Two Groups of Saved People — Robert B. Thompson

Lord, we do praise you for your wonderful goodness, Lord. Thank you for our many, many blessings, Lord. Appreciate so much your goodness. Thank you, Lord, for that Joseph has had a good meeting, Lord.

Bring them back safely. Pray your hand will be on Larry and he'll know the mind of the Lord in the morning. That's what he's to do. Pray you'll heal everyone that was in a rear-end accident, Lord, each one.

Keep your hand on the youngsters as they go to Angelus Temple. We're needy people, Lord. We call on you for help and protection and all these things. And every other burden that's represented here, Lord, let you hear the cries of your people.

Lord, as we proceed tonight, we give the word to you, Lord. You know the hearts that are here. You know what needs to be said. And we ask you, Father, in Jesus' name, through your Holy Spirit, to teach each of us in Jesus' name.

We're ready for Eddie's dramatic words. Everyone see that all right? Probably, uh, I bet Carrie and Julie can't see it. Can you see it okay? Pretty near. 28th of July, 1998, tape 4144, The Will and Christ in You.

God's Eternal Purpose and His Dwelling Place

Recommended reading the eternal purpose of God. Beginning in Exodus 15, 17 and continuing through Stephen's defense. Before the high priest in Acts chapter 7, God's eternal plan has focused mainly on one pursuit.

What is he in search of and what is his great need? And Eddie, what does that mean, The Will and Christ in You? What does that mean? Oh, that's the name of the tape. Well, we'll let the people on the tape figure that one out.

All right, what is God's great need? What is a need? What is it? A dwelling place. God, the Bible, starting in Exodus 15, 19, as it begins to talk about a dwelling place for God, a house for God, in my Father's house.

The accent is on God's house, which is not heaven. There's no place in the Bible called God's house heaven. God's house is Christ and what else? What else is God's house besides Christ? The Savior. Yeah, we're living stones in the great house of God.

Any question about that so far? Christ, that's where God dwells. Heaven is what? God's throne. Christ is God's house. When he said, in my Father's house, there are many rooms. He's speaking of the members of his body.

Yes? Isn't heaven a spiritual realm? Yeah, heaven is a spiritual realm. The reason we say it's God's throne is because that's what the Bible says. Isaiah 66, heaven is my throne. And that's what the Bible says.

Now God is moving his throne into the hearts of his people. And we see that in Revelation, speaking of the holy city, we'll go into that later maybe. The throne of God and of the Lamb are in it. And of course the holy city is on the earth.

So the throne of God is moving from heaven. Heaven will not be the throne of God in Revelation 21. It says the throne of God and of the Lamb are in the holy city. You could say, well, then heaven's in the holy city.

There'd be nothing wrong with that. Jeremiah the third chapter says, Jerusalem shall be called the throne of God. And so it is God's intention to bring together heaven and earth. What could be better than heaven?

Heaven come to earth. And that's what the Bible teaches. It was on the earth in the beginning. To a certain extent in paradise, and then we lost it. Getting it back is always hard after you lose something that you're given.

You can't keep it until you get it twice. Any other questions? In moving past Pentecost towards tabernacles. Oh, I see Mark where he's coming from. He's a quiller, that guy. The key issue is your will.

Play, Work, and the Curse of Self-Will

God's creatures, you won't believe what is true. All of God's creatures were created to play. Angels, man, and puppy dogs. And Satan was created to play. And everything was cool until Satan decided to enjoy himself outside of God's will.

And that's when destruction comes. And so Satan lost the ability to play, and the right to play, and he can never play again. That's why he envies us. Because God is bringing us to the place where we'll have the right to play.

And the ability to play. And Satan can never play again. All he can do is destroy. He can't play with a child. All he can do is debauch it. And so he's very envious. We lost the right to play in Eden.

See, the Adam and Eve were playing. To play is when you enjoy what you're doing. To work is when you're doing something that you wished you were doing something else. And Adam and Eve loved what they were doing.

When I taught school, I loved it. I would have thought if I had a million dollars in the bank, I would have been there every September to meet a new class. Because it was play. But we have to earn the right to play, and then the ability to play.

