Mind the Gap

Imagine growing up in a culture without the true God. Imagine growing up to be an adult, and you never, ever understood about God, the Creator God, His Son that we know as Jesus Christ, but rather instead saw bugs as gods, water as gods, some planets like the sun and moon as gods, perhaps some dead people and legends as gods. And these gods were not very happy gods, but gods that had to be appeased because they were always angry, and you had to do things for them just to keep them off your back. You might, in that sort of a state of imagination, put yourself in the shoes of the Israelites. The Israelites, we know after they received the Ten Commandments the first time, went back and created a golden image, probably the bow of the Egyptians with the horns and the solar over its horns, and were worshipping that in the face, in the very presence of the true God, that they did not know yet. So it's not hard to step back in time, and in the 450 years that they were in Egypt, realize that they had lost all concept of what Abraham and Isaac and Jacob had had. And when God called them as his people and then began to reveal to them that he was a unique God, these people had little or no understanding of any practical nature up until that point. They were steeped, even though they were slaves, they were associated with and probably steeped in Egyptian mythology, simply because that's the culture they were immersed in. God began, first of all, like he did with you and me, to develop a faith within them. The ten plagues that were brought on Egypt basically hit ten of the gods of the Egyptians, and God triumphed over each one of those through Moses and Aaron. And so in developing some faith in the Israelites, after ten such events, they had enough courage and enough trust to leave behind, to enter into a certain amount of risk of the unknown, and to begin to travel out of Egypt. God gave them ten prohibitions, we might call it. If you look at the ten commandments, there's really eight prohibitions that are strong, a total of ten inferred. And essentially, at the calling, the first time they come up with God, they're told, stop doing this stuff.

Stop taking my name in vain, stop breaking my Sabbath, stop killing, stop dishonoring your parents, stop stealing. Stop! Just stop! Stop sinning. That was a place after faith that God took them.

God wanted to transform the Israelites into His people in a promised land that were a model example of a mindset that He would have. And I believe that someday He will do that. However, this was not an instantaneous thing.

It wasn't, oh, we've got a new God, let's march out of Egypt, now we're a model nation. Rather, there was a transformation that would be required from a holy ungodly people to a holy people. Understand, the spelling is different in those words.

The process began with avoid evil, start doing good, and eventually become godly examples.

God stated the eventual goal in a couple of places. One place He said, I want you to love the Lord with all your heart.

And another place He said, I want you to love your neighbor as yourself. But that wasn't the starting place. The starting place was stop. Here's some prohibitions for you to begin to stop doing.

You and I have a unique calling. At some point, God called you and me. We may have heard of various aspects of the truth. We may have grown up around them, been involved in a culture that professed them. But as far as my mind and your mind went, God called us in a state where we were not like Him.

We did not have His nature. And He told us, stop. Stop and repent. And Jesus came with the message of repent. And the kingdom of God would be the ultimate place, the destination, the mindset that humanity is to go.

I'd like you to turn with me to 1 John 2, verses 1-7. We'll take a look at this linear transition that God places each one of us on. He's placed you on it. It's a line with a beginning and ultimately a destination, not an end point, but a target that we're striving for.

In 1 John 2, verse 1, My little children, He says, So here we begin as the little ones. Jesus used the term to Peter. He said, Tend or feed my lambs. And then He says, tend or feed my sheep.

You know, there's a big difference between a lamb that's just born and is standing there kind of rocking around looking at the world for the first time. And one that is a sheep, you know, fully mature sheep, is a process involved. And God calls us and we are all at various places along this timeline, this transitional timeline we might have.

So at some point, He says, My little children, these things I write to you that you may not sin. We've got to start there. We learn the truth. We've got to say, Whoa! I need to stop eating unclean meat, for instance. I need to stop lying. I need to stop taking God's name in vain, including all the little euphemisms.

