AN INTERACTIVE SUMMARY OF WORTHY OF THE KINGDOM

The following paragraphs are presented as a summary of Worthy of the Kingdom. The review questions are designed to facilitate a clear comprehension of the thesis statements contained in that document. Click on the answer of your choice to determine the level of progress you are making in understanding the major points presented in this summary. For your convenience a link to the entire document is provided at the end of this lesson.

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SEGMENT ONE

The scriptural concept of being worthy to be raised from the dead and to rise to meet Him in the air is not often thought about carefully. But with the coming of the Lord so close at hand perhaps we should turn our attention to this teaching.

The following statement in the passage above, "I will never blot out his name from the book of life," also merits our consideration. Today’s Christian preaching is way off balance in the matter of the security of the believer. We Christians are preaching human sentiment rather than the Word of God.

Is it possible to have one’s name in the Book of Life and then have it blotted out?

Obviously, yes.

If our name can be blotted out, it follows that at one time our name was written in God’s book. A name cannot be blotted out unless it was there originally.

But how can it be that our name could be in the Book of Life and then be blotted out? If our name is not found in the Book of Life at the time of the final judgment we will be thrown into the Lake of Fire; and we never would think of a Christian, no matter how worldly and sinful, actually being thrown into the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.

The answer to this question is: Christ said there is such a danger, and therefore such danger exists.

When the Bible states that only the victorious believer has the guarantee that he or she will not be blotted from the Book of Life, it means exactly that. The non-victorious believers are exposed to the danger of being thrown into the Lake of Fire. If this is not true, neither is John 3:16; for the same author wrote both passages.

SEGMENT TWO

We need to consider what the New Testament states concerning our need to be worthy of participation in the Kingdom of God.

The believers in Thessalonica were counted worthy of the Kingdom of God because they exhibited perseverance and faith in the persecutions and trials they were enduring.

It follows that if they did not demonstrate perseverance and faith in the persecutions and trials they were enduring they would not be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God.

We can see clearly that it is not enough to claim we will go to Heaven on the basis of our belief in Christ independently of the manner in which we behave. In the first place, the issue is not that of going to Heaven (which is not the scriptural goal of salvation) but that of entering the Kingdom of God. In the second place, we have to be proven worthy of the Kingdom.

Perhaps the concept of worthiness to enter the Kingdom of God needs to be emphasized more than it is in today’s preaching and teaching.

There are other verses that emphasize the need for our being worthy of the Kingdom of God, or of Christ.

We must be found worthy of taking part in the new world of righteousness that is on the horizon. We simply cannot assume because we have met the requirements of some Christian organization we automatically are candidates for the resurrection unto eternal life.

SEGMENT THREE

One of the problems with Christian thinking is we attempt to "balance" truth by using one passage to offset another. For examples, we would say that we need not worry concerning whether we are worthy to participate in the new world because, according to Ephesians 2:8,9, we are saved by grace and not by works of righteousness we have done.

We cannot please God by taking part of His Word and removing the other or weakening the other part that seems to conflict with what we wish to believe. To do this is to give a private interpretation of the Scripture, that is, an interpretation we have chosen in spite of conflicting passages.

If there is anything Christian people need to understand it is that the entire Scriptures are inspired—word for word. When two passages appear to conflict we are not to seize upon one and neglect the other. We are to accept both verses as equally true and wait for God to show us how they go together.

This is not true concerning the Law of Moses and the new covenant. We have enough statements to understand the Law of Moses has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ and we are not to return to any part of the Law. We now are under the law of the Spirit of Life, a law superior to and that takes precedence over the Law of Moses.

The Old Testament does however contain numerous passages that apply today, either directly or symbolically. What would we do, for example, without the Book of Psalms?

But when we come to the New Testament, every word is to be embraced as Divine truth. Even though some verses appear to conflict with another, such as passages describing faith, and others that speak of works of righteousness, we never are to maximize one and minimize the other. We are to take all the passages as inspired equally by the Spirit of God.

Thus it is true that we are saved by grace and not by works of righteousness we have done. It is equally true that we must be found worthy of being raised into the new world of life and righteousness. We thank God for His grace and we labor diligently that we might be found worthy of eternal life in the Kingdom of God. It is just as simple as this.

SEGMENT FOUR

Paul prayed for the saints at Colosse that God would fill them with the knowledge of His will, this knowledge to proceed from spiritual wisdom and understanding.

Paul prayed for such knowledge for them so they would live a life worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in every way.

Paul desired that they bear fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God.

Paul prayed that they would be strengthened with all power so they would have great endurance and patience, and joyfully give thanks to the Father who has qualified them to share in the inheritance of the saint in the kingdom of light.

Paul speaks of a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing to Him in every way.

Paul equates such worthiness with:

Bearing fruit in every good work.

Growing in the knowledge of God.

Being strengthened with all power in order to have great endurance and patience.

Joyfully giving thanks to the Father.

Being qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of God.

The question sometimes arises: "But will I be saved anyway, even though I don’t bear fruit in every good work and grow in the knowledge of God? Even though I do not live a life worthy of the Lord?"