Because we lost that. And when Adam was put out into the garden, the curse on him was work. You're going to work, buddy. No more playing. You're going to work. That was a curse. But God created us all to play, and children show us that.

They lead us into the kingdom. A little child shall lead them. And children and puppy dogs know what it's all about. But we're on a cursed earth. But the day will come when what we were created to do, what we enjoy doing, we'll be doing forever.

Yes, question. Can faith be found more than in one place at a time? Faith can be found more than one place at a time, yes. He has the ability of multiple presence. And so does Christ, and so will we. Because we'll always be at God's right hand.

And it will be in many other places. Function of the spirit realm. It's not constrained by the space-time continuum that we are. Are there any other questions?

Yes. You observe that as being cursed. Does the curse have to be lifted or rescinded then?

Yes, the curse will be lifted by the revealing of the sons of God. And that's why the creation is groaning. So that they can be brought into the liberty of the freedom of the children of God. You want to read a wonderful psalm about what life is supposed to be like?

This is a psalm about play. It's a 98th psalm. Do you like to play? Puppies like to play. Our pup likes to play. She'd rather play than do anything. Play with her sock. Oh, Lord. You'd think it was worth a million dollars the way she grabs that sock.

But see, she knows what life is supposed to be. Psalm 98. Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things. His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him. The Lord has made His salvation known and revealed His righteousness to the nations.

He has remembered His love and His faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of God. Our God, shout for joy to the Lord all the earth. Burst into jubilant song with music.

Make music to the Lord with a harp. With a harp and the sound of singing. With trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn. Shout for joy before the Lord the King. David knew that, didn't he? But Michael didn't.

She had a problem with that. She says, oh, you're making a scene out of yourself. But he had God's heart. And he knows what the Lord likes. Let the sea resound and everything in it. The world and all who live in it.

Let the rivers clap their hands. I don't think this was figurative. Nature is inanimate now. But I think it was intended to be animate. Let the mountains sing together for joy. I know in the great revival in Nagaland that they heard the trees That would be in the jungle between Nagaland and They heard the trees singing.

And they didn't need lights at night. Because God lighted up the campground. And about 70 of the people became Christians in Nagaland. But the world outside doesn't know about it because India keeps it closed off.

Let the mountains sing together for joy. Let them sing before the Lord. For He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. So His coming is one of judgment But the judgment produces joy and play.

When you're singing and clapping your hands That's not work, it shouldn't be. It should be play. So I'm using play to mean doing what you were created to do that you enjoy most doing in God's will. That's play.

And we were created to play. Hallelujah. In this right hand, pleasures. Any questions? The issue is will. And that's where Satan fell. See, he played all the day long with all his pipes and everything.

He was a one man band, Satan was. Pipes were created in him. And he was playing. Rejoicing. Praising. As all the angels were. They loved to sing for joy, the sons of God do. He set his will against God.

And at that moment he couldn't play any longer. He's lost forever the ability to play. Everything he touches withers. Horrible curse. He'll never be redeemed. He can never be redeemed. He has been cursed with his own self-will.

And he cannot escape it. If you persevere with your will against God, that can happen to you. Or to me. We can be cursed with the inability to surrender our will to God. So when you have the chance to give your will over to the Lord.

Blessed are those who die in the Lord from henceforth. That is from the time that Antichrist begins to get on the rise. Man begins to love himself. Antichrist is a personification. Self-will. It's what he is.

Human will. I am God. The New Age teaching. And in that day he says, blessed are the Lord who die in the Lord from henceforth. And you see that arising. Oh God, lift that self-will and stubbornness from me.

I rejoice into thy will O God, ye that are lost within my heart. And until you do that, you cannot move past Pentecost into Tabernacles. That's the key. You can get saved and retain your self-will. You can speak in tongues and retain your self-will.

But you can't go past that and become the house of God until you're willing to carry your cross. And the cross is the engine of destruction that destroys your self-will. Because the cross makes you do what you don't want to do.