I need to stop killing mentally and hating and saying things and calling people turkeys and, you know, other names, fools and idiots like Jesus, etc. We've got to stop that. If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. So as we sin, we can have this merciful graciousness of God, and He will forgive and cleanse us as we forge ahead on the timeline. We can make forward progress. This sin doesn't stop us as we try to repent of it. Verse 3, Now by this we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. So now we stop, and now we start keeping the commandments. And His commandments are to love God, love our neighbor. That's what the whole law is set up on. That's the intent of it. So He who says, I know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in Him. So commandment-keeping is absolutely there. You don't just wash it away and say, Oh, I'm under grace, so I don't have to keep the commandments. No, if you say that, you're a liar, and the truth is not in you. But whoever keeps His word truly, notice, the agape of God is perfected or matured in Him. Here's the process as we go down the line. This agape now begins to kick in, and we mature in that. And by that agape being matured, we know that we are in Him. And He who says He abides in God ought also to walk just as He walked.

So here's the transition. Going down a challenging, difficult road, following Christ, being forgiven as we go, maturing from lambs into sheep, stopping sin and performing this mindset righteousness of God. Brethren, I write no new commandment to you but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Now, God has called you to be in the body of Christ, in this covenant that will be fulfilled in the first resurrection, in a bride fitting for Christ, with a fully mature woman, as it were, who has the capabilities and the mindset and has developed the maturity of the family of God. These are full, developed children of God. They started, like the Israelites, in an ungodly mindset, but they have transitioned all the way up until they are ready, they are matured, they are in a sense perfected by God living in them. Somewhere along that timeline, I am. I'm not at the beginning, I'm not at the end.

Somewhere along that timeline, you are. We are to be progressing along that timeline and not parking on the timeline. Some will make the transition, some do make the transition, to the point where God wants them to get in this lifetime. Some don't make the transition, some almost make the transition and get close, but they don't go all the way. Some camp out along the way. I'll give you an example. Let's say you went on a trip to Bagamoyo on the east coast of Tanyanica, free first class airfare. Sounds pretty good. It's on the other side of the world.

You check in at the airport, you're flying first class, so you get to use the first class lounge. Now, the first class lounge for international flights is pretty nice. Really nice. Free food, first class food, free beverages of all kinds, all your amazing juices and even wines and champagnes, whatever you want. Coffee, tasty treats, nice vegetables, nice fruits, some meats, some cheeses. Wow, this is good! Really comfortable seating within the first class lounge. And a view of the airport, big windows looking out over the runways and the mountains in the distance. They have little cubicle offices there you can use with computers and free Wi-Fi and free entertainment on the computers. Also, they have restroom facilities and chairs or flat surfaces where you can sleep. Now, if you think about this a minute, you're on your way to Bagamoyo in Tanyanica on the coast of the Indian Ocean. And the word, Bagamoyo, means something like, abandon all hope of your soul at this point because you're cooked. And that's what the name basically means in Swahili. And it's full of malaria, it's full of dysentery, it's full of yellow fever. The Indian Ocean there is not very nice. You can just read the accounts of some of the people who went through there, Livingston and Stanley and Speak and others, and a whole bunch of Arabs. And then you begin to realize, now wait a minute, this isn't really bad right here where I am. And if I don't leave the first class lounge, I could have the same vacation right here. I don't have any jet lag, I don't have any bad food, no mosquitoes, no discomfort. I've got everything. I just stay right here. You know what I mean? This is a pretty good stopping point. I could imagine people in a first class lounge at an international airport just living there. Because if you don't leave, they don't check you out. My wife and I have been in one. It was really nice. It was a great place. You and I are headed down this difficult path. If we get to a point and it looks really comfortable, I like it here. We might just sit down for a while. Israelites trekked on out to the Red Sea in six days. They might have just said, you know, what's wrong with it right here? Let's just camp out here. Why are we going all the way to the Promised Land? You and I have various temptations along the route, various things along the route, various mental things that could make us park on our journey to the Kingdom. Jesus was warning us about this, and others have warned us about this. One is not exiting the route and quitting or going back, but just simply also not parking. The calling that we have is real. The process is seamless from start to finish. But Jesus said, because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, there are few who find it, few who find the gate, few who make it all the way to the other end. We can see this in parables like the Ten Virgins. Five kept going. Five found it really cushy, somewhere in between, not to continue developing the oil, not continue to develop into the full, ready bride. They were comfortable somewhere along the trail, somewhere along the route. Some people feel that keeping the commandments or not breaking the Ten Commandments equals salvation. They'll camp out right about there. I'm keeping the law, I'm keeping the commandments, I'm feeling comfortable with this, I like this, we're just going to park at that point.

