Are You Ready?
By Herbert W Armstrong
Feast of Tabernacles - St. Petersburg, Florida USA - 15 October 1981
I want to read to you something I hadn't intended to use. This is my mother's favorite text in the Bible. (She died at age 95 and a half. I'll be up to matching her pretty soon. I'm in my ninetieth year now.) The 133rd Psalm -- Behold, how good and how pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity! The last time I was here was three years ago. At that time, this Church was not dwelling together in unity; but God has been putting us back on the track. In many ways, He has been using me to help do that. That is, He has been doing it through me to a great extent.
But, let me tell you, you saw some of the coming generation up here on the stage. I wasn't able to count them. I'm sure none of you could count them, there were so many; but there must have been over two hundred. We've had choruses of two hundred both in Pasadena and in Bricket Wood in England, the college campuses; I know there weren't that many as we had here today. The children are not only a heritage from the Lord; but the children of baptized members of God's Church, in whom the Holy Spirit of God dwells, are sanctified or set apart in a way that the children of other parents in the world are not. I wonder if you knew that?
If you will study again in the seventh chapter of I Corinthians, you will find that there -- where it speaks about parents who have a mate that does not believe -- that the children are sanctified in either one parent, if one parent believes. That is, they are set apart in a way that other children are not.
Now, God shut off the Holy Spirit in the days of Adam. He closed up the Holy Spirit from the world, and it was closed up until the time of the Second Adam. I'll have a little something to say about that this morning. But the Holy Spirit was opened up to the people of God through Christ in the Church when He said, "I will build My church." But everybody in the world has not been called into the Church, only those that were predestinated to be called. And, brethren, I wonder if you realize (that of all of the millions and four billions of people in this world) that the few of us -- and we are just a tiny small few compared to all of the people in the world ... God looked down on all these people and picked out you, you, you, and you, and you, and me, and all of us. He chose us.
Jesus said, "No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me, draw him." God has drawn every one of you. He chose you, or you wouldn't be here (if, indeed, the Holy Spirit is dwelling in you, as we would assume is true). But we're children. And remember this: many parents today are neglecting their children, especially during the first six years of their lives until they're old enough to go to school. Send them off and let the teachers begin to teach them. But, let me tell you, SATAN IS NOT NEGLECTING YOUR CHILDREN! He goes to work on them when they're, well, a few days old. By the time they are seven, eight, nine months old, they already have been infused with the spirit of selfishness. Put two little babies, about nine months old, down on a carpet together and one toy; and watch them fight for it.
Satan isn't neglecting your children, are you? Too many of you neglect your little children. You think you don't need to teach them anything. But Satan is getting into their little minds as fast as their minds develop; and he got, indeed, into all of your minds and mine as we were developing. We've had a hard time, and it has taken a long time for us to repent of that, and to come back and to begin to get a lot of what Satan has injected into us out of us -- and let God's Spirit inject a lot of the love of God and the peace of God into us.
PEACE WILL COME
Now we were hearing about peace and about President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, who did die a man of peace. I had quite a conversation with President Sadat less than a year ago, just last November. I told him that I respected and admired him for what he was doing for world peace. I also told him he would not be able to bring us peace, but I told him peace would come. I said to him, "The One that we call 'God' and you call 'Allah' is going to intervene in world affairs, and -- in spite of this world, and all of its troubles, and all of its war makers -- is going to intervene and bring this whole world peace."
I sent a telegram to his widow (whom I knew, and who would entertain me and talk with me for several minutes while I was waiting for the President to come in to a certain room in the Giza Palace in Cairo last November) that her husband had risked his life for peace and, indeed, had finally been required to give his life for peace. But, as I had assured him, I can't say that his life was not in vain because his efforts were not going to bring peace. He didn't have that kind of ability.
But there was a man who did not know God really (He knew God as Allah, but he didn't know Him really.) that was doing what he did know and was risking his life to have peace. And, you know, I hope that someday I will meet Anwar Sadat again, and be able to carry that conversation on, and bring him into the Kingdom of God in the Great White Throne Judgment. We'll be hearing about that next Tuesday, and I hope you will hear the message that I hope to bring at that time.
I'm sorry that in the marvelous facilities that God has made possible for us, that I guess now -- the day before yesterday (I get mixed up. Time goes by so rapidly with these days.) -- that you didn't get the video or the picture portion that was coming from Pasadena until after all of the preliminary events were over. I'm so sorry that you didn't get to see that part of "The Hallelujah Chorus" just before the sermon. But those of you who were here last night, I believe you did see it last night. It should have been at the climax of the Young Ambassadors' film last night. You would have seen that. You did hear the music apparently. But it's remarkable -- the technological facilities that have been made possible and that God can use in getting His message, His gospel, OF HIS KINGDOM, OF HIS GOVERNMENT, to all the world today.
Now there is going to be another film during this Festival that I want you all to see if possible; and that is ... It's a sort of ... Well, it's a film pictorially showing you just what this whole Work is, and comparing it to the Work of the early apostles in the first century; and how the facilities that are made possible for us today (technological and scientific facilities) are enabling us to do so much more today than Peter and the original twelve, and Paul and the other apostles that went with him after the original twelve had apparently been sent over the Western Europe and to Britain -- because you don't read anymore about them after you get just a portion of the way, about a third of the way, through the book of Acts. From there on, you read only about the travels and the Work of the apostle Paul to the Gentiles. But they had gone to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and the world doesn't seem to know that.
FORETASTE OF THE FUTURE
Well, brethren, we are here enjoying a foretaste of the World Tomorrow -- the Kingdom of God -- when God does intervene in this world's affairs, and when He does bring us peace; and there will be no more war. They'll be beating their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; and they won't learn war anymore. Today they learn war. We have our academies (or our colleges, you might say) of the Army, of the Navy, of the Air Force, and so on, where they are taught war and how to fight. Thank God, those days are going to be over soon!
