Judgment Begins in the House of God

Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. (Hebrews 6:2)

If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. (Philippians 3:11)

Every saint, every diligent disciple, knows how the Lord Jesus deals with each detail of his conduct. As we confess our sins and achieve victory over the flesh and soulish pride, the Lord removes our sin and self-will from us by several Divine means. This is the operation of eternal judgment, and it will be administered to us now if we will cooperate with the Holy Spirit.

We believe it is possible to pass completely through death, spiritual resurrection, and eternal judgment now—in the world. We can enter life and rulership now. In this manner we arrive at the spiritual dimension of the first resurrection from the dead.

We believe further that only those who pass through judgment and spiritual resurrection now will participate in the first resurrection from among the dead, will rise from the dead and ascend to meet the Lord when He comes.

How could it be otherwise? It is not possible that we can be raised from the dead, rise to meet the Lord in the air, be ever with the Lord, and then be judged. The only way in which this could be possible would be if our judgment is a sort of gala awards ceremony in which every believer receives a blessing and is not punished to any significant extent.

If we believe Christ bore all of our punishment on the cross, and by believing in His name we escape punishment, then it is plausible that every believer will be raised from the dead, ascend to meet the Lord, be ever with the Lord, and rejoice throughout the administration of the Judgment Seat of Christ, realizing that no punishment of a serious nature ever will be administered to him. Also, we can sit in the balconies of Heaven in air-conditioned comfort and eat candy while we watch the Jews without the Holy Spirit preach the Gospel in the face of Antichrist. How the Jewish evangelists learned the Gospel without the Holy Spirit is not always made clear.

This error is believed by numerous Gentile Christians and perhaps by some Jewish Christians. It is true that the victorious saints will have boldness in the Day of Judgment. It is not true that the lukewarm, indifferent (to spiritual matters) "believer" of today has a scriptural basis for any such assurance. The prevailing carefree attitude is not supported by II Corinthians 5:10,11 or the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. Neither is it in harmony with the fourth chapter of I Peter, Jude, or the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation.

In fact, the concept that a correct doctrinal position concerning Christ delivers us from reaping what we sow is contrary to the entire Scriptures, especially and emphatically the New Testament—particularly Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

It simply is not true.

If it is not true we can see immediately the danger facing the Christians and their teachers.
It is not possible that a believer can be raised from the dead, ascend to meet the Lord at His coming, be ever with the Lord, be glorified together with Him, and then be judged. It will not happen. We must be judged in advance of the first resurrection. Revelation 20:4-6, the passage that describes the first resurrection, does not mention the books of judgment.

Peter informs us that judgment already has begun in the house of God (I Peter 4:17).

R. Thomas

The Great Obligation of a True Christian

From the writings of Gerhard Tersteegen – (1697-1769)

The following material was extracted from two books published by Harvey Publications and printed by Old Paths Tract Society.

Gerhard Tersteegen was a German contemporary of John Wesley. He wished for a secluded life, but crowds besieged his dwelling place, eager to feast on the words of wisdom that fell from the lips of one who had been closeted with his Maker. Everywhere he went, crowds gathered by wayside, in barns, and in homes where their famished souls feasted upon the Bread of Life. Tersteegen was also a prolific hymn writer.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If true Christians possess so great and sublime a dignity, they have also a great and sublime duty to observe, and that for the very same reason—they are not their own, but God’s, both as it respects body and soul. Hence it is said in the words of our text, “Ye are not your own; therefore glorify God in your bodies and in your spirits which are God’s.”… The life of my spirit, the life of my body, my powers and faculties, belong not to me, but to God…

I must desire neither grace, nor long life, neither health, nor bodily powers, except for the sole end and purpose of applying them to the service of God to Whom they alone belong. I must devote all my powers and faculties to Him; all must be for him. If I only employ them in eating and drinking, in amassing money and possessions, or in attaining honor in order to live in ease and pleasure, I commit a culpable [accountable] wrong. I have no right nor authority over my bodily powers, no right nor power over my property. I must offer them up to God and devote them to His service…

This is that real and complete service which God requires of His people even as we read in Romans 12 that we are to “Present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” [This is our “reasonable service.”]… Therefore, since Christ has purchased my body and my senses, I must not lend my ears and eyes to hear or see anything sinful. Like Job, I must make a covenant with my eyes and ears that I do not desire to hear, see, taste, and feel anything that does not lead me to God…

I dare not love the world, nor that which is in the world—the lust [desires] of the flesh, the lust [desires] of the eye, and the [self-elevating] pride of life. My heart belongs entirely to God. I must, therefore, present and devote my love, my inclinations, and desires to him, or else I commit real sacrilege… Ought I to take pleasure in vanity? Have I not enough in Christ? Why ought I to desire anything else beside Him? This would be just as much as if I said to Him, “Thou alone art not enough. I must therefore have something else for my gratification besides Thee!”

This be far from us! Let us delight ourselves in the Lord alone and entirely, for He alone is able to give us all that our hearts can wish and desire both in time and eternity. Christ, Who has bought our hearts, not with gold and silver, but with His precious blood, and has, therefore, the greatest right to them, will not have them half and divided, but is desirous of possessing them entirely…

My will is not longer my own, since Christ has purchased me and has weaned my spirit from the world… I dare not use my will anymore according to my own will or my own good pleasure, for self-will must no more be mentioned amongst Christians.

The words, I will, and, I will not, are disgraceful in the mouth of a true Christian. Our will must be resigned to Christ. We must be prepared to live according to His will and not according to the will of the Gentiles [unbelievers]. We must ever be ready and willing to follow the smallest intimations of His good pleasure… We ought to renounce all right over our own will in order that Christ, by His Spirit, may alone will and not will in us…

O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. (Jer. 10:23)

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Rom. 8:14)

Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh {as he dies out to the self-originated way of life} hath ceased from sin {self-will}; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. (1 Peter 4:1-2)

Therefore as much as we do not seek to walk according to our [God-ordained] vocation, holy and blamelessly in the sight of God…God is not only not glorified by us, but rather dishonored and disgraced. For when those individuals who have the appearance of being particularly devoted and attached to godliness, [live]…as the world does, the latter [the world] is then ready to say, “Look… These are the people who wear the name of pious saints and regenerate, and yet they are no less fond of vanity than the world and seek after wealth and riches and after great honors. It is all mere hypocrisy with them. It is true, they have the name that they live, but they are not less spiritually dead than other men.”…