In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of knowing God's voice and recognizing His presence. He emphasizes that the spirit realm, where God operates, is not bound by distance or time. The preacher highlights the story of the thief on the cross, who recognized Jesus as the Messiah and King, despite his dire circumstances. The sermon also emphasizes the importance of salvation producing good works and being attached to Jesus, who is described as the true vine. The preacher references John 15 and encourages believers to have a burden for the earth and to proclaim God's deeds among the people.

Lord, as we come unto you tonight, it is with great thanksgiving and praise, Lord, for your goodness to us. We have a lot to be thankful for, Lord. We have a lot to be thankful for. And we praise your holy name. Lord, I join with those here, their prayers, their concerns, Lord. I pray you'll hear and answer prayer. Heal where it's needed, bless families. Lord, hear us. We have nothing in this world without you, Lord. You are our wisdom and strength and our help, Lord, and our healing. And now, Lord, as we come unto you tonight, you know the needs that are here, Lord. You know the needs that are here. And we pray the Holy Spirit will minister Jesus to each heart. Where the need is, Lord, we look to you. No one will go away empty, in Jesus' name. Okay, Tony, we're ready now. All right, for those listening on tape on week 16, 30th of September, tape 4015, tears in the church, recommended reading, what is salvation? Jude and Peter, in his second epistle, both describe people whose behaviors put them at risk for removal as tears. What is peculiar about this group of people? Well, there are several things they have in common, actually, but there's something we don't look for, Mark. Yeah, they're all in the church. And Peter and Jude, call them every name they can think of. We don't usually think of church people in terms of the second chapter of 2 Peter or the book of Jude, wandering stars, you know, adulterers. And I've lived long enough to see that that's a true description of the church. The church, the true church of Christ is holy. But then we have the churches on earth. And you see that in the book of Revelation, in the second and third chapter, it's talking to the churches on earth. It's not talking to the heavenly bride of the Lamb. It's talking to the churches on earth. And all of them got something wrong. And then the last one has nothing right. Laodicea, there's not one good word said about it. And yet it was the Lamb's student of God. And Jesus did not say, it's okay, you're saved by grace. He did not say that. He said, I'm going to spit you out of my mouth. So we're in that time, Gerald Blinley, that's not you. He didn't say that about you. We're in the time now, as far as I can see, when the Lord was beginning to deal with the tares in the church. Generally speaking, when he divides, how do people become tares? How can you go back even further in history than that? By not abiding in Jesus. Blinley? We're born that way. Nobody's born in the Lord's wheat. We're all born self-willed, and with a whole tassel of inherited inclinations. We're born with tares in us. Born in sin, and shaped in lawlessness. That's what the Bible says. Well, if you don't see that, you don't understand what's going on. Then how do we become wheat? How do tares become wheat? Yes, sir? The Lord allowed us to have divine seeds placed in us. We become wheat by receiving Jesus, Victoria. 2 Peter points out, and Jude, there's a lot of wickedness that goes on in the churches. A lot of wickedness. And so God doesn't divide between the wicked and the people that profess faith in Christ, and the people that never heard of Christ. It's between the wicked and the righteous. And that's very important to understand. Because people come into the church and think, oh, well, I accepted Christ, now look at me, I'm a good Christian. But God looks at your conduct. He judges your conduct. Whether you tell the truth, you're a faithful person, upright, honest, morally clean. If Christ doesn't do that for us, our salvation isn't working. If your salvation doesn't change you, it is worthless. If your salvation doesn't change you, it is worthless. It is no good to God, and it is no good to man. The purpose of receiving Jesus is that you might change from a wicked person to a righteous person. And if there is no change, and you have not become a new creature, then it's because you're not abiding in Christ, you're living in the flesh. And so church membership is important, gathering with the saints is important, but if it doesn't lead to change, if you're not changing each day, if you're the same person today that you were last Tuesday night, you better go to God and find out why. He doesn't waste a week in your life. You may take a vacation, but God doesn't take vacations. Our life on earth is too short, and the amount of work that has to be done in this is too great to waste a week. So if you go on a vacation, God goes with you, and the angels pack up the curriculum and they go with you, and your lessons continue. Salvation is change. That's what it is, is transformation. It begins with imputed righteousness. But imputed righteousness, or assigned righteousness, is a device so that God can receive us while we're still unchanged. But then it must lead to change. Imputed righteousness is like a detour while God's working on the highway. Sometimes in the thinking of Christians, they think that God has given us a new highway. Oh no. God's goals never change for people. Same under every covenant. The grace changes, but the amount of available glory changes, and the help changes, but the goal never changes. God wants people in his image. That's the first chapter of Genesis. And so each covenant gives us more ability to become like the Lord. Is there any question about that? So according to Matthew 13, in the last days... Yes sir? Okay, now that's good. I'm glad you said that, because I think sometimes I get the teaching in a vacuum. People