And if you run around your cross you're opening yourself to deception because you love not the truth. God himself will deceive you. And you'll never be able to play. We all want to play. That's what we want to do.

But see, people play outside of God's will and they destroy their bodies and their families and everything else. Okay? Any questions? Tribulation destroys your self-will depending on how you take it.

If you blame other people for it, don't work. If you run hither and thither trying to escape God's hand and betray your integrity and those who trust in you, doesn't work. If you take your tribulation and say, okay, Lord, I'll take the joys of the day but I'm not going to try to lift the curse and make this earth heaven.

I'm not going to do that. That's how people mess up is they try to make this present earth heaven. And to do that you've got to betray those who trust in you and betray your integrity. And God looks for integrity.

Always looks for integrity. So, tribulation will do the job for you depending on how you take it. If you blame the tools God uses, blame people, blame, blame, blame, it's useless. It's a waste of time.

Your sufferings do you no good. If you keep trying to escape them by escaping your contracts, no good. We like to use the expression, you take the hit. You do what is right in every situation. Whether it's pleasant or unpleasant, you do, you pray to feel what is right and you do what is right.

Keep looking for ways to avoid pain because it's pain that is crucifixion of your will and that's what you want. You want to be in God's will. You want a delight to do his will. And the cross, that's why God, that's why we have the cross.

And the personal cross of the believer is so our will will be crucified. Not my will but yours be done. That was the original sin, was disobeying God. Abraham then was tested on that line and finally Christ in Gethsemane.

That was the supreme test of will. Let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done. If he hadn't have said that, we'd all be lost. Everything hinged on that statement. And that was a fearful cup he drank.

None of us in here could drink that cup. Not like the son of God, the sins of the world. But he drank it. We'll all have our cup depending on how high a rank we've been predestined to in the kingdom. The place that's been prepared for us, the mark set before us, and the higher that is, the more bitter the cup will be.

God does not trust people with great authority when there's any trace of self-will in them. And you can see the reason for that. Otherwise we'd have Star Wars. Yes, Larry?

And they were preparing righteousness and democracy. And the callers that called in and said that that was an oxymoron, that it cannot be out of democracy and righteousness because democracy is the viewpoint of the people and we're called to be obedient to God.

And I was listening to the narrator trying to incorporate righteousness in the verse and trying to make it reconciled. And in every case the problem is there's no laying down of your will. He was trying to make righteousness be forcing your righteous beliefs on people that are in government in order to make democracy.

It's all a mess. The problem with our government today is not that the leaders are so wicked, it's that they're self-willed. And in a way that's a worse wickedness because it operates at a deeper level.

The sins, the lusts of the flesh and all are alien to our personality. But self-will as an original sin comes from within us. And it's the sin of antichrist that's far more destructive than drunkenness and murder and these other things.

That's the problem with our government today. It's not so that all the leaders want to go out and murder people like Paul Potter or something. It's a deeper wickedness. Self-will. It's a terrible thing because you can't get a hold of it.

People can't recognize. In fact, it's espoused as being an ideal, a person in control. And that's why Jesus said I wish you were cold or hot because you get those people in the middle that are self-willed but not wicked.

And you don't know what to do with them. And you can't understand why things are destroyed. But see, the abomination that creates desolation is antichrist in the holy place. And antichrist is the man of lawlessness.

That is the man who seeks his own way. Satan is the incarnation of lying and lust and all these other things. It all came about because of self-will. The other sins are the product of self-will. They're all traceable to self-will.

When you get to self-will crucified, the other things fall off like acorns off a tree. Are there any other questions?

Yes? Yeah, it's walking according to your mind.

It's the mind. That's why Revelation 20 verse 4 talks about those who are beheaded. Those who die in the Lord. It's this thing up here that is the problem. God did not give us a mind to direct our paths.

He gave us a mind to comprehend him and his law. And when we use it to direct our paths, we're not righteous. He says, commit thy way unto him in all thy ways. Acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.

That's the way that God will live. That's what it means to live by faith. It is to commit your way to God and make every decision in him. When you make your decisions out of your own planning, your own agendas, your own passions, your own desires, then that's why God gives us the cross to kill that thing.

