In this sermon, the pastor emphasizes that the traditional way of conducting church services is no longer effective. He believes that every Christian should be actively involved in the service and that God wants to bring each individual to the fullness of Christ. The pastor also highlights the importance of the body of Christ being a repository for God's holy law and removing sin from the world. He explains that God's kingdom will be established on earth through the saints exercising force and ruling with a rod of iron. The sermon concludes with a reminder to pray and wait on God, as it is His work and not the work of religion.

Tonight will be just exactly what you want said and perceived. Lord God, we look to you and we praise your holy name, Lord. How wonderful you are. And we do give thanks to you, Lord. Thanks to you, Lord, in Jesus' name for your goodness to us. Now help us, Lord, that we will pursue exactly what you have in mind. I thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, you may not recall Sunday night, but, um, and I don't think, Brooke, you weren't here, were you? Or Brian? Well, I'll try to be clear. Now, I referenced the Feasts of the Lord. Brian, you've heard me teach on that, and Brooke probably hasn't. And then the Tabernacle of the Congregation. And I don't think either one of you have heard about that very much. So I'll keep that in mind. But I'll try to make it as simple as I can. And then if you have any questions, just raise your hand. Maybe I can make it clear. But, you know, the things that happened in the Old Testament were, you might say, symbols. They're called types. But it means that they represent things that are happening today. They're symbolic, like the Passover was symbolic of our getting saved. The Old Testament has a lot of those things. And Bible scholars call them types, which is not the way we ordinarily use the word. But it just means that it was a symbol that had meaning. And the Bible type, one of the main types for Pentecost is when they came to Mount Sinai and got the Law of Moses. And so the Jews to this day celebrate the giving of the Law on the day of the Feast of Pentecost. They celebrate that even today. So in the Jewish mind, the giving of the Law represents the Holy Spirit and Pentecost, which tells us that Pentecost, the giving of the Spirit, is the Law of God. It's the Law of the New Testament. Because it's through the Holy Spirit that we get power to overcome sin, to know what sin is, and to get the victory over sin. So Mount Sinai was the giving of the Law of Moses. The Holy Spirit and Pentecost is the giving of the Law into the Christian Church. Does that make sense? So in that way, Mount Sinai and Pentecost have that in common. They both were the giving of the Law. Under the Old Testament, it was the Law of Moses. Under the New Testament, it's called the Law of the Spirit of Life. So we're supposed to follow the Holy Spirit. And He teaches us, and not only teaches us, but gives us power to overcome sin. So it's the Holy Spirit's job to make us holy. The Bible says, the scholars say, to sanctify us. In the fifth chapter of Galatians, for example, we read, walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. So we can't do it in our own strength. We can't overcome sin in our own strength. So God has sent the Holy Spirit to enable us to overcome sin. So it's the Law of the New Covenant. The Christian Law is the Holy Spirit. Does that make sense to everybody? Because I'm going somewhere with this. I'm just trying to make sure I go slow enough that you can understand when I get where I'm going. Alright. After Mount Sinai, in the wilderness, after the Law came down from God, the Jews were commanded by God to do two things. Does anyone remember what they were? The two things. You find them in Exodus. You find both of them in Exodus, in fact. Two things that God commanded the Jews to do after He gave them the Law on Mount Sinai. Huh? Well, He told them that at the very beginning. That, you know, I always find this to be true. When I slow down enough, when people are new or something, or when we have real young people, the other people, the older people, they do that again. I finally got it. I take too much for granted. I go too fast. Okay. So I made it very clear Sunday night, and you don't remember. The two things that, well, Brooke, you weren't even here. Brian, you weren't here, were you? No, so you wouldn't know. Okay. Huh? Well, that's surely a good thing to do. Brooke, you and Brian should be sitting in these two chairs here, because it looks like I want to talk to you tonight. Because I have to keep peeking around Audrey and everything. And I know it's more comfortable to be way back hidden. I understand that. But I want you to, I don't want you to sit here for an hour and a half and not understand what in the world the man is talking about. Okay. Eddie's going to tell us now, because he remembers. What were they, Eddie? Huh? I didn't remember, but I'll dab at it. In the book of Exodus, the 10th chapter, I believe, tells about the army. I better write that down. Bendy, would you write that down there? Erase the board there. I guess you'll have to use your necktie or something. I don't know. Use it, please. And write down, organize an army and build the tabernacle. Organize an army. Well, when I say organize an army, you can picture that. I'm going to talk to you two guys. When I say organize an army, you can understand what that means. In other words, when the Jews came out of Egypt, they were not arranged in any particular way. The pushy Jews ended up in front and those that weren't as pushy ended up in the back. So they just came out kind of hit or miss. But remember, they were getting ready to march into Canaan and they couldn't go in there as a mob. They had to go in there as an army. So, after God gave the law on Mount Sinai, he organized them into an army and you can read about that. Is it the 10th chapter of Exodus? No, I guess the 10th chapter of Numbers. Is it the 10th chapter of Numbers? Who's up there? Reverend Tim? Try Numbers 10.1. Maybe that's where it is. That he told them about the trumpets. When the trumpets sound, this happens. When the two trumpets sound, that happens. And then you go down and you see they were arranged so that Judah went in front and then there was some tribes on their left flank, some tribes on their right flank, some that brought up the rear. Yeah, that's where you see where they're beginning to talk about going into war and organizing. Now, it says the tribes camping on the Easter to set up the tribes and so on. So, that must have been described in previous chapters which tribes were on the east, which tribes were on the west, the flanking tribes. No, the flanking tribes were on the north and south. And then Judah was in front, I remember that, and Dan