think, well of course, but they don't realize that most, probably 95% of evangelical people, and by that I mean people who believe in a personal experience with Jesus, and being saved through the blood, believe exactly that way. And I want to say some things, but I don't want to hurt you. Okay? How tough are you? How tough are you? You fell off a roof and landed on your head, and then they had to fill in the damage to the landscape? No, we always say that with the kids. Don't run and fall down on the concrete, so we have to keep repairing the concrete. That's just an in-house joke. Okay, so one thing about this class, the purpose of this class, and the informality of it, is so that you can ask questions. Okay? You're always free to disagree, as long as you're not disagreeable, and I'm sure that you're not. So, get ready, because my whole ministry has been to show the error of that thinking, where it's wrong. There's nothing wrong with you, okay? There's nothing wrong with you, but that understanding that salvation is something other than change, has destroyed the Christian church throughout the world. It makes the New Testament really incomprehensible. But let me get to your specific, because this is one of the main points that is raised. There are a couple of others, but this is one of the main points that is raised. What about the thief on the cross? Okay, in the first place, the issue of salvation is the kingdom of God. You remember when Jesus and John the Baptist came preaching, they did not preach about heaven. They never preached about heaven, nor did they ever preach about paradise. So when God began to show me many years ago, and I was saved as an evangelical, I was saved, handed a Scofield Bible, and joined the Navigators and the Youth of Christ. So my background is very traditional, but through the years, I've been hacking away at this for 52 years, which doesn't cut any ice. I mean, anybody can go 52 years and be totally wrong. But I'm trying to tell you that to give you a little how I got to where I am. And I feel the Lord, I say the Lord, I'm not pulling rank on you, I'm just saying the Lord, the Lord taught me that the church is all face, the whole cotton, and I think I can defend myself. But one of the first things the Lord showed me was that the goal of salvation is not to go to heaven. And that is a shocker. But you see, our ground rules are the scripture. We hold that the scripture is a fully inspired word, the received text, or any legitimate text. Westcott and Horta, the received text, and any available translation, they're all pretty good except Taylor, who departs from. We believe in the plenary verbal inspiration of the scripture. That means we believe that it's fully inspired. So the ground rules of our teaching is that the scripture is absolutely accurate. Now you will find, oh great, you guys missed the rapture, where are the people that were left? Well we're glad to see you anyway. There's no scripture in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation that says that heaven is the goal of salvation. And it's an assumption. Now it's an assumption because it's such a venerable tradition that everyone assumes, well that must be true. I read a book by a lady who wrote about visions after death, and it was very good too, and I believe the visions. I believe it was a very good and godly book, but she made a comment in there that was very interesting. It shows you the assumption. She said the Bible is full of references about heaven. She assumed that was so. She was a godly Christian woman, and I'm sure well on her way to glory, but she was absolutely incorrect. You won't find any allusion in the Old Testament that going to heaven or death is desirable in any manner. So that wipes out the whole whole book. And in the New Testament you'll find no reference at all that the Lord is coming to take his church to heaven, or that heaven is the purpose of salvation. Are you a systems man by any chance? Are you in any kind of systems? Business systems or anything? No, no. I want to get... Any system always operates in terms of its goals. If its goals are not clear, then everything back down the line becomes non-cost effective, and any system analyst that goes into a business to straighten it out, if it's not making any money, the first thing he does is make sure that that business knows exactly what its goal is. And then it goes through a process called system iteration, and in this process every procedure down the line is evaluated in terms of progress toward that goal. All of your quality control instruments are designed in terms of progress toward that goal, and if anything in there is found to be not cost effective, you don't get the bang for the buck, then out it goes. That's what a system analyst does, and he streamlines the operation so that everything is working in the most efficient manner toward achieving a specified goal, because it's easy in a large corporation to miss the goal, and that's why we've had a lot of downsizing. In other words, your goal becomes to have a better coffee pot for the help, and this kind of thing. Pretty soon the whole thing is all engrossed in things that have nothing to do with the goal. So everyone says, well, if an organization is going to survive, it has to downsize. But it must always be done in terms of goals. Now, I ran into this in the public schools when I was there, because the public schools operate without goals, and I cried about this like a voice in the wilderness, but I got nowhere because of pressure from the teachers' unions and other things that don't want to discuss goals, because you have goals, then you have a measuring device. You have a measuring device, you have accountability, and people don't like that. So they say, just close the door and let us teach and don't bother us with goals. It's totally asinine, but that's the way the public sector works, and it works that way in government. Everything is a big con, but if you're talking about what we're talking about, which is salvation, then you must