But this morning I want to ask you: What are you going to be doing then? What are you going to be doing, say, a hundred years from now? Fifty years from now? Because, if you have God's Holy Spirit in you (whether you're still living at the time of the Second Coming of Christ, or whether you have died between now and then), you ... If you die, you'll be resurrected immortal. If you are living, you'll be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye; you won't have a heart pumping blood in you any longer. You won't have to breathe air to live. You won't be composed of matter from the ground any longer. You will have SELF-CONTAINING LIFE. None of us has that now. We only have a temporary existence.
We are only here for a little while, and most people on the face of this earth don't know why they're here. They don't know what life is. They don't know what man is, and they don't why man is, and how he came to be here on the face of this earth. They just don't know those things. But God has revealed them to us -- if we see them, if we understand His Word. God has made that Word clear and plain to those of us that He has called to lead and to teach in His Work.
But this world does not know those things. This world has gone the way of Adam, and this world is a world of Satan. It is led by Satan.
Satan works on the minds of every little child from the day it's born, and Satan gets in a lot of work in the mind of every child during its first year of life. We have come up among that kind of a world. In fact, Satan got to our lives too, and to our minds -- every one of us, when we were little. I hope we have gotten a lot of that out by now. That's quite a process to get that out and to get the truth of God, and the Spirit of God, and the Way of God into our minds.
THE WRONG WAY
But this is Satan's world; and Satan has his religions, and he has his churches. Of all of the religions on the face of this earth, do you know that NOT ONE KNOWS WHO AND WHAT GOD IS? Not one! Do you think the Christian religion knows who and what God is? Most of them think God is a trinity, and limited to a trinity. They don't know that God is a Family, and that you and I will be part of that Family someday -- all of us who do overcome, who are led by His Holy Spirit, and who do endure to the end.
In Revelation 18:4, where the apostle John is telling what he saw in a vision, it was like a dream; but it was a vision that he saw on the isle of Patmos, looking into the time just ahead of us now, in the Day of the Lord. In verse four, the eighteenth chapter of Revelation, he says he:
Revelation 18:4 ...heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
What is he talking about? He's talking about Babylon, if you begin at the first verse. Talking about Babylon, and it's described in the chapter just ahead, and verse five:
Revelation 17:5 Upon her [and the female indicates a church and a religion -- "upon her"] forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
In other words, the Babylonian Mystery Religion having become great; and she is a great momma church. Her daughters came out of her protesting and calling themselves Protestant. God calls them harlots and calls her a great whore. She says that she is the Kingdom of God, and she is only a church of Satan. She says the Millennium has already come and Christ has returned. But it wasn't Christ who returned. It was the Pope, who is the 'vicar of Christ.' Do you know what 'vicar of Christ' means? It means 'in place of Christ.' It means one what has kicked Christ out of the way and replaced Him. That's what it means. God calls that an abomination and filthiness in the sight of the living God! (And I do dare to say that in public.)
But how did this world become the way it is? How did such religions come to be? Why did we grow up like we did? Why did Satan come to be here, and how did he come to influence all of us? And why is it, if Christ came as the Savior, that He hasn't saved the world? And, that most of the world is still going the wrong way? And that even Jesus said no man could even come to Him unless the Spirit of the Father drew him? Or the Father who sent Him would draw them; and He would draw them through His Spirit, of course. I'll explain those things. The world can't explain it. The world does not understand those things at all.
DOWN PAYMENT OF GOD'S SPIRIT
Brethren, you noticed in Ephesians the second chapter and beginning with verse one. This is speaking to the Church at Ephesus, and it's also speaking to us. We are that same Church, about nineteen hundred and fifty years later.
Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened ...
Or, that is, "made alive" because, if we have the Holy Spirit of God, we already have the Life of God within us. It is sort of a partial down payment on a down payment of immortal Life. That's what it is. It's called 'an earnest' of the Spirit, like an earnest payment when you buy a piece of property. It's not the full down payment yet, only a part of it. That's what we receive when we receive the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 2:1 You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.
We were dead! In other words, we were not born with Life in us at all. God did not create Adam with Life. Adam was created out of the dust of the ground, and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man, made of the dust of the ground, became a soul. Not an immortal; but a mortal, living soul -- what was made from the dust of the ground. A soul is material, out of the ground (not spirit at all). And yet God did put a spirit in the man He created, but the man needed another Spirit. He needed the Spirit of God. But he had to undergo a test to see whether he could qualify for that Spirit or not, and the first Adam failed.
So notice this: "You hath He quickened," or made alive. That is, by giving us the Holy Spirit -- which is the presence of immortal Life within us now. And you read in first John, the third chapter, beginning with verse two that "Brethren, behold, that already we are the children of God; but it doesn't yet appear what we shall be." In other words, we don't ... You can't see yet what we will be because "when Christ comes, we will be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (as it says in the same verse, or the first two or three verses there) -- His face is shining like the sun in full brightness, His eyes like shooting flames of fire; and that's the way we will be in the resurrection, and in the Kingdom of God. But already we are the sons of God even now in this mortal flesh. We have the presence of God's Spirit in our minds, and His Life within us through His Holy Spirit.
OUR SPIRITUAL CALLING
Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world.
And you and I did, all of us. I did, you did -- until God reached down, saw us, and in some way called us. Brethren, it wasn't my preaching over the air; it wasn't my writing in print; and it wasn't that of any of the students that came to Ambassador College, and learned under me and have gone out and taught you. It was the Spirit of God that called you. God Almighty, the Father, looked down on the earth and picked out you and said, "I'm calling this person." He called you; but there were hundreds all around you, and thousands around you, He did not call.
He's called us to be THE FIRST to put our hope in Christ, THE FIRST to receive His Spirit and to be trained; and this life is for a purpose. It's a temporary life. You don't have immortal Life. You only have a very temporary life now. This life won't last long. I know that my life is mostly over. I was late getting here this morning, and the reason was it took me so long. Because my eyesight is now so bad, I had to have my wife helping me to get markers so I could turn to the scriptures I want to have to talk to you today, so it would save me time after I got here. So I held you about ten or fifteen minutes before the service began, but I've probably saved you more time than that through the sermon!