brought up the rear. But there was three tribes in front, three tribes on the north, three tribes on the south, and three tribes on the west. So, now this is all going somewhere. Now, that's so much for the army. Now, starting in the 25th chapter of Exodus, starting in the 25th chapter of Exodus and all the way through the remainder of the book of Exodus, I don't think there's any other subject in the Bible that has that much text devoted to it. But from Exodus 25 through to the end of Exodus, around chapter 40 or so, has one subject. You know what it is? The tabernacle of the congregation. Now, when I say that, just think of a tent surrounded with a fence. That's all you've got to think of. Just picture in your mind, better yet, a barn, a fence in the shape of a barn surrounded by a fence. That's all you've got to think about. Now, the two things went on together, the organization to the army and the building of the tabernacle. Now, the building of the tabernacle had a primary purpose. It was to serve as a house for the Ark of the Covenant. And the Ark of the Covenant you can think of as a chest, just a chest, like so, a chest. But inside were the two tables of stone that came down from Mount Sinai. And those tables of stone were called the Covenant. And the chest was called the Ark. And it was called the Ark of the Covenant, why? Because the Covenant was inside of it, the tables of stone. So this is what you're picturing in your mind. You're picturing in your mind Israel being formed into an army. You're picturing at the same time a barn-like tent with a box inside containing the law. Now that's the central issue of what I want to talk to you about, containing the law. Alright, now, when the army began to march, the tabernacle barn was taken down. All the supporting posts and the covers and everything were taken down. And there were seven main articles of furnishing in it, beginning with the big bronze altar and ending up with the Ark. And each of these were carried. They were carried on the shoulders of the Levites. And the materials for the Ark, the tent, the materials, the great boards, and the foundations of silver and everything were put in a truck, in a cart, and they were drawn by the Levites, probably with oxen, but the Levites were responsible for that. Okay, now, I told you in the line of march, there were three tribes in front, facing the east. There were three tribes in back, coming from the west. Three tribes on the south, and three tribes on the north. Twelve tribes. Now, in the middle of that line of march, protected by all these soldiers, what do you suppose was there? The Ark. The Ark. Now, the Ark represented the law of God. Okay? The Ark represented the law of God. I've done a lot of explaining here, Bill. You'll just have to get the tape, because it's involved by this time. But were you here Sunday night? No. Well, you really will need the tape then. Okay, now, here's Israel marching. They're marching toward the land of promise, Canaan. Today we call it Israel. Okay. In the middle of the line of march, is the Ark of the Covenant. The Covenant, the two tables of stone, were moving, protected by the army. Does that make sense? Okay. Does that make sense to you, Brooke? Kind of? You have a question? You're confused? Is there a certain point of confusion? Huh? They moved on foot. They were an army on foot. And they were leaving the desert, Mount Sinai, they were leaving the big mountain in the desert, and they were moving east toward their land of promise, which today we call Israel. In those days, it was called Canaan. Canaan was what God called the land of promise, the land of milk and honey. Okay. They had been slaves in Egypt, and now they're moving toward a land that was good for farming, that had rain. Egypt doesn't have much rain, and they could have flocks, and there was minerals in the hills where they could mine. So, it was a land of milk and honey. There was abundance there. Okay? Have you ever seen a map where it showed Jerusalem? You've never seen a map. That's what makes it so difficult, the picture. We don't have a map up there, do we? There should be one in the back of your Bible. There you go. Stan's going to draw you one right now. And he's a good artiste. Now, what you want to do, Brooke, next week, your Bible probably has several maps in it, doesn't it? Oh, boy. Tim, you just got the brass ring. You did all right, buddy. Thanks so much. Okay. Brooke, do you see where it says land of Goshen? Okay, that was in Egypt. That's where the Jews lived. Okay. When they left Egypt, they went across the Red Sea. Remember the Bible says that the waters parted? You probably read that. All right. Now, they're traveling through the wilderness of Paran and Kadesh Barney and all, and you may not be able to see it, but right at the very bottom, it says Mount Sinai. Do you see where their line of marks, see the arrows going down, and then it kind of loops? There you go. Well, we've got all kinds of technology going here. That's where, that's what was given at Mount Sinai. Remember I told you? What? If you say yes when you don't know, I'll figure you know, and then that does nobody any good. Just get you off the hook. Tables of stone, they were granite, rock, when God wrote the Ten Commandments on it. Huh? Okay. Well, that's sure to do it. All right. Now they were, now they were taking, now when they left Sinai, I see the arrow going up, and it's going up there, and you see it says Kadesh Barney. It's not showing, is there any way to move it to our left at all? Can't do it, I guess. Okay. But, can you see where up, where the lines go, where it says Bersheba, B-E-E-R-S-H-E-B-A, that's where Canaan is. That's where the land of promise. So they were on foot, about two and a half million people. Okay? They were on foot, they had received the law, and now they were, now they were organized into an army, and God had showed them how to make a box, a chest, an ark, and put the tables of stone in it, and now they were marching through the wilderness, where it says wilderness of power in there, they were marching up, now that's perfect. That is perfect. See, they were marching up to, do you see where it says Moab? Okay, that's where they were going, and then they were getting, then they were going to cross from Moab over, it doesn't say, Jericho doesn't show on there, but just think of Jericho, which was their first battle, I don't see it on, does anybody see it on there? Well, it's near enough to Bersheba that we won't worry about it. Okay, that's where they were gathering on the, no, wait a minute, no, that's the salt sea, that's not the Jordan, can you pull it down? It's not showing the, huh? There's the Dead Sea there, we need to go a little bit farther north, is that possible? Okay, it's not showing the Jordan River, it shows the salt sea, and the