Is God Trying to Save

Is God trying to save the whole world today? Now, this is a question that quite often is asked for people in the world. And people in the world sometimes think that is a big battle between God and Satan. And if that is the case, really the whole world is deceived. The whole world is going wrong. So if that is the case, it would imply that God is losing. But that is not the case. God has a plan. God has a plan that is executing methodically and carefully. And it has got an ultimate end result. And the end result is that He will save the whole world. Obviously, except those that don't want to be saved, they will actually reject. But He will save the whole world when He sets His hand to do it. And the time that He sets His hand to do it is when Christ will come to earth to take Satan out from His position as God of this world. And Christ will then become the King of kings, Lord of lords, ruling on earth. And you and I got willing, if you and I make it, and hope and pray we all will make it, because that's what we striving for, to be there with Christ ruling with Him.

Today, we are to preach the Gospel. Matthew 24, 14 says it very clearly, and this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached unto all world.

And people in the world read that and say, therefore, we're going to go out and preach.

But the next part of the statement is as a witness. You see, the Gospel is being preached as a witness.

It's just like Noah preached the Gospel for maybe the whole period of under 20 years while the ark was being built, or maybe it was a shorter period, but during that period of time, and the success rate that Noah had in converting the world was zero. Nobody came with him in the ark except for his family, and some of them were really not really converted. So it was just eight people, and nobody else got repented and changed. Obviously, there were a few faithful men before Noah, like Abel and maybe a few others, but the point is God has a plan, and quite often we just don't get it. Now, we are in the church. We know God's plan, but do we really grasp it? Do we really understand what God is doing? Now, you and I know very well that God's Holy Days, depict God's plan in a very carefully laid out step by step manner. Seven festivals, seven holy days, very meaningful, full of meaning. The first three are all tied, in a sense, to Christ's first coming.

Ourself, obviously, is tied to Christ's first coming. Christ died for us. He suffered for us, and He served us. Therefore, the symbolism of foot washing serving, suffering for us, the bread for our healing, and dying for us, the wine. And it's all He came because of our sin, mankind's sin. But God adds verse as part of His plan.

And people may ask, well, how come God would allow sin as part of His plan? And if we really understand what the plan of God is, is to have children in His family, and you and I as parents, we know that children will sooner or later do something wrong. I mean, it is funny when we were at a pre-teen camp and we saw kids just doing silly things, and now and again they had to be gently guided. And it reminded me of the proverb that says, foolishness is bound. Do you know what binding is? It's bound in the heart of a child.

And that's the way God made us, because we have free moral agents. We are free moral agents. We need to make our own choices so that we learn from making both good and bad decisions. And we learn that we have to trust God in what He tells us is the right way. Which basically, that's what the tree of life is, is trusting God, that He tells us what's right and wrong. Because the other tree, the tree of death, is not trusting God, but trust in yourself or what other people may deceive you to follow.

And so, God made us by design, by intent, with the capability of making choices. And we could make wrong choices. But the problem is, if the wrong choice is the wrong choice, that is sin. And the wages of sin is death. And the final outcome, therefore, is the end of God's plan, because He's trying to create children in His family.

But they need to have free moral agency to learn to make right decisions, so they're not robots. But once they make the wrong decision, which goes against God's law, that sin is the wages of sin is death, beep! The end of the plan. So in His plan, He had, by design, the need to have grace, to have mercy, to have forgiveness, to have kindness.

And that's why the mercy seat sits above the law. And that's why we have justice, mercy, and faith. You see, justice comes first. We have to do what's right. We have to repent. Upon repentance, then there is mercy. You see, it's not mercy first and injustice. It's justice first. The weightier matters of the law. Justice first, then mercy. And then we need to walk in faith. God's way. And that's what Adam and Eve needed to have done, to walk in faith, when God told them, don't do this, don't eat of that fruit of that tree.

And that's the same thing God tells us. And so, part of God's plan required Christ to come, symbolized by the Passover. And then, the very immediate next step is the Days of Unleavened Bread, which basically represent us making a commitment that we're going to obey God fully, unconditionally. And that's why seven days, all the time. But then we realize that we are also bound by this carnal nature of ours, because you and I are physical.

And you and I need to be freed from that. And the way to help us to free is with God's help. God's Holy Spirit. And therefore, He sends us His Holy Spirit, provided we are committing ourselves to obey Him. And so, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit, which when you and I read in Acts 2, verse 36 through 38, let's just turn in Acts 2, verse 36 through 38, that is, Peter's, let's call it sermon, to the people who gathered there, which came from different countries, which spoke different languages, but God miraculously gave them the capability of all understanding what Peter was saying, so that this wonderful good news could be preached.