By striving not to break them, they do not also do all that God commands and all that God intends in the mature development of becoming a child of His.

They say, well, Jesus said, if you want to enter life, keep His commandments. So, that's a pretty good point in the trail for me to sit down at.

Yet those who keep only the law find themselves parked, they're not developing any further. They're parked along the route to the Kingdom. They're joined with other parkers who say, I'm under grace, so I don't have to go any further. I don't have to develop anymore because I've got some sort of free pass. There's a bus going to come by here, I don't have to walk this trail, I'm going to fly out of here. Some helicopter's going to come and get me. Or God's going to back up and just pick me up here on the trail. I don't have to go to the gate. See what I mean? Today I'd like to help us understand a required additional component of the New Covenant. The title of the sermon today is, Mind the Gap.

You know, there is an expectation of continuity in getting from one place to another.

When you decide you're going to accept this trip and go to Bagamoyo on the far edge of Tanyanica, you know, you mentally prepare and you get your luggage and you have your tickets and it's all paid, and you go to the airport and you're going to transition from land to air and then air back to land, and then you're going to reach your destination. There's an expectation you're going to go there, but for some reason not everybody makes the whole journey.

I'll give you an example.

When Pharaoh's army marched from wherever it was, in following the Israelites, anticipating their capture, they visualized they were going to reach their destination and they were going to take the Israelites and bring them back home.

That was their full expectation.

They marched between the gap of the land of Egypt over to the continent of Arabia.

And as they came down, it was kind of unusual to see walls of water, but they saw the Israelites going through that dry land, and they were making it up on the other side, so they also decided to go through the gap and come up on the other side and be successful as well. Let's pick up the story at Exodus 14, verse 22.

Exodus 14, verse 22. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Now, verse 23 of Exodus 14.

And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them, and into the midst of the sea all of Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians, through the pillar of fire and cloud, and he troubled the army of the Egyptians. Verse 26. Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen. Verse 28. And the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. You know, there's this expectation, but it wasn't realized.

The armies of Pharaoh died in the gap between Egypt and Arabia.

And in a sense, you and I have the same challenge. Coming from our sinful life and going to the kingdom of God, we pass through a trying, challenging path full of dangers.

And for some reason, not everybody makes the other side.

When the Israelites marched out of Ramesses during the Days of Unleavened Bread, they expected to reach the Promised Land.

It was a full expectation on their part. Let's go over to Hebrews 3, verses 9-11, and see a warning that really applies to your and my expectations of reaching God's kingdom. It's not that we won't reach God's kingdom. Sometimes we need a little encouragement to make the whole trip, if you know what I'm saying. This reminds me of Mr. Scriber on hikes at camp.

He's quite a hiker, and he's got long legs. And he's in his 60s. We have these teenagers that come to camp. And he takes off, and they take off, but many times they string out on the trail, and then they start complaining, and then they start sitting down, and then they start... it's unbelievable how unfair this is. Mr. Scriber got smart. He put his wife at the front, and he got at the back. It's harder for teenage boys to complain how unfair it is when the lady is out there ahead. She's quite a hiker, too.

Now, we look here in Hebrews, chapter 3, beginning in verse 9. Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested me and tried me, saw my works forty years. Therefore, I was angry with that generation and said, They always go astray in their heart. They don't keep going in that direction on the path. And they have not known my ways. So I swore in my wrath, they will not enter my rest. It's an example of those who set out but didn't make the journey, they didn't enter the rest of the Promised Land, and they died in the wilderness. Now, we've seen two examples here, but how really connected do you feel with Pharaoh and his army, the bottom of the Red Sea, or with the Israelites wandering around forty years and dying in the wilderness? Probably not so much. So let's personalize this just a little bit. Who had the strongest, most certain expectation of everyone in Israel of reaching the Promised Land? Who absolutely had the strongest expectation that he or she, above anybody else, was definitely going to enter the Promised Land? Think about the person. Got that person in mind? And yet, that person died somewhere in the gap between Egypt and the land of Canaan and didn't make it. Moses. Moses. Imagine that. Now, you and I probably could relate to Moses, and we'd think, Oh, well, yeah, you know, we're not like those carnal Israelites. We're more like Moses. Well, let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 34, verses 1-4. Deuteronomy chapter 34, verse 1. Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah, which is a cross from Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea. I guess the Mediterranean. The south and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees as far as Zor.