Jordan River empties into the salt sea, that's why Jerusalem is not showing, or Jericho I guess, but that's alright, that's alright, you have kind of a general idea, and it is, the map is oriented north and south, and then east and west, so, you can get a general idea of the Jews marching through the wilderness as an army with that box, with the lawn. Okay, now, here's something that we have not always thought of, the significance of the tribe of Hebrews entering into the land of Canaan was not that the people, now this is important in a crux of a concept here, the important thing was not that one ancient tribe went in and took away the land of another ancient tribe, that's not the significance there. What do you suppose the significance is? The law, the law, now, you remember in the time of Abraham, that Sodom and Gomorrah, which were down just above the wilderness of Zin there, hey, that's excellent, that's really good, that shows, should show Jericho on there, shows the plains of Moab, I'm looking for, in fact, I can't even see Jerusalem, well, oh yeah, I see Jerusalem is right there at the northernmost tip of the salt sea, you can see Jerusalem, and Jericho is kind of there, and that's where they went across from the plains of Moab, up there, but by this time they were up by Heshbon, up around there, and then went across. Alright, now, the significance is not that one desert tribe, oh, as I was telling you, Sodom and Gomorrah, which were down below there, somewhat below there, by the days of Abraham, I don't see Sodom on there, this is showing a later time in history, but that's alright, that's alright, you just know that it was down below there. It was down below that, where it says the salt sea, and Sodom and Gomorrah were there. They were so wicked in the time of Abraham that God destroyed them, but the Canaanites that lived up like around Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem, and the other place, they were not that sinful in the time of Abraham, and so it wasn't until 400 years later, after Abraham, now that's a long time, our nation has only been in existence about 250 years, so that kind of gives you a feeling for how long a time that was. 400 years after Abraham, after Sodom and Gomorrah, God said that the sin in that Canaanite land up there, where we see that says Shechem and Samaria and all the rest of them, that's the land of promise, that's the land of milk and honey, the sin was so bad, they were worshipping demons, they had several demon gods that they were worshipping, and God said it is time now for me to bring judgment against Satan. The Ten Commandments are a judgment against Satan, it's the first time since the rebellion of Satan that God made known His holy law, I don't think the angels knew His law, they just lived up in heaven, they did not know of God's moral nature, to this day angels do not know much about God's moral nature, they have to get it from us. When God made man in His own image, He gave him a capacity to understand the moral nature of God, and evidently angels do not understand this, and that's why they do the fighting but we do the judging. So as far as I know, after Satan rebelled, at some time before the earth was created, God did not tell the angels what was wrong, He did not give them any law, that law did not come into existence that Satan could read it, and the fallen angels could read it, and the holy angels could read it, until it was given through a man. And this is always the way that God works, His revelation always comes forth in the earth, and then goes up to heaven. There's a verse in the New Testament that says it might be made known through the church to the heavens, the manifold wisdom of God. His revelation always comes forth through His judges on the earth, people, and so within that arc was coming the revelation of God to the demon gods, to the demons and the fallen angels, and Satan himself. Now they were having a field day in the land of promise, these demon gods were, the Baals, the lords of darkness, and so the significance of Israel was not that they came out of bondage in Egypt and went into a better land, that was not where the significance was. Now the significance of the exodus of the Jews, and the invasion of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the exodus of the Jews, and the ex invasion of Canaan, the divine significance of it was not the fact that the chosen nation had been brought from bondage into the land of Canaan. That was not the significance. What was the significance? The bringing of the moral law of God into a place of demon worship. And that was what God was after. And that's why God, after giving them a commandment, Thou shalt not kill, had them slaughter the inhabitants of Canaan. Because God was executing judgment in terms of the Ten Commandments. Before the law comes, there's no sin. There was no sin there, so to speak, in Canaan, even though they were worshiping demon gods because they didn't know any better. And several times in the New Testament, it tells us that when you don't have any law, you don't have any sin. The law is the knowledge of good and evil. That's what it is. It's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And that's why Adam and Eve were naked, which is a shame according to the Bible, but there was no shame because there was no law. And so they were in the presence of God in a shameful state, but not realizing that therefore there was no problem, no problem with fellowship with God. The moment they ate of the tree of life, which is the law of God, they became conscious of sin. Once that happened, they lost their fellowship with God. Do you mean the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? I didn't know there was a tree of life. They ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, right? Okay, yeah, the tree of life was there. Who did? Eve? No, they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they had eaten of the tree of life, that would have been a different story. They ate the trees in the wrong sequence. Now, both of those trees, according to my understanding, both of those trees are the Lord Jesus Christ. Because you see, Jesus is the word made flesh, and the word of God is a word of judgment. So, God told them in the beginning, do not eat of the tree of life. Because He knew they were naked, but they didn't. And when they ate of that tree, which is the moral law of God, that's the moral law of God, of which Christ is the full manifestation, just like He is the full manifestation of life. And when they ate of that moral law, their eyes were opened, and they knew the difference between being clothed and being naked, because that's part of the moral law of God. And the moment that happened, they knew they were under condemnation, and they had no provision for coping with it. And so they made