And then, towards the end of Peter's sermon, at the temple, then Peter struck a very powerful statement that said to them. And he says, please now, assuredly, as in verse 36, that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified. Now, understand that a lot of people he was talking to, they came from Persia, they came from Rome, they came from Turkey, they came from Egypt, and they obviously spoke different languages, and they were understanding. And so, it was not them literally that crucified Jesus, but we all crucified Jesus, because what we've said, we all have said.

So, but God has made this Son or Man, which was also the Son of God, both Lord and Christ. They were probably talking in Hebrew or Aramaic, and probably they could have said a word like I'm not saying it was, because it doesn't say it yet, but I pretty well could assume that the word Lord, which in the Old Testament quite often is Yahweh, and it's translated in the Septuagint as Kurios, which is Lord in the New Testament as well. They could have used, or Peter could have used the word, he made Jesus both the Lord, Yahweh, eternal, and the Messiah. I'm not saying that is the word, so I'm speculating, yeah, but it could have. But the point is, they got it.

They believed what Peter said. And again, this is the first step or the prerequisite for baptism, right? It's belief, it's faith, it's trust. So they believed, and when they believed, when they heard this, we read that in verse 37, they were cut to the heart, which basically means they repented. They came to a point of repentance of what we have done. And then they said to Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do now?

And so we see a point here of acknowledging repentance, and that's why Peter says, you have to completely repent. They believed, and you've got to repent, and then you've got to be baptized by the authority of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. And then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, because the gift of the Holy Spirit is the promise from the Father to us that we will be truly God's children. And so it came to the point here on the day of Pentecost that they received the Holy Spirit. All the apostles did, and it appears that on that day, that same day, three thousand souls, we can read that in verse 41, three thousand people were baptized, and surely they received God's Holy Spirit. And then they went to the different territories, countries, Rome, this, that, and that. And they then started the beginnings of the Church in various parts of the world. But getting back to the point of receiving God's Holy Spirit, because as we are approaching the day of Pentecost, we've got to realize the importance and the meaning of us receiving God's Holy Spirit. And obviously we do know that by laying on our vans after baptism, laying on hands in prayer of the minister, and the conditional of true repentance and faith, and then God promised he would give us the Holy Spirit. But let's read a little bit more about this God's Spirit in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 is a really, to many of you and of us, is a, you could be called it one of our favorite chapters. It is a very, very significant, and it touches many of our hearts, the very meaning, profound meaning, in chapter 8. But it's interesting that at the end of Romans 7 Paul is saying that there is another law, we can read that in Romans 7 verse 23, there's another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, which is God's Spirit, and bringing me to the captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. You know, there was this carnality there. And Paul is an apostle. Now, probably for more than 20 years, as an apostle of Jesus Christ, he's saying he is struggling with his carnal mind. And so, brethren, I'm sure you all are going to say, I also struggle with carnal mind.

If you and I are honest, we're going to say that. But we can take, let's say, comfort, encouragement, because Paul also struggled. And then Paul said, oh, wretched man, there I am, verse 24, oh, wretched man, there I am. Who's going to deliver me from this body of the flesh of death? This carnal body, this carnal nature that we have. And he says, I thank God through Jesus Christ that God through Jesus Christ, he is executing this plan. And ultimately, you and I will be changed, resurrected at Christ's coming, at a day of symbolized by the day of trumpets. If we remain faithful till the end, then we'll be changed to spirit beings. So I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord, because he will ultimately make that change and help us. But in the meantime, you and I need to be fighting this war, spiritual war, day by day, by day, by day, by day, by day, by day, till you and I die. It's a life of persevering, a life of overcoming, and never-ending. Like you heard of the movie or the story called the Never-Ending Story. Well, it's like that. It's never-ending in this life until we die. But we have to be persevering, and we have to be overcoming. We have to be overcome. We have to be doing better and better. Yes, life's going up and down, but hopefully over the long term, it's going up rather than going down. But it's still going up and down. So don't be discouraged.

Don't be discouraged because you're still struggling, because Paul is still struggling. But, like Paul said, he thanked God through Jesus Christ. And you and I can thank God through Jesus Christ. That's why in the very next verse, Paul says, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ, who do not walk according to the flesh or according to the spirit. And that is the key. That is the key. That you and I are fighting so that in this spiritual warfare, we're putting away the wrong thoughts and wrong ideas and the wrong words or the desire to have say wrong things that we should say. We're putting that away. We're putting away sometimes that anger that could boil inside us because you see so many things wrong that you just feel like having revenge. But you know that you shouldn't do that because Romans says later, revenge is mine. Leave it in God's hands. And it's hard. But we've got to do that. We've got to trust God that he's just and he will bring justice in his time. But he is allowing certain time and a lot of mercy because God is more merciful than you are and than I am. And thank God that he's more merciful. And because he's more merciful than what we are, he's giving people a chance, an opportunity, time to repent because God wants all to come to repent.

