I am persuaded that we have read the Scriptures so long with a traditional interpretation that we do not realize how much, in both the Old and New Testaments, God has tucked away all the information and knowledge necessary for future dispensations. We have read the Scriptures quite freely during the whole period of the Church Age and applied them in sermons and in teachings, in catechism, doctrines, and so forth. We applied them to an age and to a divine order that belonged to the hour, but often we did not realize that tucked away in those Scriptures, hidden within them, were veins of truth about the Kingdom of God.
We found ourselves not knowing how to apply them; maybe our not understanding them was as the Lord intended. I doubt whether there has been much serious application to most of the principles in the Sermon on the Mount until this Walk came along. It sounded wonderful, but we didn’t feel that it was really practical to follow those principles. Now we come to some ideas about the Kingdom, and we begin to wonder again about our interpretations. For instance, in John 3:3, Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” We are always talking about being born again, but most of the people who talk about being born again would not know the Kingdom of God if they were dropped right in the middle of it. They don’t even know what the Kingdom of God means, yet they are adamant on the point, “You must be born again.”
In John 3:5, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” One must be born of water and of the Spirit before he can enter into the Kingdom of God.
This is a little different picture; we don’t talk too much about this. We don’t tell someone who comes into church, “You will have to be born of the water and of the Spirit, or you won’t get into the Kingdom of God,” because they wouldn’t know what you meant.
We are exploring various Scriptures to see one thing about the Kingdom of God. The Scriptures say, “The kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12), indicating that there is a way in which we reach in with violence to possess the Kingdom and that there is a great deal of violence that comes against the Kingdom. Even in the book of Acts we read about Paul and Barnabas going to the early churches and exhorting them, “Through much tribulation we must enter into the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).
The Kingdom message was preached in the early Church. The foundation of the Kingdom message is in the book of Acts, and it is especially rich in the Gospels. It fills the Old Testament—so much so that many theologians and those who write helps to Bible study, like Schofield, are very much concerned about the Old Testament view of the Kingdom; and, instead of allowing the New Testament interpretation of the spiritual Israel, the spiritual Kingdom, to come forth, they shift it all back to a very human, materialistic plane of fulfillment. They say, “God is going to do certain things with the various tribes of Israel, and they are to inherit these things.”
An honest look into the Scriptures will show that the Lord did point toward what would happen to Jerusalem. “It will be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Luke 21:24). And this, of course, is the reason why satanic effort is against Israel at this time, because for the first time in centuries, Jerusalem is once more in the hands of the Jews, in the hands of the Israelites. Now they are gathered back from all nations. Everyone points out, “That’s a fulfillment,” when they look at a people coming out of Russia. The Jews who are coming out of Russia are not coming out because they want to worship Jehovah. They want to get away from the Communists. They are atheists; they have been raised as atheists. They are not coming back to God.
It is a big mistake to take all those promises and try to throw them in the lap of a natural Israel, because there is no other name given among men whereby you must be saved (Acts 4:12). You are saved through the blood of Jesus Christ. There is only one way into salvation and that is through the name of Jesus Christ, by His precious blood.
Taking Old Testament passages on what Jesus said about the Kingdom and trying to constantly throw them back to natural Israel has been probably the greatest deterrent toward the restoration of the promises, covenants, and blessings of the Scripture we have had. Nothing has been more deadly in producing unbelief in people and causing them to not believe for the gifts, for the ministry, for the power of God, for the things that really belong to us today. But we come into this Walk, and because God has very carefully laid this out to us, we will reach into anything that is written. The promises of God have their Yea and Verily to us. In Christ they are all Yea (II Corinthians 1:20).
We are coming to grips with the thing that should be battled: our own unbelief. And we are not excusing unbelief with a fabric of doctrines that gives excuse for not believing the promises—“They are not for us, they belong to someone else.” If they were for the Jews, they sure aren’t claiming them very fast. And they haven’t claimed them for a long time. The Scriptures make it so plain: “He is not a Jew who is one outwardly. But circumcision is a thing of the heart” (Romans 2:28, 29). And if ye are Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise.” Galatians 3:29. You cannot take away those Scriptures; you cannot destroy them. These are the promises upon which we are based. We are looking back to our father, Abraham, because the promise was in him that all nations of the world would be blessed (Genesis 17), not just the Jews. All nations would be blessed. And the Kingdom of God brings these blessings to us now.
