dance on the heights of Zion while the world is drowning in the flood of filth that will issue from Satan.
". . . he also is become my salvation."
It is not merely that God has provided all the elements of our salvation. Rather it is true that God Himself has become our Salvation. In that Day we will know that Christ is in God, and we are in Christ, and Christ is in us. Christ is the Wheel in us and we are the wheel in Christ in God. We have become God’s chariot (Ezekiel 1:16).
"Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation."
We undergo fiery testings while the Spirit of God is cleansing us from all unrighteousness. But then there is joy indescribable and full of glory when we become conscious that the Father and the Son are dwelling in us forever.
The feast of Pentecost and the feast of Tabernacles are both associated with water. Pentecost speaks of the former and the latter rains that will be poured on us, while Tabernacles signifies the establishing of the Throne of God and of Christ in us and the issuing of the River of Life from the Divine Presence that has been formed in us and is abiding in us forever.
Pentecost is associated with rain. Tabernacles is associated with the rivers of living water. Both speak of the Holy Spirit.
Perhaps it was at the point when this verse (Isaiah 12:3) was being sung that Jesus of Nazareth stood and proclaimed the flowing of the River of Life from the belly of the believer (John 7:38).
In the experience of Pentecost the believers have ministered in fragmented gifts and manifestations of the Spirit. When we arrive at the complete fulfillment of Tabernacles, that which is perfect will have come. No longer will we be seeing as in a clouded mirror. In that Day we shall know as we are known. We shall draw enough living water from the throne of Christ in us to release the entire creation from the bondage of corruption (Ezekiel 47:8,9; Romans 8:21).
"And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted."
As we move into the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles we exalt the Lord as we never have before. Prior to the Tabernacles experience we speak much of what we are gaining from salvation; how we shall persuade God to do this thing or that thing for us; how busy we are as we attempt to build the Kingdom of God in our own wisdom and strength.
But as the Lord settles down to rest in us, and we learn to rest in Him, we exalt Him. It is a natural transition from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness. The Holy Spirit possesses infinite wisdom. He knows precisely how to move each of us from the bondage of self-love and self-will into the wonderful liberty of love for God and for performing God’s will.
"Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth."
For the first time, perhaps, we understand and appreciate the fact that the Glory of God fills the whole earth. Satan strives to keep the saints concentrating on his wicked antics in the earth, on the increasing wickedness, perversity, and foulness of the deeds of people, so we will not perceive God’s Glory..
When we are able to see with Christ’s vision we will understand that it is God’s intention to redeem, not destroy, the earth and its peoples. The catastrophes falling upon the earth are the pains of birth, the birth of the Kingdom of God. The Father and the Son are taking up Their eternal residence in us. Out from us the rivers of living waters will flow to the meek of the earth.
The waters of life will flow on and out until the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord covers the earth and its peoples as the waters cover the sea. The nations of the saved will respond with great joy when God moves into the whole earth through His elect.
It is as we enter the Tabernacles experience that we become conscious of the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. Although the coming of the Kingdom of God is the main topic of the four Gospels, many of us have not had an understanding of the plan of God concerning the earth.
But as the personal spiritual fulfillments of the last three feasts take place in us, as a firstfruits of the day when the great kingdom-wide fulfillments come into being, we see and enter the Kingdom of God.
It is in the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles that all will be brought together in Christ. The Kingdom of God will be established on the earth. Christ will sit on the throne of His "father," David, in the city of Jerusalem. The "good olive tree," of which every true Christian is a member, whether he or she is Jewish or Gentile by physical birth, will "blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit" (Isaiah 27:6).
When Christ is dwelling in us we discover we are singing in our heart and it is a love song to the Lord.
"Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee."
The Glory of God dwelling in us causes us to shout for joy. God is great and greatly to be praised! God has come to take up His eternal abode in the Body of Christ, in the Wife of the Lamb.
The Spirit of God spoke through the Prophet Zechariah on the occasion of the restoring of Solomon’s Temple:
Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6)
This is a prophecy concerning the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. The Kingdom of God is God in Christ in His saints. It is the Body of Christ, the holy city, the new Jerusalem. It is the eternal Temple of God.
The eternal Temple of God will be brought to completion and perfection but not by the wisdom, talents, and energies of man. The eternal Temple of God will be perfected by the Spirit of God.
God is moving today in all the earth to fulfill the words of the Hebrew Prophets and of the Apostles of the Lamb.
The living stones of the eternal house of God are being fashioned "at the quarry." Each stone will be "made ready" before it is brought to the construction site (I Kings 6:7). God perfects us where we are. When it is time for the Body of Christ to come together there will be no sound of a "hammer or axe."
It always is commendable to desire the unity of the members of the Body of Christ. But when we attempt to bring the members together by our own means we find we must "cut and hammer" so the pieces will fit. But in the Day of Christ the Body will flow together by the Spirit of God, just as the animals were brought by the Lord into the Ark. All that was required of Noah was to build the Ark. The Spirit of God took care of the remaining details.
Our responsibility is to "prophesy upon these bones." God’s responsibility is to cause the bones to come together, to give them strength, beauty, and life.
The Lord Jesus stands at the door of the heart of each Christian. If the Christian hears Christ’s voice and opens the door of his heart, the King enters him and dines with him, giving to the disciple to eat and drink from His own body and blood. Then the King works many wonderful works of reconciliation and hope in him, casting out sin, driving out the moneychangers, enabling him to make the transition from self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness.
Just before He returns in the clouds of glory the Lord Jesus will summon His holy ones from the four corners of the heavens and the earth. In that Day, two "Christians" will be sleeping in one bed. One, being full of the Life of the Lamb, will be taken. The other, being full of mere human life, will be left.
Then the Father and the Son in Their Fullness will enter the believers who have been living by the Life of Jesus. The clay vessels of the earthly frames of the saints will be shattered in that midnight hour, as portrayed by the breaking of their pitchers by Gideon’s soldiers. The Glory of the God of Heaven will stream from their personalities (Isaiah, Chapter 60). This is the lightning that will blaze from horizon to horizon (Matthew 24:27). Christ and His chosen ones will be glorified together in the sight of the peoples of the earth.
. . .and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. (Zechariah 14:5)
The members of the Body of Christ, the true and only Christian Church, the Wife of the Lamb, will be gathered together into one complete, perfect, light-filled Temple of God. Then the Wife of the Lamb, now shining as the sun in the purity of righteousness and holiness, will be lifted up triumphantly by the Spirit of God to be with her Lord forever.
Antichrist and the nations, seeing this lovely, glorious spectacle, will set themselves to prevent the taking over of the rulership of the earth by the Lord and His saints.
But Antichrist will be destroyed by the brightness of the return of Christ and His saints.
Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously. (Isaiah 24:23)
And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: (II Thessalonians 2:8)
It was fifty years ago, when in Bible school, that the Lord first laid on my heart the truth concerning the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles. It was difficult for me to believe it really was the Lord Jesus who was speaking to me, since I had had no teaching concerning this.
But Christ has seen fit to bring me to the present hour. Now I see that the understanding concerning the feast of Tabernacle really is from the Lord.
The twentieth century has been a time of the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Pentecost. We who are Pentecostal know how real the Holy Spirit is, how the Spirit will help us bear witness of Christ and also strengthen us to gain victory over the deeds of our sinful nature.
However, Pentecost is the fourth of seven feasts. The last and greatest of the Jewish celebrations is that of Tabernacles.
Passing from Pentecost to Tabernacles, from the rain of the Spirit to the establishing of the Throne of God in our heart so the water no longer is only rain but also an inner well, makes total demands on our personality. We must be willing for God to bring down our natural strength and substitute His Virtue for our natural desire to please God.
We may pass through a period of darkness. If we do not draw back but keep our eyes fastened on the Lord Jesus, the day will surely come when the twelfth chapter of the Book of Isaiah becomes our testimony.
Many of us have been saved and filled with God’s holy Spirit. We have experienced the spiritual fulfillments of Passover and Pentecost.
Let us now follow the cloud and the fire until we inherit the fullness of the salvation in Christ, until we enter the personal spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles.
(Taken from "The Feast of Tabernacles," an excerpt from The Theology of Robert B. Thompson. Copyright © 2010, by Robert B. Thompson.)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Being Led by the Spirit. The Bible states the sons of God are those who are led by the Spirit. I have observed that much Christian work, while it is done with a good will, does not always result from a direct leading of the Lord.Maybe those who work as Christian leaders really do hear from God as to the programs they institute. One can get the impression that they are doing what they think is God's will, but it is not by a clear command of Christ.
Jesus said He shall build His Church. I think this means that Jesus will hear from God concerning the construction of His Church, just as Moses received the directions concerning the construction of the Tabernacle of the Congregation. Then Jesus will inform those leaders He chooses, to work according to the heavenly blueprint.
I really wonder how often this is the case. I am positive that in some instances Christ really does initiate a work, a church, a school, a denomination, a missionary endeavor. But is it true that once a work has been founded, those who are involved carry it forth without hearing from the Lord? This may be the case with many denominations.