But the point is, in the meantime, we've got to be walking according to the Spirit. And you read that in, for instance, in verse 14 of Romans 8, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God, are the sons of God. You know, God's Spirit brings your mind, touches your subconscious, touches my subconscious, and he says to me, George, don't do this, or don't think this way, or don't say that. But then, it's up to you and I to follow that lead because God will never, never, ever force you. Because you have free moral agency. And so, you are being guided by God's Holy Spirit, but never forced. Because one of the things that God's Holy Spirit does help you with is self-control. You know, Galatians 5, 22 and 23 says one of the nine characteristics of God's Holy Spirit is self-control. So, God helps you, gives you the helper. It's that extra energy. It's that extra oomph, that extra power for you and I to overcome. But you and I need to use it.

We must take it and use it. That's why it says don't quench the Spirit because we've got to use it. Productively and effectively. So, we need to be led by the Spirit.

And then we read a little bit later that it says, and therefore it says the Spirit itself or himself bears witness with our Spirit. In other words, God's Spirit bears witness with our Spirit of the man in man because the two are joined, all right, that we are the children of God. And if children of God then is. And it says is of two things. Is of God and joint is of Christ. It's two things. We see we ought to inherit to be beings like God is. You and I are beings like humans are, but we'll be beings like God is. Obviously much inferior, but of the same kind, of the God kind. So, we're going to inherit that kind. And we're going to join as of Christ because Christ is going to inherit all things. Everything's been given to him and we are going to work with him. And we're going to be joined here as with him. And then there is the biggest English word immediately after that. If. That's the biggest English word. If. If indeed we suffer within that we may also be glorified together. If. There's going to be a lot of suffering, a lot of pain. Christ had to suffer wrongfully because of sin. We have to suffer wrongfully. And that means we have to forgive when others hurt us because of sin. Because we are going to be part of that body of Christ. We are part of that body of Christ, which is the church.

And so he says that we are going to be with him.

And then he says, listen, this, what are we going to get? This glory is going to be so awesome, so great, that it can't be compared with the sufferings that you and I go through. And you know, some people go through a lot of suffering, a lot of pain. And sometimes the pain is so deep, so profound, so emotional, so mental, so psychological, that you feel completely broken and incompetent and incapable. Because could it be physical, could be mental, could it just, and you just, you just hold on, hold on.

Because you know that the glory, that's what it says, the glory which should be revealed in us will be far greater than a million years from today in the kingdom. You and I will look back and we'll say, well, that was nothing. We have to hold on to that hope. That hope is a vision. And hope is an anchor to the soul. It really anchors you down and helps you to stay.

So, so it says, even then, even the very creation, the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. And you read in Isaiah 11 that, you know, even the wild beasts will be different and the whole, so the whole physical creation actually waits for that revealing of the sons of God. Not just in the millennium, but when all the sons of God will be fully revealed, we're talking about a new heaven and a new earth, where there'll be no corruption. Can you even begin to think of a world in which there's no corruption, there's no pain, there's no tears, there's no cry?

He says, verse 20, because the creation was subject to futility. The physical creation, the way God made it with its DNA and formula and whatever it is, is specifically made subject to futility, to corruption.

Not willingly, but because of him who subjected in hope. What hope? That you and I, through this, going through this life of futility and corruption, we learn character, God's holy righteous character, that we are going to become children of God with God's holy righteous character. In other words, that we are going to grow in grace in the kindness, in goodness, in all the good things that God has, grace. And we're going to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In other words, we're going to strive to be like him.

And that goal is for us to have God's character.

But then he says, you know, because the creation, verse 21, will be delivered from the bondage of corruption. The creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption. You and I cannot visualize what that is. That's why there's only two chapters when there's the new heaven and new earth and he doesn't say much about it.

And I always think of that movie that says, life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. And you know what? Life in the new heaven and new earth is like a box of chocolates. You and I don't know what you're going to get it because it's going to be so nice and so wonderful that our physical human minds cannot grasp it, cannot even comprehend it.

It's going to be so wonderful.