Verse 4. Then the Lord said to him, This is the land which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your descendants. I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there. How about you and me? That's pretty close. I mean, when you're on the ridge overlooking Jericho, just looking down on the Jordan River there, just on the other side of the creek, you're right up against it and you can see it all. But you die in the gap. That's a surprise, isn't it? A few little parables come up that Jesus gave about doors closing and people with expectations not making it. I don't want to be there and I don't want you to be there. You could ask this question. Who among those listed as top leaders in the kingdom of God under Jesus Christ, who among the top leaders that you know of is not in the list? Think of Jesus Christ, Abraham, David, apostles. Are we missing somebody there? People over 10 cities, 5 cities? Where's Moses? All I'm saying is you and I need to be very careful to pay attention to this calling that we're given. On days like today, I normally go up to Sholoh on Friday. My wife often accompanies me. We make the drive up from the valley floor of Phoenix up through several ridges, crossing over 7,000 feet on the white rim, the muggy-on rim of the White Mountains, and then on into Sholoh. The Bible study Sabbath morning, and then a sermon here starts about 3 o'clock. I've got to get in the door in time for my name to be called to give that sermon. So it's kind of a tight schedule coming home. And I have every anticipation when I leave up there at a certain time that everybody's aware of, I've got to be out the door. We've got to be on the road, and we've got to scoot, pushing it a little bit. Now, coming from the high area, we come over several ridges and down through a miniature Grand Canyon. It's called Salt River Canyon. It's a beautiful canyon, kind of like the Grand Canyon, with layers and many fissures going out, and layers of color go down, and there's a river, the Salt River, goes through the bottom of it. And as you approach this, zipping along, speed limits start to decline, and they go down slow. The people who care about you get you slow way before you even get to the canyon, and then you crawl up to the edge of the canyon, and then slowly work your way all the way down to the bottom and cross the river and back up the other side. Even so, those, like ourselves, who have great expectations of being here on time, don't always make it, because they don't mind the gap. And that's a pretty big gap, the highway here and a highway here, and a gap that goes down a few thousand feet in the middle. And every time we go there, there are new vehicles that failed to mind the gap, and they go flying over the side. There's trucks, there's cars, there's trailers, campers. Now, they usually pull those things out, and you don't see a lot of them, but it takes a while. And there's always, it seems like, new vehicles or remains or glittery things on the side of the hill than there were the last time. And yet everybody who made that drive had the full expectation of reaching the destination, especially us, the valley. But you really have to mind the gap between Cholo and Phoenix, and you have to complete the journey on time in order to be here at the right time.