fig leaves, a covering of fig leaves. Now, in the Christian life, the way it works, is God brings us to Jesus Christ as the tree of life, and we receive eternal life. We receive the covering, how shall I say this, of the Passover blood. We receive the covering of God. We are without condemnation. We have eternal life. We've been born again. As soon as this is true of us, the Holy Spirit begins to lead us into the knowledge of good and evil, and so we partake of Christ. You remember Jesus said, if I had not done the works among them, which none other man did, what did he say? They would not have had sin. So sin is revealed to us through the Lord. Now, is that right? Okay. Hebrews chapter 6 verse 1. This is very important today, because see, the church came, has come, as far as basic salvation, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And that's as far as we've gone. And so, we have no knowledge of good and evil. It's left us with a feeling that our sins are forgiven, and it's all taken care of, and that's it. Is that right? And so we're no use to God as judges, because we don't know how to cope with good and evil. We don't even know what it is. Mark? He's saying that Jesus is our life and our all. He's the word made flesh, and the word of God is a sharp two edged sword. That's what the word is. The word is a sword. And if Jesus is the word made flesh, then he's the sword made flesh. And the sword is the sword of judgment that divides the soul and the spirit, and the joints in the mouth. You see, the Bible, all this time, the churches regarded the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as being bad. But if you read the Bible, it says the trees in the garden were good. They were all good. There was no bad tree there. God didn't make bad trees grow in the garden. They were all good. Now, we see, and I'll back up one to the last verse in chapter 5. That's the one I'm after. Just go to 5, whatever it is. I never can remember. 29 or whatever. Of Hebrews. Part 10. If you tell me what you want in the first place. There we are. Oh, 14. It was a good thing I didn't guess. Alright. But solid food is for the mature. Who, by constant use, have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Now, would you say that that would be the same as eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Sure seems so, doesn't it? And see, this is where we are now in the church. Because we have left Pentecost. Pentecost is Mount Sinai. The two are the same. Mount Sinai stands for Pentecost. Alright, we've left there. And we're doing two things. And what are they? We're being formed into an army. And we're building the tabernacle. Which is a repository for the ark. That's its purpose. There's a place to put the ark. The presence of God. And all the other articles are to bring you to, finally to, the ark. See, the human being is the ark. How do I know that? Because in the ark, there were three things. I'm not going to mention the other two. Because in the final wind up, in the end, all that was left in the ark was the law. The rest are supplementary. Okay? Now, within the ark was the law. That's the main thing. That's the whole beeswax. That's the reason the tabernacle was formed. And all the other, the altar, the table of showbread, the lampstand and all, were what you would really call ancillary. That is, they were means of getting where you're going. Everything in the ark, everything in the tabernacle was to bring you to the ark. Like Pentecost stands for the gifts and ministries, they're temporary. The table of showbread stands for, is equivalent to the manna and so on. All this is to bring us to the ark. To the law. Now, where is the law written today? In our mind and heart. So what does that make us? The ark. See? Do you see that? In the Old Testament, it was in the box. But in the New Testament, it's in our heart. Which means that today we are the equivalent of the ark of the covenant. And remember, the purpose of the ark moving toward Canaan was what? Exactly. So why do you think we will appear with Jesus Christ? So you're tracking. Alright. Now, remember I said the significance of the Jews entering Canaan was not the liberation of people from slavery and bringing them into a good farmland. That was good in and of itself, but it didn't last, did it? It didn't last. But all this was for a type. To show us where God is going. All this was a thing to show us where God is going. Alright. Now, two things are happening today. We have come past Pentecost. That is past Sinai. So what two things should be happening today? Today we should be building a tabernacle, which is what? The body of Christ. And what else should be happening? We should be being made into an army. So these are the two things that are going on in the church. And this is one reason why our service will begin to change, particularly in the worship. And Stan, this will be key for you because you see, at Pentecost you had the lampstand, you had the joyous singing of the Spirit, you had all these things. But now your job will be more to lead us in war. And part of that will be music, but it no longer will be entirely music. It will be however the Lord leads you, and of course we'll have to do it very slowly and sensibly because you can't change people too fast. But this is the way, and God is saying walk in it. And this is why God is calling today. I don't know what He's telling you, but what He's telling me about our church here is pray, pray, pray, pray, and more prayer. And so we're starting our Sunday morning services with prayer. And that doesn't mean we pray and then the service begins. It means that the service begins in prayer. That's how it begins. And some of them may be prayer for the entire time or for the rest of the day. Like Sunday night, people were feeling very good, so we went a half hour past our usual time, and I didn't see anybody racing out. They know they're always free to go. But they were all enjoying the presence of the Lord. And I saw in vision, I saw something I've never seen before. I saw the army of God dancing. And I've never heard of an army dancing in my entire life. That is not what armies do. Furthermore, they were not dressed in fatigues or navy blues. They were hairy, armed warriors with shields and swords and spears, like in Israeli warriors, which made the dancing even more incongruous. And they were moving with the music as we were singing. And here were all these warriors, and I expected to see angels. I thought I was going to see angels. And here I see these men of war dancing. And it reminded me of the Rotherham translation of the last verse in the sixth chapter of the Song of Solomon. It says, What will you see in the Shulamite? And the answer is, Macha Naim. And Rotherham translates that, the dance of a double camp. And the double camp is the army of