define your goal. If your goal is not clear, then every discussion becomes non-applicable, because you're not talking about the same thing. Like, for example, when we say, can we sin and still be saved? Well, if you define salvation as residence in heaven, that's one thing. If you just define salvation as deliverance from sin, then you see the argument then totally changes, because obviously you can't sin and be delivered from sin. So your goal has to govern all arguments if they're to make any sense and to be defensible. Now, when I make a statement that eternal residence in the spirit paradise is nowhere presented in the bible as a goal of redemption, nor did Jesus issue any parables concerning going to heaven. Okay, I'm going to get back to him, but I had to explain to you first that we're talking, you can't, I don't want to be comparing apples and oranges here. Exactly. Paradise is another word for heaven. But my point is that Jesus didn't come to bring us to heaven, that's not the issue. And so when he said to the man, when he said, right? Right. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. I agree with you 100%. But the goal is not to go to heaven. It isn't, salvation is not a change in where you are, but a change of what you are. Now, when Jesus, Jesus didn't say to the man, this day you'll be saved. He said, this day you'll be with me in paradise. Because Jesus, after he died, went into paradise because he had some things to do there. Evidently he lifted those like Samuel, who were under the ground, up, and we think of them now as being up with Jesus in heaven, which they were not prior to his resurrection. So he went into paradise for a specific person, for a specific purpose. And he brought that man with him because of the man's confession. We don't, and another thing that must be remembered here, we have no concept of the background of that man. We're assuming that he was a totally wretched creature, and all of a sudden out of his mouth came redeeming words. But the fact that he said what he did, tells me that he probably was a very decent kind of person. Well, there's no reason to believe that he wasn't. Because the Romans crucified people for practically no reason, and he may have stole something because he was hungry, or because his family was hungry. Just 150 years ago, they would hang children in England for stealing a loaf of bread. So there's nothing, in fact, the man's testimony shows that he had a good heart. I'm not saying that he was saved because he had a good heart. I'm saying that we can't make assumptions about what kind of a person he was. But the fact that he responded the way he did, showed that he had a good heart. Because here he was, dying of suffocation in the heat, dehydration and suffocation, which is apt to make a man curse the world. He turns to a carpenter's son, recognizes that he's the Messiah and the King. Now, how did he do that? Lord, remember me. Either he had had a previous experience of him watching this man and had come to a conclusion. But out from this man, out from nowhere. And when Jesus said to his disciples, who do you say that I am? And Peter said, you are the Christ. Do you remember what Jesus said? Flesh and blood does not reveal us to you. And then again it says in John, no man can come unto me except a Father who has sent me to draw him. So the fact that this malefactor recognized the kingship of Jesus, in such pain, a man that looked like he was a crook like himself, and turned and looked at this guy, and said, Lord, remember me, when you come into your kingdom, I'm not going to make an assumption about what kind of a man he was. But that's not the issue, that's just a sidelight, because it's assumptions that are made. Jesus didn't come preaching about paradise. He came preaching about the kingdom. And the kingdom and paradise are not the same thing at all. Now, for example, in Galatians, we get our doctrine of grace, which you are alluding to indirectly, from one man, the Apostle Paul. The other writers didn't have that, anything like Paul. Paul is the one in the early chapters of Romans, and in a couple other spotty references, gave us the doctrine of grace that we allude to. By grace we'll go to heaven. Which he never said, of course. Paul, when he was talking about grace, was talking about leaving the law of Moses. If you'll read Romans chapters 2-5 carefully, you'll find a constant reference to the law of Moses. We're not under the law. When Paul said works, he was not referring to righteous behavior, he was referring to the works of the law, particularly circumcision. But also including the feast days, the kosher laws, but particularly circumcision, and the Ten Commandments. But he was not talking, he was talking about the law. And if you'll take, when you go home, if you'll take Romans chapters 2-5, and read it carefully, you'll see that Paul was talking to either Jews in Rome, or people who were being influenced by Jewish teachers. And he goes through the same thing in Galatians. You receive the spirit. How did you receive it? By the works of the law? You know, if you're circumcised, it's a constant reference. Now, if that were not the case, if Paul were talking about upright behavior, which I preach, that to be a Christian you will behave uprightly, I don't preach you to go back under the law of Moses. If that were the case, if he were contrasting righteous behavior with grace, then many passages of the New Testament that he wrote would be completely contradictory. For example, in Galatians, in the 5th chapter, Paul says, speaking to the church of Galatia, that if you live immorally, and in strife, it has several synonyms of strife there, and the King James are hardly recognizable, but sectarianism and so on, but he's talking about the party spirit and strife and drunkenness and things, and this is what he says. And not just in Galatians, but in 1 Corinthians, and in Ephesians, and in Thessalonians, and in Romans, that if you Christians do these things, you will not inherit the kingdom. See, he never made an issue