But my eyesight is getting bad. My hearing is bad. Well, I find that the men of God of old were like that too. Isaac's eyes were so dark he couldn't realize it when his wife was deceiving him, with putting Jacob in the place of Esau. And then Jacob's eyes were so dim that he couldn't see when he put the blessing on Ephraim and Manasseh; but he knew where they were, and he crossed his hands when he put his arm on them to put the blessing on the sons of Joseph. So I guess it's normal that people God is using find their eyesight gets very dim as this physical existence wears on towards its end, but we have to keep going just the same.
Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience ...
It says children, and it does begin with little children. He's been working in you and me, and He's been working in the people all around us. And yet, He's called us out from among them to be separate. Now, brethren, let me make one thing very plain right at this point. He didn't call you and me because we're any better than the others He did not call. Anything we have is from the goodness of God, not from any goodness within us. You look at me as if there's something good in me. Oh, brethren, please don't do that. There's nothing good in me at all, except what God has put in me. Absolutely nothing! Of me, there's nothing that's good. Of you, there's nothing that is good.
Don't deify a human being! Do you know that's what the Protestants are doing today? They deify a human Jesus that was a false Jesus, and not the true Jesus Christ at all. A Jesus that was a smart-aleck young man and that knew more than His Father, and did away with His Father's commandments, and says, "There's no law. You live any way you want." Or "live the way that the Protestant church has said you must live today." They don't know the truth of God at all. They just lack the knowledge. But we have to grow in knowledge and the grace of God. We have to grow in the knowledge of Christ if we're ever going to get into His Kingdom.
Now it all started with the first Adam, as you read back here in Genesis 1, and verse one. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Now the word for God was Elohim. Moses wrote those words a long, long time ago.
SHOWING RESPECT FOR GOD
Brethren, I noticed it during the sermonette: there were all kinds of people just walking around here and there. Are we in a service of Almighty God, or are we not? Let's not get up and walk unless it is absolutely necessary, because we should honor the God who caused us to be here and commanded us to be here for this day. Do you know that our fellowship, when we meet here, is not just with ourselves alone? But in I John (near the end of the New Testament) you read that our fellowship is with Jesus Christ and with God the Father. They, in spirit, are here with us. You know, there are a lot of things that we should realize when we come to a service like this. It's a very solemn and serious thing. We're coming into the presence of God.
I'm going to just deviate here and sidetrack for just a moment. I want to tell you something, an instruction that I think you people need. It was back on December 1, 1968. I was in Jerusalem, and I was in the palace (as they called it at that time, although they built another one later) of the president of Israel. But first, I was over in one of the office buildings of the university, of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and with one of the top professors there, Dr Aviram. You know, over in Israel they don't dress up very much or very often. He had an open shirt collar sticking out, and we started to go. We got down the hallway; and he said, "Oh wait, wait, wait! I've got to go back and put a jacket on. We're going into the presence of the president. I mustn't go in dressed like this!" He went back to put a jacket on, but he still didn't put on a necktie or anything.
But you notice, when you see a picture of Prime Minister Begin in Washington, he's always dressed up; but he's not always dressed up in Jerusalem. I've seen him in Jerusalem, when he was not dressed up. I've sat and talked with him for a long time, the same as I have with President Sadat of Egypt; and our last conference (last November) ended in a great big bear hug.
I found Prime Minister Begin had left an important government conference in Tel Aviv, one-hour drive away, to come to Jerusalem to meet me. He left those people, in the middle of it, to be on time for his appointment with me; and then he had to drive another hour back after our conference, and finish the conference. And he left those people waiting for three hours on him back there. I apologized. I said, "Well, if I'd known that, I wouldn't have asked you to do a thing like that." He said, "Mr. Armstrong, I would get up at two-thirty or three o'clock in the morning to come see you."
So some of the leaders of this world have given great respect to Christ's apostle, even though they don't know Jesus Christ. But they do know that somehow God's presence is there, and that God is using His servant; and they do give respect.
We should realize that, when we're here, we are in the presence of God; and, brethren, sometimes we're very careless of how we come dressed at the Sabbath meetings, or at any meeting where God is present. Now, if you had seen me getting off the plane last night, you'd have seen me unshaved and with wrinkly clothes. I wasn't dressed up very well. But I was coming now into an assembly where our fellowship is with God the Father, and with Christ; and I had to shave and dress up to be here this morning; and, brethren, you should all be dressed up whenever you come to Christ's service and to the Church service. You're meeting with Christ and with God the Father. You owe Them that respect, and sometimes we treat God and Christ very cheaply. We think we can just come with overalls or any old kind of sloppy clothes. BRETHREN, YOU MUST NOT DO THAT!
While I'm on it, let me tell you something else. There are many more people here than are registered. There are hundreds of you who have failed to register. In other words, you're still children of disobedience! You don't want to obey! Now that's the way we were last time I was here, and the whole Church was like that. It was divided. Some ministers were getting together and teaching different doctrines, and trying to say, "Well, I think maybe the doctrines of the Church are wrong. Let's get some different doctrines."
Now, we've been getting back on the track this last three years. We've been trying to please Christ, and Christ is now beginning to bless us. When we please Him, He will bless us. You know that for the last three years, for the first time in history, we haven't had to go to the bank and borrow money in January or in July. Before that, we always had to borrow a minimum of at least a million dollars in January and another million or more (and sometimes two or three) in June or July -- and pay it back out of the first Passover and Unleavened Days' offerings, and pay back the other loan that we made in July with the Feast of Tabernacles special offerings. Do you know that for the last three years -- since we've been trying to please God and get back on the track -- we haven't had to borrow any money whatsoever?
Our financial budget is balanced. We have reserves in the bank drawing interest of an average of 15-18%, and several million dollars at that. We still don't have enough. This Work can still expand and grow, and could grow a lot faster if we just had more money. I've been asking for more money lately, not because we're in debt. I find others pouring out their hearts on the air, saying "Oh, we're going to have to go off the air if you don't send us money!" We never beg the public for money. You never saw me beg the public for money, and you won't. When I have to beg for money, I get down on my knees and go to God and beg Him. Let me tell you, when our ways please Him, He takes care of us. If He's not taking care of us, we'd better look right down in our own hearts and our own minds, and see where the trouble is. That's where the trouble is! If we please Him, He will bless us.