By "will I be saved" we mean, will I go to Heaven when I die?

We notice first of all that the objective is to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. Nothing is said about going to Heaven—here, or anywhere else in the New Testament.

Will we share in the inheritance of the saints even though we do not live a life worthy of the Lord?

Perhaps we will; perhaps we won’t. Only Christ will determine this.

But won’t we be saved by fire if we don’t serve the Lord?

All people, even the most righteous, are saved by fire. The question is whether or not we will have an inheritance in the Kingdom of God.

There are numerous passages in the New Testament, such as the parable of the talents or of the foolish virgins, that warn us of the danger of not serving the Lord diligently. God may save us into His Kingdom because of the prayers of a godly relative, as He did Lot; or He may not. We have no guarantee we will escape the Lake of Fire unless we diligently confess our sins and turn away from them.

Our preaching today, with its "You shall not surely die," is more of Satan than it is of God. The Christian churches in America are lukewarm, in many instances, filled with spiritually lethargic individuals who are complacent because of the idea that God loves us unconditionally and we have nothing to fear.

Unless God intervenes in some substantial manner in the United States, there are multitudes of Christian believers who will discover, when they die, that they have been misled. They will not hear "Well done, good and faithful servant." Rather they will stand before Christ and His saints and receive the good and the evil they have practiced while living on the earth.

SEGMENT FIVE

There is a part of the Bible that speaks of God’s love and His desire that all people be saved.

There is another part of the Bible that speaks of the need for diligent application to the life of victory over sin if we are to inherit the Kingdom of God.

Which part is true? They both are equally true. God desires that all be saved. God also requires that we behave in a manner worthy of His invitation. We cannot enter the banqueting room of the King unless we are dressed appropriately.

There is a time to stress the love of the Shepherd, that He will leave the ninety- and-nine and seek out the lost sheep.

There is a time to stress the severity of the Lord when He calls His servants to account for the diligence with which they invested the talents He gave them.

In our day, the love of God is emphasized again and again. It often is true that the severity of God is not given its rightful place in our preaching.

Also, we have postulated an unscriptural "state of grace" that shields our behavior from God’s sight. The hastiest review of the New Testament will reveal that its emphasis is on our behavior, not on a "state of grace" that hides our behavior from God’s eyes.

We are living in the last days and have been deceived, as Jesus warned. We have become lovers of ourselves. We have heaped to ourselves teachers who tell us what we desire to hear.

We cannot blame our teachers if we do not live a godly life. We ought to know God has called us to holy, righteous, obedient behavior in Christ. If we have never read the Bible, we know God is holy and righteous and those who belong to Him must be holy and righteous—not by imputed righteousness alone but as a result of a transformed moral character.

We have stated that all believers are saved as by fire, the difference being that some receive a glorious reward and others enter the Kingdom by the skin of their teeth, so to speak.

In order to understand why all believers are saved as by fire we must revise our definition of salvation. To be saved is not to go to Heaven to live forever. To be saved is to be delivered from worldliness, lust, and self-will. If we are to enter the Kingdom of God we must be delivered from worldliness, lust, and self-will. The only manner in which anyone, no matter how righteous, can be saved, can be delivered from worldliness, lust, and self will, is by going through fiery trials. All true saints of God enter the Kingdom through much tribulation.

If we profit from our baptism with fire and are made holy, righteous, and obedient to God, and perform God’s will in the earth, we will receive a reward so fantastic as to be indescribable. It is "winner take all."

But if we do not profit from our baptism with fire, and become bitter and unforgiving instead of holy, righteous, and obedient to God, choosing to pursue our own pleasures instead of the will of God, we will receive no reward. If Christ should permit us to enter His righteous Kingdom, we will do so as an immature, naked spirit, void of any reward or inheritance.

The believers need to consider this carefully. They have been taught if they do not serve Christ diligently they will be saved by fire anyway. To their mind this means they will not have a superior mansion or any great inheritance, but the world they have been admitted to will be so much more glorious than anything they could experience in the present world they are not very interested in the extent of their reward.

In this they are dreadfully mistaken.

To not use the talents given us in a wise, diligent manner, is to invite the wrath of Christ. If He does admit us into His Kingdom, perhaps through the prayers of godly relatives whose joy will not be complete if we are hurled into the eternal flames, we will be without inheritance in the Kingdom. We will be ashamed of our spiritual nakedness when all around us are saints dressed in the glowing white robes of their own righteous behavior.

We will turn away and seek the company of others like ourselves who have been admitted to the new world. We all will be placed under the supervision of angels who will insure that we do not harm or spoil in any manner the pure, beautiful paradise in which the victorious saints are walking with the Lamb.

LESSON COMPLETED, GREAT WORK!

Proceed to Lesson Eight

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Source Document:

Copyright © 2002 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.

Copyright © 1997-2001 by Trumpet Ministries, Inc. / The Word of Righteousness 
 Author of the "Words of Righteousness" - Dr. Robert B. Thompson 
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ANSWER GUIDE

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