angels and the army of saints. And that's the way the Joseph Rotherham translation, the old Baptist translation, that's the way, very literal, very literal. It says, What will you see in the Shulamite? It says, Return, return. Return, return, Shulamite. Return, return, what will you see in the Shulamite? As it were, the dance of a double camp. So, these things we've learned about the banners and the tambourines, all these things are God telling us, we're getting ready now to march. And at the same time, just as in Israel, He is also telling us, I want you to build the body of Christ. Why? Because it's the repository for the holy law of God. Because the big thing about the church coming with Jesus is wonderful for us, but the divine significance of the church and Jesus Christ coming into the earth is to bring the moral law against the devils in the earth. Because by that time, the iniquity of the world will have come to full maturity. God is waiting until the cares come to maturity and the wheat comes to maturity. They're both at maturity. God is going to bring the wheat with Jesus into this world, not primarily to make us happy, but to destroy the works of the devil and thereby bring justice to the nations. You see it? It's a perfect parallel. It could hardly be more orderly, and usually God's parallels are not that orderly because He does not like a packed Bible in which everything falls into place because then we begin to get on top of it and make a theology, and God doesn't want that. So He gives us little aberrations. A fellow wrote to me about that. This morning it was on the email. He says, how come? You're saying the former reign was the day of Pentecost, but that doesn't come at the time of the former reign in Israel. Pentecost doesn't come at the time of the former reign in Israel. And I said, it's because you've got two different types here, and God doesn't have it all that orderly. If it was that packed and that orderly, we'd know it was the work of man. But it must be brought together by the Spirit. But this other thing is a marvel of parallelism. Okay, now let's bring it down home. What does that mean to us? What does that mean to us? It means that the nature of the Christian church, which for so long has been a pastor giving an introduction, three points, and a conclusion, after the people have sung from the hymn book while they were thinking about Super Bowl, won't work anymore. It won't work anymore, because this is way too demanding on every Christian. So the service, and it isn't going to happen all at once. I know Stan, and I trust him. I know he'll be led by the Spirit. He won't do anything rational. Of course, we'll all be involved in this, and all the elders will be involved, all the musicians and everything, singers and everything. We will all be involved. And we will realize that God wants to bring each one of us to the stature of the fullness of Christ. Yes, Andre? We're going in one direction, including the memorial jar of manna, and learning to live day by day from the Word of God. All this is going in one direction, which is to bring Christ to maturity in each member of the body. And maturity, as we see here, is the ability to distinguish between good and evil. That is, you have eaten not only of the tree of life in Christ Jesus, as happens when we're first saved, but now we're eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And see, we couldn't do that before, because we couldn't cope with it. You see, Brooke, I remember when you were saved over in Wisconsin. And suppose that at that time, suppose that God had pointed out every sin in your personality and showed them to you. How would you have felt? Or didn't you have any sin? Well, let me pick on Brian. How would you have felt, Brian? At the time you were getting saved, God came to you and said, Brian, these are the elements of worldliness in your personality. They've got to go, all right? Now, these are the sins of the flesh, and there's about 132 of them. We've got to deal with each one of these. And this is your stubborn, rebellious self-will, and that has to be crucified. And then you can get saved. What did you think about that? Sure! But forget about it. Say, whoa! Because you don't know what it means to be without condemnation. You don't know how to live in the Spirit. You haven't been born again. You're not ready to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And Adam and Eve were not ready for that. They were not prepared for that. And God knew it. He said, don't do it. Now, he brought terrible penalties upon them because of their disobedience. That's one issue. And the other issue is that they gained knowledge that only harmed them, which was the result of the disobedience. So they were shafted on two points. But God punished them for disobeying Him. So there's two issues when it comes to sin. One is, did you follow the Lord in getting rid of it? And the other issue is the deadly results of the sin itself. So there's a double whammy that operates there with sin. So now that we have been born again, we're under the Passover blood, we have learned to walk some in the Spirit, we're confident in Jesus Christ, now we're ready that God can begin to save us. And that the Spirit does it a little bit at a time. He brings up one thing. Now, surely everyone in here this week, there was some element of your personality that God dealt with. He didn't deal with 60 of them. He dealt with one of them, and He wants you to be faithful in bringing that before Him and finding the deliverance that God has provided. Maybe you're too young yet. Maybe it hasn't started with you. Has God spoken to you about anything that you're not perfect by? Oh, well, all right. Well, then you're on the way. All right, see, what's happening now is He's beginning to feed you with Himself in the realm of the knowledge of good and evil with the two-edged sword. Now, you remember that the Bible says that we're built up by that which every part supplies. Is that right? We're built up to the stature of the fullness of Christ by that which every part supplies. So the church can no longer be, for the most part, a passive body of believers and a platform ministry. It's got to be, the worship leader has got to be responsible to see to it that there's times when people, not that they're getting up and saying whatever's on their mind. That's not effectual. That's more for a democratic forum. We're not talking about that. We're talking about what James says, if any man speak, let him speak as the oracle of God. We're speaking about people who learn through the gifts that they have that God has given them how and when to operate. Now, not all of these will operate in the assembly. But some will. Like prophecy operates largely in the assembly. But see, the gifts of healing can work outside. And the knowledge could work