You know, I really received a great inspiration seeing all of those young people up here on the stage singing this morning. They are a heritage of God. They are coming "children of God." And I know that God wants us to look after our children -- to love them and take care of them, and bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord, and to begin to teach them. Not just correct them, not just spank them or scold them; but teach. I find they have to be spanked once in a while; but, if they were taught more, they'd be spanked a lot less. Let me tell you that. We don't teach enough. We wait for the teachers to teach them. Parents need to teach their children. (Maybe it's more important to say some of those things than the things I intended to say to you in the sermon.)
"I CAN DO NOTHING"
Well, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Moses was writing that; and the word he wrote was Elohim, which is a uni-plural. God is more than one person.
Now you read in I John, in the New Testament, "In the beginning was the Word." The Word was a personage -- a great immortal, divine personage, called the Word and the Spokesman, the One who spoke. " ... and the Word was with God." God is another person, so now we have two persons; but "the Word" also "was God." They were both God, and yet They're different persons!
Now Elohim, that we find here, is the same two persons. And the Word was made flesh later on, and dwelt among us. (That was 1950...1900 and, oh, about 80 some years ago now.) It was Jesus Christ, but He was not the Son of God originally. He was only the Son of God when He was born of the virgin Mary as a human being. But He is the One. God told Him what to do. When He came in the human flesh, He said, "I've spoken nothing of Myself." He said, "Of Myself I can do nothing."
How much do you think you can do? How much can I do? Nothing! You give me credit for having done things in this Church. Brethren, I didn't raise up this Church. I didn't build Ambassador College. I didn't do this Work. Jesus Christ did it! He only used me as an instrument. Did you ever see a violin play a tune? I never did. I've seen Yehudi Menuhin play a tune on a violin, I've seen Isaac Stern do it, and I know both of them. But I never saw the violin play itself. Well, I'm only an instrument. Don't deify me! Don't look to me as if I'm some great person. I'm not! I'm just a hunk of human clay, like you are. That's all.
I've tried to let God come into my life, to take it and use it. I intended to give my life to Him 55 and some years, almost 56 years, ago. I haven't always left it there 100%, I'm sorry to say; but I intended to. When I didn't, I repented of it, and I asked Him to forgive me; but my attitude was right. Two can't walk together except they be agreed, and I was at least agreed with Him. He reached down and picked me up every time I slipped and fell. Oh yes, I've sinned even since I've been converted; and SO HAVE YOU -- every one of you! You've sinned since you've been converted, every one of you!
But in I John 1 it says that if we (we Christians, who have His Spirit), if we sin ... If we, if we say we do not sin, we're just liars and are not telling the truth. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins -- reach down and pick us back up, and walk along with us again, if we walk with Him in harmony and unity.
But we must all believe the same thing. We must all believe the same thing that Christ does, and that God does. I've been trying to get this Church back on the track of what God believes, and what Christ believes, and what They say -- not what I believe. I've had to change what I believe and give it up. I've had to accept what Christ believes and what He teaches. Don't get off with someone else a little privately and whisper and say, "I don't agree with Mr. Armstrong. Do you? Well, let's us get some different ideas!"
Oh no, brethren. Come to me with it. You can get to me. There was a time when some of them around me wouldn't let you get to me. That's all over with now. You can get to me through the very man you heard preach the sermonette this morning, Mr. Bob Fahey. As I say, I can be had. You can get to me. If I'm wrong, you come and tell me so I can be right with you. I don't want to be wrong. Don't try to keep it from me, and go get others along in your way. And if you have some truth, don't be selfish about it. Share it with me. I try to share all the truth I have with you. If you think I'm wrong ...
Look, we must all speak the same thing. That's what God tells us, and what He commands, I Corinthians first chapter. But it must be the same thing that Christ speaks, and He's the Word. Everything He speaks, He got from God the Father; and there's perfect agreement. I'm not the head of this Church. Christ is. I don't rule this Church. Jesus Christ is the ruler. If you don't like the government in this Church, you go tell God about it -- because He made Christ the head of the Church, not me. I just want to serve Him, and I hope that's the way you do too.
GOD REPRODUCING HIMSELF
Well now, God was more than one person. And then God said, in verse 26:
Genesis 1:25 Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
He had made the animals. God had made birds and fishes, land animals, each after its own kind -- cattle after the cattle kind, dogs after the dog kind, elephants after the elephant kind. But He said, "Let Us make man after Our kind." In other words, "Let Us make humans after the God kind." We are made after the God kind, now in form and shape and possibly having the same mind. We have a mind because He put a spirit in the brain, that He didn't put in animal brain, to give us minds.
When He made the first man, that man wasn't complete. He wanted men to reproduce themselves. And the reason: because God is reproducing HIMSELF through man. YOU CAN BECOME GOD! Just think of that! The world doesn't know that -- that they can actually become God. No other religion, no other church, on the face of this earth that I know of believes that. If there is one, I'd like to hear of it. I just don't know of it, and we do need to know these things.
But God made man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a mortal (not an immortal) soul -- a living, mortal soul just like animals. But man couldn't reproduce himself. So God took a bone out of one of his ribs and made a woman for him, because he wasn't complete, so that a man and his wife become one. They're not complete, either one of them, alone. But your mind isn't complete either. He put only one spirit in it, and he needed another Spirit.
And man did not have Life. He only had a temporary existence. But the Tree of Life was there and offered to Adam in the Garden of Eden. And God said, "You can freely eat of that Tree; but of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you cannot take, or you will die."
Man had the ability for certain knowledge. He had a spirit in him that gave him a mind that could comprehend physical knowledge, materialistic knowledge -- just the things he could see, the things he could hear, the things he could taste, and the things he could smell and feel. And you can't know anything else, except what you know by one of those five senses. You can't know anything else. But he needed the Spirit of God, and that was in the Tree of LIFE.
