MILLENNIAL KINGDOM......LOST!
ETERNAL, POST-SALVATION PENALTIES
for Carnal-Lifestyle Christians
1. Matthew 6:24 - 33
You must seek the Kingdom to gain the Kingdom or else you will lose the Kingdom. The penalties of losing the Kingdom are eternal. But, you will NEVER lose eternal life. Eternal life is an unconditional gift to you and can’t be taken away. The Kingdom and rewards that God wishes to give to you in heaven are CONDITIONAL, based upon how you choose to come under His Lordship in ALL things, becoming His disciple to do ALL things He has commanded, and in changing your behavior by crucifying your flesh in order to conform to the maturity and stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11 - 15)
We are born IN this present world but we are not to be OF this present world system — not to partake in its sinful lusts or goals, or be part of its sinful operations or false worldly religions.
Our present status from God’s point of view is that of a betrothed virgin (2 Corinthians 11:2 & 3). However, even though a betrothal, according to Middle Eastern custom, was binding and led towards formal marriage, it could be canceled by the husband if he found any “uncleanness” (fornication) in his future wife. (Matthew 1:18 - 25) This principle of “uncleanness” is expanded in the New Testament to include “spiritual” uncleanness as well as “physical” uncleanness and as we see a little later, many of the specific sins that Christians are found, by the Lord, to be practicing as “life-styles” are named. These specific sins are cause for Christ to reject any Christian who practices them, as His future bride in heaven and Scripture warns that He WILL reject them. (This is NOT loss of salvation. Remember, this study is entitled: MILLENNIAL KINGDOM......LOST!; NOT salvation.)
2. Psalm 45
What will Christ’s future wedding be like with those Christians who have pleased Him? What will it be like with those who have submitted to Him; with those who have become His TRUE disciples, made Him their personal Lord of their life, and have carefully woven their wedding gown or righteous deeds or acts which they will wear at their wedding to the Lamb?
3. Revelation 19:7 - 9
The gown WE make is the “righteous acts” (deeds) “of the saints”. She (the bride) is responsible for (1) “making herself ready”, and (2) “clothing herself” in fine linen. “...making herself ready” means we MUST separate sin, maintaining always, the goal to stop sinning. We must cleanse ourselves daily by confession 1 John 1:9. To break our bad habits is called the doctrine of SANCTIFICATION: To become holy in every area of our life, without exception. Christ has separated us from the penalty of sin (hell); but now WE must separate ourselves from the habits and the practice of sin. Christ does not automatically sanctify or separate us from sin habits at the moment of salvation. WE must separate ourselves in our DAILY experiences and sinful actions. Christ does NOT do it for us, although He supplies us with the power and the energy to break our habits IF we have confessed all known sin and are “walking in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16), and are “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18) through the means of confession of sin.
God holds us responsible for ALL our actions done in the body and, of course, in our heart and mind also. Salvation does NOT give us a well-disciplined life immediately. WE must now cultivate the habitual practice of righteousness in all our thoughts, words, and actions. (2 Corinthians 7:1) It is these righteous actions that gradually weave our wedding gown. (KJV error is the reason why Christians have not understood “Kingdom” teaching.)
4. ETERNAL LIFE does NOT include:
a. automatic membership in the Kingdom
b. the EARNED privilege of being the Bride of Christ
c. the EARNED privilege of being Married to the Lamb
d. the EARNED privilege of attending the Wedding Feast of the Lamb (Isaiah 25:6 - 10)
e. the dwelling place (“mansion” in the KJV) you will live in for eternity
f. the Pearly White city, New Jerusalem. Although we ARE citizens of heaven, God’s home (Ephesians 3:20), we are NOT automatically all members and dwellers in the city of the New Jerusalem, the city made by God for His Son’s Bride. Only the Bride lives there. Carnal life-style Christians, who lack the gown of righteous acts done in discipleship in this life for the Lamb, will NOT live there, but will live OUTSIDE the city. (Revelation 22:14 & 15)
5. The Bible reveals that God has said that NOT all Christians are equal in final REWARDS. All Christians ARE equal with eternal life and will have no hell penalty to suffer. However, Christians who refuse to crucify their flesh and get in step with Scriptural commands God will judge, and potential privileges that He has offered to those who love Him, can be withdrawn by those who deny Him (2 Timothy 2:12 & 13 with Titus 1:15 & 16). Thus, we see that we deny our Lord by what our decision is in regard to the kind of “deeds” we do. (Colossians 3:23 - 25; 1 Thessalonians 2:10 - 12; 3:11 - 13; 4:3 - 8) PENALTY? No Kingdom Inheritance.