of paradise, because that's not the issue. It was always the kingdom. He didn't say you won't go to heaven. He said you won't inherit the kingdom. Now, when John came preaching, he preached the kingdom of God is at hand, implying that it's coming. And then in the Lord's Prayer we have, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. When Jesus came preaching, he preached, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. And then he began to give many parables, and one of them is the wheat and the tares that we're talking about. And none of them is about heaven. They're all about the kingdom. The kingdom of God is the rule of God through Christ, through people. That's what the kingdom is. Now, how about being, excuse me? No, no, you're thinking of kingdom as being equivalent to heaven, or something. You're thinking, we're not going to a kingdom. We are the kingdom. Now, why are you born again? Why were you born again? Yeah, what does it do for you? What did Jesus say about being born again? I was with you up to there. It doesn't say that. All right, now we're talking philosophy. Let's go back and talk. I said he went, no, I didn't say he went to a different place. I said he went to paradise. Remember when Samuel was raised up, he was raised up out of the ground. And they believed that paradise was there. We believe that now it's in the third heaven, because the apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians that he was caught up to the third heaven, to paradise. Okay? Well, that's what the scripture says. Well, the Bible, when it says the term heaven, it's almost always in the plural. It's almost always in the plural. You're thinking of heaven with a capital H. Okay? You're thinking of heaven with a capital H. In my writings, when I'm talking about the heaven, where God and Jesus are. Well, I don't know. I'm afraid to proceed, because I perceive that you have a good experience and I don't want to mess with it. If you think I'm coughing now, you don't know me. I'm concerned for your spiritual welfare, truly. I'm well able to handle myself and mash you with scriptures. No, I don't want to do that, because when you're in this church, you are my responsibility, and you're too young a guy for me to come out and unload on you. So, I don't want to say anything that will... What should I say? I don't even want to make you feel bad, brother. Alright, let me explain something then. I'll explain it. I asked you about being born again. Okay. Do you know where that's found in the Bible? Yeah, do you know where it's found in the Bible? You've got a good experience, and your experience is right, but you need to know your Bible. Alright, now, where is that found in the Bible? No. Where it says you must be born again? It's in the third chapter of John. Okay, and twice Jesus said you must be born again. He said it's in Nicodemus. Do you remember what he said about that? It's the kingdom that's the issue, and the kingdom is not a place. The kingdom is a rule. It's an authority. It's a realm. Yeah, but that's what Matthew called it. All the rest of them call it the kingdom of God. Heaven is a place. The kingdom is a system of authority. You know, Jesus said the kingdom of God is in you. The thing is, well, the reason that you're born again in order to enter the kingdom is because it's the kingdom that's born in you. In its purest sense, Jesus Christ himself is the kingdom. In its purest sense. This is good. You can bear it. This is good. It's exactly, that's what I said. The Lord blessed this brother. We need more of this because I don't want you to go to sleep. There's a real issue here. There's a tremendous issue here. Barry. I've been wanting to be able to say something. Yea, a man is saved by his faith. You know, he's not, he's not saying that we're saved by works. He's saying it's faith. Let's try John 15. It's so clear we could use many scriptures at this point, but John 15 is so clear. Do you have that, John, the 15th chapter? No, we're not saved by works. But salvation always produces works. That's the relationship. That's his purpose. In fact, that's what salvation is. Do you have John 15 there? Okay. Now, notice that Jesus said, I am the true vine. He used the adjective true because there's a lot of vines in the world. A vine is any ideology or force to which you attach yourself. It holds you up. And there's a lot of them. But the end of all of them is death and corruption, except for one, and that's Jesus. Until you're attached to some kind of a vine, you're just, what should I say, decaying protoplasm. To have significance in your life, you have to be attached to something. Not good if detached. But Jesus is the true vine. All right, then what does it say? You're just reading right down. Take it one step at a time. Okay. Slow now. Slow now. Whoa. All right. My father is the farmer. He's the vine dresser. Okay. We all right so far? Okay. Now picture in your mind, Jesus is a vine. You've probably seen like a grapevine. And God is the vine dresser. Okay. Go ahead and read another section. Don't go so fast. All right. Now, okay. Now, what kind of fruit do we bear when we're abiding in Christ? Couldn't be said better. Can you give me one specific behavior? People see your behavior. They can't see your heart. So what do they see? Okay. Love toward other people in place of Can you think of any other behavior? Can you be more specific? Excellent. Can you think of anything else? We're talking about righteousness. Okay. You say then this is fruit. Exactly. Exactly. That right there. Well, you don't have to go. Well, I know. But we'll get to that in a minute. But I want you to stop and think about that. Now, what happens? All right. He's talking about branches in himself. He's not talking about the unsaved. He's talking about branches in himself. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. Now, what happens if a branch in him does not bear the kind of fruit you talked about? No. That's how he prunes it. Exactly. All right. Now, what does it mean? Well, he doesn't say that. Because if you read down in the chapter, he says men gather them in bundles and they're burned. All right. Now, if a person is cut off of Christ, why would that person be cut off? No. That isn't what you read. You read that if he doesn't bear fruit, he'll be cut off. No, I didn't say that. I said if you don't, I said, what I say doesn't matter. I said the Bible says if you don't bear fruit, you will be cut off from Christ. I can give you an awful lot of scripture for the same thing, but that's sufficient. You have convinced us, brother, that all that you have read. All right. I don't want to belabor this, but I think that's pretty clear. Now, well, let's go. I knew he was too young for this. What do you do? Just let him go? Lord, we just pray for this young man. He's obviously sincere and he's been just incomplete in his teaching, Lord. So, we pray that you will bless him and help him, Lord, to face the truth. Help him to face it, Lord. Yes, Lord. You can break that bondage. Amen, Lord. Amen. Yes, Lord. Amen. Well, before we go any further, I want to say this. Can you see, can you see clearly what this church is all about? Can you see it? This is probably the way 95% of Christians, they don't know their Bible and they always bring up about the thief on the cross. They don't have too many, but that's one. And that's all they have. That's all they have. And it's fine when you start out. The point when you come under pressure, it becomes, who was it that was saying, you can't say I ought to live righteously. You change the word ought to must. See, that's the distinction. The church is teaching, and in the day like we're living in, where the temptations are so great, to say to somebody you ought to live righteously goes nowhere. When you say you must live righteously, then the church is split. And people, some will say you're preaching what they'll never hear you, but God's sheep will hear you. God's sheep will hear you. I know my sheep know my voice. Boy, that's a graphic example. He wasn't even believing what he was reading, because he's intelligent enough, smart to see the trap. He was smart enough to see that. But then he turned right around and finished off the job himself. Yes. You can't talk about distance, because distance and time don't have much meaning in the spirit realm. It's in the physical realm that distance and time have meaning. It doesn't have much meaning. All we know is it's in the spirit realm. It doesn't have material form, and therefore we can't see it with our eyes. And that's just about all we know. And most of our concept of heaven is traditional. It's not based in the scripture. Okay? Well, let's go on with where we were then. That's great. Praise the Lord. He'll make it all right. I hope. I trust. I want to bash the guy. He's a good dude. Huh? That we don't see much of what people are doing, but we do see in revelation that some of them are kept under the altar of God. You know, not in a mansion, but under the altar of God, saying, how long, O Lord, wilt thou avenge our blood? Which is not exactly our idea of heaven, of what we do there. So, I'm not here to say what we do do there, and what we don't do there. We could be interceding. We just don't know. Most of it is tradition or visions that people have had. Victoria? It says, you are come unto Mount Zion. It doesn't say you shall come unto Mount Zion. It says you are come unto Mount Zion, and to an innumerable company of angels, and to the spirits of righteous people made perfect. And it's present tense. So, it's not at all a question of distance. It's just in another realm. You could travel forever and never get to heaven. It's not contiguous. It doesn't go on from here. It's another dimension. It's all around us. We are surrounded with a great crowd of witnesses. It's just not way out there in the stars, that's all. Richard? I tell people that we're already in heaven. And that heaven is my throne, and church is my footstool. We have all these ideas, but boy, I think of those people under the altar. And it doesn't sound like they're happy campers. And yet they were martyrs. Okay. So, the thing that is peculiar about those people in 2 Peter, the second chapter, is that they were all people in the churches. I'm operating in a vacuum here because you don't want to hear a description of church people like this. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bring swift destruction upon themselves, and many will follow their sensuality. That means that they live in the flesh, and many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be maligned, and in their greed they will exploit you with false words, and judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. And it goes on and on, and it finishes up toward the end of this chapter, in verse 20, 2 Peter 2.20, for after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, this is someone who has escaped being, I mean, he has not only accepted Christ, but he has come out of the world, see? They have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Jesus Christ. They are again entangled in them, and are overcome. The last state has become worse for them than the first, for it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. In other words, it would be better if they never started as a Christian, and having started, and then turned back again, they are worse than when they started. Now, that is pretty plain. Okay, so that is what people, behaviors, put them at risk, if they are behaving that way, then they are at risk for what happens in Matthew 13, and what is it that happens to evil Christians in Matthew 13? You don't remember? Okay. Well, you need to know this. This is the wheat and the tares, Matthew 13. Anybody find it? Is it 22? What does it say? But in the same chapter is the parable of the wheat and the tares. Victoria, what do you got? Verse 30. The tares explain, starting with verse 36, he says, in Matthew 13, he says, therefore, in verse 40, therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom. Whoa. All stumbling blocks, and