How many Christian people look to the Lord continually to guide their daily lives? How many believe that Christ will direct our lives down to the smallest detail if we will look to Him? I know Christian people often say "the Lord told me this or the Lord told me that." It is my opinion that this really happens.
However, I don't believe it happens often enough. A lady told me that at the beginning of each year, Jesus would tell her about what would transpire that year. I am in favor of this. But I think this should be happening to each of as at the beginning of each day and throughout the day.
But will Christ really guide us to this extent? I believe He will. However, He guides the believers in many different ways. To some, it is an inner consciousness. To others, He speaks as they read the Word. Yet there may be others who hear a voice, or experience dreams or visions.
Then there are folks who commit their way to the Lord constantly, trusting that He will direct their paths, even though they do not hear from Him very often. He does guide such because of the promise in His Word
My point is that we Christians do not have to go about blindly. Christ will guide us in every decision if we ask Him.
I think I am correct that the adherents of the Muslim religion to a great extent follow the Koran with little or no feeling of the Presence of God. Maybe I am wrong in this. But when we Christians are sternly obedient to Christ and look to Him continually throughout the day and night, we experience His Presence. I doubt seriously that the practitioners of any other religion can experience the Presence of the true and living God as can an obedient, prayerful Christian.
How could they? Are there two Lambs of God that take away the sin of the world? Are there two Trees of Life? Are there two Ways to the Father; two Truths of the Father; two Lives of the Father? I don't think so.
I have been seeking Christ fervently for sixty-five years. I look to Him in all things. He is very real to me. He will be just as real to anyone who looks to Him on a daily basis.
If I am hearing the Spirit of God correctly, terrible times are coming to the world. I do not have to recount here the horrible things being done to people in our day. In this week's issue of Time magazine (August 9, 2010) there is a picture on the cover of a beautiful eighteen year old Afghan girl, Aisha, whose husband cut off her ears and nose because she fled from what she termed "abusive inlaws."
The Bible says, "He who loves his wife loves himself." We seem to have a difference in philosophy here!
We know about the millions of babies aborted (murdered) in the United States alone.
How long can God refrain from bringing tribulation upon such horrors, as well as upon the abandoned revelries taking place in the so-called Christian nations?
Well, I believe the Spirit is saying that Divine judgment soon is to fall on the world. If we are going to stand in Christ we must be following Him, listening to Him, obeying Him, continually, day and night.
Many Christians think they can be led by the Bible and do not need to hear from the Lord. Such may have a religious spirit. They do not realize that the Bible is the sword of the Spirit, not the sword of the Christian. They are like the Pharisees when Jesus was standing before them. They were looking down at the scroll of the Law when the Author of the Law was there waiting for them to look up to Him.
The new covenant is not of the letter, as was the Law of Moses, but of the Spirit. This means that the words of the New Testament can be guided, applied, and enabled only by the Spirit of God, not by the mind of the Christians.
When the words of the New Testament are guided, applied, and enabled by the good intentions of a Christian leader they kill. They "cut off the ear" of the hearer, just as the disciple of Jesus cut of the ear of one of those who were arresting the Lord Jesus.
I do not know if Jesus has always been as close to us as He is today. I do know that in the case of Laodicea, the last of the seven churches of Revelation, He asked to be admitted into our life. I believe He is knocking at our hearts today. He sees the violent destruction approaching the United States because of our turning away from Christ. He is ready to help each person who will look to Him so he or she is not carried away in the flood of chaos on the horizon.
As I see it, the greatest need we Christians have today is to learn to listen to Jesus. Christ sits as King of the flood and He is more than willing and able to guide and keep each individual in the time of trouble, just as He kept Jeremiah when the Babylonians were destroying Jerusalem.
But is God really willing to speak to us and guide us in a personal manner? Think about the Old Testament. In how many instances did God speak to the Israelites and guide them? Just think about that! And they were not born again. The Spirit of God came upon some of them at times, but the Spirit did not remain in them as He does in us.
How about the New Testament? Did angels speak to people? Were the Christians of those days led by the Spirit of God? We know they were from the many accounts in the New Testament, particularly the Book of Acts.
"But," some maintain, "now that we have the Bible we do not need to hear from God." Well if such wish to live a dry, religious, Christian life, that is their privilege I guess. But I think if they would look up from the text (which the Pharisees were unwilling to do) they would find that the Author of the text is waiting for them to look directly to Him and bring their concerns to Him.
I am writing these words under an unusual compulsion. I do not know how soon disaster is going to strike the United States; but the Spirit is warning that each of us must draw closer to Jesus. We must learn to look to Him as we never did before. He wants to keep us in His Presence at all times so we will not panic and lose our faith when we see the terror soon to be unleashed on our land.
No Christian, man or woman, boy or girl, will be able to stand in the coming days of the United States until he or she has a strong inner relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We must be aware of Him constantly, always being guided and enabled by Him. Otherwise the growing spiritual darkness will overcome us and we will find ourselves thinking, saying, and doing things that are against God's will for us.
Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Romans 8:14)
(Taken from "Following the Cloud and the Fire," an excerpt from The Theology of Robert B. Thompson. Copyright © 2010, by Robert B. Thompson.)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Being a Disciple. From listening to believers I have come to the conclusion that Christian people in America regard being a disciple as something different from being just a Christian person. This concept reveals how low the standard is today as regards to what it means to be a true Christian.
(8/15/2010) A Christian is a disciple of Christ. A disciple of Christ is a Christian. The terms are absolutely synonymous. There is no basis whatever for viewing a disciple as some sort of superior Christian.
And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. (Acts11:26)
"The disciples were called Christians." I seriously doubt that at that time there was another group of believers who were called Christians but who were not disciples. How do you feel about this?
If such is the case, then at what point in church history were there believers in Christ who were not disciples?
But let us think for a moment about what a disciple is.
And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." (Luke 9:22-26)
We can insert the term "Christian" and be perfectly consistent with Bible usage.
"If anyone would be a Christian, he must deny himself."
What does it mean to deny ourselves? It means to make the Lord Jesus the focus of our lives. When what Christ wants is pleasant for us, then we follow His leadershipl When what Christ wants is very unpleasant for us, then we pray for wisdom and strength and obey Christ. Always! There is no exception to this for the individual who wants to be a Christian, a disciple.
"If anyone would be a Christian he must take up his cross daily and follow me."
What is our cross? It is some aspect of our life that is not pleasing to us. It may be that what we want we cannot have, without disobeying Christ. It may be that we are required to remain in a situation we detest, but we cannot leave without disobeying Christ.
For the true Christian, there is no exception to this. If he does step out of the Lord's will, then Christ may, out of His love, bring much trouble on His disciple. If the disciple repents and returns to the discipline required of him, then the Lord will forgive him and he is to press forward in Christ.
The true Christian follows Christ daily. His whole life is centered on finding the Lord's will for him each day, and praying for wisdom and strength so he can do it perfectly. This is the true Christian walk. There do not seem to be a great many church members who take up their cross and follow Christ each day; but these, and these alone, are the Christians. The rest are only church members. They are not "in Christ" and they will not die "in Christ," and therefore will not be raised to meet Him in the air when He appears.
"If any person wants to save his or her life, he or she will lose it."
How is it that if a person seeks to save his life he will lose it. Christ has called us to turn away from our own life and to live according to His will for us. If we choose instead to follow our own path, we will lose our inheritance as a child of God and come to an unpleasant end. We sought to grasp what we desired, and in doing so we lost everything.
"If any person loses his or her life for Christ, he or she will save it."
If instead of following our own desires we live each day in the Lord's will, then all that will bring righteousness, love, joy, and peace to us will be given to us. By turning away from our own path, we gained everything of value. This Adam and Eve did not do, and reaped misery.
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12:24-25)
If you live in your own pleasures, you will live and die alone. If you lose your life in Christ you will have an inheritance of people.
"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"
Most of us look to the world for our survival, security, and comfort. We may yield to the lusts and passions of our flesh and soul. We may strive to be preeminent, to gain power and fame, or wealth. We may want to "be somebody."
But what if in the pursuit of our own goals we lose our very personality, our uniqueness as an individual? This is what it means, you know. We lose our soul, that gift from God that makes it possible for us to be in His image. Then what are we? A soulless spirit adrift in the boundless universe, along with all the other spirits who forfeited their soul.
To lose our uniqueness as a personality is indeed a fearful prospect!
"If anyone is ashamed of Christ and His words, Christ will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels."
The day shall come when Christ appears to this world. Then those who have served Him faithfully will rejoice exceedingly when they see Christ in the fullness of God's Glory, accompanied by the mightiest angels of Heaven.
But we do not see Him as yet.
I am 85 years of age. I have lived in America all my life. I never thought I would see the day when it was a shame to speak of Christ. But it is true now.
According to a report in the media, it is alleged that a man who had worked as a counselor for a number of years spoke comfort to a dying patient by saying "Place your trust in God," or something to this effect. It was reported that he was fired for saying this.