But that brings to mind the value of Christ's sacrifice. Because Christ was at that level of eternity, of joy, of fullness, and he emptied himself, Philippians chapter 2, to become a human being voluntarily and then to die for you and I. So it's not just the level that you and I comprehend death, but he gave up that level of joy and happiness and eternity and he became a human being.

But what God is promising us when the revealing of the children of God will happen, we're going to be like that, like that image of God which is Christ. And that's why it says in 1 John 3 verse 1 and 2, what this love God's got for us, that we will be like him and when he's revealed we'll be like him. And then in verse 3 he says, anyone that has this hope in him will strive to purify himself. You and I need to have this hope in us all the time.

But you and I cannot do it by ourselves. You and I cannot do it by ourselves. We need God's Holy Spirit, symbolized by what happened on the day of Pentecost. That God's Holy Spirit was poured out on a number of human beings. But even then, even then, that number of human beings upon whom the Holy Spirit was poured out was a fraction of the people that were living at that time.

And today, if you are looking at statistics, you can start in Lawton. The number of people in Lawton that are faithfully sticking to the truth is a small fraction, a very microscopic fraction, of the people in Lawton.

And so, you could say it, in the whole state, or in every state in the states, in fact, in the whole earth. If you look at the number of people that have God's Holy Spirit, it's only a fraction of mankind.

And that's why it says in verse 23, not only that, but we also have the first fruits of the Spirit. We have the first fruits of the Spirit.

That is such a powerful statement. Now, I know people use this and must come through it and use this as an excuse to say the resurrection will be on Pentecost, which is false. But this is saying that we are the first fruits of the Spirit, which means God's Holy Spirit will be poured out to the whole of humanity during the millennium and beyond. But today, we are only the first fruits. And that pouring out of God's Holy Spirit to the whole of mankind, it's when Christ comes and then He will save the whole of mankind.

And so I started today by saying, is God trying to save the whole world today? No! No! He will save the world when Christ comes to rule the world.

Not today. Today, God is working with a small grain or group of people, a small group of people, like a grain of salt on your plate. And you and I are the salt of the earth to God. You and I are just that little bit of flavoring, but God is working with you and I as the first fruits of the Spirit. And you and I need to use the Spirit because we are the first few that have received the Spirit because the whole of mankind will receive the Spirit when Christ comes back. But today, we are the first fruits.

Sure, God's Holy Spirit will be poured out on all mankind. We know that. Because God wants everyone to come to repentance. Not granted. They will receive God's Holy Spirit as they repent and believe. And those that reject it obviously will not. But I'm confident when Christ comes back, the vast majority of mankind will repent and will change.

But today, we are the first fruits. We have to persevere. We have to grow in the first fruits. In the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, 2 Peter 3 verse 18.

And Christ gave a lot of parables about the kingdom. I mean, one of the shocking ones is the parable of the wedding feast. You can see that in Matthew 22. And in that parable, He calls people to come to the wedding. Oh no! I've got to look after the cattle, or I've got to look after this, or my brother is sick.

No, I can't come to church because my so-and-so is sick. Oh, so you can't go shopping because so-and-so is sick. No, no, I can go shopping, but I can't come to church. Okay, well, and then after that person passed away, well, I can't come to church because my neighbor is sick. Oh, and then he says, no, I can't come to church because I've got to look after the dog.

You know, it reminds me of the parable of the wedding feast. Now, grant it, please, please. There are a number of people that have a valid reason they can't come to church. Please, I'm not judging. I'm not criticizing. Please don't misunderstand me. That is not the intent. But the point is, the greater meaning is that God is calling us for a great wedding party. In other words, for a great wedding reception. What? To be part of his ruling family.

And that's why it says, many are called, but few are chosen. Matthew 22, verse 14. Many are called, but few respond to that calling. How many people have received the good news, the Beyond Today magazine, and they said, this is great stuff. I like it. I love it. But there's no root. There's no root. The seed goes up and it doesn't take root. How can they be chosen to be amongst, let's just call it the creme de la creme, of those that will be chosen and selected to be ruling with Christ?

Let me give you a slightly different example.

There are many good athletes. For instance, there are many good swimmers. There are many good 100-yard, 100-meter runners and the mile runners and things like that. Many are excellent, but only a few make the U.S. Olympic team. Only a few are selected to be in that team. And then they have to be faithful to the race. So, you know, you've got to be faithful so that they end and go and represent the country. The analogy is God is preparing a team of people that are going to rule within, that have to be faithful, that have to have the character of God, that have to be growing to the very image of Christ, so that they are loyal and faithful and they're going to work with Christ. Because in that team, you're not just going to be sitting there and do nothing.

