Resurrection of the Witness — Robert B. Thompson

Lord, as we come unto you tonight, it is with great thanksgiving and praise, Lord, for your wonderful love and your goodness to us, Lord, as your hand watching over us, we appreciate it, Lord, keeping us in all our ways, keeping us from accidents, Lord, sickness, tragedy.

We thank you, Lord. You brought Lisa and Abby and Grace and Rebecca home safely. I pray your hand will be on Bob Porcelli in Singapore, Lord, just keep your hand on him, Lord. In Jesus' name. Lord, others in the church that may be traveling, Lord, we know people are all excited with their presence tonight, and we just pray your hand of protection on the people.

Thank you, Lord. Work out the problems that are in the homes represented here, Lord, you know what they are, you know your wisdom is needed, your grace, Lord, that we might come through to perfect victory in every respect.

Help us, Lord. And as we continue tonight, Lord, you know the need, you know what needs to be said and perceived, so help us, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, we're going to start and continue where we were in Revelation 11, chapter 11, verse 11.

The Resurrection of the Witness in Revelation 11

Okay, we've been talking about that, Revelation 11 in symbolic language is referring to God's double portion of the Spirit upon Christ and his body in the last days. And in 11 .11, where we finished off Sunday night, this is, as far as I can tell, the coming of the Lord and the resurrection of the saints, and you know, it's after the three and a half days, that is, at the end of the 70th week, for those that are new to us, it's on the past three or four tapes, you can get in the tape room tonight.

But this is the end of this great prophetic week, the latter rain revival has taken place up to the middle of the week, and then the last part of the week is the reign of Antichrist and the tribulation time, terrible time indeed.

And at the end of this now, and the witness has been overcome, we've brought out the scriptures that talk about the overcoming of the Christian witness, driven from the cities of the earth, but God has it so under control, because after this is over, after Antichrist is at his time, people are saying peace and safety, then the breath of life goes back into the witness, and they stood on their feet, and according to my understanding, this witness now will include God's witness of every age, all the way back to Abel, Abel, it's mentioned in Hebrews 11, the righteous Abel, all of God's witnesses will be on their feet.

Now, we see that in, now notice that they stood on their feet, that's very important, that is not emphasized enough in these days, and they talk about the rapture, they forget that the rapture comes after the resurrection, and they're not the same.

The resurrection is portrayed many times in types in the Bible, and it's one of the central acts of redemption, if not the central act of salvation, is the resurrection of our body. The ascension up into the air is not typified, it is not a part of redemption or anything else, it's just a kingdom event, like Jesus walking on the water, it's a kingdom event.

The big issue is the resurrection, and the big issue with you and me, is what we will face when we're resurrected. So the resurrection, see, how many can see that they stood on their feet before they were caught up, see they're two separate things, standing on their feet is the resurrection, that's the important thing.

Resurrection Before the Catching Up of the Saints

Now if you go back to 1 Thessalonians 4, you'll see the same thing, which I think this is describing the same events, my point of view, 1 Thessalonians 4, 16, the voice of the archangel, the loud command, and the dead in Christ will what?

Rise, see that is not talking about rising up into the air, that means to be raised from the dead, like Christ rose on the third day, he didn't ascend on the third day, he rose on the third day, and I think in the rapture teaching that is often not emphasized at all, the idea is we'll be here and all of a sudden boom, blow up, that is not what will take place.