Perhaps we do not know the whole story, but it is well known that people, young and old, who profess Christ publicly may face scorn or even arrest. And this in America! While growing up and serving in the United States Marine Corps, I would not have believed that I would live to see the day that to hold up the name of Christ would be considered a disgraceful act.
That day is here now. What does the Lord tell us? He tells us that if we are ashamed of Him and His Words, He will be ashamed of us when He returns in His glory. I don't want Christ to be ashamed of me, and I am sure you do not want Him to be ashamed of you in that day.
So we see that the standard of discipleship is the same standard that must be met by any person who desires to be a genuine Christian. Those who today are maintaining that a disciple is some sort of super-Christian are reflecting the abysmal depths to which our standards have fallen in America in the present century.
(Taken from "Being a Disciple," an excerpt from The Theology of Robert B. Thompson. Copyright © 2010, by Robert B. Thompson.)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Fruitfulness and Rulership Out of Death. Our Lord Jesus said unless a seed falls into the ground and dies it will bear no fruit. This may seem obvious, but the application of this concept to human beings is not as obvious. How much Christian work is carried on by people who never have died in Christ? Such work may have little or no eternal value.(8/22/2010). Jesus said that the manner in which a seed becomes fruitful applies to human beings.
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12:24-25)
What does it mean to save our life; and what does it mean to lose our life, in terms of being fruitful? To be fruitful in Christ is to multiply His image in other people.
The Apostle Paul is one of the clearest examples of what it means to lose our life in Christ.
Saul was a Roman Citizen. He was from Tarsus, a cultural and intellectual center. It probably is true that he was fairly wealthy, in that Governor Felix was hoping that Paul would give him a bribe.
Jesus appeared to Paul and commissioned him to preach the Gospel. Paul obeyed Christ diligently for the remainder of his life, even though it cost Paul much suffering. He could have been a wealthy Jew living at home in Tarsus. Instead he was treated harshly as he sought to know and obey Christ.
God calls many people to the service of the Kingdom. But not all obey, especially if their service will result in suffering or even martyrdom.
At one point the Lord permitted Satan to damage Paul's eyes. Paul prayed three times that God would remove this affliction. Instead, Christ told Paul that the affliction was necessary if Paul was to experience Christ's strength.
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (II Corinthians 12:7-10)
What a remarkable testimony the above passage is!
Saul could have saved his life by going back to Tarsus and conducting an Old Testament Bible study. Of course, he would not be able to tell of his experience on the way to Damascus.
Saul chose instead to lose his life in Christ.
If a seed stays in a warm, dry environment it will survive in its original form. But if it falls into the ground it will die. If Saul had spent his life as a wealthy Jew in Tarsus he might have lived for a long time, as he taught the righteousness of the Torah to his grandchildren.
Instead Saul chose to obey Christ and endured the troubled life that resulted from his missionary endeavors. Saul "fell into the ground and died," we might say.
Would you like to estimate the number of people that have come to know Christ through Paul's letters? I wouldn't hardly know where to begin, would you? This kind of eternal fruitfulness can come only from someone's death.
Can you imagine how Paul feels as he looks down from the spirit world and sees what his letters to the churches have accomplished? He must be thrilled beyond measure. Even today Paul is preached from thousands of pulpits and believers have grown in Christ, just as has been true for two thousand years. And his fruit will continue as we enter the Divine judgments that will be brought down on us because of the increase of sin.
Does it pay to obey Christ!
"To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations."
When we read of Paul's troubles in the Book of Second Corinthians we can't imagine there would be any problem with conceit. But all of us, including Paul the Apostle, have had or do have a deceitful sinful nature. Jesus has to keep knocking us down or soon we display our rebellion and foolishness.
"There was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me."
We may have a sickness or other affliction that comes from Satan. But notice that Paul did not rebuke Satan. Paul went to Jesus. This is what we should do when we have trouble.
"Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me."
Some are saying today that after we have prayed once, we should not pray again because it means we do not have faith. Such do not know how the Lord works. We always are continually to pray courteously and forcefully, meanwhile giving thanks to the Lord Jesus, until the answer comes or until, as in Paul's case, He explains why we are being afflicted.
Now we come to the thesis of this brief essay, "fruitfulness and rulership out of death."
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
All the mature saints of God understand the principle of strength out of weakness. It is the way Christ works with us. He keeps knocking us down so that His resurrection Life may lift us up. And the Life that lifts us brings Life to those to whom we are ministering.
For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. (II Corinthians 4:11,12)
I read where a distinguished Christian leader maintained that missionary work can proceed only according to how much money is available. I would say rather that missionary work can proceed only when someone is willing to lose his or her life in Christ.
Paul boasted concerning his weaknesses because they resulted in the power of Christ filling his life. Paul claimed to delight in insults, hardships, persecutions, difficulties, realizing that when he was weak, then he was strong.
This is the Kingdom way. We may not enjoy it. We have to place all of our treasures in Heaven, take up our cross of denial, and trudge faithfully after the Master. This is how Christ lived. The fruit of Christ's sufferings, like that of the Apostle Paul as well as the other Apostles of the Lamb, is immeasurable except in the mind of God.
I have said fruitfulness and rulership come out of death. This is because true, lasting rulership proceeds from fruitfulness. As we die, others live. Thus our power is increased. It was given to Adam and Eve in the beginning to multiply and to exercise dominion over the works of God's hands. This is an eternal fiat, but in its eternal fulfillment it can operate only through our weakness, our death.
Samson killed more Philistines by his death than by his life. Gideon gained victory though he was weak. The fruitfulness of Aaron's rod was revealed in its death. The victorious saints conquer Satan by loving not their life to the death.
We are brought down to death when our will is overcome. When we no longer can determine our own way but must have Christ to help us, then, and only then, is the eternal work of the Kingdom of God accomplished.
We could wish it were some other way. We could wish we had millions of dollars, unlimited access to electronic communication devices, a huge group of willing workers to assist us. But unless Christ were using such forces, all their efforts would amount to nothing except Babylon—confusion.
Do you remember how God reduced the size of Gideon's army because He did not want Israel to think they had gained victory over the Midianites by their own strength?
I am not sure how many Christian organizations will agree with the principle of fruitfulness and rulership out of death. But you and I can tell the Lord Jesus that we are ready and willing for Him to bring us down to the death He desires in order that we might bring a true witness of God to our generation.
If we want fruitfulness and power, we must deny ourselves so Christ may be preeminent. To abide in Christ is to do His will rather than one's own. This is the source of all eternal fruitfulness and power.
(Taken from "Fruitfulness and Rulership Out of Death," an excerpt from The Theology of Robert B. Thompson. Copyright © 2010, by Robert B. Thompson.)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
. I have written twice before, in Sermons 2010, concerning "faith." I wrote that "faith" and "obedience" to the revealed will of God virtually are synonymous. Because of the prevailing misunderstanding of what it means to "live by faith," and because of the chaotic era we are entering in America due to Divine judgment, during which we shall survive only by living by faith, I once more am going to emphasize what saving faith actually is.(8/29/2010) Perhaps the first problem that should be addressed is that of saying "faith" when we actually mean "belief." It is my understanding that a religion was active in the first century termed "Gnosticism." If I am correct, the most important aspect of Gnosticism is that the believer adhere carefully to the doctrines of Gnosticism, and that doing so will insure one's entrance into Heaven.
"Holding and professing the correct knowledge is vital to salvation," if I understand this complex religion correctly. The religion of Gnosticism predates Christianity.
The Apostle Paul, as he sought to turn Jews and Gentiles to Christ, placed heavy emphasis on "faith." We do not obtain righteousness by obeying the Law of Moses but by believing in Christ.
We readily can understand what took place. Many of the believers would fall into the trap of confusing the Gnostic teaching of the importance of correct knowledge, with Paul's teaching of salvation through faith in Christ. The important thing is what one believes, not a change into righteous behavior.
Whether or not my analysis of what has taken place is correct, it is obvious today that Evangelical teaching actually is a form of Gnosticism. Confess your faith in orthodox theology and you will go to Heaven when you die.
In many instances, this doctrine leads to the idea that we are to place little or no emphasis on righteous behavior, because this is an affront to God's offer of salvation by grace. Sometimes the idea of God's sovereignty in salvation by grace is brought to the place that once the believer takes his stand on the "four steps of salvation," he never can lose his place in Heaven. This concept is so utterly opposed to the tenor of the New Testament writings that one wonders how intelligent people could not recognize the inconsistency here.
The idea of going to Heaven by "faith alone" is widespread among devout, sincere Christian people. Yet eternal residence in Heaven is not the scriptural goal of salvation; and we are not saved by believing the facts about our Lord Jesus Christ. Such emphasis on belief in a statement of faith, rather than on coming to know and obey Christ, is carrying the day at this time. But it is not at all God's plan of redemption.
The expression "the righteous shall live by faith" is set forth four times in the Bible, once in Habakkuk 2:4, and three times in the New Testament.
In Habakkuk, the contrast is not between works of righteousness and faith in God, it is between wicked people and those who have faith in God
See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous will live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4).