As much as I need to get to Phoenix by three, I need to mind the gap, or in the gap, I will stay. Like Pharaoh's army, like Israel in the wilderness, like Moses in the wilderness, like so many people Jesus Christ and others talk about. Londoners, probably at this very second, in the big city of London, like to move across town, and not so many people own personal vehicles there, thankfully, because the streets are small, quite congested. But in London, you have this desire to move from here, and I want to go way over there. And so what you do is you transition from where you are to another place. And the transition involves going underground. They've named their rail system the Underground. And it's a collection of tubes that are cut, round tubes, all different levels underneath the city. And depending on where you go, you go down underground, further and further, and you connect with your right tube. And then you get on a train, and you go through the tubes, and you come off at another platform, and then you transition back up to the surface, and there you are. Everybody in London that gets into the underground tube system has the idea they're going to get to the other side, to the other end. They fully, absolutely, certainly, without question, and no doubt, are going to go there. They have a ticket in hand that says, I paid for this journey. I'm off. Now, you and I are kind of like that. We have a baptism in hand, we have God's Holy Spirit, we have the proof, we have the destination, we have the promise. We're on the trail, we're on the way. It's an interesting thing. As you transition from above ground down through this underground architecture, there's a sign along the way that says, Mind the Gap. What it is, is as you transition from a platform on terra firma into a train, there's a space. And a little sign is printed right there by your toesies. Mind the Gap. Because your expectation to get where you're going to go is fully dependent on many things down there, including this space. If you don't mind the gap, and you put your leg, your foot, or fall into the gap, and the doors close and the train takes off, you're going to go through a process that will probably land you on top of electrified tracks and a speeding train that's coming in behind. You're not going to make it to the destination. We have to really pay attention. It's some of the things, some of the challenges, some of the events that are on the way to our destination. Human nature is filled with opportunities for Satan to spoil our transition. Our human nature just links up with the mindset of the God of this world, the selfish, lawless, rebellious, I'll have it my way, I'll look after me first. Think of some of the realities of that. The kingdom of God. Nothing is probably more precious to us than the kingdom of God. And yet, he can get us, even in our concepts of what that is and how we would get there, and try to get us to quit, camp out, assume we're already there, as most people who profess to be Christians think it's already arrived, and this is it.

And so on and so forth. What about the church? You know, we in the church have opportunities to be deceived ourselves right here, and Satan likes to focus on the church of God and send false teachings and crazy ideas, or not so crazy ideas, real logical things like, you really should be doing this a little differently, why don't you leave and go over here and isolate yourself, and then I'll just, you know, make you go cold in this agape-serving mindset, with I'll take away your opportunities, your involvement, I'll take you out of the holy convocation, I'll take you away from where the body is growing and edifying itself in love, and I will put you over there and chill you to death.

You know, there are things that within the church, even in serving, we find, gifts, spiritual gifts. He can get us there. He can give you some sort of a... God can give you some sort of a spiritual gift that helps you serve and love others, and Satan can come and twist that into a self-promoting, vanity-laden kind of expose of me that makes a person feel really good and floats them off the trail, and they think they're in great shape.

You don't believe so. Look at 1 Corinthians 11, 12, and 13. That's what Paul was dealing with with many members in the church who had spiritual gifts. People begin to argue, you know, am I under law or under grace? Well, we'll camp out one of those two places. Are you saved by works?

Are you saved by grace? Are you saved by faith? We can start picking and choosing which seat we're going to sit on the trail at, or which campground we're going to camp in. Does the church keep the holy days on the right days? Should I keep new moons? What about understanding prophecy? There's a whole bunch of benches on the trail and a whole bunch of little side routes as well that would take us over to a wider way, a wider way for the self, an easier path for me.

Are you failing to mind the gap between where you began and where you ended? Where you are to end, I should say, or where you are to be transformed into a spirit being? If you don't think so, let's go to 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 17. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 17. This isn't just about me talking about somebody else.

This is God showing me. John Elliott, be careful. Get back on the trail. Pay attention to your steps. Make sure that your steps are being done in my light. This is a constant thing. It's just like any kind of difficult trail. You have to always be watching and careful and dealing with issues every step of the way. Let's look here in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 19. For there must also be factions among you in the church.

It didn't say there might be. There must be. That those who are approved may be recognized among you. Therefore, when you come together in one place, then you start saying, Here you're coming for the very Passover of God and you've corrupted that. Wow! In verse 17, he says, in giving these instructions, I do not praise you. He can't praise the church, since you come together neither for the better but for the worse. We can feel real confident about who we are.

We are the church of God with factions and come together for worse than better. Verse 18, for first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And then he goes into factions and then he goes into people coming up with their own concepts of how they're even going to keep the Passover.

Chapter 12, verse 1, Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, verse 2, I know that you were Gentiles carried away by these dumb idols. However you were led. That's where we started. Therefore I may known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit calls Jesus a cursed and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. You might want to argue that, but I would argue back with you that people who use the word Jesus are really talking about tamas and nimrod, born on December 25th, literally, about 1,600 years ago or so, and have been celebrating this all the way down through time, picked up names and events out of the Bible about 2,000 years ago or 1,800 years ago and have kept moving on.