So we learn in every, every area of life from the tiniest to the greatest to say, Lord, what is your will in us? Lord, where do you believe? And you keep that constant communion with Jesus. Constant communion with Jesus.

That's what it means to be led of the Spirit. It doesn't mean to be led by prophecy. It means to keep in a constant awareness of sensitivity to the Lord's will. And that takes some doing. You don't learn that in a minute.

Whoa! It's a lot of traps along the way. From passivity to religious dynamism. You know, slaying your bull like you were murdering a man and so on. And everything in between. It takes a lot of experience to learn to walk and yield it to God's will.

A lot of experience. Derek? Huh? Are we here yet?

Male or female? What's the name? Christina. Christina? Okay.

And how's the other little girl? Doing well. Alright. You're going to have to watch her. That's the one you're going to have to watch, isn't it? Yeah. Because she's been the prize pokey there for a while.

Alright. Yeah, she's the one. Alright, that's good news. Thank you, Jesus, for a healthy baby. Thank you, Lord, for a healthy little girl. Bless you, Lord. Any other questions? Yes? Be content with your wages, John the Baptist said.

Contrary to the American way. Oh, get mine.

Get mine. That's the real.

Sign of Christianity. Suffer yourself to be a fraud. That's part of the crucified life. The old man doesn't like that one. That takes prayer and the cross. Are we all set? Mother, are we there yet? Anthony?

He will die spiritually if he gives place to the devil. And he'll die physically anyway. But he could die beforehand if he doesn't judge himself, the Bible says. I didn't mean so much that it's touching people.

I just meant in every endeavor where people are led of the Lord, whether it's in education, whether it's in finance, whether it's in the arts and sciences and technology, in any area of human activity that is touched by self-will.

That's why our nation, why everything, the arts and everything, education, it has such a hard time. It's because antichrist is the abomination that creates desolation. Our public schools used to be top, top, top of the line.

And they have crumbled because in many areas there are still good teachers and still good kids, but in many areas there's a blight on the thing. Now I'd like to put up the simple what it is. It's a sequence of means and ends.

Gifts and Ministries as Means to Spiritual Maturity

This will be important to you, Martine, and others that are teaching other people. A sequence of means and ends. Now, we'll talk first about gifts and ministries. Now, those are not an end in themselves.

They are a means to an end. Where are the gifts and.

Ministries discussed? In Ephesians.

4. I'm saying this so it will be on the tape in case people listen to the tape. And there it tells us that the gifts and ministries are a means to what end? Building of the body, building up the members of the body to the stature of the fullness of Christ.

I'll just put fullness of Christ. That's the purpose of gifts and ministries. When I say means, I mean the way you get there. The purpose of all the gifts and ministries given to the body of Christ by the ascended Christ are for the purpose of building Christians to maturity.

It's the only purpose listed for them. Any problems so far? That's the first in the sequence. The purpose of tongues is that Christ might grow in you. The purpose of the apostle is that Christ might grow in you.

The purpose of the prophet is that Christ... This is Ephesians 4. The work of the ministry for the building up of the body of Christ. And even the evangelist is given for this reason. Although the evangelist takes the raw material and brings it into the church.

And then all the other ministries build it to maturity. That's the purpose of ministry. Till we all come to the unity of the faith. The knowledge of the Son of God. Any questions about that? Means and ends are very important.

Yes? What about miracles? Miracles. Yes, miracles are signs that attract people to God. That's the purpose of miracles. It's to be attractive. Miracles are signs. This is where God is. Go this way. This is where God is.

And the purpose of that is to build up the body. Everything is to build because God has a purpose for the body. See, that's the thing. But first the body has to be built. God's purposes cannot be fulfilled in us while we are immature.

The first sequence of means and ends is gifts and ministries and their purpose is to build us to the stature of the fullness of Christ. Alright, then we take that The fullness of Christ I should have saved myself by just writing maturity.

I should have had Benny doing this. Christ. Bringing us to the fullness of Christ is a means. And what does that end? A dwelling place for God. A dwelling place for God. And what scripture would you use for that?

