(tm) In the Future
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My vision of the future is that there is coming a time of great trouble to America, accompanied by a nation-wide revival of repentance.
Here is the problem: the current Christian teaching is that Christians live in a supposed state of grace. This means that no matter how we behave, God sees only the righteousness of Christ in us. I understand that this travesty of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is taught rather commonly.
Now stop and think. If such were the case, and it is not, then there is no basis for repentance. If God sees only the righteousness of Christ in us, then of what are we to repent?
We ought to be nice, I suppose, and appreciate what Christ has done for us, and on that basis make an attempt at least to stop lying, stealing, gossiping, fornicating, and using profanity. But if we don’t, we still are going to be brought into Paradise when we die and receive the same reward as the most diligent disciple. Oh, maybe we won’t have quite the same reward, but it will be enough for us. This is what we assume.
I do not know about the rest of the population of the world, but the average American loves pleasure and is accustomed to many luxuries that are not possessed by a great part of earth’s multitudes. He will reason as follows: "If I "accept Christ" (which is really not acceptance of Christ at all but nothing more than a profession of belief) I can live my life rather comfortably and still be ushered into Heaven when I die.
He may make an attempt to live righteously, but given the interesting things and experiences available to most Americans, plus the ever increasing demon hordes that are inciting us to immorality, violence, and covetousness, he is not going to take up his cross of self-denial and follow the Master. He is not going to permit the Holy Spirit to strip away his worldliness, sensual lusts, and personal ambition. He simply is not going to do this!
Therefore there can be no permanent revival until there is a reformation of Christian thinking. We must come to understand that the teaching of the "state of grace" is unscriptural. The Lord Jesus Christ did not come to earth merely to forgive the works of Satan in us. He came to destroy the works of Satan in us. This He has the power to do when we ask.
But we are not going to pay the price of self-denial that becoming a new righteous creation requires until we realize that in the Day of Resurrection we are going to reveal in ourselves the choices we have made.
In that Day, those who have practiced moral filth will be given a spirit of moral filth. Those who have walked in the ways of the Spirit of God will receive eternal life.
I know the above is true. How do I know? Because it is thoroughly scriptural. Therefore, it must be true that at some point the Holy Spirit will take what I have written, or what a writer who has written in a similar fashion has declared, and spread it throughout the world. The Lord is a businessman. He is not going to permit His Church to be destroyed by false teaching when there is correct teaching available.
I do not know how or when the Holy Spirit will fill His Church with the truth of the Scriptures. But I firmly believe He shall. In that hour we will experience true repentance, as the Lord shows us the spiritual darkness that dwells in us, removes that darkness with our cooperation, and then fills us with Himself.
It has been pointed out by investigators that the behavior of Christian people is no different from the behavior of the non-Christian people. This would be predicted by any intelligent person, given the fact that the churches are preaching only forgiveness, very little about righteous behavior. In the future, hopefully, God’s ministers will begin to preach forgiveness through God’s grace to the unsaved, and righteous conduct by the power of God’s grace to the saved. Only then will the Christian people be the lights of the world.
We read in the newspaper how someone murders his children or his family members, or rapes a helpless individual, or performs some other heinous deed. We wonder, "How could he do that?" But the truth is, such foulness could be true of any one of us if the Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t prevent the demons from entering him or her. In the future the bizarre crimes we see today will multiplied greatly as the demons—and finally Satan himself—are given free reign on the earth. In that day, only Christ can prevent us from performing some gruesome act.
When we show our love to God by obeying Him, He rewards us by setting us free from the bondages of sin. This is what salvation is—release from the bondages of sin, that we might have eternal fellowship with God.
We know from the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Matthew that the time will come when all that is offensive is removed from the Kingdom of God. So the future is bright with promise.
We are approaching a new world of righteousness, as Peter says. The inhabitants will not be sinning people who are being "saved by grace." The citizens of the new world will be righteous in behavior, having been made so by the power of God.
Let us look up to God and declare that we want to be part of that world in which there is no sin, only righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them. And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD Almighty. (Zechariah 14:21))
I have noticed in myself that I do not have enough energy to do more than precisely what is needed. There is no strength left to get into mischief. That’s good, isn’t it? My prayer is that God will take this dust and use it as He will, making it an expression in the earth of His thinking, desires, saying, and doing.
Jesus prayed for the nations and the farthest reaches of the earth as His inheritance. Jesus prayed also that those whom God had given Him would be one in Him as He is one in the Father. Then Jesus prayed that if it were possible the cup of suffering would be taken away from Him.
The first two prayers shall be answered. The time shall come when those whom the Father has given to Jesus shall be one in Christ in God. Then the world shall believe that it is God who sent Jesus, and that God loves the saints as He loves the Lord Jesus. The third prayer was not answered because it was necessary for the third not to be answered in order that the first two might be answered.
So it is with us. God gives us a vision, and then we pray for what He has shown us. When things happen to us that we do not want to happen, we must keep firmly in mind that the things we do not want to happen to us do so in order that the things we do want shall take place.
Mark tell us that the Lord worked with the Apostles confirming the word with signs following. But my desire is that I will work with the Lord, not the Lord with me. It seems to me that this is what Jesus did. God did not work with Jesus, Jesus worked with God. Jesus said He watched what the Father did, and then he did the same.
Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. (John 5:19,20)
It seems that today there are so many plans advanced to build the Kingdom of God, one wonders what would happen if some of us ceased from our own plans and just watched Christ as He watched the Father. Do you suppose if we did that, Christ actually would do something and we could come along for the ride, as it were? The elephant pulls the Log while the mouse accompanies Him, chirping merrily.
Yet I know it has to be the sword of the Lord and of Gideon; but I think we must make certain that it is mostly the Lord who is doing the work, while Gideon blows the trumpet and the jar of his earthly personality is broken so the Light of Christ within may be revealed. It must not become Gideon and then the sword of the Lord. Gideon’s role is to blow the trumpet of God’s Word; but it is the Lord who kills the Midianites.
"Father, we pray in Jesus’ name that Your perfect will shall be done in all matters. Make us, who are but dust, the revelation throughout Your creation of your Person, will, ways, and eternal purpose in Christ Jesus. Amen."
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