And this parallel concept of Christianity may look all warm and fuzzy, but Jesus brands it in the book of Revelation as Babylon the Great Mother of Harlots. And yet oftentimes we in the Church will even say, and I'll hear people say that, well, no, they're not part of the Church, but they're good Christians, you know? They just have a little pork issue, maybe a Sabbath and a holiday issue, but they're good Christians. And so we, too, you see, can, if we're not careful, be carried away and think that people who use the term Jesus as Lord are talking about the same one.

And it says, no one can say that this Jesus here, who obeyed his father, who was born in September, October, who did not change one flick of the law, is the Lord except by the Holy Spirit. And that's the miracle that makes us part of the body of Christ at this time. Jesus said in Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, the seven lessons to the churches. And in one of those lessons, he said, I have this against you, you have that woman Jezebel, who seduces my servants, the prophets, to sexual immorality.

He says that that false woman who seduces, remember the harlot of Revelation, is in the church. Not the church, but you have that. You let her, you let those concepts, you let those ideals come in. You don't block them out. You think, oh, that's a good Christian. He's seducing us away from making the journey all the way to our final point along the transformation line and slowing down, stopping, pausing, mixing up, and not becoming the pure bride of Christ. Remember, the bride of Christ is those in Revelation, chapter 14, the first few verses and other places who did not have the mark of the beast.

They did not buy into that philosophy whatsoever. You know, there are gaps, possible gaps, as we go along the route. And the tendency, like he says in verse 13, is for us all to get stuck. He says, though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but if I do not have agape, I didn't make it, and my position on the trail is nothing better than a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and knowledge and have all faith that I could remove mountains, but if I don't have the mature mind of God, the agape nature developed, and I'm lost in the gap, I'm stuck, I'm parked, I've not made the journey.

Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but if I don't have agape, if I've not matured and transitioned all the way into that step of being a child of God, then it profits me nothing.

The trail has gotten me nowhere. Paul says in Romans 2, verses 17-23, a pretty good summary of who we are. We're believers, we're teachers, we preach the truth. Let's look here in Romans 2, verse 17. Indeed, he says, you are called a Jew, spiritual Jew, physical Jew. You and I are called as God's called ones. We rest on the law. We make our boast in God. I do those things, don't you? Absolutely. And know His will and approve the things that are excellent being instructed out of the law.

We sigh and cry even for the abominations going on in the world around us. You are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind and a light to those who are in darkness. Yes, we do. Lights of the world, we have truth to share with Him. An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. Are you, by chance, seated on the trail in a seat instructing people that come by?

Is that where we have taken ourselves? Is that where we have come with all this knowledge and understanding and just the awe of God in His way? And we have made it that far. But He asks you, have you parked there? You, therefore, who teach another, do you teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, do not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?

In the sense that Christ said, with your eyes or with your thoughts. Or you who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? Oh, but I'm under grace. I don't really have to worry about being a Pharisee. See? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. Ah! We in the church have quite the opportunity to get stuck in the gap and play our own games in here and not progress on as the children of God.

To be the tares instead of the wheat, to be the goats instead of the sheep, to be virgins without the oil of God's Holy Spirit fully developed and flowing. We may be believers and teachers and preachers, but how much are we growing in it daily? Paul left us a legacy of not knowing and believing only. Paul was a doer of what he knew and believed. Paul marched all the way through that, through his difficult journey. He reached the end and he said, Hey, I've made it! I got to the end of the transition point.

Not only me, but all of you can do this. But you've got to keep going. You've got to keep moving forward. In Ephesians 5, in the first 10 verses, we'll just skim this quickly. Ephesians 5 will begin in verse 1. Here is how this transition is to work for us. Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children.

It's not just knowing God, it's not knowing the rules, it's not offending God. It's not all this stuff. It is actually being imitators of God. Now, those of you who have children have imitators. Your children imitate you. We are called as children of God the Father, and we are to imitate Him. We are to grow up and be mature as He is. We are to fully develop into the children of God.