isn't that what 2nd Peter is saying? Those that are in his kingdom, so to speak. And those who commit lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And see, that is not talking about people who are not in the kingdom, but people who were in the kingdom. Yes. All he was reading about was works. Everything he said was works. Everything. Now that comes from not having teaching. They did not found it. I said, where is the scripture? But he's something he's learning. He needs to get to the scripture. We need to know the scripture today. Again, in verse 47, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea and gathers fish of every kind. The kingdom. And when it was filled, they brought it up on the beach, and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age, the angel shall come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous. And that's the wicked in the kingdom from among the righteous in the kingdom. Just like Jude says. Just like 2nd Peter says. There's going to be a big housecleaning. At the end of the age, there's going to be a big housecleaning. It doesn't say when the Lord returns, it's at the end of the age. They will be cast into the furnace of fire, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So, we see then that once you get gathered into the kingdom by receiving Christ, then you have to go forth. And what Christ judges is your behavior. Whether you're wicked or righteous. Now how much you profess Jesus. He said, why do you call me Lord, Lord? You're not doing what I tell you. It's interesting where the Lord said, the man appeared before the Lord and he said, I have done miracles in your name, I have cast out devils in your name, I have prophesied in your name. Well that's interesting. Picture that man. He was prophesying in the name of Jesus. He was working miracles in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. He was doing many mighty works in the name of Jesus. What did the Lord say? First he said, I never knew you. I mean, the guy had prophesied in his name and the Lord didn't know him. And then he says, you who practice iniquity or wickedness. So a man can prophesy, he can work miracles, he can do all things in the name of Jesus. But if he's a wicked person, it isn't going to help him one bit. Because what God is after is righteousness. And if your salvation doesn't make you righteous, you missed the boat. It's got to make you righteous. And it will. It will, April. If you abide in Jesus, you will bear fruit. You're not estranged. You will bear fruit. The thing that you have to do is abide. And Jesus does the fruit. Your job is to abide. All we got to do is abide. The Lord takes care of everything else. But if we don't, what happens? We're cut off. And it doesn't say we'll grow back again. It says rather men gather them into bundles and they're burned. Maybe another branch will grow up. The same branch will never grow on the trunk. Victoria. They were broken off because of unbelief, but they were grafted back in. But again, if they don't bear fruit. Michael, interesting though, because it's growing up or they're burned. They're burned. Men gather them into bundles. John 15. She's talking about growing branches. We're not burned. Yes, that's interesting. I never thought of that. That's very true. Richard. Dan and I were doing a study earlier on righteousness, what righteousness is. I don't know the most perfect verses in the whole Scripture that explains what righteousness is. It's in Luke chapter one and verse six. I use that a lot when people say, they like to quote this non-righteous, no not one. Well, see that was said within a certain frame of reference because there are many times in the Bible it refers to people as righteous. And it is absolutely true that our righteousness will never meet God's standard. But it is also true that God regards righteous behavior as in Cornelius. And because of his alms, his prayers were heard and God brought Peter to him. Because his alms would not be sufficient to enter the kingdom. But the idea that God doesn't even see righteousness is totally unscriptural. Last time when the Lord brought me to repentance, I was afraid that I was going to slip back in too. God is merciful. God is merciful. All right, how does the Apostle Peter describe the Christian walk in 2 Peter 2.21? As he watched. For it had been better for them to not have known the way of righteousness than after they had known it to turn from the holy commandments delivered unto them. But it has happened unto them according was watched. The way of righteousness. It's a way of living. It's a way of living. The way of righteousness. Okay? Yes. I have a good definition for works. It's righteous behavior. Yes. Upright, tell the truth. A lot of people, when they hear works, they think giving money to the poor or doing a good deed or being a good doer. And it's not even righteous behavior. That's the way I interpret it. Well, that's true. The people, which I say is about 95% of the evangelicals, they don't even analyze works. What they want to be told and what the brother was talking about is that there's nothing that you do but believe. There's nothing that you do but believe. But you see, when he was pinned down and I asked him about what's fruit, he knew. He knew. And he began to tell us to speak well, be kind, don't hurt people. He knew. He knew. It's just that the teaching seems to blind people so that they can't... Oh, I don't know. I don't know, I'm sure. Any other questions? I don't know how this is going to go over the tape. In fact, I think to myself, should I take the time to do that? I don't know. It's a difficult decision for me. Tell people, you know, we're perfectly free to do anything as long as you don't disagree with me. I remember, but isn't there a scripture in Ephesians and Revelation where it says that there's a new kingdom, a new heaven, a new earth wherein righteousness dwells? That's in either 1st or 2nd Peter. I think it's 2nd Peter. We look for new heavens and new earth wherein righteousness dwells. I think it's 2nd Peter. 