Those that are going to be in that team with Christ as the top echelon of God's government for the millennium and beyond for eternity. They've got to be really faithful and loyal and committed. And God is calling humanity, but few respond and even less remain faithful till the end.

And so, what is God's early Spirit for? God's early Spirit is to help you and I as first fruits of the Spirit to put it to practice till the time of the end.

Till Christ's coming. And then at Christ's coming, at the last trump, symbolized by the day of trumpets, will be changed into Spirit beings. But in the meantime, we gotta be growing to the image of Christ. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4.

And let's start in verse 11.

He says, He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. So, God has given to us, members in the church, different people to help us. To help us.

In other words, to equip us. That's what it says in verse 12. To equip us as the saints. Yes, we are saints. Not in the way the world thinks of saints, sanctification, like in the Pope takes this person is now is a saint. No, we are set apart. Saints means we are separated from the world. We are different. And so, it's for the equipping of us, which are being set apart for the work of ministry. That does not mean that you are set apart to be a minister. It means that you are set apart to minister. In other words, to serve. The Greek word, the Akmos, which is served for the work of serving one another. Because God is preparing a team of people that once they change and they are with Christ, they will serve mankind. And so, it's equipping us to serve for the building or edifying, the building, the constructing, the edifying of the body of Christ. Which is the spiritual body of Christ, which is the church, which is what we're going to be at the marriage supper to be of Christ and to be one within. Till, verse 13, till, you see, we've got to be working over coming, till, we all come to the unity of the faith. Of the faith. You see, what we believe, what we trust, this trusting relationship between us and God.

We believe that God is going to do what he says he will do. It's faith. It's a trusting relationship. And he's going to entrust us with great responsibilities in that eternal family. And so, we all come to the unity of this trust. Being trusting one another. You think about it.

The biggest problem that can happen in a marriage relationship is when trust is broken. In fact, we have a commandment that says, don't break trust. What's the seventh commandment? It says, don't commit adultery. But basically, it is, don't break that trust. And that's what Adam and Eve did when they selected the wrong fruit of the wrong tree. They broke trust with God. But we need to come to the unity of this faith, of this trusting, and of the knowledge of the Son of God. We got to understand what we got to become. Our standard is not you comparing yourself against me or against the person next to you, whatever it is. You compare yourself to Christ. I compare myself to Christ. And so I've got to come to the knowledge of the Son of God so that I come to what it says, to a perfect man, to a perfect person, man or woman, to a perfect person, mature to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And now we're not going to be tossed around of all these weird ideas at every window of doctrine, it says. But verse 15, we're going to speak the truth. But we've got to be careful because you can say the truth and hurt people. And you've got to say the truth in love.

And so there's a way how to say it, but it's a godly way.

So that speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into Him, into Christ, who is the head, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective work by which every part does it share causes growth of the body, which is the church, for the edifying of the church in love, in outgoing concern. You see, brethren, our God is to be in the kingdom, to be children of God.

But you and I can only be in the kingdom if we edify ourselves with the help of God's early Spirit in love, in Godly love, in Godly kindness. And we all, I am, and we all are, long way from it. We got a lot to grow. I got a lot to grow. We all have a lot to grow. But that's our God.

And that, brethren, is our calling.

You and I need to understand we have an awesome calling.

Turn with me to Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3.

And look at verse 1. Let's just read from verse 11 to 14. If by any means I may attain to the resurrection of the dead, not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may hold, lay all of that for which Christ Jesus has laid all of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to ever pre-ended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the price of the upward call. The calling that you and I have is an upward call. It's an awesome calling. It's a call to be in the very ruling top echelons of God's family. You know, those people that will be called later, in the millennium and beyond, they will not be at the top of that kingdom. Those at Christ's coming will then become the first fruits of God. At that time, we know our first fruits of the Spirit, but it will then, when we change the Spirit beings, will then be the first fruits of God. At Christ's coming, they will be with Christ, whatever he goes. Others that come afterwards will not be in the same position of service to mankind. And so, it says, I press towards the goal for the price, for the prize of the upward call of God in and through Christ Jesus.

Brethren, we have a great calling.

God is not trying to save the world today. He is preparing a people today, you and I. Yes, we've got to preach the Gospels of witness, but an equally important part of God's work today is what God is doing, and you and I individually prepare you and I to be rulers in the world tomorrow. And you and I can only do it. If we use God's only spirit, and you and I are the first fruits, the first few that have received God's only spirit. What a wonderful calling you and I do have. Let's not waste it and let it go by. Let us hold on till the end.