6. There are only 4 kinds of people in this world, and you are ONE of these 4 types. (Matthew 13:18 - 23) If you are the 4th type, verse 23, the rewards you get will be proportional to your effort in witness, testimony, life-style, ministries, gospel evangelism, Lordship/discipleship relationship with Christ.
Obviously, the first three types, verses 19, 20, and 22, NEVER achieve Kingdom status.
Also, the 4th type is in a very exclusive category. (Matthew 9:36 & 37) Since few Christians will actually do the things I am sharing with you today, only those few in the 4th category who bear fruit will be Christ’s bride. Few will be married to the Lamb. Few will be in attendance at the wedding feast. Few will inherit the Kingdom to co-rule and co-reign on His throne with Him, and few will live in the bride’s city, the New Jerusalem. Most Christians, this verse reveals, will NOT work for the promotion of God’s Kingdom through the means of sharing the gospel to the lost so that they, the lost, can have the opportunity to attain eternal life, escape eternal hell punishment, and inherit the Kingdom. This verse reveals that most Christians over the whole church age period have not cared for the lost, nor pitied their hopeless condition, nor lifted a finger to get them saved. MOST Christians, this verse implies, are lazy to work for God, or to submit to all His commands. Most Christians care only about themselves, and those close to them, but generally avoid the unsaved, at least in the sense of sharing with them spiritual things. Many Christians are hard workers for their employers, but not for their Lord. In other words — MOST Christians are hard workers....for a “buck” instead of for the Lamb.
7. ALL unsaved people who have died and are in hell, desire NOW, if it would be possible (and it isn’t), to come back from the dead and PREACH the gospel to the world. They desire to work to reach the lost that are still alive on planet Earth. ALL of these unsaved people who have gone to hell and who have lost all things, would put us Christians to shame in working to tell others of Christ’s salvation to all......if they could ever do it. (Luke 16:19 - 31)
8. Most Christians today seem unaware or unconcerned about the coming judgment (the Bema Seat Rewards judgment), and the seriousness of each person’s verdict. (1 Corinthians 3:8 - 15)
Verse 8 is the key verse. Verse 15 reveals a verdict of devastating complete loss of ALL rewards, because he had none based on “righteous”, Spirit-led, sin-confessed, merciful actions to help the lost. Not a single action of ANY kind of that Christian passed the test. All THAT Christian has is eternal life; NO wedding gown. Thus, the Christian in verse 15 reveals he has nothing; no righteous acts, no betrothal, no future marriage with Christ, no wedding, no wedding feast, no Kingdom inheritance, no future in the Bride’s city. (1 John 4:16 - 18) Fear of not doing what is right to do produces punishment.
9. What is love? (1 John 5:3; 2 John 1:6) Love then is commandment obedience and not just emotional passion toward the God who loved us first.
10. Any Christian, without righteous acts, accumulated during his Christian lifetime by living in Lordship and as a disciple, who attempts to attend or “crash” the “Wedding of the Lamb” will be thrown out. (Matthew 22:1 - 13)
a. verses 2 - 8: The Jews
b. verses 9 - 13: The Gentiles
c. Only disciples, of all ages, will be allowed to attend the wedding feast who have proven their discipleship by having wedding clothes fashioned by their righteous acts. (See also Revelation 16:15)
11. James 2:12 & 13 - Mercy Seat Verse - Rewards Judgment (1 Corinthians 3)
People who do not share the gospel — the first three types of people talked about in #6 — and who do not witness, testify for Christ, and leave the lost and unsaved to “die in their sins” without hearing a word from your lips about salvation, will be judged — on the basis of service, or lack of it — SEVERELY and WITHOUT mercy, because they showed no mercy to the lost.
12. James 1:22 with Galatians 6:3 - 5, 7 & 9
Doing is the key to inheriting the Kingdom. No doing; no Kingdom. You will be labeled as a second class Christian for all eternity by lack of a shining gown. (Daniel 12:2 & 4)
13. Requirements for inheritance (additional verse - 2 Thessalonians 1:5 - 12)
Notice that these, verses 11 & 12, are exhortative, but use the conditional word “may” to signal God “may” do these things. The implication, however, is IF we obey the exhortation these things may follow but if we don’t do those things, then the opposite can be expected.