3rd or 3rd? Huh? 2nd or 3rd? 2nd Peter? Yeah. A new heaven, a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. That's our hope. It isn't to go to the spirit realm. It's a new world where there is righteousness. That's our hope. We'll be in a world where there's no sin. In Daniel, God said that he was going to bring an everlasting righteousness. He was going to make an end of sin in Daniel and bring an everlasting righteousness. In the days of those kings, it says in Daniel, the Lord God will set up a kingdom and it shall consume all other kingdoms and it shall stand forever. And that's a kingdom of righteousness. So that's where we are. We had time just to review the seven feasts and then we're out of here. What's feast number one? See, all these seven feasts are leading to one thing. Being in the image of God. What's number one? I was just going to ask you again. What's the first feast? You better come on next week. What's the first feast? Passover. Which stands for? No, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. All right, what's the second feast? Almighty bread, which stands for what? Yeah, water baptism, which stands for repentance. If he gets 11 of the world out of you, coming to the Lord, getting cleaned up, that's the second thing. First the blood, then repentance and water baptism. What's the third feast? What does that stand for? Hold on Peggy, we'll be tuning in. What's that stand for? To be born again. The first is way before the Lord. Not your whole thing, but a firstfruits. Conceded with Christ, the right hand of God. What's the fourth feast? You ought to know that one. Pentecost. And what does that stand for? Yes, well, we usually say it stands for the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit fell on the day of Pentecost. And he does, he writes the law in our heart. That's exactly the new covenant. The Holy Spirit does that and also helps us to bear witness. And what's feast number five? A big five. Cinco. Trumpets. Trumpets. Jason got it. What'd you tell him? What? Whisper to the boys. All right, trumpets. And what does that stand for? That's where we are now. So what does that stand for? The King coming to declare war on his enemies, beginning with his enemies in the church. And also the forming of us into an army. In other words, it's war. It stands for war. And that, of course, is difficult for people today because we thought it was all over. We're saved. We're up in heaven. It's interesting, isn't it, that historically we've thought of the promised land, Canaan, as being heaven. But what's wrong with that? Yeah, because you don't enter into heaven by war. Whatever the anti-type of Canaan is, it's got to be something where their enemy is dwelling. So it can't mean heaven. There are Negro spirituals and other things that, you know, the ideas on going over Jordan, crossing the happy land, they talk about heaven. But to cross the Jordan, you're facing war. War. Because we must gain our inheritance by war. When we come out of Egypt, God does all the fighting. When we enter into our land of promise, we have to fight. When Israel came out of Egypt, God did all the fighting. They didn't have to do a thing but march out. But when they began to go into their inheritance, that's when war began. They had some skirmishes prior to that, but that's when it got serious. And so we're facing spiritual warfare now. That's, wow. All right, what's feast number six? Day of Atonement. How'd you know that? In all the beginning ones, you knew that. Day of Atonement. And what does that have to do? What does that have? Mark, do you know? No, I don't know all that. It shows up at the table as a ring. Okay, Day of Atonement. What does that mean? You can change the word Atonement to Reconciliation. It means the same thing, actually. The Day of Reconciliation is the sixth piece. What is that talking about? Every part of our personality being reconciled to God. See, and that's why you went through the things you did today. It's because God is reconciling parts of your personality to himself. That's exactly why you went through the things you did today. Because there's still things in your personality and mind that are at enmity against God. That are at enmity against God. And it's that process of suffering and deliverance and instruction and everything that goes on that takes those things in our personality one at a time and adjusts them to God's way of thinking. So that we have peace. We're entering into rest. We have rest in God, but it's God's rest first of all. God can't find rest in us until we find rest in God. And God can't find rest in us until we're reconciled to God. There can't be any part of our personality that questions God, is angry with God, is against God. It all has to be brought into harmony with God's will in person. That's the Day of Atonement or Day of Reconciliation. What's piece number seven? I'm almost through here. What's piece number seven? Tabernacles. And what does that talk about? Holding a good New Testament verse on the Feast of Tabernacles. John 17, John 14, 23 is the bullseye. You know that one? Everyone in this class should have John 14, 23 memorized. That includes Mark, that includes Jason. Everyone in this class should have John 14, 23 memorized. If a man loved me, he would do what? Repeat my words. That's the condition. That's the condition. You have to do what he said. Then what will happen? God will love him because God said, this is my beloved son, hear him. And when we hear the son, then God is pleased. My father will love him if he'll do what I said. And then what does it say? We. Who's the we? The father and the son will do what? Abode. Dwelling place. And that's the Greek noun, moni. And it's used only in one other place. Where? Mansions in John 14, 2. So he's going to say, we will make our mansion with him. That's the mansion. You're the mansion. We'll make our mansion with him, our moni. And we will make our mansion with him. And that's forever. So God is looking for a dwelling place. God doesn't need a dwelling