Yes? Isn't it the same language that Jesus used when he healed people, rise and take up your bed and walk? It's possible, I see Tony isn't here yet, our resident Greek scholar, and I've never looked that up, but the Greek word for resurrection is anastasis, that's the word, anastasis, and that has no relation to the catching up of the saints, that's an altogether entirely different word, and see the impression is left when the teaching of the raptures will be like this, and all of a sudden the trumpet will sound, and we'll ascend, if they would just read what it says, first of all, it says that those who sleep in Jesus, that's back up, that's 1 Thessalonians 4, 14, that Jesus died and rose again, we believe that Jesus will, God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him, that's where I get that the witnesses of all ages, all that sleep in Jesus, God will bring with him, well this is a terrific event, man, first of all, these people have to return with the Lord, and then get their bodies back from wherever they're buried and stand on their feet, that's what it says, the dead in Christ will rise, all the dead in Christ, all the true witnesses of God, see Revelation 11 is talking about the witness, it's the witness, there are other parts of Revelation that tell about the coming of the Lord, not just this, but this one is talking about the witness, Revelation 11 is talking about the witness, and God has had witnesses, and Hebrews 11 talks a lot about them, and Hebrews 11 begins with Abel, and then it goes on with Noah, and then it talks about Abraham and Moses, and all of God's witnesses, and then at the end of Hebrews 11, it says, they without us shall not be made perfect, speaking of the resurrection, that's where we're made perfect, when finally we receive the body that we'll have for eternity, and so Hebrews 11, the last verse says, they without us, we better look at that, so you've got to hold your thumb in Revelation 11, and your big toe in 1 Thessalonians 4, and turn to Hebrews 11, now notice what it says, they, speaking of all the people, going back to Abel, they without us cannot be made perfect, speaking of the resurrection, that's when we're made perfect, is in the resurrection, when we're completed, you are called the son of God three times, when you're born of a woman, when you're born again of the spirit, and when you're raised from the dead, see Jesus was called the son of God when he was born of Mary, that holy thing that was born of Mary, he was called the son of God when the Holy Spirit came upon him, and then again, Romans 1 says he's declared to be the son of God by the resurrection, and Paul says that we will be adopted as sons when our body has changed, so you have to be called the son of God three times, when you're born of, as Jesus said, of the water, that is of the flesh, referring to the bag of waters, when you're born of the water, then when you're born of the spirit, that's when you're born again, and then when you're born of the resurrection, those three times you have to be born to finally be made perfect as the son of God, so they, all these people of Hebrews 11, beginning with Abel, cannot be made perfect until they get their bodies back, but those who sleep in Jesus will God bring one in, but now notice, remember that these writers did not write in chapters, so as you proceed, he says therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, witnesses, all these people of Hebrews 11 are witnesses, Tony we had a question in the Greek and you weren't here to answer it, you're here now, well Andrew wanted to know, we're talking about the Greek word for resurrection, rise, and Andrew wanted to know if that's the same word where Jesus said to people, rise up and walk, he wanted to know if that was the same word in the Greek, rise, the dead in Christ shall rise is the same word as rise up and walk, so I don't expect you to just, it isn't, there's a resident Greek scholar has spoken, right, but one is stand up from a sick person and the other is stand up from the dead, and Anastasis is resurrection, we don't ordinarily use the word resurrection to mean rise, but we do sometimes, they'll say this factory was resurrected meaning it was brought back to life, but ordinarily we restrict the use of the term to coming back from the dead and standing on your feet, referring to that which was supine and then was raised up till it was erect from the dead, uh, so that's probably, that may be, it would take an expert in the Greek language, I mean someone that really was acquainted with the corny Greek and had gone into the lexical background to be sure, yes, both of them to erect, but it sounds like one is talking about, what was the first thing you said, that, that's not Anastasis is it, no, that's the other one, yeah, yeah, so anyway, but you could pursue that, that would be interesting to pursue that, you could write a master's in theology on that, yes, okay, that's, that's, that's not Anastasis, that's not Anastasis, that's the other one, all right, well there you go, and I'll tell you what you can use, do you have a Vines, Vines, New Testament words, that Vines would show you, not as well as Vines, Vines will go into the usage, the Greek lexicon will work in this way, if you look up in the Greek lexicon Anastasis, it will show you every time it's used in the Greek New Testament, and you can derive from the context how it was used in that day, then you can, the other word that Tony used, you can look that up in the lexicon and see how that is used, and it's very interesting, I've done that, for example, with parousia, which is usually translated coming of the Lord, but it can also be used where Paul said he felt better because of the parousia of Titus, so we see that the word means more presence than it does coming from a long distance, and so you can really get a lot of information by seeing how it's used in the New Testament, and that's what a Greek lexicon will do, it will show you every time Anastasis is used, then every time that other word is used, and then from the context, you can tell how the writers used those terms, yes, that's a very fruitful pursuit, and Vines is very good on that too.