We of today are interpreting this passage to mean that the unrighteous are trying to save themselves by righteous works, whereas the truly righteous do nothing but believe. This is a farfetched interpretation.
The New Testament definition of "the righteous shall live by faith" is contained in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews. This chapter is introduced by the following verse:
But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. (Hebrews 10:38)
Can you see in this expression from the writer of the Book of Hebrews the idea of conflict, of overcoming, rather than that of a belief system?
Let us return for a moment to an earlier chapter of Hebrews:
And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. (Hebrews 3:18,19)
"Who disobeyed—their unbelief."
My position is that belief always must lead to obedience. If it does not, it is only a mental assent to facts. It is clear to me that the present-day proponents of "faith alone" are maintaining that if we hold certain facts in mind we will go to Heaven when we die, whether or not we obey Christ each day by keeping His commandments in the New Testament and by obeying His Word to us personally.
Religion has a way, doesn't it, of making conformity to its doctrines more important than gaining a personal knowledge of Christ and obeying Him throughout the day. We can see this error by the fact that the Catholic and Protestant believers in Ireland maim and kill each other because of their belief systems. Is either group serving the living Lord Jesus? I think not!
"Faith without works is dead," the Apostle James declares. This makes me think James was battling against the influence of Gnosticism.
Any person who is really following the living Jesus knows well that the correct head knowledge of the living Jesus is not of great importance. What is of great importance is walking each day with our hand in the hand of Christ. This, and only this, is what it means when the Scripture refers to "living by faith."
Now, as I said, the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews is one long definition of the expression "the righteous shall live by faith." Let's think for a moment how God's people demonstrated their faith. Was it by theological correctness? Or was it by a personal knowledge of God and obedience?
Enoch believed that God exists, and sought Him earnestly.
Noah built an ark to save his family.
Abraham obeyed God and journeyed to a land new to him.
By faith Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice.
Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning their future.
By faith, Jacob blessed each of Joseph's sons.
By faith Joseph gave instructions concerning his bones.
By faith Moses' parents hid their baby.
By faith Moses chose to be mistreated along with God's people.
By faith Moses kept the first Passover.
By faith the tribes of Israel passed through the Red Sea.
By faith the walls of Jericho fell.
By faith Rahab welcomed the spies.
There are many more examples in this chapter of Hebrews, but these may be enough to reveal to us that "faith" is not what we are calling faith in our day.
We see from the above that faith is not belief in doctrine. We understand that faith is not magic. It is not an attempt to change God's mind.
Would you agree with me, drawing from the above examples, that true faith is an involvement with God such that we understand what He wants and are obedient, no matter what the cost?
How does true Bible faith differ from mental assent to doctrinal beliefs? True Bible faith differs from mental assent in that faith was revealed in the things that the saints did. It is behavior, action, obedience to the living Christ, rather than a doctrinal position.
All of the above may seem like a trivial discussion. It hardly is that. I estimate that the majority of Christian believers in America are more Gnostic in their thinking than they are faithfully following Jesus.
The result of our misunderstanding is churches who make little or no demands on the behavior of their congregations. Once they get an individual to accept their doctrines they urge him or her to go out and convert others to their doctrinal stance.The end result is believers who are spiritual babies instead of moral giants.
The political leaders of our country, although many may not realize this, are dependent on the Christian churches to strengthen them in their moral decisions. Instead what they find are thousands upon thousands of believers who are not growing spiritually while they are waiting to be "raptured" into Heaven.
In fact, if you can believe this, some churches practice getting ready for the "any-moment rapture" by having their members jump up and down next to their seats.
This practice portrays a total ignorance of the first resurrection and the receiving of spiritual bodies. The members are picturing themselves being caught up through the roof of the church building and ascending above the clouds while they still are in flesh and blood bodies. They are fleeing from Antichrist, you see.
What a mess we are in, we fundamentalists!
There was an old man who had waited twenty-five years for a son. Can you imagine what that boy meant to him when he was born!
The boy, now twelve years of age, walked three days with his father, carrying the wood on which he was to be cremated, according to the command of God. The father had three days to imagine the death of his son, and how Sarah would feel when he returned home alone.
Abraham was a dead-living man. So are all God's true saints. They have been crucified with Christ. Now they are eternally alive. But the man ascending Mount Moriah is their father, because of his faith.
There is that word "faith." What does it mean? Is it belief in doctrine? Is it a way of getting God to do what we want? Is it presumption, daring God to act? Is it membership in a group? What is it?
Well, I think faith is a rugged determination to obey the living God, based on the fear of God plus the years of experience in which we became increasingly aware that God's way is always best; always leading us to righteousness, love, joy, and peace.
The Apostle Paul's determination was to know Christ more than he did. Compare the attitude of Abraham and Paul with those of today who throw ten-dollar bills on the platform, hoping to get back a thousand dollars. There are "believers" who (according to them) can never suffer or be sick because they believe Christ loves them too much to permit them any kind of pain or inconvenience.
If such are "raptured" it will be downward, I think.
We are in a huge doctrinal mess in America. Divine judgment is on the horizon because of abortion, and because we are permitting alien gods to enter our country under the guise of tolerance. Tolerance is stupidity when it causes us to act against our better judgment.
As for me, I have chosen to seek Christ every day with all the strength I have, with the intention of obeying Him whether I understand Him or not.
Will you please join with me in this? We may not save our country, but we might save ourselves and our family.
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. (James 2:26)
(Taken from "True Bible Faith: IV," an excerpt from The Theology of Robert B. Thompson. Copyright © 2010, by Robert B. Thompson.)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Perhaps we have not given much thought to the training that must be given to each member of the royal priesthood, if he or she is to serve God successfully in the role of a governing priest. Each of us Christians, if he is to serve as a member of the royal priesthood, will have to experience long, thorough training if he is to fulfill his role properly throughout the coming ages.9/5/2010) The basic design of the Kingdom of God is easy to understand, but it appears it is not preached very often. The Kingdom of God is in two primary parts: the Royal Priesthood, of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the High Priest. Then the multitude of saved people who are the inheritance of the elect and whom God will save into the new world of righteousness.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (I Peter 3:9)
It is impossible to understand the Kingdom of God unless one realizes that the Christian Church, which is the Royal Priesthood, has been called out of the world to govern and bless the multitudes of saved mankind.
There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5)
Many passages of the Old Testament refer to the rule of God's saints over the saved peoples of the earth. The saints are neither Jewish nor Gentile as such. Rather, they are the members of Christ's Church, whether Jewish or Gentile by natural birth.
For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined. (Isaiah 60:12)
The nation and the kingdom of the above passage are the peoples of the earth whom God has saved but who are not members of the Church, God's elect. "You" are the members of the Church, the Royal Priesthood.
And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast. (Isaiah 61:6)
The "priests of the Lord," the "ministers of our God," again are the Church, the members of the Body of Christ. The saved of the nations will contribute their wealth to the saints.
This is a simple, easy to understand model, but it does not seem clear to numerous church people. They envision their future to be that of sitting in a mansion doing nothing of significance. It is no wonder they become confused when God begins to chasten them in order to prepare them for their eternal role as His priests.
In the present hour there are two kinds of saved people: God's ruling priests, and then people from the nations. The purpose of the present age, the Church Age, is to call out the elect from the people of the world, and to prepare them for their role as ruling priests who will represent God to people and people to God. They are as a ladder reaching from earth to Heaven, one might say.
It is easy to see that God has His hand on certain people, and that the Gospel of the Kingdom is first to them. Notice the following passage, for example:
"For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city." (Acts 18:9,10)
God is saying, "Spend time in Corinth because many of My elect are living here."
Also:
I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. (John 17:9)
But then we have the following:
He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:15,16)
The above passage is just as much God's Word as the preceding passages, which emphasize election.
What is going on here? On the one hand we have the Lord pointing out that He is concerned about His elect. On the other hand, He is telling us that He wants His Gospel preached "to all creation."
The answer is simple. We are in the Church Age, when God's purpose is to select and train the members of the Royal Priesthood. At the same time, everyone is to hear the Gospel, and whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved, meaning, brought into the new world of righteousness when it appears.
But the emphasis during the Church Age is on the elect. God will select His elect from among all who hear the Gospel, believe, and are baptized. He will give gifts to them that they may come to unity in the fullness of the stature of Christ.
Preparing to serve as a ruling priest requires an almost total overhaul of our personality. Some suffering is involved, as necessary. We must be willing to serve the Lord when we do not know what is happening. God will give us a strong love for those to whom we will be bringing to God. There will be long periods when we are just waiting on Christ and putting one foot in front of the other.
We will be serving God as a priest for eternity. Right now we are in the process of preparation for this awesome responsibility. This means we must draw close to Jesus and listen for His guidance at every moment.
How about those who are not of the elect? God will save them, as He stated. However, it is when the Church becomes one in Christ in God that multitudes of the peoples of the earth will believe that it is God who has sent Jesus to save those who believe in Him.