Yes? But there's one that ties the two together. Do you remember what it is? Ephesians 2 is one. But there's one that ties the gifts together.

With the dwelling place of God. Do you remember it? Psalm 68. Psalm 68.

Psalm 68. And Paul was quoting in Ephesians the 4th chapter when he said you have ascended on high, you give gifts for men. He was quoting from Psalm 68. But then Psalm 68 tells you why he's giving those gifts.

What verse is it, Benny? Verse 18. Someone read that. Psalm 68. 18.

Thou hast blessed Cassius. Thou hast received gifts among men, even among the rebellious also, that the Lord God may dwell there.

See the relationship? The purpose of giving the gifts and ministries. See Paul was quoting from that Psalm in Ephesians 4. He was quoting from that Psalm. But he gives us the purpose for it. It's the dwelling of God or the house of God.

Much the house of God. Building a house for God starts back in Exodus as I said. And then it's brought through it's brought through when we talk about Ephesians where Acts 7 where Stephen said what is the house that you build me and so on.

But do you know where the climax is? The last two chapters of the Bible are describing the house of God. The holy city is the house of God. So gifts and ministries are means to an end. And that end is to bring each Christian to maturity.

The purpose of bringing each Christian to maturity is to make a dwelling place for God. Now, the dwelling place of God. I told you it was going to be a sequence of means and ends. The dwelling place of God becomes a means to another end.

I stumped you on that one. Yes, it's because the Father and Christ want to be able to live among people and love them and bless them. And they can't do it without a house. And that's the purpose of building the house of God.

So it's that I'll just put God, but it's God and Christ. Well, I did put God and Christ. God and Christ dwell among people. Alright, now that now if you turn in your Bible to Revelation 21 Revelation 21 and Revelation 22 describe the dwelling place of God that is constructed by the gifts and ministries.

The New Jerusalem, the Bride, and the Earthly Destiny of the Saints

Speaking in tongues isn't a sign that you're one of them. There's a purpose behind it. If you're looking at Revelation 21 the last two chapters of Revelation tell us where God is going and what the end product of everything is.

Does that make sense to you? That the last two chapters should tell you what all the rest are about. Kind of the climax of the book. Alright, now here you're seeing the house of God in operation. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

And there was no longer any sea. I don't think that means a sea of water. That would be a terrible earth without water. But in Revelation 13 where it says Antichrist comes out of the sea. It doesn't mean he's coming out of the water.

Sea there means the mass of people without Christ. It's just a mass. It's an undifferentiated mass. And in the new world there will be no person who does not have a portion of Christ. Because Ephesians 1 .23 I think says Christ will fill all in all.

So he will be in every person. And I believe that's what it means. There's no more sea. Remember the prophet said the wicked are as the sea. The sea can be blown here and there. By wicked men. And that's what I think God means.

It would be terrible to have no more. In fact if there was no more I'd ask the father to make one because I like seas. I saw the holy city the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. Now what do you think the holy city is?

What do you think it is? What do you think the holy city is? You remember that Ephesians said it relates Christ to the church as husband and wife. Would you believe me if I said the church is the wife of the Lamb?

If I told you the church, the Christian church is the wife of the Lamb would you believe me? Or do we have to research that out? I am familiar with that term the wife of the Lamb the marriage of the Lamb has come.

The church is the wife of the Lamb. Not of the lion by the way but of the Lamb. Because we are married to Christ by eating the Passover Lamb. We are married to Christ by eating Him. He is the Lamb of God.

So the marriage is never the marriage of Christ or the marriage of the lion. It is always the marriage of the Lamb. Never anything else in the scripture. The marriage of the Lamb. Now if you'll notice in verse 9 one of the angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plates came and said to me come I will show you the bride the wife of the Lamb.

I am going to show you the bride. And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high and showed me the holy city Jerusalem. Ok. And also in verse 2 it says I saw the holy city the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride.

So I think you will agree with me that it lays clearly in the scripture that the new Jerusalem is the bride of the Lamb. And we know that the bride of the Lamb is the church. From Ephesians the 5th chapter.

