Becoming the Throne of God, continued...

Back to Sermons WOR

A throne is the center of decision-making. The person who sits on a throne exerts his or her will in selecting among alternative actions. Thus a throne is the position of exercising will.

(7/4/2010). The very essence of the Kingdom of God is the doing of God’s will. "Your Kingdom come. Your will be done." The Kingdom of God came into existence when the Lord Jesus Christ cried out to His Father, "Not My will but Yours be done."

Christ was being tested to see if He would do God’s will even though it meant the loss of God’s Presence–perhaps for eternity! Realizing who Christ is and His background, this test passes our ability to comprehend.

Christ passed the test, an angel being sent from Heaven to strengthen Him. As a result, Christ now has all authority and power in the heavens and upon the earth. He is Lord over all other lords; King over all other kings. We read in the second chapter of the Book of Hebrews that to "man" is given authority over all the works of God’s hands. We do not as yet see this authority given to man, but we see Jesus. Jesus is representative "man," the first of many brothers. Yet He is exalted above all His brothers and the Firstborn from the dead.

God has led His people through many dangers, toils, and snares, as the old hymn says. There has been a purpose for each crisis, each intervention. They are not aimless. The Divine plan of redemption is pointed toward a specific goal. The goal is men and women who are to sit with the Lord Jesus on His Throne.

It is in our day that the climax of redemption is approaching. Thus the most important issue in our life today is that of learning to do God's will on every occasion.

In the Book of Revelation Jesus told us that He is knocking at the door, that is, at the door to our personality; in particular, the door to our will. Then a verse or two later, He tells us that the person who overcomes, as He overcame, will sit with Him on His Throne, which is the Throne of God.

This is what is taking place today. Jesus is asking us to let Him enter. When He enters us He has fellowship with us. He dines on our obedience and worship. We dine on His body and blood. He now is present with us and also in us. We are abiding in Christ and Christ is abiding in us. Now we will bear the fruit of His moral image, and also the fruit of being in perfect rest in the center of God's Person and will.

In order to be at perfect rest in the center of God's Person and will we must obey Christ in every situation. This means, at every point of decision in our life, from the smallest to the greatest, we must look to Jesus for the right choice, the correct action, the action that is in line with the will of God.

We do not open to Christ on one occasion and from then on He is dwelling in us. He is knocking at the door every time we make a decison. He constantly is knocking at the door. We constantly are opening to Him that His will may be known to us. This is the Kingdom of God–the doing of God's will in the earth.

Every time we look to Christ when we are faced with a decision, and choose to do what seems to be what He desires, the next decision becomes easier. We keep on looking to Jesus and obeying Him. This is what it means to overcome. We overcome, as Jesus helps us, every factor that would cause us to be disobedient.

The New Testament speaks of "overcoming." What we are to overcome is our willingness to act independently of God. Man has been created to be the throne, the resting place of God. We cannot possibly find perfect fulfillment until God is reigning within us. It is only as God is living and ruling in him that man is more than an intelligent animal.

Babylon is man acting independently of God in the ecclesiastical world. Laodicea is man acting independently of God in the realm of God's elect. Antichrist is man acting independently of God in the secular world. The False Prophet is man acting independently of God in the world of spirits.

Becoming the Throne of God is a definite experience. It takes place as we keep inviting the Lord Jesus into our life, looking carefully to Him in all matters, day and night. This means we are praying without ceasing, as the Apostle Paul exhorted us.

Such is the new covenant–the putting of God's will in our heart so we want to do it, and the writing of God's law in our mind so we understand what it is that God wants.

God does not make His will known to each of us in the same manner. Some believers hear God's voice in their inner consciousness. Others may just sense what God wants. Still other believers may seek to obey the Scriptures, praying constantly for guidance.

Perhaps the fifth and sixth verses of the third chapter of the Book of Proverbs are of great significance in our day. We are told to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean to our own understanding. We are promised that if we will acknowledge the Lord in all our ways, He will direct our paths, making the right way straight before us.

The antichrist world spirit derives its wisdom and knowledge from education and the media. Since the media are proliferating in our day, the minds of most people are conformed to the tremendous lie that the world spirit is.

Paul advises us not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. In order to be transformed by the renewing of our mind we have to constantly invite Jesus into our decisions, great and small.

The ability to keep looking to Jesus and listening to Him is going to be of supreme importance in the coming days. Little by little a one-world government is approaching. The idea is to put an end to wars between nations.

However, as we notice, every government on earth is corrupt, filled with lying, treachery, slander, self-seeking, and every other destructive attitude and practice. This will be true of the coming one-world government. It will be governed by evil people–people who profess to be seeking the good of others but who do not have God's wisdom because they do not glorify God, only themselves.

This especially may be true in the United States of America. In time past the leaders of our government, although they were not without sin and self-seeking, did give glory to God and exhorted our citizens to pray.

It is not so today. God is being ignored. The idea, as someone expressed it, is that thinking is more profitable than praying. There are few other lies as great as this.

From the time of Adam and Eve, mankind has been under the impression that we are supposed to carve out our own destiny. This is the opposite of God's desire. God wants people to seek Him and His will in every circumstance of our life. Only then do we obtain righteousness, love, peace, and joy.

But our country and its leaders are not doing this, choosing to better the world by their human efforts. They do not glorify God nor do they seek His help in solving our numerous problems.

Thus the United States is on its way to having a much lower place among the nations. Finally its values and traditions will be swallowed up by a one-world government, which will be presided over by self-seeking men and women who do not know the Lord Jesus.

We Americans are not to fret over this. Rather, each one of us is to live as closely to the Lord Jesus as he can. In so doing the individual will become the Throne of God. Also, he will save himself and his loved ones throughout the chaotic days ahead of us.

The new Jerusalem is the glorified Christian Church that will be established on the new earth after the thousand-year Kingdom Age. Notice that the Throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, located in the saints on the earth for eternity.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. (Revelation 22:1-3)

You can hear the morning sermon at morning. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

Back to Sermons WOR