Now, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil [**At 43:39, this audio file skips a section of the sermon. The text from here to the next ** notation is compiled from other tapes.] was the tree of death because God said, "If you take it, you will surely die." Well then, the Tree of Life was not a tree of death. It was a tree of life, but it also was a tree of knowledge. If Adam had taken of the Tree of Life, what would he have had? People don't stop to think about that.
Well, God has opened the Tree of Life to you and me through the second Adam, Jesus Christ. But it doesn't give you and me eternal Life and immortal Life just immediately. No, we receive the Spirit of God first; and the Holy Spirit of God impregnates us with immortal Life, but we're not born yet. When you...(gap in recording)...your mother, until you develop a physical human form and shape and body before you can be born.
Now we are a spiritual ovum; and we have to be impregnated from God the Father, which is the sperm cell that imparts its immortal Life to us; and that's only the start! Then we have to grow spiritually to be born again. Nobody is 'born again' but Jesus Christ! These Protestants that prate around about being 'born again' don't know what they're talking about! Brethren, God has opened our eyes to understand what they don't understand. They are deceived. The whole world is deceived, by Satan the devil. [** 43:40--This particular audio file begins again at this point.] All nations are deceived. You and I were deceived once, but we don't need to be any longer. We were "dead in trespasses and sins," but now He has imparted immortal Life to us through the Holy Spirit.
THE TWO TREES
Well, Adam took the wrong Tree. He took to himself the knowledge of evil. With his mind, which was capable of understanding only material knowledge, he said, "That's enough. I don't need spiritual knowledge." So, God then shut up the Tree of Life. In other words, God shut up the Holy Spirit from human beings. He shut it off from human beings; and human beings have NO ACCESS to the Holy Spirit of God, or immortal Life. But God reached down and picked out you and me. The Church is only the firstfruits of His salvation. When Christ comes and begins the Kingdom of God, then we'll begin to convert everybody else that is now alive.
But what about the rest of the people that died? What about Adam's children: Cain, and Abel, and Seth? Well, we read in Hebrews 9:27 it's appointed to men once to die and after this the judgment; and they all die in Adam. So we read in I Corinthians 15:22, "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." They'll come into the judgment at the end of the Millennium. (We'll hear about that on next Tuesday, the final Great Day of this festival.)
Now Jesus came and said He would build His Church, and He did. The prophet Joel, in Joel 2:28, had said that the time would come when God would open up the Holy Spirit and pour it out upon all flesh. He closed the Holy Spirit TO ALL HUMANITY at the time of Adam. You read in Genesis 3:22-24, God closed up the Holy Spirit; and the world could never receive the Holy Spirit. The world had only the spirit of man, not God's Spirit (not immortal Life at all); and he could only understand physical and materialistic knowledge. That is all.
But Jesus came to qualify.
Now, God put Satan on a throne on this earth. Originally, he was the archangel Lucifer; and angels originally inhabited this earth. But Lucifer rebelled against the government of God. He was put on A THRONE on this earth OVER THE WHOLE EARTH, to rule the whole earth with the government of God. He had been trained in the government of God at God's throne in heaven. But he rebelled. He said, "I don't believe in God's way." Now God's way is God's Law, and His Law is the way of love -- out flowing love toward others: first love to God, then love to neighbor.
Satan said, "Why should I love others? I just love me. I want everything for myself." So he armed all of the angels under him. He was a super-angel, a cherub, an archangel -- greater than the other angels (in greater power, greater mind). They swooped up to heaven and tried to knock God off the throne; but they were knocked right back down to the earth, and Satan's been here ever since. He was there for Adam, and he tempted Eve. Eve tempted Adam, and they took to themselves the knowledge with the kind of minds they already had; and they didn't get the Spirit of God.
But Christ opened up the Spirit for the Church, and Joel said the time would come when He would pour out His Spirit on all flesh. Now, that time has not yet come. But on the day of Pentecost, there were the few of them there on the day of Pentecost that started the Church. And a great multitude of thousands came rushing in, because they saw the great display of the Holy Spirit coming like tongues of fire sitting on their heads and with the sound of a rushing mighty wind. Peter said, "This is what Joel prophesied, that God would begin to pour out His Spirit on all flesh." But that was only the beginning because Jesus Christ said, of His Church, no one can come to Him except the Father draws; and the Church is only the firstfruits. God is only calling a few, just the Church, He's picking out of the world. That's why we're so small, brethren.
OVERCOMING AND GROWING
But we are to overcome Satan. We are to come out of the way of Satan, and to come into God's way of love -- out flowing love; and that's the way to peace. Then we will be made very God, like God is, at the Second Coming of Christ; and then He's coming to reign and to put Satan away. We celebrated that just a little, let's see, about seven days ago, on the Day of Atonement, which really is to teach us of the time when Satan will be put away, after Christ comes; and we had a festival teaching us the Second Coming of Christ about 17 days ago, on the Feast of Trumpets.
Now we're seeing what is going to happen after Christ has come, and after He has put Satan away, and when Christ is sitting on the throne ruling. But, brethren, He's not going to rule alone by Himself. He is raising up YOU AND ME, and we have to... Well, we're going to school. This is a temporary life. We're going to school to learn about Christ, to learn the Word of God, and here's the Textbook! We're to learn how to rule under Christ, and how to convert and save the world when God opens up the Holy Spirit to the whole world; and He will, very soon now. He's calling you and me to be able to teach them then.
We have to GROW in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. How much are you growing in knowledge? Do you know more now than you did when I spoke here three years ago? Well, I do! I've learned a lot. I've learned a lot since the first of this year. In my 90th year, I've learned a lot. How much are you learning every year? Are you growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ? Are you overcoming the ways that Satan got into you and the way of the world around you? You'll never get into the Kingdom of God unless you are, brethren. You're not already there! You're on trial, and we're coming to the time of final exams right now. We're getting very close to the time of the Second Coming of Christ -- very, very close.
Now it was prophesied of Jesus in Isaiah -- his prophecy in 9:6-7 -- that Christ would come (You heard that read this morning in the sermonette.) coming as "The Prince of Peace," and called "Wonderful ... The mighty God, The everlasting Father." And He did come, and He overcame Satan, and He qualified to sit on that throne and rule over the world.