And hardly any Bible student has ever had any problem with that. Ok. That's set easy with you. And God's purposes are all in his church. So we see one amazing thing right there. That our eternal destiny is not heaven.

It is the earth. Exactly. Even during the thousand year kingdom age Jesus is on the earth. And we are with him. So that no time is heaven the eternal home of the saints. Now that understanding is not widespread but it is picking up speed.

Because people are challenging the idea. In fact one brother Martin who is broke as usual. Aren't you? He said to his friend the pastors down in Tijuana I'll give you a thousand dollars if you can show me in the Bible where heaven is the eternal home of the Christians.

And what was that about shoes? I don't believe your shoes. He said and I'll eat your shoes. Well they are beginning they are beginning to believe him. In fact his report now is that he is passing out my books down there to the leaders and they are saying yeah that's right that's right.

They were going to underline all the things that were wrong and they couldn't find anything to underline. So now they are getting more simpatico.

More simpatico.

He told them there is going to be a new earth. It's been in the Bible all the time. It's in the Spanish Bible all the time.

And they just don't underline there is going to be a new earth. One of the biggest traditions.

In Christianity that we are going to have them live forever and it's in the Bible any place. Whatever. Emma Lee.

I have a problem between church and the bride. Only because the church as I understand it are people who definitely believe in Christ but have not really have started making themselves rid of the bride.

Let me give you different terms because.

Any Bible scholar could take the ground out from under you very quickly. Because Jesus said upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Let me give you different terms.

I know what your idea is and it's correct but the terminology you are talking about the difference between religion and Christianity. Our churches today, our Christian churches are filled with religious people but they are not Christians.

They have never taken up their cross and followed Jesus. See in the Bible the word Christian means disciple. And to be a disciple you have to take up your cross and follow Jesus. That's what Jesus said.

And so the distinction is not between the church and the bride. The distinction is because the church, Christian people comprise the church beyond all question. The problem is that in our churches we have multitudes of religious people who have never really contacted Jesus.

They are not serving Jesus. They may have come in, made a profession of faith in the atonement may have spoken in tongues and prophesied. They may minister. They may lead souls to Christ. They may do all these things and they don't know Jesus.

And we see that where the Lord said in that day that you will say to me in my name I cast out devils, I work miracles and I did all these things and he said I never knew you. I never knew you. And yet you have done all this in my name.

So in America we have multitudes of religious people. But if I were to say to them you must take up your cross and follow Jesus. You must commit every decision to him. And forget about choosing your own way.

They would turn me off so fast. Emily would be the greatest backdoor revival in history. They have no intention of making Jesus Lord. They're trying to make Jesus Savior without making him their personal Lord.

And if you don't believe me, go to any church that you know of and ask some of the people, say is Jesus your absolute Lord? Are you really doing his will? And you'll hear all kinds of hedging and fudging, well no one can do his will.

As long as we're in the world we have to sin. And just say well, are you bearing your cross after Jesus? And that's when they'll change the conversation. And until a person comes before God and said Lord Jesus Christ I accept you as my Savior and my Master and from now on my life is yours.

I'm going to die to the world in water of baptism. I'm going to come up in newness of life. I'm going to take up my cross and I'm going to follow you to death. Until that happens you're not a Christian.

You're a religious person. So we have made a religion out of Christianity. Just as the Jews made a religion out of Judaism. But neither Judaism nor Christianity is a religion. People make it a religion.

But it actually is a personal encounter with the living God. And until that personal encounter comes, you're just a religious person. You're not bearing your cross. You're off into the world and into this and that and the world and living life.

No one can tell the difference from the world except that you go to church on Sunday and maybe talk in tongues and sing hymns. That doesn't make a Christian. Making a Christian is when you come to Jesus and lay down your life.

And until you do that you're not a Christian. I know that sounds hard because the standard in America has slipped so badly.

So we have... Otherwise a believer, a Christian, the church and the bride are all the same.

The church and the bride are one and the same. Now there is a first fruits of the church. And this is taught clearly in type and in Revelation 19. There's a first fruits of the church. This is very clear from the type.