“The Kingdom is to be inherited.” This is basic New Testament teaching. This would put it on the basis of a relationship. “Unless you are born again, you won’t see the Kingdom of God.” It is a thing that is inherited, and because it is inherited the first thing that must take place is the miracle of relationship to the Lord. We do not say, “The Kingdom comes with observation: Lo, here, Lo there…” (Luke 12). It doesn’t work that way. “The Kingdom of God is among us,” or it is better to say, “Within you.” It starts in a new nature coming forth, the divine nature. When people say, “You don’t teach the born-again experience,” or “You don’t give altar calls,” they don’t know what they are saying. It is dangerous to make statements like that about the Walk. We are not only believing for salvation, for a new birth, but we are believing for a complete appropriation of all the attributes of God which go with that new nature. We are contending very much for this. We do not allow people to run through a form—rush down to an altar, kneel and pray for five minutes, and take off. In old order, people do not have to work at a sermon; they don’t work at a truth. In this Walk you do. It is laid at your door, and you are brought to appropriate it, to seal the word to your heart, and to work it over. You buy a tape and listen to it over and over again, until that word has literally produced within you the thing which was conveyed. You don’t just hear with the ear, but there is an appropriation as that word is written upon your heart. These are the things which belong to the Kingdom message, and we should be aware that this is far ahead of what we have seen in the Church Age.
There have been many churches, many movements that have come along and proclaimed the Kingdom. It usually amounts to a minister who has made some clever studies out of a concordance and comes up with theories that he preaches to try to impress you. The message which is coming now is not made to impress anyone. The miracle is not: “Oh, what fantastic sermons. What amazing sermons we are listening to.” It is more than that. People say, “How God met me. I had a meeting with the Lord. The Lord really dealt with my heart,” and that is the way it should be. The focus is not on the shallow mechanics of delivery; it is upon a miracle word that imparts. We are receiving it as the word of God, we are not magnifying the vessel, but magnifying the Lord in a very real sense.
The Kingdom cannot come by deciding that this is a movement we’re going to join. It is inherited. It is inherited on the basis of a relationship—a relationship to God. The evidence of the relationship is the nature which you manifest. “If you say that you know Him and walk in darkness, you lie; you don’t know the truth” (I John 1:6). This is what John is writing about in his epistle. He is trying to show you that everything of God comes on a basis of a relationship to Him and the development of His nature within you.
If you are walking by the old nature, you are not going to get anywhere in the Kingdom. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood (the old nature) cannot inherit the kingdom of God. I Corinthians 15:50. Keep these two things in mind: that which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:6). “Unless you are born again.” Jesus is talking about spiritual birth where the nature of God is given to you. You are actually born a second time.
You might say, “We understood that. We were born again in the Baptist church.”
That is fine, I’m not arguing against that. You must understand more about new birth. It is not enough to come into that basic relationship. You must understand the growth of it, the development of it. The purpose is to see the Kingdom, to inherit the Kingdom, to come into what God intended for you as His child.
You are going to inherit the Kingdom of God, but there are certain things you are told in the Scriptures which will absolutely forbid you from inheriting the Kingdom. You must understand this.… flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. I Corinthians 15:50. Paul goes on to talk about the first resurrection at the last trump, and the changing that takes place. He is talking about the change from the basic flesh and blood life to the full manifestation of the resurrected life.
The Kingdom of God is going to come, but first will come the manifestation of the sons of God. You cannot see the Kingdom of God come forth fully established upon this earth until it is fully established within individuals. And it will never be fully established in individuals until they have been changed from a basic flesh and blood relationship to God, and they put on the incorruptible. This means you are not only born again, but that every part of your being must be given over to the new life. The process will have to run its full course until not only your spirit and your soul, but also your physical body is given over to the new life. Doctrines were made of this and called the Rapture, the first Resurrection, many things.