Am I saying that the great ingathering of those who are saved but not of God's elect will come at the end of the Church Age? Yes, this is exactly what I am saying.
Now notice:
Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. (Isaiah 60:3)
And again:
That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:21)
What is my purpose in pointing out that multitudes will be brought to God through the Church once the Church is filled with God's Glory? It is so we will know what we are doing, what we should emphasize.
Today the emphasis of many Christian denominations is to "go forth and save the world." But the Spirit of God is emphasizing that the Christian people need to come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. They must confess and turn away from their worldliness, the lusts and passions of their flesh and soul, and their determination to pursue their own life in their own way without opening the door to Jesus so He can guide their decisions.
If we are not emphasizing what the Spirit is emphasizing, how can we expect God to bless us? We are as the blind leading the blind, which often is the case with religious people.
I don't know if you have ever noticed what the Apostle Paul stated when he presented the goal toward which he was striving.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12-14)
Does the above passage sound like "He who believes and is baptized shall be saved"?
No, it does not. Toward what was Paul "straining"? To be saved? To go to Heaven? To avoid Hell?
Paul says, rather, he was striving to attain to the resurrection from the dead. We of today, many of us, do not have any idea what Paul was talking about. Is that true?
What Paul was pressing toward was the first resurrection, the resurrection that will take place when Jesus returns, the giving back of their bodies to the blessed and holy members of the royal priesthood.
Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6)
There is a practical course of action here. We need to begin to describe to God's people what is at stake. Each of us must adopt the determination of the Apostle Paul and press forward in order to lay hold on that for which God has grasped us. If we do not, it is highly likely that we will not be raised from the dead when the Lord returns, much less be carried up to Heaven.
Any experienced Christian can see how far off we have gotten with the modern preaching of sovereign grace, an any-moment "rapture," and eternal residence in Heaven with no responsibilities.
If the Apostle Paul was pressing forward with all his might to grasp that for which God has grasped him, exactly what are we doing?
Recently a person with a true gift of prophecy addressed a fundamental Christian denomination. He represented the Spirit of God as saying that the denomination had internal problems that needed to be resolved.
The response of the leadership was, "Now we must go out and save souls."
I think what is needed today is Christian leaders who are able to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. When they do hear, I doubt seriously it will be that we are to go out and save souls. I think it will be that we Christians need to get closer to the Lord Jesus as the Holy Spirit points out the areas in which we need to be reconciled to God.
It is time now to prepare the members of the Royal Priesthood so they will be ready to bring God to the saved people of the nations.
(Taken from "The Royal Priesthood," an excerpt from
The Theology of Robert B. Thompson. Copyright © 2010, by Robert B. Thompson.)You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
The Book of Isaiah has a lot to say about the Royal Priesthood. The Royal Priesthood is the Body of Christ. All of the elect are members, all whom God has chosen to be part of the great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.The term "Israel" is employed. "Israel" refers to the Seed of Abraham. All who are descended from Abraham are not the "Israel" who compose the Royal Priesthood, as it is written: "Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated." Both Jacob and Esau were in the bloodline of Abraham, being descended from Isaac. But true Israel, the Royal Priesthood, the elect of God, the Body of Christ, is only by God's calling of the individual.
Is God going to turn once more to the physical nation of Israel? Yes, He is. He is going to save many according to the Scripture. "All Israel shall be saved." But again, not "all Israel" are of "Israel," the Royal Priesthood. Only those whom God calls to be in Christ. He is the one Seed of Abraham. He is the one true Olive Tree.
So when we are referring to the Kingdom prophecies found in Isaiah, we are not speaking of all who are born Jews. We are speaking of the one new Man, Christ, and those who are of His Body, God's elect, the one true Church. Some of these are Jewish by natural birth; some, Gentile.
It appears to me that in the last days, when the full number of Gentiles who have been called to be part of the Royal Priesthood are "in Christ," God will pour out His Spirit on the physical Israel. Then a multitude of Jews will be made part of Christ, just as Joseph, after having married the Gentile, Asenath, revealed himself to his family.
(9/12/2010). For so many centuries the Christian people have viewed eternal residence in Heaven as their destiny, as the goal of salvation. One wonders how long it will be before they discover their destiny in the Book of Isaiah as members of the Royal Priesthood. Perhaps this understanding will come suddenly during the chaotic years of the closing days of the Church Era.
The forty-second chapter of the Book of Isaiah announces the Servant of the Lord. The Servant of the Lord is Christ, Head and Body. The chapters in Isaiah following Chapter 42 point out various aspects of the Kingdom that John and Jesus announced. The Kingdom of God is God in Christ in the saints, in the members of the Royal Priesthood, in true Israel. This kingdom is destined to govern for eternity the new world of righteousness.
One of the destructive results of the unscriptural model of Bible interpretation termed "Dispensationalism" is to cut off the very prophecies that tell us of God's plan for His Church. By referring to a "Jewish Church" and a "Gentile Church," total confusion as to our role and destiny is hidden from the believers.
It is time now that we abandon this man-made scheme of interpretation and adopt the "one new Man" of whom Paul spoke. The "one new Man" is Christ, the one Seed of Abraham, and all who are part of Christ, whether they are Jew or Gentile by natural birth.
The term "Christ" ("Messiah") comes from the following passage:
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, (Isaiah 61:1)
"Christ" ("Messiah") is the One whom God has anointed to bring the Kingdom of God to the earth. We Christians are members of the Body of the Anointed One, and this is why we have been given the Spirit of God—it is so we can bring the Kingdom of God to the earth. This is our eternal role.
Notice our responsibility: "to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,"
Because we are saints, holy ones, members of the royal priesthood, we are being trained throughout our lifetime on the earth that we might be competent to minister to those people of the nations whom God has chosen to save to the new world of righteousness.
Therefore do not be surprised when the Lord chastens you. He is making you a partaker of His holiness so you may serve Him effectively.
Compare this destiny with sitting in your mansion and doing nothing for eternity. For myself, I think it is a better future. How about you?
Christ may use some of us in the present hour to help people in the manner set forth in Isaiah. But it is obvious that the fulfillment of our ministry will be throughout the ages to come. The important task right now is to follow Christ as He prepares us through the Spirit for our ministry that will begin when He returns to the earth.
Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. (Isaiah 60:3)
Continuing in Isaiah, Chapter 61:
To proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, (Isaiah 61:2)
When the Lord Jesus, in His home synagogue in Nazareth, read Isaiah 61:2 from the scroll, He stopped short of "the day of vengeance of our God." He did not read this phrase because the day of vengeance had not arrived as yet. It has arrived now!
Now the Spirit of God is bringing judgment on the sin in His Kingdom. It has begun with His disciples, with those living close to Him. Yet it is not a judgment on them as such, but upon the sin that is dwelling in them.
If we will be faithful to confess the sins we are committing, Christ will be faithful to forgive these sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. We must confess them specifically; denounce them as evil; renounce them, turning away from them as Christ helps us. Our actions in doing this constitute an eternal judgment on these spirits. They will not be mentioned to us when we appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ.
God is beginning to put the enemies of Christ under His feet, as He has promised. The judgment has begun with us.
And provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor. (Isaiah 61:3)
We notice, in the verse above, that one of the ministries of Christ and His Body is to Zion, that is, to His Church. This is telling us that there will be a firstfruits of the Church who will minister to the remainder of the Church. The strong will assist the weak, which is pleasing to God.
The firstfruits will be given their new bodies when the Lord returns. The remaining members of God's elect will be given their new bodies at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age, as I understand it, so that the entire Church, the new Jerusalem, may descend from Heaven through the new sky and be established forever on the new earth as the ruling Kingdom of God.
I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. Revelation 20:4-6)
The firstfruits, those who participate in the first resurrection, will rule with Christ over the nations of the earth, during the thousand-year Kingdom Age, and also will have access to the Zion in Heaven so they may contribute to the growth of God's elect in preparation for their role as the new Jerusalem.
We have a young sister, and her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister for the day she is spoken for? If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar. (Song of Solomon 8:8,9)
There are many today who "grieve in Zion." The stronger members of the elect with provide them with a crown of beauty and a garment of praise, until they are "oaks of righteousness." They were saved by means of imputed righteousness. Now they are in the image of Christ, sturdy in righteous behavior that God may be glorified. They are the result of the ministry of the stronger saints.
They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. (Isaiah 61:4)
When Christ returns and sets up His Kingdom on the earth, He first will conquer Antichrist and his armies. Then will take place the cleansing of the earth of the institutions of man-directed civilization. It is my point of view that this cleansing is described in the second chapter of the Book of Joel.
Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste—nothing escapes them. (Joel 2:3)
Now it will be the task of Christ and His firstfruits, during the thousand-year Kingdom Age, to rebuild the earth in a manner pleasing to God. There will be nations of people on the earth at this time who were not destroyed when the Lord appears and destroyed Antichrist and his armies. These nations will give of their wealth to Christ and His saints.
Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:3)
For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined. (Isaiah 60:12)
I think I will leave off at this point and perhaps continue next week. What is written above is so different from what often is preached that perhaps folks will need a bit of time to digest it.
