 A
KINGDOM SALVATION
From a casual look at the visible church it should be abundantly
clear that the church should redefine what salvation is from the viewpoint of the
scripture. The scripture assumes that conversion must be from the world to the Kingdom of
God. From the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of light. From the kingdom of Satan to
the Kingdom of God's dear Son. The scripture indicates that " CONVERSION" is a
life changing experience where old things pass away and all things become new. Conversion
includes a death, burial and a resurrection into a whole new life. Kingdom salvation
should lift us up and seat us with Christ in heavenly places. Conversion involves a whole
different perspective of our relationship with earth. From the heavenly viewpoint it
should be clear that our citizenship is in heaven and we are strangers and visitors here
on earth. The scripture speaks about forsaking all to follow Jesus. It speaks about
suffering for the gospel and laying down our life for Christ. That he who saves his life
will lose it. Unless you take up your cross daily and follow Me, you can't be My disciple.
All who will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Today this message seems
like the rambling of some fanatic who is out of touch with the modern gospel. The reason
is because the modern church has washed out and watered down the gospel. This has caused
it to lose the power of true gospel salvation. This error has produced some kind of
modified salvation where you can now accept Jesus as a personal savior. This modified
salvation is outside the government of the Kingdom of heaven and is justified by a
doctrine of grace that demands no obedience. The key phrase is " Only believe, do
nothing". According to this powerless gospel, you can accept Jesus as "personal
savior" like He should count Himself lucky that you have accepted Him. In the gospel
of the Kingdom the problem is not have you accepted Him but has He accepted you. Have you
put yourself on Kingdom ground so HE CAN ACCEPT YOU? There may be many in the church who
have accepted Jesus but He has not accepted them. In His Kingdom it is really His choice
whom He accepts. MAT 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the
kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. MAT 7:22
"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and
in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' MAT 7:23 "And
then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice
lawlessness.' This foreign gospel says " If you just say "yes" to Jesus He
has to accept you". Just like you are! No cross. No self denial. No repentance. No
total commitment. No obedience. No fleeing from sin. No fleeing from the world and all
that is in it. No personal sacrifice. This foreign gospel preaches phrases like "
Just come to Jesus. Say these words after me. Just walk to the altar, that is all that is
required. Just confess that Jesus is Lord and God has raised Him from the dead and you are
in the Kingdom". ACT 14:22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them
to continue in the faith, and {saying,} "Through many tribulations we must enter the
kingdom of God." MAT 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter
the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Much more
is promised than can be delivered. LUK 13:23 And someone said to Him, "Lord, are
there {just} a few who are being saved?" And He said to them, LUK 13:24 "Strive
to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be
able. All this is set in the context of the Kingdom of God. The verses that follow are a
severe warning to those who think they are right and yet are cast out of the Kingdom. LUK
13:26 "Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught
in our streets'; LUK 13:27 and He will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you are from;
depart from Me, all you evildoers.' LUK 13:28 "There will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth there when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom
of God, but yourselves being cast out. MAT 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples of
all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
LUK 14:27 "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My
disciple. LUK 14:33 "So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give
up all his own possessions. Most just don't feel led to make disciples even though the
word is clear. But , Lord, we love you! If you love me, keep my commandments. Why then has
the church been too busy to make disciples? Because she has been too busy to become
disciples. The harvest is truly ripe but the laborers are too few because those who were
called have been too busy with their own activities to show up at the field. These same
ones will be too busy to attend the wedding feast and substitutes will be brought in so
the table is full. Disciples make disciples. Believers make believers. The lukewarm make
lukewarm. The cheap gospel makes cheap converts. Cheap converts will not pay the price to
become disciples. EPH 5:5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure
person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ
and God. EPH 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the
wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 1CO 6:9 Or do you not know that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 1CO 6:10 nor thieves, nor
{the} covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of
God. The foreign gospel of cheap grace says " Don't worry about changing your
lifestyle. You are saved by grace. These scriptures only have to do with rewards in the
Kingdom. The fact is these are the very ones who are cast out of the Kingdom. Backslidden
Christians don't go to backslider's heaven. Unrighteous Christians don't go to unrighteous
heaven. Some will ask, didn't Jesus die for sinners? Yes, He did. 2CO 5:15 and He died for
all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and
rose again on their behalf. The cheap gospel says, You were bought with a price but you
are still your own. Just believe. Jesus loves you just like you are. Jesus did it all and
nothing is expected of you, because of God's grace. Just enjoy your salvation. If you just
believe you will not have to stand before the judgement seat of Christ and answer for what
you did while in the body. HEB 12:14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification
without which no one will see the Lord. The cheap gospel says this does not mean those who
believe. Only unbelievers. The cheap gospel says discipleship is optional and the cross
only has to do with rewards. But is there a single scripture that says that? The gospel of
the Kingdom says " Whoever saves his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for
my sake shall find it". This is not speaking about rewards but about LIFE. In the
Kingdom if you are not standing firmly with Jesus you are against Him. If you are not
gathering with Him, you are scattering. Preaching Col 3:1-4 as the Kingdom experience
without living in verses 5-10 is a deception. If our goal is to build a big assembly of
lukewarm believers, the gospel of the Kingdom will not be an asset but a liability. Unless
a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it won't bring forth a harvest is not a good
message for the casual hearer. Fruit bearing involves cross bearing seems like a radical
doctrine to those who are just trying to escape hell. We need to be careful about this
question. Is the gospel of the Kingdom just a message of rewards or is it our means of
escaping hell and outer darkness? If we misinterpret the Kingdom it may have eternal
consequences. All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. The lack of
persecution should reveal something about our lives. JOH 15:18 "If the world hates
you, you know that it has hated Me before {it hated} you. JOH 15:19 "If you were of
the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose
you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. If the world can accept us like we
are, we need to ask ourselves, CAN JESUS ACCEPT US? If we just preach a foreign, washed
out, watered down gospel the world doesn't get upset. In many places, the goal is to
devise a message that will appeal to a fallen world so they can accept it. Some churches
are consulting Madison Ave. firms to get the unsaved's viewpoint of how to appeal to the
unsaved. They are asking the unsaved to set the agenda for the church. The big mail order
ministries are hiring marketing psychologists to devise a plan that will entice the
ignorant to give to their ministries. They are smart enough not to preach the gospel of
the Kingdom by mail because no money comes in. They have to preach" the gospel of the
give aways". The gospel of" the bargains". The 1/2 price sale. The two for
one return. ( the really bold preach " The 100 fold return"). The clear fact of
scripture is this: The Kingdom is not presented as cheap or as easy to enter. Jesus never
hid the cost of the Kingdom or the cost of discipleship in some Madison Ave. hype. If they
called Me a devil, they will also call you devils. If they hated Me they will hate you.
Beware when men speak well of you. But unless God draws us and gives a vision of what the
kingdom really is, who will bother to pay the price. Who wants to suffer for nothing.
Paul's revelation of the third heaven gave him the strength to suffer so many things
without being discouraged. The ministry today seems to be trying to encourage those who
are not even suffering. They just remember the leeks and the garlics. Holding out crowns,
that will be cast at Jesus feet anyway, is not a good incentive. Receiving a white stone
or the morning star appears to be too little reward for the price they cost. Only the
revelation of the real Kingdom is sufficient to cast aside everything and press our way
into the Kingdom. If our hearts are not turned fully toward God and His purpose, He is
under no obligation to give us revelation. " Lord, show me the Kingdom and then I'll
decide if it is worth the cost" is rejected by God. God is not bringing the lukewarm
into the Kingdom where they will become a big problem. There is no lukewarm Kingdom. There
is no hypocrite heaven for "saved" hypocrites. The Kingdom is reserved
exclusively for Kingdom converts who have become Kingdom people. To you it is given to
know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven. To them it is not given. Is God a respecter
of persons? Yes!
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