Now we're in a world ruled by Satan, but Satan has governments over each nation. I know many of the kings of these nations, and they don't know themselves that they're in part of a world ruled by Satan. They don't know that. Satan is invisible. They don't see him. A lot of them don't even believe he exists.
I know that they have problems they can't solve. I talk to them about their problems, all around the world. I've probably talked to more kings, and presidents, and prime ministers, and emperors in their own offices (which is the thrones where they sit) than any other man on earth today -- because God is sending His apostle to those places -- and I go there representing you. You can't all go there.
Well, I'd expected to have another meeting with President Sadat next month. I don't know whether I can meet his successor. But I already had a telephone communication with President Sadat's right-hand man (the man right next to him, whom I know very well), and that was before the assassination. I'll wait till things quiet down a little bit, and then I'll telephone him again and see if it's safe to come over and meet the man who will be elected. Let's see, that election is to take place now almost any day, isn't it? But it's almost certain that the man who was the vice-president will now be made president, and I hope to meet him.
But, brethren, they're only on thrones that are ruled with the super throne over the whole earth by Satan the devil. Christ is coming to rule over the whole earth; and you and I are going to be sitting on thrones, ruling other people and other nations. Now then, what are we going to be doing? As Jesus qualified, so you and I have to qualify to get into the Kingdom of God. He had to qualify to replace Satan and sit on that throne, and Jesus did. He met Satan, and refused to go Satan's way, and insisted on going the way of God -- the way of love toward God and love toward others. It all revolves around the law of God.
But we have to first repent of the way we did live, and come out of living that way. Then we have to BELIEVE GOD. Not only believe on Christ, but believe what He says. He's the Word of God, and we have to believe what He says. Then God will give us the Holy Spirit, and then we must GROW in grace and in the Spirit of God. How much are we growing? How much are you overcoming the way that is wrong and the ways of this world? How much have you come out of this world? How much are you still interested in the ways and interests of this world? How much are you interested in the ways of the Kingdom of God and what is going to happen then?
ENDURE TO THE END
Let's turn to Romans 8, beginning with verse 16:
Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit ...
There is a spirit in man. We need another Spirit with it, the Holy Spirit. Just as Adam was a male and he wasn't complete. He needed another person -- a wife, a female; and God made a female for him. Well, we have the one spirit, the human spirit; but we need the Spirit of God with it. Now if you have really repented, if you have really given yourself over to God and to live His way from here on (and not Satan's way and this world's way), and you have really believed and have been baptized in Him, you have received His Spirit. So:
Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are [already]the children of God [not yet born, just begotten]: (17) And if children, then heirs [not yet inheritors, only heirs] of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him [as we do now in this life], that we may be also glorified together.
Glorified! Made immortal! Given Life inherent, self-existent Life! Not this temporary existence that we have now. Brethren, that's our heritage.
Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
So, you see, we're only begotten now -- not yet born. Not yet born at all. But, as I said, we must grow in knowledge and in the grace of Christ. Now also Jesus said, in Matthew 24:13:
Matthew 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
How many have we had in the Church three years ago that are not here today? How many, when the Church was sort of... There were little groups splitting off here and there, and dividing, and wanting to get different ideas and different doctrines. They have not endured. It's only "he that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved." And that is the verse just before it says that we'll have the sign, that we are drawing near the very end of this age, when this gospel of the Kingdom of God shall be preached for a witness to all nations, and then shall the end of this age (and this world, Satan's world) come. At that time, it will come.
Now remember: Satan is still on the throne on this earth. He is still there, and he is ruling over the nations. He is ruling over the people of this world. When a head of a nation tries to go against Satan and bring peace, Satan has someone to assassinate that man (as he did President Sadat). That's the world you live in, brethren. He's manipulated these people, that their minds are only half there. Their minds aren't complete until they have God's Holy Spirit. Do you know the most ignorant people in this world are the most highly educated with the most PhD's and other doctorate degrees and letters after their names (because they don't have a complete mind). They only have this physical mind. They don't have the Spirit of God in their minds, which they need.
So, let me see how time is going. We have a little time yet, apparently.
AS THE SERPENT BEGUILED EVE
Let's notice now in II Corinthians 11:3, where Paul said to the Church at Corinth:
II Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Satan can get to us, and he can get to our children. He is the prince of the power of the air. He BROADCASTS over the air.
Now yesterday you saw me on the screen up above. Or the day before yesterday, I guess it is now. I get mixed up on time sometimes. Day before yesterday, I was in Pasadena; but what I was saying was transmitted over here. You heard it just the same as if you'd been in Pasadena. They heard it in England, and it was late at night over there. It was really the next day. The first holy day had already ended over there; but we couldn't help that, because we live on a round earth.
But you notice how Satan is deceiving the world. Now we come to verses 13 on to 15; and I want you to notice how the world is deceived by ministers, just like Jesus said. Many would come in His name -- professing that they are the ministers of Christ, and saying that Jesus is the Christ; and yet DECEIVING THE WORLD -- and they have been doing that! Well, beginning with verse 13 in II Corinthians 11:
II Corinthians 11:13-15 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ [or ministers of Christ]. (14) And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. [He says, "I am an angel of light." But he's not. He's an angel of darkness.] (15) Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers [SATAN'S MINISTERS, professing to be the ministers of Christ!] ...
Everyone who says he's a minister of Christ does not represent Christ! But now listen to me just a minute right there: Most of these men are, themselves, deceived. Don't blame them. They're not absolutely dishonest. I can't judge them. I don't know their hearts. They probably are deceived. I don't know that they willfully know they're wrong. Satan has deceived them; and a person who is deceived doesn't know he's deceived, otherwise he wouldn't be deceived. He'd know he is wrong. But Satan is the deceiver.
II Corinthians 11:1415 No marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (15) Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers [Satan's ministers] also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness [saying they're the ministers of Christ].