If it is not continued next week, it is my hope that what I have written will serve as a key that you can use in order to understand the passages in Isaiah that have to do with the Israel, the Servant of the Lord, the coming Kingdom of God.
When you stop and think about it, preparing ourselves to be a part of Christ's firstfruits so we may receive our new body and work with Him as He establishes the Kingdom of God on the earth, is much more desirable than sitting in a mansion in Heaven. It may not be desirable to you, but it sure is to me.
Anyway, I think a search of the Scriptures will confirm what I have written here.
These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. (Revelation 14:4)
(Taken from "The Royal Priesthood: II," an excerpt from
The Theology of Robert B. Thompson. Copyright © 2010, by Robert B. Thompson.)You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
"Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites." (Joshua 1:2)"Moses my servant is dead." What would such a statement mean to the Israelites? To Joshua?
(9/19/2010). About three years ago, Audrey and I were at a pastor's conference. Part of the audience consisted of young people preparing to enter the ministry. A strong word came to me. I resisted it because I did not want to call attention to myself. Finally I knew it was the Lord. So I went to one of the people in charge and said, "I have a prophecy." Then I went back to my seat. I was not called on to give it.
Here is the gist of the prophecy, as I remember: "Sin is going to become worse. Do not regard the old ways of doing things. I am going to do a new and surprising thing that will be more than adequate to enable you to be victorious."
Two nights later, after having forgotten about the incident, the Lord let me know that He was grieved because the young candidates did not hear His message. Since then I have had several opportunities to tell people that Jesus is going to do "new and surprising things and not to cling to the old ways of ministry."
I do not know what the new and surprising things will be. But I am expecting them. In my mind, there is no question that many American churches are preaching death, that is, "lawless grace, any-moment rapture, and eternal residence in a mansion in Heaven." This is what people tell me is being taught across the country. They are looking for a church that teaches the Bible.
(9/19/2010). Thinking in terms of the Book of Joshua, what does Canaan, the land of promise, typify? What does the Jordan River typify? These are important questions, because they typify our entrance into the rest of God, the subject of the Book of Hebrews.
Traditionally the Jordan River represents our physical death, and Canaan represents Heaven. I will tell you what I believe they represent, and you can decide which viewpoint you prefer.
The Jordan River represents death to self, to our "I will." Coming out of Egypt is death to the world, while Mount Sinai represents death to sin. Death to the world, to sin, and to self. These three deaths are the necessary foundation for resurrection into the fullness of eternal life when Christ appears.
Canaan is our objective. It represents the rest of God. All enemies have been subdued. We have been conformed to the image of Christ. We are dwelling in untroubled rest in the center of God's Person and will. God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are dwelling in untroubled rest in us. Now we are ready to be co-heirs along with the Lord Jesus of the works of God's hands—especially the nations of people and the farthest reaches of the earth.
This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? (Isaiah 66:1)
After the Jordan was crossed, the manna ceased and the Israelites ate some of the produce of the land. This means the daily grace we are accustomed to stopped and in its place we are eating the solid food of the Throne of God which is being created in us. This takes place after we choose to die to our own will, our self-determination, and obey Jesus Christ in every detail of our life.
Also, the new generation was circumcised. It is time now for a new generation of Christians to return to the holiness of former years. We must, as the Spirit of God leads us, purify ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. When we decide to die to our own will, our judgment begins. Little by little the Holy Spirit points out the sinful impulses in our flesh and spirit. Then we are to turn away from these impulses. Christ will forgive each sin confessed and help us kill it.
The rest of God, the inheritance we are approaching, is filled with the enemies of God. Therefore we are facing a prolonged, vicious fight. Each of us as an individual will be attacked by wicked spirits in the world and unclean spirits dwelling in our flesh. Satan is determined that we shall not enter our inheritance in Christ.
I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Joshua 1:3)
We have to "set our foot" on our inheritance, and then God will give it to us. How do we know what our inheritance is? It is first Christ, people, and all the works of God's hands. After that it becomes a personal inheritance, depending on the individual Christian. We have to pray without ceasing, as it were, asking God to reveal to us our destiny determined from the beginning of the world. As Paul said, we have to grasp that for which we have been grasped by the Lord Jesus.
So it is time to learn spiritual warfare. Christ will teach us how to defend ourselves against the attacks of the enemy; but we must be ever watchful in prayer, and we must be sternly obedience to the Lord Jesus when we know what He wants us to do.
I understand that we would like to go on the offensive and "win the world for Jesus." Perhaps some people have such a calling. But for most of us it is a patient waiting on the Lord Jesus as He shows us step by step what we are to do, and how to overcome the resistance and pressure exerted by our enemies.
There comes a time when "the enemy is too strong for us," as King David said. Today this is true in America. Because we did not value the nation that had been handed to us by the pioneers, and chose the ways of the flesh, God is removing His hand from us. Now we are facing evil such as we never thought to see in our country.
Well intentioned political and other physical efforts will not avail. We are being attacked by highly placed leaders in the spirit world. We cannot just charge out and defeat them. Only Jesus–only Jesus–has the authority and power necessary to overcome Satan. Jesus is willing to help us survive in the America of the next decade. but we personally must turn away from our own plans and desires and look to Christ for every step.
Some will survive spiritually in the coming days, but it will be only those who are trusting in Jesus at every moment of the day and night. Our armed forces, as brave as they are, cannot help us when God is not with them. And God will not help them when our nation condones abortion and sexual perversions.
Another problem is the entrance of foreign gods into our land–gods which actually are not gods. Only our Lord Jesus Christ and His Father are the true Gods of Heaven, and we are to worship and serve them only. To tolerate the worship of other gods is not acceptable and will bring ruin on us, as it has on the nations that worship them.
Difficult times ahead in America. No doubt about that. But Christ is greater than all the problems we are facing, and will help everyone who calls on Him for assistance.
No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. (Joshua 1:5)
(Taken from "From Moses to Joshua: I," an excerpt from
The Theology of Robert B. Thompson. Copyright © 2010, by Robert B. Thompson.)You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
From Moses to Joshua, continued. "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites." (Joshua 1:2)
The death of Moses and the appointing of Joshua as the leader of Israel was as great a change as could be imagined. There do come changes in God's eternal plan. We are in such change today.
(9/26/2010). What is the nature of the change that is occurring now? The change has to do with the phase of redemption we are entering. Up to the present hour the Christians have experienced the blood atonement, repentance and water baptism, the born-again experience, and the various ministrations of the Spirit of God.
Now we are to build on what has gone before. It is the same God, the same Christ, the same Holy Spirit, the same Bible. But it is not the same wandering in a wilderness while looking backward. Now we are to look forward. Our task now as Christians is to follow the Spirit of God into the promised rest, the inheritance, the goal toward which our redemption is bringing us.
Our inheritance is not eternal residence in Heaven. Our inheritance consists of rest in the center of God's Person and will; change into the inner and outer image of the Lord Jesus Christ; plus whatever individual goal that is part of our destiny. Of special importance is the inheritance of the people whom we are to serve as a member of the royal priesthood; also the farthest reaches of the earth.
This promised rest, this inheritance, is occupied by demons. So we are going to have to fight in order to lay hold on that which God has promised us.
Christ is coming to us now as the Lord, mighty in battle. This is the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of the Blowing of Trumpets.
The Spirit of God is prepared to cleanse us from all trust in the world, all the aspects of our sinful nature, and self-will. Every part of our personality that is not perfectly reconciled to God, that is not in perfect harmony with the Father, must be dealt with until all obstacles to our rest in Him, and His rest in us, have been removed. This is the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish Day of Atonement.
The final result of God's present dealing with us will be the dwelling of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in us. This is what God desires. Hopefully this is what we desire. If we do not want to be filled with all the fullness of God, we are wise if we immediately make the possession of such a desire our continual prayer. This is the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish feast of Tabernacles.
We are entering spiritual warfare. The spiritual warfare is reflected in the physical warfare in which the nations of the earth currently are engaging.
I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. (Joshua 1:3.4)
In the passage above we see the two aspects of moving forward with God. First, God will give us every place we set our foot. Second, God very specifically tells us where to place our feet.
It is taught currently that Christ has done everything concerning our salvation. All we have to do is believe that He has done everything. This is not at all true. As Paul said, we are to grasp that for which we have been grasped. The true Christian experience of redemption is that of ceaselessly pressing forward toward the mark.
We are in an unrelenting warfare as we seek to move forward in Christ. There is no vacation from this pressing forward until the day we die; and for all I know, the need to press forward in Christ continues after we die.
The Word speaks of the Body of Christ being brought to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ, and of a Church without spot or wrinkle. We know that the Word always is fulfilled perfectly and totally. Would anyone want to claim that such maturity is gained in the present world?.
There is much in our personality that vigorously resists our finding perfect rest in the Person and will of God; and resists also a change from our adamic image to the image of Christ.
What passage of the Bible supports the idea that when we die physically we automatically are at rest in God's Person and are changed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ?