place. Yes, he does. He needs a dwelling place. And I've got four minutes. So I'm not going to waste your time. Turn to Isaiah 12. And you say, how do I know whether I'm in the Feast of Tabernacles? When Isaiah 12 becomes your testimony, you are in the Feast of Tabernacles. This is what the Jews chanted during the Feast of Tabernacles. Then you will say on that day, I will give thanks to thee, O Lord, although you were angry with me. That's the Day of Atonement. That's the Day of Atonement. You go through a period when it seems like God is mad at you. That's the Day of Atonement. Yes? See, the Jewish thing, the days from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, from Trumpets to the Day of Atonement, is all considered one thing. You don't even know the days of awe. It's the time when God judges the world. And that's the time He's angry. You can find the same thing in Isaiah chapter 40. Remember? Crying to Jerusalem that she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. That's what this is talking about. Yes. And this is how you can tell it. And you're comforting me. God will comfort you after you've been through the miracle. Then this is what you will say. God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid. See, nothing about faith. It's trust. I will trust and not be afraid. For the Lord God is my strength and song. You see, before tabernacles, you sing. First you start off singing about the Lord. And then you progress to singing to the Lord. But in tabernacles, the Lord Himself becomes your song. Now you'll have to experience this. I'm just telling you this so as it happens to you, you'll have a reference. Alright? He has become my salvation. Now He's saving me. He Himself. The Lord Himself. He Himself becomes our salvation. Therefore you will joyously draw water out of the wells of salvation. Out of the wells of salvation. This is what Jesus was referring to in John 27. He that believes on me as the scripture has said. This is the scripture. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. The reason that you have joy is because life is flowing from you to other people. The only reason that life can flow from you is because the throne of God has been established in you because the water always comes from the throne. Pentecost is the Holy Spirit coming as rain. Tabernacles is the water coming from the throne of God that has been created in you. And that's the difference between Pentecost and tabernacles. Pentecost is the rain. Tabernacles is the river of life that comes from the person who has gone through the processes of redemption. Alright? Alright. Alright. And in that day. And whenever you see that expression, that day. And you'll see it in John 14. In that day. That's the day of the Lord. When the day of the Lord has come to pass in your heart. You'll say give thanks to the Lord. Call on His name. Instead of talking about yourself and your work, you'll be talking about God. Make known His deeds among the peoples. Not your plan and programs. Make them remember that His name is exalted. Praise the Lord in song for He has done excellent things. Let this be known throughout the earth. You're going to have a burden for the earth. Cry aloud and shout for joy. Oh inhabitant of Zion. You're in Zion. You have perfect joy in the Lord. For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. And when that becomes true of you. Every word, every punctuation mark. You have entered Tabernacles. Amen. Shall we stand? April, did that young fellow go home? Did Paul go? Bill? They're outside discussing the scripture. Oh Lord. Oh Lord. How nice it is to be like everybody else. You get ahead of the wagon train one thing after another. All right. Lord, you see the young man, Lord. And we care for him, Lord. We do not cast him aside as something. But we are concerned that what he heard tonight will be fruitful and not turn out to be a hindrance to him, Lord. God, that's my concern. Now we thank you, Lord, because you are moving us onward. And because you are giving us expression in many ways. Because your church is like a sleeping thing, Lord. It's been lulled to sleep. And now you're coming and you're saying, wake up. Because it's time to call Lazarus forth from the grave. And to take off the grave clothes. And we know, Lord, we don't have to do it. All we have to do is prophesy to the bones. We don't have to stick them together. But you will cause the skin to come up on them. And the sinew, bone to come to bone. Because it's your army, Lord. And it's by your power. So all we have to do is prophesy to the bones and say, live. And that's what we say tonight, Lord. We say it out of the spirit realm. Bones, live in the name of Jesus. Live. Come to life. Hear the word of the Lord. Oh bones. Because God will raise you from the dead. And make you a mighty army and bring you into the land. Hallelujah. Oh God, let it go into the heavens and into the earth. And it's time for the bones to come together. Hallelujah. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. Let's praise the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Hear it, oh bones. It's time to come together. Hallelujah. And God may raise up the whole house of Israel. Raise up your army, oh. Bring an end to sin. Bring an everlasting righteousness, oh Lord. By your power. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Blessed be the Lord our God. Let the power of God accomplish his word. And we will rejoice. We will rejoice, Lord. Now we thank you for tonight, Lord. We thank you for a step forward in your kingdom. Hallelujah. Let the ark of thy covenant go forward, Lord. Hallelujah. Let your enemies be scattered before you. Arise, oh Lord. Hallelujah. Rise in the land, oh God. Because your church lies in ruins. Arise, oh Lord. Hallelujah. We bless you tonight. Bless those in take land. Bless us here. Keep us all safe and healthy. Lord, that in the morning we may arise by the spirit of God. Hallelujah. To march forward in thy kingdom, Lord. To take the kingdom. To take the kingdom. It is the time.