And so the world is full of that, my brethren. That is even the religion of "Christianity" -- the greatest religion in the world, has more followers than any other religion.
THE GIFT OF GOD
Now, eternal Life is a gift. It's a gift from God. First, it is God who looks down and picks the one to be called now. Now the time is ... You see, it's appointed for the world to die and after this the judgment. Judgment will begin on the world after Christ comes (in the Millennium). Then it'll be on all the rest who have died (at the end of the Millennium, after a thousand years, when there'll be a great resurrection). And others who lived in Christ ... As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive in that resurrection; and then they'll come up to be judged.
Now, Christ is going to be sitting on that judgment seat; and Jesus Christ is going to say to them, "Alright, I FIND YOU GUILTY; AND I SENTENCE YOU TO DEATH! THE PENALTY IS DEATH." About that time, they're really going to shudder and break out in tears; and they're going to beg for mercy. They're going to throw themselves on the mercy of the court; and Christ, on the bench, will say "Well now, you throw yourself on the mercy of the court. Well now, I'll tell you, I Myself paid that penalty for you. I didn't deserve it. I never did sin, like you did; but I took your penalty on Myself, and I died in your place and I paid it for you. If you really mean it, and if you really want to go the other way and live the other way, I'll give you a chance. I'll give you a foretaste of the Holy Spirit; and if you will walk in it, and if you will grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord, and in knowledge of the right way to live and of the law of God -- the law of love, of out flowing love toward others -- and if you will endure until the end and you will overcome, you then may have immortal Life and become God, just as I am."
Oh, what a wonderful God we have! But He's a God of knowledge and a God of wisdom, not a God of nonsense and emotion (like most religions in this world). Eternal Life is a gift. But, brethren, you can't earn immortal Life. But you can earn the reward you'll have IF you gain eternal Life as God's gift.I'd like to have you notice now in Ephesians, Ephesians the third chapter. Here's a scripture you hear read so much by the preachers in this world, beginning with verse 8.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.
That is, the faith that you have. Some of you try to work up faith and wonder why you don't have more faith. Brethren, you can't work up faith. Faith is the gift of God. It says so right here. But you receive eternal Life as the gift of God, and you can't earn it yourself. And so it says:
Ephesians 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
And right there most preachers stop. I remember (Oh, I think this is at least 40 years ago.) a man who then was quite a famous evangelist on the air. He's been dead a good many years now. He read that and stopped! I said "Go on. Read that next verse." I shouted into the radio! Of course, he didn't hear me! That was before the days of television; but I shouted, and I said "Go on. I dare you! Read that next verse." But, of course, he wouldn't. Well, let me read it.
Ephesians 2:9-10 Not of works, lest any man should boast. (10) For we are HIS WORKMANSHIP, created in Christ Jesus UNTO GOOD WORKS, which God hath before ordained that we should WALK in them [in good works].
Oh, he wouldn't read that! They don't want any good works. Well, good works merely is following the way of the law of God; but they want to do away with the law of God. Salvation is a gift. Please understand that. But we still have to obey God, or you won't keep the law -- you won't get into God's Kingdom at all.
OUR HIGH PRIEST
In order to help you and me grow in grace, Jesus ascended up to heaven. Where has Jesus been for nineteen hundred and fifty-some years now? Nineteen hundred and fifty years, He's been in heaven as our High Priest. He's been in heaven as our High Priest. Now let me turn to the priesthood chapter of the Bible, Hebrews 6; and I want you to notice the first couple of verses.
Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us [in the Church] go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.
Now the Protestant churches do that. I don't know whether you have any such television channel over here or not, but we have a UHF channel in the Los Angeles area that is called... Sometimes they call it the Trinity Network, and other times they call it the CBN or the Christian Broadcast Network. It's religion from morning until night; and through all of the night, through most of the night, you can find someone on there; and always the same thing: "Just know Christ. Do you know Christ? We want to get people to hear about Christ, and to hear that Christ died for them." And they think that's all. "If you just know that Christ died for you, and you say you accept what He did, you get, you get, you get..." Well, they say you go to heaven.
They don't know anything about the Kingdom of God. They say the Kingdom of God is something you just have inside of you right now. Or, as the Catholic Church says, "The church is the kingdom." They're so ignorant. They don't know. They are still harping on just 'knowing Christ'. But Christ here, who is our High Priest, says we should go on from there and learn more. We have to grow in knowledge!
Hebrews 6:2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
We must go on to more knowledge. That's what we try to do in the Church of God, is to go on into more and more knowledge and to know more of these things. We must be a growing Church, and we must grow in grace and in knowledge.
KEY POSITIONS IN THE KINGDOM
Now what are we going to be doing then, in the Kingdom of God? Let me see how time is getting along. I still have Pasadena time; and, according to Pasadena time, I've got more than 2 hours yet! So I can talk that long, if you can stand it. [Laughter with clapping.] Well, brethren, we need to learn. We need to grow in these things.
Well, the Bible gives us only two examples of what we may be doing in the Kingdom -- only two; and I'd like to read you those two. I think we can take time for that. One is in Ezekiel 37, and it's about David. Beginning with verse 21:
Ezekiel 37:21-22 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they [will at that time] be gone [haven't been sent there yet as slaves, as they will], ... and bring them into their own land: (22) And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.
My eyes are watering. I'm suffering a lot of things. I guess you'd call it old age! I don't know. I don't think I'm in old age, brethren. I never reached middle age! If I ever did, I never knew it; and now they say that I'm in old age. My eyes water, my eyelids have drooped, and so the water comes down and fills my eyes; and, the first thing I know, I'm trying to read through water -- and I can't see very well through water. I'll try and read this for you. You'll just have to bear with me in some of these handicaps. But God has given the Truth; and, if you'll just bear with these handicaps, I'll give you the Truth. It is the Truth, and praise the Lord for that!
Ezekiel 37:22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations.
Now, they were divided into the two nations -- Israel and Judah. The world doesn't know that, but this Church does know it. They were two nations.
Ezekiel 37:23-24 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be My people, and I will be their God. (24) And David my servant shall be king over them.