There will be a transformation in the form of life, a metamorphosis that you must go through. We have had prophecies for twenty years about divine health, about the manifestation of the sons of God, about the time of being glorified, about what God is doing. The Spirit who raised Christ up from the dead is beginning to quicken and make alive the mortal body (Romans 8:11). All these things are just foretastes of what must come. The Kingdom of God is coming, and the evidence of it is that the first inklings, the first moving of invading new realms are taking place now; we are finding little feelers going out into the financial world, into the government realm. We find the crumbling of the iron enclave of Nebuchadnezzar’s image. We find that the rock is beginning to hit, but it will go on until it grinds the image to powder and the rock will keep expanding until it fills the whole earth (Daniel 2:35, 45). This is the Kingdom of God and it will keep on coming.
Our bodies are a battleground. Ever since the Lord spoke of divine health I have been in the battleground. My physical body is the issue with Satan. Many of you, also, find that the warfare, which was once a very spiritual thing, is now involving your physical body. Your emotions and your physical reactions are the areas that show this is the battleground. But we are all going to be changed (I Corinthians 15:51, 52). We are all going to be changed, because we are going to inherit the Kingdom.
I am not bringing these things as afar off; we are into them now. Everyone who has stood and had the anointing of the Lord burning in his hands has had an evidence that the spiritual realm was invading the physical.
Are you ready to change? We talk about inheriting the Kingdom, but here are three passages of Scripture which tell you that if certain things are in your life, you will not inherit the Kingdom of God. It is important that we follow them. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions (we could read heresies), envyings, drunkenness, carousings, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19–21. These things are not going to inherit the Kingdom of God. Why not? Because these are evidences of works of the flesh, or the deeds of the flesh; these are the manifestation of the fleshly life, and flesh and blood will not inherit the Kingdom of God. This passage points to manifestations of the flesh life that cannot inherit the Kingdom.
What is the answer? The flesh life must be crucified; the new nature must be brought forth. You must seek those things which are above and see that new nature come forth. Until you do this you will not inherit the covenants, the promises, the blessings, or the great changes that are to take place. It is not that we are making ourselves worthy, but it is a matter of understanding that the Kingdom is inherited and these are the things which prevent that inheritance.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? (Here it is again. Over and over we see that the Kingdom is inherited.) Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
You say, “We believe in the grace of God. Anyone could come into this church.” Of course! Notice the rest. And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. I Corinthians 6:9–11.
You may have been all those things, but it is all changed now. You are washed; you are cleansed. When you read those Scriptures over and over again they should not beat you down. They should be the greatest encouragement to you. The Word says that in Corinth there were some people who were all these things, but they were changed; they were washed, they were sanctified. That means people can change.
Recently, a young man urgently desired to counsel with me. He had been a practicing homosexual for many years and now wanted the will of God with all his heart, but he didn’t actually believe he could change. That is wrong. We have seen many homosexuals change. Adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals are not unusual in the flesh life. But if you are going to inherit the Kingdom of God, the Word says the flesh life must not be there. Don’t be deceived. As long as these things exist in your life, you will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But you can be sanctified … but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.
We should not only believe in conversion, a born-again experience when we come into the Walk, but we should believe in the complete destruction of the old flesh life, that it be completely and totally washed away. We should believe in the absolute, perfect development of His nature in us!
But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 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. (Do you understand? They don’t have any inheritance at all in the Kingdom of God.) Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them. Ephesians 5:3–7. Paul means here, not “partakers of the sin,” but “do not be partakers of the judgments,” for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon them.
I have such a witness in my spirit that God is leading in these things so that you will not have the mark on you which will make you a partaker of the judgments coming upon the earth. Jude talks about the Lord is coming with the myriads of His angelic host to execute judgment upon all the ungodly for all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed (Jude 14, 15). There are many “ungodlys” in that verse in the book of Jude. He is coming to deal with the ungodly; He is coming to deal with these things. That is why sorcery and witchcraft and everything is all coming out in the earth. It is coming out where God is going to deal with it.