The Witnesses of All Ages Made Perfect

Alright, now notice that the witnesses are all these people from the time of Abel, because this is referring back to the beginning of chapter 11, so all the people mentioned in chapter 11, the heroes of faith, including Rahab, and all the others, are witnesses, and they are surrounding us, but they're in the spirit realm, so the witness on earth will be overcome by Antichrist, at God's discretion and under his supervision, but when the Lord comes, all the witnesses of all ages will be made perfect, and rise up to meet the Lord, and that's a very unfortunate omission in the rapture teaching, because it just leaves the impression that we who are alive will suddenly go up, you know, like a Roman candle, and we're off, a great surprise, and many teach that we'll be invisible, so there will be no testimony to the world, no witness, because we just turn invisible, and then all the cars start crashing into each other, and all this other mythology, whereas if they would read it, the big event, I mean, 1 Thessalonians 4 is not talking about the going of the saints, it's talking about the coming of the saints to comfort the living saints by the reappearing of their deceased loved ones, so it's the emphasis, it includes the catching up, but the emphasis is on the return of the Lord with his saints, so it's preached 180 degrees out in these days, the big event is the awakening of the witness of all ages, that's the big event, and notice the characteristics, which makes me think it's the same as Revelation 11, is that you've got, they're caught up in the clouds, you've got the clouds, you've got the loud voice, you've got the trumpet, you've got the whole nine yards, and as far as I can see, this in Revelation 11, I'm talking about the same event, I don't see why not, and also, because 1 Thessalonians 4 is talking about the time when the Lord returns and establishes his kingdom, and that's exactly what Revelation 11, when you proceed on, is talking about the Lord and the establishing of his kingdom, and the last trumpet, so anyway, do with that as you will, but that's the way, when you teach, you can teach your version.

Alright, now, they stood on their feet, that's the main thing, not that, this is the destroying of the last enemy, where does it talk about the last enemy? 1 Corinthians 15, and what does it say? The last enemy is what?

Death, so this is the big event, this is the climax of the Christian redemption, right here, where they stood on their feet, that's the climax of the Christian redemption, where they go after that is just an act of kingdom power, but how many can see that if this is what happens, and it is from 1 Thessalonians 4, that the purpose of the catching up is not for these people to escape Antichrist and the great tribulation, why not?