David will be king over all of the nations that come from the Twelve Tribes of Israel in the Kingdom of God. He will be immortal, resurrected. He will come out of his grave. His grave is over there in Jerusalem; and we're digging down to his palace now, where Christ is going to come. This Church is financing most of that greatest archaeological project on the face of the earth today, preparing for the Second Coming of Christ.
Ezekiel 37:24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
So now we know what David will be doing. In the 36th chapter, there's something about that also (about David). So, you and I can't have that job. No, David is going to be resurrected and have that job. Now, what about the twelve apostles? Jesus told them what they will do in the Kingdom of God; and that's in Luke 22, beginning with verse 28, where Jesus says:
Luke 22:28-30 Ye are they [speaking to His apostles, "Ye are they ... "] which have continued with me in my temptations. (29) And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; (30) That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Over all those nations from the Twelve Tribes of Israel will be David, but on each nation ... There will be twelve different nations, and one of the original apostles will be the king under David on each one of those thrones. If you've read our booklet, "The Wonderful World Tomorrow," you've already read of that and also a possibility of where other principals will be in the Kingdom of God. But as for you and me, God doesn't tell you and me specifically what we will be doing; but He does give us some very important guidelines.
PARABLE OF THE POUNDS
Now first, I would like to have you turn to Luke the 19th chapter. Just a few pages back here, Luke 19 and beginning with verse 11.
Luke 19:11 And as they [the disciples] heard these things, [Jesus] added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
They thought that the Kingdom of God would come too soon. Well, fifteen years ago I thought it would come before this time. But it will come, very suddenly, and not too long from now.
Luke 19:12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
Now, that's the picture of Christ going to heaven to have GOD give Him the Kingdom over the whole earth, and to return. Christ will be King over all the earth. David will be king over the twelve nations of the tribes of Israel. Each one of the twelve original apostles will be a king over one of those nations. I tried to figure out where I thought the apostle Paul will be, and so on, in that book. You may have read it. But, of course, that's all speculation; and we can't be sure. But now notice:
Luke 19:13 And he called [to them, before he left. "He called ... "] his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
Those ten pounds represented the Holy Spirit, one particle of the Holy Spirit to each one. That's the symbolism that it represents.
Luke 19:15 And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
In other words, how much have you grown? He gives you a little of the Holy Spirit when you start, but you don't have as much of the Holy Spirit as you need. You need to grow in grace and knowledge, and you need to increase in knowledge. You increase in the Spirit of God, and in the righteousness of God, and the character of God.
Luke 19:16 Then came the first [This is at the Second Coming of Christ. "Then came the first ... ], saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.
He multiplied what God had given him ten times over. (Oh, we have a bird up here on the stage. I wonder if that bird is enjoying this sermon? I don't think he understands it, but I hope you do! Well, God created birds too, and I hope you love birds. I do. I just love to see them.)
Anyway, the next one came; and he said he had only gained five pounds. The one who had gained ten times over is going to rule over ten kingdoms. He did twice as much with the same amount to start. The other one has the same amount to start, but he only did half as much. He gained 5 pounds. So, he will rule over five cities.
Now another came, and he had not done a thing. He hadn't gained anything. He just said, "Well, I didn't have to grow in grace and knowledge. I just stayed where I was." And he had the gift of God taken away from him. They took away from him that part of the Holy Spirit that had been given to him, and he did not get into the Kingdom. THOSE WHO THINK THEY ARE ALREADY SAVED AND DO NOTHING ABOUT IT are not going to ever enter into the Kingdom of God, brethren. We have to GROW in grace and knowledge.
PARABLE OF THE TALENTS
Now it doesn't tell us there what each one will be doing. But now, you have to ... There's one other scripture that I want you to get -- in Matthew 25, the parable of the talents. Matthew 25, and beginning with verse 14:
Matthew 25:14-15 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country [Same kind of a parable as the other. Christ going up to heaven to get the Kingdom.], who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. (15) And unto one he gave five talents [five talents of silver].
It's using an amount of money here. Of course, the pounds were English pounds (where they have pounds, where we have dollars). But it represents so much of the Holy Spirit. But anyway, to the one he gave five.
Matthew 25:15 ... to one he gave five talents, to another two [That's two portions of the Holy Spirit, we'll say.], and to another one; to every man according to his several ability.
God gives to you according to your natural ability. But I want you to notice something here now that maybe you never noticed before.
Matthew 25:16-18 Then he that received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. (17) And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. (18) But he that had received one [He had one portion of the Holy Spirit.] went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
In other words, he didn't gain anything. He didn't improve. He didn't grow in knowledge. He didn't grow in grace. He didn't overcome. He didn't grow in spiritual character. Now when Christ came, the one who had been given the ... Well, let's notice that. I wanted to save reading all of it if I could.
Matthew 25:19-23 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them [And He's going to reckon with us, brethren.] (20) And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. (21) His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (22) He also that had received two talents came and said ... behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. (23) His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant [Just the same thing. He did as much in proportion.]: ... I will make thee ruler over many things.
Notice, we're going to rule in the Kingdom of God! We're going to govern the world! It's the government of God we're talking about. Now the one who had not gained any had that one taken away from him.
HELD ACCOUNTABLE
Now, you notice this: The one that only was given two -- he didn't have as much to do with; but he gets as much reward. He did as much with it, with what he had to do with, as the other. But the one who did more with the same amount in the pounds, and who gained 10, will get twice the reward of the man who only gained 5 after starting out with the same one. So, it's like playing golf; and you have a handicap of so many points if you're not as good a golfer. We are judged according to how well we do with what we have to do with. You have to put those two parables together to understand that, and I've understood that for a good many years now.
Well, when Christ comes, then we're going to begin to save the whole world. You begin in verse 31; and it shows that, brethren. But it's all according to what we do with what we have to do with.
Now, I've miss-figured my time. Look at my watch. I'm on Pasadena time! I'm thirty minutes overdue, but we started fifteen minutes late. But, brethren, I want to leave this with you. God has given us the Truth that He has not given to other churches in this world. We're going to be held accountable for what He has given us.