on the job or it might work in the church or it might work wherever you are. But God wants us all functioning, serving to build up ourselves first. The husband and the labors must be first partakers of the fruit. And then those who hear us into the knowledge of the Son of God, the faith of the Son of God, until we come to the statue of Christ which is His moral image. See, we were predestined to be in the moral image of Jesus Christ. And that's what God is after. See, God wants us to have life. He wants us to have joy. He wants us to have peace. But above all, He wants us to keep His moral law. Because if we don't do that, then nothing else counts as far as God is concerned. He will not have sinful children. We might enjoy God saying, it's okay, go ahead and do your thing and I'll forgive you. That's what we would want, perhaps. But that's not what God wants. God wants children who are holy. And He's going to make us that way. He wants children who act righteously. How many believe that? God doesn't want a righteous kingdom. And above all, He wants children who are obedient. Now, Andrew and Yvonne are raising a baby. You're going to find that babies, by virtue of their Adamic nature, have to be taught obedience. They don't get it what their mothers know. They have to learn it. And it's a very hard lesson for us to learn to obey our parents. And then as we get older and we don't have those authorities, we have to obey other authorities. And a disobedient person is of no use to God. No use whatever. And see, that's the way the church is. The church has life. It's been born again. It's been washed in the blood. All these things. But we're spiritual babies. Because maturity is the knowledge of good and evil. So that shows you that Jesus isn't coming tomorrow. Because the Bible says, when He appears, we shall appear with Him. Is that right? Well, if we don't have the moral law in us, there's no use in our appearing. It would be just like the Jews going into Canaan with nothing in the ark. Nothing in the box. Here they all come, the men of war. They're blowing the ram's horn. The holy priests are there and everything. The wall falls down and they go in there and they look in the ark and it's empty. That would be like the church of today appearing from heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing there. Just a bunch of happy people. What are they going to do? Our job is to bring the judgment of God. It says you will judge the nations. Maybe we better take a look at Psalm 149, verse 7. This is why God is creating the body of Christ is to be a repository for His holy law. And when we're not that, we're no use for God's purpose of removing sin from the world. That's what God is after. Can you see that? God's kingdom is what? The doing of His will in the earth. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in the earth. Now how do you suppose it's going to be done? How is God's will finally going to be done in the earth? Yes, by force. Exercise through whom? Through the saints. Now how did the Lord say we would rule? With a rod of iron. Does that tell you anything? Where does that rod come from? Where do you get it? When the Lord comes He's going to bring about 80 million tons of iron rods with Him. What do you think that iron rod is? It's the discipline within you that says, I will not accept evil. No, I will not give in to lust. No, I will not give in to these things. Yes, I will stay in my prison. No, I will not become entangled in the world. There's iron there. There has to be iron in us. Iron righteousness. Iron. And that's how we will rule. And the power will come through the Spirit of God. But first, we make the decision, the judgment. And that has to come before anything else is done. Look at it again. Well, now we're on a different one. Look at the role of the saints. May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands to inflict vengeance on the nations. That is the purpose for the return of Jesus Christ with His church. Now you say, that doesn't sound like a gospel to the nations. But it is. Now think about the nations today. Aren't they all happy campers? Aren't they doing just great without Jesus Christ and the saints? Isn't it just way cool? Isn't it great? Now China's getting ready to eradicate Taiwan off the earth. And our government is too weak. We've been force worn for many years. Many years we are in alliance with Taiwan. We have a military treaty with them that will defend them. But since, but within the last few years that treaty has been weakened and weakened until now we recognize that there's really only one China and Taiwan as part of it. Little by little. And if China were to attack Taiwan tomorrow I don't believe Bill of the United States would do a blessed thing about it. Well there'd be a lot of talk. But we won't do like we did in Kosovo because we have taken on China is different from taking on Yugoslavia. And so there'd be all kinds of talk and all kinds of political things and they'll try to use it in the next election but the result will be all the Christian people in Taiwan will be killed. And we won't do it. Think about it. We're not strong enough. Now that's the shape the world is in today. And that's just one place. Alright. But Christ isn't bothering them. They're just having a wonderful time, aren't they? Well then why is the good news then, you tell me, why is the good news that when the saints come they will inflict vengeance on the nations? Why is that good news for the nations? Sounds like it's just another headache. If you picture Jesus Christ coming tonight and he comes, we'll say, to the UN and they're having deliberations and the Lord walks in and he says, I don't want you to do war anymore. What are they going to do? You've got these envoys from every nation under heaven all the way from the tiniest African nation up to all the major nations and all these people dressed in their tribal clothing very, very colorful thing and they're proud as punch to be there out of the villages and they now are people of importance that they represent their country and so on and there's way more of these than there are major nations and then all these people are in there that derive their importance and their status by being leaders and in walks this one man and he says, hello, I'm Jesus Christ I don't want any more of what you're doing Yes, but how about our nation? Well, you'll have to take your place because we've got everyone to consider and we can not be just taking care of you everything Well, how about the major nations? Can they veto? No, you can't veto anything anymore I'm here, I'm boss and you're all going to do as I say and we're all going to live in peace Now, what's going to happen? Let's say that went on tonight Now, what's going to happen? Alright, let me ask you this question What happened when