Why is the catching up of the saints not an escape from Antichrist and the great tribulation? Larry? Because the resurrection proves that they have already overcome the very things that Antichrist has authority over, so they are no longer susceptible to anything he can do there is nothing he can do to them, in fact, the wicked will be terrified, see it is preached today that the wicked will be there to get us and we will be caught out, well after your resurrection it is the wicked who will be frightened, and what a crazy doctrine, it is really upside down, alright, then they heard a loud voice from heaven, which fits 1 Thessalonians 4, they never whisper up there, they are always yelling, and that's where I get it, then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, come up here, what a word, come up here, and they went up to heaven in a cloud, which is what 1 Thessalonians 4 says, they were caught up in a cloud, now Tony you were not here when I discussed this, but the Greek construction, I went into this a lot Sunday night, in verse 12, where it says they went up to heaven in a cloud, you can't tell whether it is up into the sky or the heaven, it is the same construction, it is literally into the Uranus, so it is dealer's choice whether you want to consider it to be heaven heaven or the sky, because the Greek makes no difference, the translator just takes his choice, he decides whether he wants to call it heaven or sky, same way with Revelation 21, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, well some of the translations say I saw a new sky and a new earth, because the Greek can go either way, and since 1 Thessalonians 4 talks about them being caught up into the air, I would say a better rendition would be, they went up into the sky in a cloud, and then I talked about that, if you were here Sunday night, remember we went back to Acts 1, and how Jesus was caught up into the sky, they watched him go into the sky, and then it says, and then they watched Jesus go into heaven, and it is the exact same word, the translator just thought that in one case it meant sky, and in another case it meant heaven, but the King James, where the NIV says sky, says heaven, so it is completely arbitrary, so there would be no case, see their enemies looked on, which means they went up into the air, you may be interested to remember that in Genesis 1, the same was true of the Hebrew, in Genesis 1 it says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and then it says he called up heaven, he called the firmament heaven, and then he put the stars and everything in the firmament, or in the heaven, so we know it is not talking about the spirit heaven where God is, in Genesis 1, so the same is true of the Hebrew, the word for heaven means both the heaven of heavens where God is, the spirit heaven, and the physical heaven, in the Hebrew and in the Greek is the same word, and there is probably a good reason for that, it probably is because the spirit heaven is part of the physical heaven, but it is just invisible, because it says Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, well if a Chinaman lifted up his eyes to heaven, he would be lifting up his eyes in an opposite direction, so evidently it is just referring to all of space and heaven is there, and in fact Isaiah talks about the time when the veil will be removed, so we will be able to see like Stephen did, we will be able to see God and Jesus at his right hand, which tells us they are not way out beyond the Milky Way Galaxy, because how could Stephen have seen them, the heaven is part of Stephen's heart, there they are, Jesus, God, and all the witnesses, and everybody else, but alright, one time, and I have told this several times, and Stan probably cannot bear to hear it one more time, but one time when I was young people's leader in the assembly of God in Chula Vista, I took a burn on one of the leaders, oh he did something I didn't like, did you ever take a burn, and I was mad about it, well I knew I couldn't live with that, so I was down praying about it, and I said Lord I forgive him, and the minute I said that, my eyes were opened, and the Lord gave me the scripture, you are come unto Mount Zion, and there it was all around me, just briefly, but there it was all around me, so I realized that heaven, the spirit heaven, is not far away, it is not contiguous, that is you could travel forever in a spaceship, and you would never come to it, because it is all around us, so you are come unto Mount Zion, not you will come unto Mount Zion, you are come unto Mount Zion, and you remember that Elijah, I think it was, Larry can correct me, he is an expert on Elijah, and Elisha, it was Elisha, said to the young man, the Lord opened his eyes, and the hills were filled with chariots of fire around Elisha, how many remember that, there are more with us than there are with them, but we can't see them, but we are surrounded, we are surrounded with all these witnesses, are they in God's heaven of heaven, yes, but we are surrounded with them, so some day your eyes will be opened, and you will find out you have been in a mission impossible all the time, you are in a fabricated environment to test you, to see what you will do, and all the while, and then when the show is over, and you are right in the middle of everybody watching you all the time, that's the truth now, so be careful what you do, because you are in a mission impossible, it's made to look like some dreadful thing is going to happen to you, you know, how many live in fear and dread, well anyway, we are in fear, dread, and apprehension most of the time, but this is because the environment was fabricated, and all we have to go by is God's word, and God says, what are you worried about, I'm here, I'm taking care, you know, I can't see you, well, don't worry about it, I'm here, I'm just fabricating this environment to see what you are going to do, but the truth is, God's word is more real and more substantial than our environment, because our environment was made by his word, yes, yes, it is virtual reality, and any scientist can tell you that, it's only an illusion that is interpreted by your brain, see, you don't really see anything, what happens is, light bounces off something, it impacts on your retina, it goes back along the optic nerve, and then it goes into your brain, if you had no brain, you wouldn't see anything, because all that's hitting your brain is electrical charges, that's all that's hitting your brain, no pictures hitting your brain, just electrical charges, and your brain translates that into a picture based on your perception, see, based on your background, you'll see things different, all people see things different, you know, like a carpenter would come in here, he'd see things we'd never see, because he knows how the building was built, so perception enters in, so the whole thing is an illusion, it's all an illusion, it's all a form of energy, is what it is, yes?

I've noticed this in my earlier story, that Isaiah looked different when I looked at him in the mirror than he did when I just looked at him, so I came to the conclusion that I don't know what I really look like.