After all, sin began in Heaven when Satan, one of the two cherubim that guarded the Throne of God, decided he wanted to take God's place. What is to prevent a person or an angel from doing this in the future? I can see men on the earth today who are trying to usurp the place of God!
We have to place our feet. Christ has not done it all for us. Also, we need to know where to place our feet. Knowing where to march must come to us at all times from the Spirit of God. We are not to guess at our inheritance. We are to follow the Spirit as He leads us in putting to death the lusts and actions of our sinful nature.
Each member of the Royal Priesthood has had, from the creation of the world, a specific commission. He or she has been called according to God's purpose. As long as the individual is pressing forward as led by the Spirit of God, all things of world history are working for the good of him or her.
I cannot emphasize too strongly that we absolutely must keep ourselves in the place where we are denying ourselves and following Christ. He is our Joshua, our Commander in Chief. We cannot possibly enter the rest of God in our own wisdom and strength. We must remain in Christ, in His Presence, at all times.
The wickedness in the world is increasing every day. The enemy is too wise and strong for us. All of our notions of how we are going to remove the abominations are useless. Only the Lord Jesus Christ is wiser and stronger than the enemy who is operating today in our own country as well as other countries. We will be only as successful in conquering our enemy to the extent we are dwelling in Christ.
When we review the events that occurred as Joshua led the Israelites against the Canaanites, we can see that victory was gained only as the Israelite army obeyed the Lord, as He led them from city to city.
Joshua's only failure occurred in the case of the Gibeonites. Joshua did not ask the Lord, he assumed the Gibeonites were telling the truth. If we are going to be successful in spiritual battle we must learn never to take anything for granted. We are to look to the Lord about everything.
"No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." (Joshua 1:5)
There is no power of Satan that can prevent our gaining the fullness of our inheritance. But this is true only as we are obeying Christ diligently. We are not to do, as some are suggesting, "put on our administrative hat" and go about challenging the powers of Hell. We are to move only as directed by the Spirit of God.
We now are at the end of the Church Age. God is facing Satan. The conflict is between titans, whereas we are only dust. We always must keep in mind that Christ never will leave us or forsake us. No matter how grim and dark our situation may become at times. no matter how we feel, Christ will never leave us in the hands of the enemy. If we are faithful to Him, He will be faithful to us.
I do not say Christ will remain with us if we act carelessly or foolishly. Today is no time to be careless or foolish as we prepare to enter the inheritance promised to us.
"Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. (Joshua 1:6)"
Notice the emphasis on strength and courage. The fearful will not be able to gain their inheritance. Why is this? It is because fear is an indication that we do not trust God's ability, or His love, or His good intentions toward us. Remember how the Israelites were turned back into the wilderness.
The preaching of the "rapture" includes the idea that the believers in Christ will escape Antichrist and the Great Tribulation. It is a doctrine that encourages the Christians to be afraid of Satan. There is no thought of standing in the evil day, only of escape from the forces of Hell.
The doctrine of the "rapture," as taught commonly, is not of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is leaving the Christian people unprepared for the spiritual darkness on the horizon–that even now is entering our country. God would have us confident in Him that He will make us more than conquerors in Christ.
We have been commanded to be strong and courageous. Christ is the epitome of strength and courage and He desires that we be like Him. At what time we feel fear attempting to master us we are to call on Christ. He will share His perfect courage and strength with us.
Remember, we cannot cower in fear believing that God will feel sorry for us. He won't. He is a king. We are His sons. He expects us to act like sons of the Greatest of all kings. We just have to pray until we gain the strength and courage we need to face the problems of the day. They will be given to us! But if we yield to fearfulness and unbelief we will suffer for it, and perhaps lose part or all of our inheritance.
"Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it." (Joshua 1:7,8)
The passage above was given to me by some fellow Marines when I first became a Christian. These Marines were followers of Dawson Trotman. They placed great emphasis on learning the Word; memorizing the Word. I have never forgotten this emphasis.
Since I got out of the Marine Corps I have retained that reverence for the written Word. But I have found that many churches are preaching their traditions rather than the written Word. I have spent a good part of my adult life seeking to point out where the current evangelical preaching, such as the doctrine of the "pre-tribulation rapture," is not scriptural.
Without a doubt, the worst of all errors is that all we are to do is believe that Christ has done everything for us. Consequently numerous Christian people are waiting for an unscriptural "rapture" that will carry them up to Heaven before the Day of Resurrection. There is nothing for them to do but wait for this event. Can you imagine such blindness!
Such an attitude toward the Christian redemption is so totally unscriptural that one can only marvel that any believer has accepted this point of view.
Following is the scriptural attitude, the attitude we should be taking toward our salvation:
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (I Corinthians 9:24-27)
Does the above sound like the current preaching of "Christ did it all" and all we are to do is believe that Christ did it all? Do you see any inkling that God sees us through Christ and His grace excuses our indifference and disobedience.
No, the passage does not fit the current emphasis in so many instances.
I believe many preachers of today see that we have departed grievously from the written Word of God, from the teaching of the Apostles. Hopefully they will convince numerous believers to turn away from the "grace-rapture-Heaven" teaching and begin to "run in such a way as to attain to the prize."
So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: "Go through the camp and tell the people, 'Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.'" (Joshua 1:10,11)
(Taken from "From Moses to Joshua: II," an excerpt from The Theology of Robert B. Thompson. Copyright © 2010, by Robert B. Thompson.)
You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
. I suppose it has been true throughout the history of the world that there have been numerous religions, and then a handful of people who really walk with God and hear from God. So it is today, in America at least, that there are millions of religious people, mostly Christians but also of other religions and sects.But I think I am correct in saying that only a few people are walking with God and hearing from God. Sometimes these are referred to as a "remnant."
(October 3, 2010). If I am correct, we are at a very significant time in the program of redemption. The Bible seems to be becoming more clear. We can see several unscriptural traditions being emphasized, such as the doctrine that Divine grace is an alternative to growth in righteous behavior.
In the first chapter of the Book of Joshua, God told the Israelites that they would possess every place they put their feet. This was confined to a specific area of land. So it is today. The current teaching that Christ did it all and our task merely is to believe is utterly false, and works against the continual pressing forward in Christ, which is the normal Christian experience.
An emphasis was placed on the fact that no enemy would be able to stand against the Israelite army. But they suffered two defeats: first, when Achan sinned; and then because Joshua did not pray when the Gibeonites came. Later they were not diligent to destroy all the inhabitants of an area, and, as the Lord told them would happen, they gradually fell into the ways of the Canaanites whom they permitted to live among them.
God would have given them total victory. But they did not have the faith to believe, and so they finally were overcome by the Assyrians and the Babylonians.
What a lesson that is for us today. We keep being told that it is not necessary, nor even possible, to overcome sin while we are in the world. We are trusting that physical death will be our redeemer and we will be set free to go to live in a mansion in Heaven. The result is, the churches in America are not strong enough to overcome the increasing immorality in our country. Even the ministers are falling into sexual sin.
No enemy possibly can stand before us when we are following the Lord Jesus Christ and obeying him perfectly and completely.
Another emphasis in the first chapter of the Book of Joshua is that placed upon reading, meditating in, and obeying the Bible strictly. Victory in Jesus is not possible when we are preaching unscriptural traditions rather than what is written in the Bible.
Following are three of the unscriptural traditions that are rehearsed every Sunday in many (perhaps the majority) of the Christian churches in America:
The most destructive of the unscriptural traditions is that we are in a new dispensation of grace. Paul preached that grace is a substitute for the Law of Moses, not a new dispensation. We have made grace a substitute for growth in godly behavior. This misinterpretation does away with the bulk of Paul's admonition to the churches.
Another longstanding tradition is that being saved means we will go to Heaven when we die and live eternally in a mansion. Heaven is viewed as our "Canaan." The truth is, being saved means we will be saved from wrath and brought over to eternal life on the new earth.
In addition, for the members of the royal priesthood, being saved means we will be completely set free from sin and self-will and filled with all the fullness of God. This is the message that is to be preached to members of the Church. The Gospel of saved from wrath and brought over to eternal life on the new earth is not for the Royal Priesthood but for those from the nations whom God saves.
The message to the members of the Church, the Royal Priesthood, is found in the third chapter of the Book of Philippians. It is that we are to turn away from the things of the world and lay hold on that for which God has laid hold on us.
The message to the members of the Church often is not preached, as the Christian leaders in their blindness spend most of their effort trying to get everyone in the world "saved." Meanwhile, those whom God has called to the Royal Priesthood are not given the nourishing food of the Word.
A third unscriptural tradition, the doctrine of the pre-tribulation "rapture" into Heaven of the believers is preventing God's people from taking seriously the need to prepare themselves to stand in Christ during the coming evil days. It may be true that this fanciful belief will fall of its own weight in the coming dark days.
Joshua told the people to get ready to cross the Jordan and take possession of the promised land. God had given them a description of the land he had given them for an inheritance.