he came 2,000 years ago? Yeah, but think of the process leading up to that What happened? Who became angry? Religious leaders because they said, look, everybody's following him he's taking away our place then the government's going to come and take away our place and our nation They didn't care if he worked miracles They didn't care if he raised people from the dead They didn't care if he fulfilled Isaiah 53 or anything else All they knew was that he's taking away the Romans are going to come away and we're going to lose our position Do you think people have changed? Do you think the religious leaders have changed? and so the religious leaders don't get along and so the world goes on getting worse all the time babies murdered women raped people mugged people's stuff stolen and nation against nation and some people are overweight and others are starving to death and so it goes on and on and nobody can do a blessed thing about it because of the personal self-interest of the people in charge and when the Lord comes they're not going to lay down on their feet and say, oh, I'm so thankful I'm not in charge anymore I'm just like everybody else and what happened? so the meek of the earth are ground under the feet of the wicked and it's been that way since the earth has been created and the only way those people are going to find relief is by Christ and his army coming with enough power to enforce the will of God and Revelation 19 tells us that the armies of the earth will gather together to fight against Jesus Christ even though he obviously is coming from heaven that's how wicked they will be at that time we don't care who you are or where you came from just don't come here go back and that's but you see the leader, the commander there when he comes is in a garment that is dyed red with his own blood because this is the expression of the wrath of God against sin and so out in front of us is Jesus Christ with his own garment dipped in blood the armies that follow him are clothed in the white linen of their own righteous works which means every one of them is an ark of the covenant bringing the moral law of God remember, what God is interested in is not primarily that people be happy although he desires that but what is his primary interest? righteousness yes righteousness and that's the scepter of Christ's kingdom and without that God will not play he will not play so from here until Jesus comes the Christian church and you know what it will be a remnant from the churches it's to whosoever will but it will end up being a remnant because most of God's people are never going to consent to be disciples they're never going to consent to lay down their life take up their cross and follow Jesus they're not going to do it and so some of them will be saved as by fire and some of them won't be saved at all but to those who overcome and by that I mean they have overcome the things which would prevent their acting righteously holily and obediently they have overcome every challenge to their righteous behavior that's an overcomer and God has plenty of them they will receive an inheritance that is not even imaginable at this time not even imaginable and I speak somewhat by revelation we cannot conceive what God has prepared for those who love Him so there will come out of the churches out of all the Christian churches a warlike remnant not even going to happen overnight but they will be people that have grown to where they can understand the difference between good and evil that is the sword has to come in and separate that which is soulish from that which is spiritual now you've got to mature in Christ I mean most of God's evangelical people walk in the soul and they don't even know it all their church things are done in the soul and they don't even know it they have a soulish church spirit and they think it's the Holy Spirit and they do not know the difference you don't know the difference you can't tell the difference until the sword of the Spirit enters into you you begin to mature and then you can see the difference between that which is soulish and that which is spiritual why church people get into arguments and fuss and everything godly people people filled with God's Spirit don't do that they don't do it they'll give you your way you want your way? ok, take it they won't get out and fuss with somebody that's all soulish behavior and it goes on all the time in the Christian churches not because God doesn't love us He does, but we just have not been trained or taught and we don't know what's happening ok so can you see where we are now? that's where we are now it's very I think it's wonderful because it makes the promises in the Bible make sense like a church without spot or wrinkle we read that and we think yeah, isn't that wonderful must be going to do that by imputation no, he's going to have a church without spot or wrinkle or anything like it and we've got to get there between now and the time the Lord comes alright to bind their kings with fetters their nobles with shackles of iron to carry out the sentence this is talking about the saints coming I mean, when will this happen? when is this going to happen? it's going to happen when Jesus comes alright, now look at Isaiah 42 we just have 3 minutes here 5 minutes alright, Isaiah 42 look for a minute at Isaiah 42 now this is something if you read in your commentaries you'll find out that scholars are not at all sure who this servant is here is my servant Isaiah 42.1 here is my servant now that servant do you know who that servant is? Christ and his body it's all one servant of the Lord also called Israel not Israel after the flesh but the true Israel which is Jew and Gentile and all other nations in Christ that's the servant and God said look at my servant whom I uphold now when you get into this and you say that's the way I want to go Lord I don't want to play church anymore I really want to be a part of God's army and I want to be a part of this that you're doing moving toward releasing the prisoners of the earth God will uphold you my chosen one of whom I delight now everyone in God's army has been chosen by the Lord now whether you make it or not is determined by your response everything in God is always an opportunity and you have to validate that contract by doing your part if you don't it won't work anymore and your place will be given to someone else and that's very important to understand God has chosen you but it's up to you to respond in whom I delight God delights in us He's not angry with us because we don't know everything and because we've been children and do a lot of stupid things He delights in His servant He delights in you you may be a baby Christian God delights in you just like we delight in Isaiah there we don't expect that baby to go out and earn a living we delight in Him as He is and God delights in