Yeah, none of us know what anybody looks like, someone said, I don't know how true it is, Mark Overton is a physicist, he can correct me, but they said if all of the space was taken out of us, we'd be about the size of a postage stamp, so what we are is mostly space, and we would weigh the same if we were the size of a postage stamp, we weigh just the same, because it's mass that we're dealing with there, so the whole thing is an illusion, so don't get too stuck on yourself, it's a fabricated environment to see what you're going to do as far as your opinion of God's character, it's all a test of our assessment of God's character, that's what faith is, it's your assessment of God's character, do you really feel that he's that faithful, do you really feel that he's that powerful, do you really feel he's seeking your good, and that's what faith is, it's your assessment of God's character, and seeing him really doesn't change that, because the fallen angels could see him, but that didn't give them faith, faith is something that is born within you by the word of God, and then you make a judgment on God's character, and that's what saves you, that's what saves you, you're saved by faith and you live by faith, but you're in a fabricated environment, and don't forget that, because just picture yourself, you're in a mission impossible, you say this is not real, this is not real, the only thing that's real is God's word, that's all that really matters, and that's a test of our faith, isn't it?

The Witness as a Public Revelation

Alright, so they went up to, and I'm going to say into the sky, because that's what 1 Thessalonians 4 says, into the air, now the air is a different word, that's Eros in Greek, yes? The right around us watching us all the time, and you're foolish if you think that you can say something that won't be heard, whatever is spoken in secret will be proclaimed on the housetops, whatever is spoken in secret will be proclaimed on the housetops, yes?

Yeah, it was written up for those who feared the Lord, a book of remembrance was written up for those that thought on his name, exactly, so it's in the book, it's on television, internet, and everything else, alright, notice that their enemies looked on, how many see that at the end of that verse 12, their enemies looked on, how many see that?

Alright, that's what God, when God showed me this thing in a vision, I told you, down in the basement of the Freemont Assembly of God, God showed me this in a vision, showed me the meaning of the dead bodies, you know, it's really Christian institutions without the life of God in them, and he showed, and when they began to go up, and now they didn't just go pow, and they didn't disappear, because this is a witness, this is something for the wicked to see, this is the greatest witness the world will ever get, is Christ calling up his saints, and they went up slowly, first they had a long time of fellowship, remember it was 40 days before Jesus ascended, and we may have 10 times that, or we may have exactly 40 days, but the thing was, that was such a marvelous hour, that God wanted his people to savor it, and just raise them up, and now you're up here, and now you're down there riding on the white horses, and before you have time to think of anything, I mean the first thing, people have to get, in fact I've read the visions of people who have died, and near death experiences, and so on, and they say when a person dies, if they die suddenly in a car accident, that when they awaken in the spirit realm, they don't know where they are, they have to get oriented to it, and you remember if you've read Return from Tomorrow by Dr. Ritchie, if you've never read that, you should read it, that's a marvelous, marvelous story of after death experience by a psychiatrist, yes?

The title is Return from Tomorrow, the author is Dr. Ritchie, and that's enough, they can bring it up on the on the microfiche in a Bible bookstore, that should give you enough to bring it up, it's probably still in print, he died, Dr. Ritchie was not a doctor at that time, he was a young man in the army, he was in Texas, and they had a bad cold, the wave went through, and the officers didn't use good judgment with the men, and first thing you know, they had thousands of men, it was a huge camp, I think it was World War II, I think so, it was World War II, is that right Stan?