God has told us of the "land" we are to inherit:
The fullness of the indwelling of God such that we are living in perfect, complete harmony in God's Person and will.
Change into the inward moral character of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then change into the external image of Christ. I think the external change will begin when the Lord next appears, and then develop throughout the coming ages of ages. Image, and then likeness.
The people whom God saves from the nations of the earth are our inheritance, whom we shall serve as governing priests.
Finally, all the works of God's hands. That includes all of the present earth. Then the new earth. Then whatever God creates after that.
Such is our true, scriptural inheritance. Because we are not hearing from God, we have changed our inheritance into eternal rest in the spirit world, doing nothing of importance; having no problems or projects to pursue. Luminous spirits in eternal rest in a large mansion situated on a golden street.
God created a garden. We created mansions.
The truth of the matter is, most people would rather be reunited with their loved ones than be a luminous spirit in eternal rest in a mansion on a golden street.
The issue in the present hour is the need to prepare to enter our inheritance.
There always are distractions to prevent people from learning to walk humbly with the Lord Jesus. In America in the present hour we have at least two major distractions. First, are the increasingly fascinating electronic devices, aids to communication. As someone said, "improved means to unimproved ends."
The second major distraction is the political turmoil. Millions of Christians are concerned with the direction the government is taking the country. For myself, I do not like what I am seeing in America or England. Being eighty-five years of age, I am accustomed to the America I was raised in, with the English cultural influence (but not the English culture of today, however!).
I have the typical conservative dislike of strong central government. But then, Christianity was born in an empire, not a democracy; which tells me that God's work can be done under any kind of government.
God is speaking to us today to get rid of our sins and begin to follow Jesus Christ into our inheritance. I do not know about you, but Jesus is not speaking to me about the present political situation.
Let's pretend that at the midterm election (November, 2010) the Republicans gain control of both houses of Congress and begin to dismantle the hated programs sponsored by the Democrats. Let's pretend further that it is proven that the President was not born in America, and he is thrown out of office and a fervent conservative person takes his place. Hurrah many would shout!
Now what. The Christians will relax, believing that happy days are here again. Then they will return to their late-night blasphemous comedians, X-rated movies, acceptance of homosexual behavior, acceptance of mosques in their neighborhood, abortions, child molestations, gossip, envy, drunkenness, haughtiness, and especially lewd sexual practices.
As long as the Democrats continue their tax-and-spend policies, the conservative people will be up in arms. But once that pressure is off, and we have a return to a more conservative government, then the passions of the flesh in the Christians will take over. Finally God will step in, and much blood will be shed in our country.
I find abominable the moral values of the present government, the lying and deceit that is present. But occupying ourselves with political reform distracts us from what Christ is emphasizing. At least to me, Christ is not emphasizing political reform. Rather He is pressing on me to tell God's people to draw closer to Himself so they will be able to stand in Him during the coming chaotic days in the United States of America.
Prepare yourselves with prayer and meditation in the Bible. Be sternly obedient to whatever the Lord is saying to you. Christ is ready to lead his Church into their inheritance. He will do this in the midst of the troubles in the world.
We are not to be distracted by anything we hear or see. We are to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus with singleness of heart. Then we will be able to stand and to help others to stand throughout the period of great evil that is to descend on our country.
(Taken from "From Moses to Joshua: III," an excerpt from
The Theology of Robert B. Thompson. Copyright © 2010, by Robert B. Thompson.)You can hear the morning sermon at morning.
You can hear the evening sermon at evening.
Possessing All of Our Inheritance. Anyone who is acquainted with the Bible knows that the Israelites through fear, or unbelief, or disobedience, did not possess the inheritance that God had promised them. To the present hour, the Jews are living in just a small part of their land of promise. Even this little area is being contested bitterly by those who worship a different god.
(10/10/2010). Have you ever thought about the area that God has promised to the Jewish people"
Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. (Joshua 1:4)
The desert is the Negev on the south. Lebanon is on the north. The great river is the Euphrates. At its greatest extent the Hittite Empire covered much of Asia Minor, an area many times larger than Canaan. Perhaps it was not as large in the days of Joshua. The Great Sea on the west is the Mediterranean.
The Jews have not been able to possess this large area even though God, who owns all the earth, gave them title to it. The closest they came to possessing it, as far as I know, was during the governments of David and Solomon. Because they did not serve the Lord as they should have, their inheritance was challenged continually until finally they were removed from their land by the Assyrians and the Babylonians.
Think of how today the Jews are being forced to give up, piece by piece, the tiny bit of land they are living in. Currently the West Bank and Jerusalem are at issue. Can they keep what they now have, including the Golan Heights—originally a City of Refuge? Time will tell.
The Israelites had some national promises, such as the defeat of their enemies. They also had many personal promises, such as those found in the twenty-third, the thirty-fourth, and the ninety-first psalms, and in other places in the Prophets. The personal promises included a long life, material prosperity, and deliverance from harm.
As far as I can remember, we Americans have no national promises. This is because America is not a people and land that God has chosen, such as is true of the Israelis and their land. But we have any number of personal promises.
The following are some of the promises of God to those of us who care enough to pursue them through Christ. Just think of what we have been promised:
We have been promised that if we overcome we will sit on the highest Throne with the Lord Jesus Christ.
We will be termed "God's sons.
We will inherit all that God makes new after the present heavens and earth pass away and the new world of righteousness comes into view.
We will be filled with all the fullness of God, the same fullness that has been written concerning our Lord.
We will rule the nations of the earth with a rod of iron.
We will be loved by the Father as He loves His Firstborn Son.
We will receive the glory which has been given to the Lord Jesus.
We will be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus.
We will dwell in Christ as part of the Father.
We will be crowned with righteousness and eternal life.
We will be more than a conqueror through Christ.
We will be filled with the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.
We will attain to the standard which is the full measure of Christ.
We will bear much fruit—reproducing Christ's image in ourselves and others.
We will inherit the nations of the earth.
We will bring justice to the nations of the earth.
We will inherit the farthest reaches of the earth.
We will be a living stone in the eternal Temple of God.
We will receive an eternal, Spirit-filled body in the Day of Resurrection.
We will know the Father.
We will see God.
We will be a member of the Royal Priesthood.
We will be a brother of Jesus Christ.
We will gain total victory through Jesus Christ over all sin and disobedience.
Do you know what our response has been to these promises? We have created a "rapture" that will carry us up to Heaven so we can escape Antichrist and the Great Tribulation and sit in a mansion, praising God for saving us by His grace while we lead an ungodly life.
The Jews never have been able to possess their inheritance due to fear, unbelief, sin, and disobedience. They have been squeezed into a tiny corner of what could have been a marvelous possession.
The Christians never have been able to possess their inheritance due to fear, unbelief, sin, and disobedience. We have given up on gaining victory over sin and possessing the earth and its peoples. We just want to flee to Heaven where there is no danger—we hope!
God is not pleased with our neglect of entering His rest, our Divinely ordained inheritance in Christ. God compares the unbelief and disobedience of the Jews with our unbelief and disobedience, and warns us of the consequences:
Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed
? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. (Hebrews 3:16-19)
The three great platforms of redemption are typified by the three major convocations of Israel:
Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed: (Deuteronomy 16:16)
The Feast of Unleavened Bread represents our basic salvation experience: coming under the Passover blood; repenting and being baptized in water; and the born-again experience.
We have named the Feast of Weeks, "Pentecost" because it is celebrated fifty days after the Passover. It speaks of our obeying the Spirit of God. The Law of the Spirit of Life replaces the Law of Moses.
Our goal, our land of promise, is typified by the Feast of Tabernacles. Every other aspect of the program of redemption is for the purpose of bringing us to the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles. Here is the rest of God. God finds rest in us. We find rest in God.
Immediately preceding the Feast of Tabernacles are the Blowing of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement. The Blowing of Trumpets, and the Day of Atonement are the final two steps toward Tabernacles. The Blowing of Trumpets announces the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King, to destroy His enemies. During the Day of Atonement we are reconciled to God as we overcome worldliness, sin, and self-will. These two steps make it possible for God to find rest in us and we in God.
By and large, the Christian churches experienced the first phase of redemption from the beginning of the Reformation to the twentieth century.
The spiritual fulfillment of Pentecost spread throughout the world during the twentieth century. The twentieth century was the "Pentecostal Century."
Now the Spirit of God is ready to bring us through Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and finally Tabernacles.
I think the Spirit of God is telling me it is urgent that God's people turn away from their numerous distractions and press forward into the spiritual fulfillment of Tabernacles. The Spirit is warning that the coming days will see the works of Satan abounding throughout the world. We will have to "die in the Lord," so to speak, and live by the Life of Christ if we are to survive spiritually and help others to survive.
As I pondered what the Spirit means by "urgent," the work of Ze'ev Jabotinsky came to mind. Just prior to the Holocaust, Jabotinsky went through some of the countries of Europe, warning the Jews that destruction was about to fall upon them. In particular, he urged the Jews in Poland, Hungary, and Romania to leave their countries and emigrate to Palestine.
It seems that very few heeded Jabotin