Nothing is hidden that is not being uncovered now (Mark 4:22). God is bringing it all out. We have never seen a time in which pornography has come forth to describe and openly advocate things that were at one time abhorrent. People would not even whisper about them, would not even mention them in the past. If they existed, they existed in some awful place, but no one would even talk about it. But now God is bringing everything out in the open. Immorality is common now, like it was in the days of Noah, like it was when fire fell on Sodom and Gomorrah.
Judgment will hit universally, but you are to escape it, like Lot did. You are fleeing from this judgment. Most biblical judgments were more or less localized. Sodom and Gomorrah was a local judgment in the Jordan Valley. The flood was probably the most widespread judgment that ever came in the Old Testament times. The judgments that fell upon Jerusalem were localized there. Jeremiah’s prophecies of judgments that were to come referred to a little land one-sixth the size of the state of Iowa. Just a little place with a car you could drive all over it in two days. It is not talking about great big areas; these are localized areas. If you traveled one hundred twenty miles you would have made a distant trip in the ancient Scriptural world. Jerusalem and Bethlehem are only six miles apart, and yet, in those days they rode a donkey or walked; and things moved a lot slower.
The judgments coming now are going to hit everywhere. Like it was in the days of Ezekiel, the angel with the slaughter weapon will go through and find those who are marked for iniquity. Now God is saying to you, “Get loose from these things. Because of these things the wrath of God is going to fall on the earth. Get rid of them.”
You say, “I think God loves me. He saved me and I keep slipping but I’m not too worried about it, because I can always pull myself out of it in time.”
You had better get out of the flesh and stay out, because that kind of life and that kind of a nature will fall under the fire. The end of all flesh is coming; you had better put an end to it now. Let the Lord judge it in your life. Let the blood of Jesus Christ, the cross of Christ be applied. Be cleansed and purified to the very depth of your being.
I have noticed that when you fall into such things you don’t get away with it. God immediately starts putting the pressure on you, and He will continue to do so because these things must be dealt with; they must be put out of your life, or you will never inherit the Kingdom of God.
To inherit the Kingdom, His promises, and His blessings, look into your life. Go back and become very negative in your thinking for a little while. Look at the negative side of the thing. Go back and say, “Are these habits and things in my life a manifestation of something that God is condemning, something He is coming to judge the world for? Am I so deceived that I believe I can sit here and be doing the same thing that God will judge the world for, that I’ll get away with it because I go to church, but the world will be judged because they don’t go to church?” The prophet said He would deal with the circumcised and uncircumcised alike (Jeremiah 9:25). It doesn’t make any difference whether you are in church or out of church. God deals with a nature when it has been sinful and arrogant and rebellious against Him.
Now He is saying, “Turn away from all these things. This is the way you will inherit the Kingdom of God. This is how you will be counted worthy.”
You say, “Well, we’re being persecuted.”
That is part of it.
“Look at how I am working for God.”
That is part of it, also. If you put your hand to the plow and look back, you are not fit for the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:62). This is not talking about salvation. It is not talking about whether you are going to hell or not. It is talking about inheriting the Kingdom of God. No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the Kingdom. This is very selective. Turn away from wickedness, set your heart to walk with God, put your hand to the plow and don’t look back.
In II Thessalonians Paul speaks about being worthy. Therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. I Thessalonians 1:4, 5. This perseverance in believing God, suffering for the Kingdom’s sake, is going to do it. God is going to reward you.
And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God (here it is—for the sake of the Kingdom of God), who shall not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life.” Luke 18:29, 30. If you are going to inherit these things there must be two things: first, you must turn away from all the things of which He says, “This can’t inherit the Kingdom of God”; second, you must persevere with a dedication to walk with God with all your heart so that you are counted worthy for the Kingdom.
The whole thing is the grace of God, but you cannot say, “Hallelujah, I’m going to be in the Kingdom by grace,” unless there is the evidence of grace in your life. The grace of God is coming to overcome and possess the Kingdom. The grace of God hath appeared, teaching us to live soberly, godly, righteously in this present world (Titus 2:12); that is how it is coming. That is why we turn from evil, and we seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). All the promises are based on this; and everything shall be added unto you.