His babies okay but now if Isaiah was still a baby when he's 25 years old then we've got a problem right then we're disappointed I will put my spirit on Him and the reason we have the spirit of God unlike most people in the world is because God wants to bring righteousness into the world and He will bring what? justice to the nations the purpose of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with His saints is to bring justice and that justice comes from the moral law of God it's a just law and every part of it deals with relationships and it's summed up how? you love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and if that were true would we have justice today on the earth if everybody did that? when God gets through everybody on earth will do that everybody on earth will obey the sermon on the mount and so everybody will have peace perfect justice there's no other way it can come He will not shout or cry out or raise His voice in the streets we do not have to do it ourselves we do not have to get all excited and enthusiastic and try to force people all we have to do is like Jesus wait on God and do what He says nothing more, nothing less this is the work of God it's not the work of religion it's the work of God and we don't have to force it ourselves just prophesy about it a bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out do you know what that means? yes, God is not out to crush weak Christians we may do that but God does not do that if the weak Christian is sincere in their heart and they love God and they're full of frailties the Lord will work with them for eternity but God will not work with a person who is careless and lazy and smug and is playing games with him He will not do that He will not do that that's where Christians make a great mistake they think, oh well I can do this and that and God doesn't care He does care He has no patience with that but with someone who is weak who is really trying and struggling God will work with them forever okay I'm just about through here He will not He in faithfulness He will bring forth justice that's the purpose for the return of Jesus Christ is to bring peace and justice you see these like one thing is about and I love Mexican people but the presidents of Mexico for the last 50 years that I know of there's people in Mexico that are so poor that they and their children live in the dumps and they have to fight with the vultures and other carrying birds for the garbage in the dumps I see pictures of them within sight of Mexico City and in the meanwhile the president will abscond with 50 million dollars and this has happened consistently in Mexico the poor are ground down and things go while you've got the political leaders are rich that's injustice would you agree that that's injustice and that isn't the only place you look at all these leaders in Africa and the guy that used to be over East Germany and all these people are salting away money by the millions in Swiss banks and then they say they're communists and they're all for the people and all of this but the leaders are wealthy, wealthy, wealthy whether they're communists whether they're Arab sheikhs whether they're democratic presidents or whatever they've got their pile yes well that's true but you'll find that you have to let God do it because God is not primarily concerned at this time with the social aspects of things and many Christians I remember one Christian that spent his life developing an improved water system for some remote country somewhere in Malaysia or Africa or somewhere and he said and this is so true he said at the end of his life I wasted my life I spent it all on doing something like this when I should have been bringing people into the knowledge of Jesus Christ and so that's what you call a social gospel and many Christians have got off into this and it's alright if God leads you into this but you see what happens is you get the people and you get the social problems remedied and then they go into sin then they go into sin so what have you accomplished? they were better off when they were poor and learning the gospel than when they got rich like us Americans and then they became into sin they get into lust and everything that's the Maslow hierarchy I don't know if you ever studied that but it shows it's the hierarchy of human needs and when you get the real basic needs met then you move up move up till finally you're in a super sophisticated society so many Christians have got into that and some may have been led to the Lord I won't comment on that but God at any time could remedy social inequalities but it doesn't get after what God is after which is the judgment of the devil see that's what has brought about these things in the first place and until that thing is fixed the other like Israel were released from Egypt went into the land of promise hurrah hurrah hurrah and in two years two hundred years they're offering their babies in the fire to Moloch because the social releasing them from slavery and bringing them into an independent land didn't do it because the devil got to them and so the world will always be like this until God has an army of people who have learned the discipline of the Lord are sternly obedient to God sternly obedient to Jesus Christ and are walking in righteousness and holiness when God gets an army of people like that Jesus will return with those people and as it says here in Isaiah he will not falter or be discouraged until he establishes justice on earth it's going to happen it is it will take place but we know now from what the Spirit is saying that it's going to require the Christian people to move past basic salvation and past Pentecost into total interaction with the Lord to where they grow in holiness and righteousness and in the discipline when he gets an army like that the devil's kingdom is finished but not until so the responsibility is ours in one sense that is we have to believe when God says it will happen and he will not falter we have to believe that we have to believe Jesus Christ can do it and then we have to obey him we do not have to raise our voice and cry and strive and berate people God will do it but we have to follow the Lord for our own life and do what he has directed us to do as an individual and that's all that God requires the rest is his that's all it's as simple as that and as important as that any questions? that's kind of complicated tonight Bill you have to hear it from the beginning to make real sense out of it Mike Mike after we're through could I talk to you for just a second I want to listen I want to listen okay shall we stand then all right now God is teaching us in this church how to pray okay I'm going to pray right now for two or three minutes and then you're out of here but I know you'll hang around for half an hour but just a couple of minutes