And he caught, the men were coming down with influenza by the thousands, literally, and he got double lumbar pneumonia, and he died from it, and he was dead, I guess, for about eight minutes, but during that time he had a tremendous adventure with the Lord, and the thing was, he didn't know, he was late, he was supposed to go to medical school, he got in the army medical school program, and he got sick, and everybody was trying, the nurses and everybody was trying to help him to get better, so he could make his train, he had a train he had to catch to get back to medical school, so he was like this, you know, but he couldn't shake this fever, so he fell asleep when he woke up, it was all blood and everything, and then finally he woke up, he died, but he didn't realize it, and in his mind was this, I've got to, I'm getting on the train, so all of a sudden he's on his feet, and the only thing he can think of is, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late, and he didn't realize it, but he was not in his body, he was rushing around the place, and he ran out to grab the corpsman, and he couldn't get the corpsman to look at him, in fact he passed right through him, but he was in such a mental state, because it meant so much to him to go to medical school, that it was quite a long while before he recognized that he was dead, in fact he went up and traveled a long way to different places, which after he was revived, years later, he drove back, and there was all those places that he had seen, so he knew he was really there, and he couldn't understand what was wrong with him, and it finally dawned on him that he was not in his body, after several weird experiences, like trying to lean on a lamppost, and his hand went right through it, well, so then when that happened, he decided, I've got to get back there and get my body turned back, you know, across the country, to get his body, when he got there, there was all these, I don't know if you've ever, all of you have been in the military, you know, that when they set up a camp, they're all identical, so there was all these identical quasits, or whatever they were, and he got there, didn't know which one it was, that's how he's racing around from room to room to room, and looking at all the people that were, he didn't know whether they covered him with a sheet, or what was wrong, and he had a terrible time trying to find his body, and he finally did find his body, and he was able to get back into his body, and actually he was, what was happening on the outside was that a corpsman came in, and I don't know whether the corpsman did it, or a doctor, I think it was a corpsman, and he took a hypodermic needle, with some kind of a drug in it, and put it directly into his heart, and his heart started beating, and in the spirit realm, he was finally found his body, and they came together, and he came back to life, but he had been dead for about eight minutes, and so he wrote this book, Return from Tomorrow, and told the whole story of it, but I was just saying that, that when, that is why there has to be a period of time after people are raised, before they're caught up into the air, because, and worse even for the people that are being changed while they're on, while those who are living, will have to sustain this change from flesh, from blood metabolism, to spirit metabolism, while they're standing on their feet, and so this, God isn't going to rush this thing, this will take time, and, and the, yes?

Do you suppose that change in the twinkling of an eye, is God's twinkling of an eye, instead of ours? No, I think the change will, the change will happen pretty quick, I, because it says the twinkling of an eye, and we shall be changed, but it's our orientation to a new form of life, and see, I mean, Dr. Ritchie went halfway across the country, didn't even realize he was dead, which shows that just coming back to life doesn't mean, oh yeah, you know, I'm back to life, I mean, you have to say, where am I, you know?

Huh? Yeah, because so many people have been dead for thousands of years, where am I? You know, I'm finally back on the earth, well, this is what God promised, and Christ kept his word, and here I am, and who are all these people?

And another thing that you want to be careful to look for, when you're raised from the dead, is what you're seeing, if you see all these people in shining robes and everything, all around you, you've made but if what you see, if there's no earth, and that's gone, and there's a huge white throne, that doesn't mean that you're going to go into the lake of fire, but it does mean that you're going to stand before that throne and be judged, whereas if you can make the first one, there's no judgment, so you're judged during your lifetime, so that's what I say, it's well worth your diligent attention, to do like Paul says, to attain the ex-anastasis, the out-resurrection, by the way, in Philippians 3 .11, where he says, if by any means I may attain the resurrection, that's anastasis, with a preposition ek in front of it, it's the only time it's used in the New Testament, so Paul is saying, if by any means I may attain the out-resurrection, from the dead, not the resurrection of the dead, but the resurrection out from, that's a proper translation of ex-anastasis, the resurrection out from the dead, or the first resurrection, the one that will occur at the beginning of the thousand year period, so if when you come to, into your body, and there's no earth, and you're just standing there suspended in the hand of God in front of a great white throne, you know you've missed the first resurrection, and the next item on the agenda is the judgment of you according to what's written in the books.

Judgment, Death to Sin, and the First Resurrection

Evangelical teaching is that everyone will be lost at that resurrection. That is not solid scripture at all. Not solid at all. In fact, it's not what it says in Revelation chapter 20. So, the problem with that is, I don't know how many of you have ever been in court, waiting for a sentence, but if you have, I'm here to tell you, the only thing that you think of is the maximum.