Excuses of the 2nd and 3rd types of persons mentioned in #6: (Luke 9:57 - 62)
14. Hypocrite believers - (Luke 6:46). “Lord, Lord...”: a cliche’ or a reality?
15. Disinherited Christians - Galatians 5:16 - 21
A disinherited Christian is a person who chooses not to walk in the Spirit, but rather lives in the flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh as normal, regular practices in their life. For him, there is NO inheritance.
1 Corinthians 6:8 & 9
A disinherited Christian is one who has not experientially sanctified or separated himself from habitual sins, and who continues to live in the flesh, rather than to purify himself. (1 John 3:2 & 3)
16. CONDITIONAL VERSES:
Acts 20:32 - Why does He say “among all those who are sanctified” (separated from the regular practice of sins)? The answer is because while all Christians are positionally sanctified by the blood of Christ through faith, they are NOT all experientially sanctified by crucifying the flesh. Positional sanctification is ALL of Christ’s doing. Experiential sanctification is ALL of OUR doing (with the power of the Holy Spirit). Some Christians will die in the condition of NO experiential sanctification. No experiential sanctification, no inheritance in the Kingdom.
On the other hand, the “those” He is pointing out here are the Lordship disciples, the Bride of Christ, who are busy making their linen gowns of righteous deeds in preparation for the wedding. (Ephesians 5)
Acts 26:14 - 18
Verse 18 - Notice “forgiveness” (salvation: eternal life), but later “an inheritance” which equals the Kingdom among those (the Bride Christians) “who have been” (experientially) “sanctified by faith in Me.” Experiential sanctification is also an act of faith in Christ to believe He can empower you to change by the power of His Word through the energy of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 5:1 - 6
Verses 1 - 5 are Christians who lose the Kingdom; verse 6 are unsaved who lose heaven.
Colossians 1:13
We were delivered and transferred, but Colossians 1:21 - 23 give an “IF” reminding us that the Kingdom is conditional. Some will NOT continue to be steadfast, and will move away from the hope of the gospel, and become carnal Christians, forgetting about how they obtained eternal life and heaven. (2 Peter 1:8 - 11) Verse 10 can forget and “stumble” and lose the Kingdom.
Hebrews 2:1
Every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense.
Hebrews 4:1 - 11
Conditional promises...and failures to attain. Notice verse 10: works
OLD TESTAMENT FAILURES AS WARNINGS
OF POSSIBLE NEW TESTAMENT FAILURES
17. The first generation of Jews that Moses was leading to the Promised Land (Kingdom), ...did they enter the Promised Land? (Numbers 14:1 - 38; verse 18; 1 Corinthians 10:5 - 12)
18. Did Moses reach the Promised Land? (Deuteronomy 32:48 - 52)
19. Romans 11:17 - 22 - The wild olive branches...Can they be cut off?
20. PARABLES: Virgins - Matthew 25:1 - 13; Talents - Matthew 25:14 - 30
21. WASHING FEET
John 13:1 - 17 (verse 8) washing feet DAILY = confession daily
Verse 8 - “no part with Me” = No fellowship, no Bride, no Kingdom
James 5:19 & 20 - Our obligation is to use church discipline to restore a carnal, sinning brother if possible. We “wash his feet” (John 13:14) in love, when we turn him back to the truth to confess his sins and get right with God. We restore him back on the pathway to the Kingdom, and have helped him to be pure before God again.
22. OBEY LEADERS
Hebrews 13:17 - They will give an account of you as a primary witness as to your status as a Christian in this life while you were under them. The verdict will probably be either carnal or committed Christian.
You will also be judged by the Law of Liberty = Scriptures. (James 2:12 & 13)
23. ISAAC and ISHMAEL as types of those who attain the Kingdom (Isaac) and those who lose the Kingdom (Ishmael, the first Arab, and father of all Palestinians and PLO). Genesis 16 & 17 with Galatians 4:22 - 31) Ishmael was by flesh. He was cast out to the east of the Promised Land while Isaac was by Spirit. He will attain the Promised Land (Kingdom); the Jews.
24. THE MIDEAST TODAY
A. Palestinian and PLO Arabs Versus the Israelis (Jews).
B. Ishmael STILL versus Isaac.
C. Antichrist Peace Covenant will give Ishmael part of the Promised Land.
D. After 7 years, Christ will come back to Israel and give the land back to Isaac (Israel-redeemed), and in the process, all the rebellious Palestinians, the PLO, the rebellious Jews and Gentiles, as well as the anti-Christ, the false prophet, and all unbelievers for the flesh will be exterminated and they will NOT triumph over the Spirit. However, all His faithful, true disciples, who are clothed in His salvation and righteous deeds (the Bride), will begin the Kingdom which they have inherited.
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