I mean, because all you want to know is what can possibly happen. You don't think of, well, maybe I'll get awed. If you're a conscientious, intense person, all you're wondering is the max. The max. And the max on this one is eternal separation from God in the lake that burns with fire and silver.

And so, you will be scared spitless until you're judged and hear how God regards you. So, it's well worth it to make the first resurrection. And making the first resurrection means that now God has begun, as Peter said, the time has come, the judgment must begin.

God is already judging people. In order to be judged, in order to be judged now, see, it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment. So, in order to begin the process of judgment now in this world, you have to reckon yourself dead and mean it.

I mean, you have, because when you reckon yourself dead and alive unto God, God regards that as a genuine death. And he'll work that out in your life as a genuine death. That's why I tell you, it's so important for a Christian, and the shame is that when people are baptized in water, that the minister does not say to them, this means that you are dying.

This means that you are dying to the world, to your demi-nature. I say, they don't know that. They get baptized and think, this just means I'm going to be saved. It means that you're baptized and it was death.

And so, God will test you to see if you really mean business. And if you keep clean your life, the judgment will not begin because it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment. So, before God can begin to deal and judge that body of sin that's in you, then the whole thing has to die.

The reason we have to die is so that God can get at the body of sin. That's where Romans 6 says. In other words, God totals the thing so he can get at that body of sin that's in us. But God can't get in that thing and judge that thing until first your Adamic nature is dead.

There's a difference between your Adamic nature and the body of sin, you understand. Your Adamic nature is not thoroughly bad, but God is not going to save any part of it because he's after the body of sin that's in there.

So, it just says, shine the Adamic nature because I don't want to fool with it. I'm going to get rid of the body of sin and give you a new body and a new nature. I'm going to make it new. I'm going to make all things new.

I'm not going to fool with the old one. I'm not going to save what you are. I'm born again and come forth as a new creation in Christ. Okay, does that make sense to you? Well, until you are willing to reckon yourself dead, that can't start because you're going to keep getting off the altar.

You're going to keep trying to save your life. And that means you're not, when you wake up, you're going to be facing the white throne because at some point, God has to deal with the sin in your life.

And if you don't let him do it now, then it'll have to be done later because sin will not be allowed in God's kingdom. It will not be allowed in the kingdom. There's no sin in the kingdom. So, you make the decision.

Now, I make the decision. I either face the music now, I'm going to face it later. When God begins to deal with lust and worldliness and pride and self-will and lying and stealing and profanity and hatred and jealousy and envy and rage and all the other stuff, boy, I want it out now.

I don't because we're going to face it. At some point, we're going to face it. You can put it off. You can put it off and pray you'll go to heaven by grace. You can follow the old mythology all you want to.

But I'm here to tell you, the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5 .10, we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body, whether good or bad. And when that takes place, to a certain extent, it's up to you and me.

We can go through it now. Pay now or pay later. And that's a horrible feeling to be raised. And try not, you've missed the thousand year period. You've missed the first resurrection. And now we're going to be judged according to what's written in the books.

And you have no guarantee how God's going to view that. And Christ has absolute power of life and death. In fact, on the great white throne will be not only Jesus Christ, but all the saints who were raised in the first resurrection, because it's given to them to judge the world.

Now they have to be judged at some point. And only Christ will decide who's raised in the first resurrection. But I'll tell you what we have to go by. And that's Revelation chapter 2 and 3. See, that's Revelation 2 and 3.

And you can stand on the Bible like a law book. I mean, God will honor that word. So there's no guesswork. And the Bible says, if you overcome, you will eat of the tree of life, and you will have the crown of righteousness, and you'll sit on the throne and so on.

All right. So then the issue comes down to, is overcoming something you do right now, or is overcoming a standard that you finally attain? I finally have overcome, and the second death has no authority over me.

The truth is that overcoming is a status now. It's not a goal that you reach in the future. When you die, you are in a state of overcoming. You can hold God to his promises. And then we say, well, what about the rest of the sin in me?