So be imitators of God as dear children, family, agape-minded, and walk in agape as Christ also has agape-ed us and given Himself for us. Verse 3, at this point in the transition, there shouldn't be any sin. All this stuff, fornication, all this filthiness, jesting, all that stuff.

Verse 5, none of these people has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. That's not going to happen there. But this is a pretty good transition, and He is encouraging them to keep going further. Their dear children is the goal here. Verse 6, let no one deceive you with empty words. Don't stop. Don't pause. Don't sit down. Don't say, Oh, this is good enough.

Because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the sons of disobedience. Therefore, do not be partakers with Him. For you were once darkness. You were once called in Egypt. It was dark. But now you are light in the Lord. You've made it this far. Walk as children of light. Keep going. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. That's the fruit we're supposed to be producing.

Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

We have a booklet called Transforming Your Life. It's a fantastic booklet. It speaks to all of us at all levels. The young in the faith, the medium in the faith, the old in the faith. But the point is, the word transforming means to take something here and transform it into something over there. The Bible uses many forms of this from darkness into light. Or from something that is a pagan and something that's righteous. It's righteousness. Something that's sinful into righteousness. Something that is very self-serving, transforming into something that is of God's mind. The booklet talks about that we must die to our old man, which is what the Bible teaches. And we must put on a new self, a new mind of Jesus Christ.

We must also mind the gap, as it were, along the way, and not stop at anywhere along the route. You can't say, well, I've made it all the way to Mount Nebo. I can see the kingdom from here. I'll just take a seat. You can't do that. You can't stop at the beginning and say, well, that just sounds like a tedious journey to me. I'm going to hang out in the lounge at the airport. We have to make the walk, and we must go all the way. The process is defined clearly for us in 1 Peter 1, verses 5-7. 1 Peter 1 begins in verse 5. Now, as we read this, you can plot yourself somewhere along the trail, somewhere along the transition line here. And you might be able to guess how far you've come and how far you have yet to go. But there is a beginning, and there is a completion point. And without reaching the completion point, the trip is incomplete. So 1 Peter 1, verses 5. Let's do 2 Peter 1, verses 5. Sorry about that. But also, for this very reason, giving all diligence. And diligence is a great topic to study sometime in the Bible. Diligence is a focus. It's an effort. It's an excitement. It's a passion. It is something that a person gets involved in really wholeheartedly and does it diligently. And so giving all diligence to this transition that you need to make, add to your faith virtue. Now, God called you at some point. You became aware of Him, just like the Israelites in Egypt. You then had faith, and God let you believe and understand. And at some point that faith transitions over to His faith through the Holy Spirit as a byproduct, a fruit. And add to your own faith virtue. Virtue means to stop breaking the law of God and to start doing good works, virtuous things. So along the path, we then have faith, and then we stop, and then we start. And to virtue, knowledge. We understand the truth. We understand more of the truth and what God wants. To knowledge, self-control. We begin to, with God's Holy Spirit, say no to the thoughts and the concepts and the trickery and the deceit of our human nature. And with self-control that comes as a byproduct of the Holy Spirit, we can choose to do right. To self-control, perseverance, steadfastness, enduring to the end. To perseverance, godliness, acting like God. You notice, godliness is a small g. That's something that we do on our side in a godly way. To godliness, brotherly kindness. The shift comes off of just me and all my sins, and I'm trying to do this. And pretty soon we're starting to look up, oh, godliness is actually starting to think about others. And we'll do that in a kind of a humanistic way at first, making friends in relationships and having parties in good times. And, you know, meals together and thinking that's accomplishing a lot. You know, we're thinking of others, kind of a brotherly kindness. But to brotherly kindness, agape. And agape leaves the self really out of the picture. It puts the other individual, whether it's god or a fellow man, as the one to fully sacrifice for, to really focus on, to give ones all to. And let God fill in the stores, and God bless his child that is now acting like a God family member, and is thinking much more about others than promoting oneself. Much more about the kingdom of God, not receiving the kingdom of God, but the kingdom of God being a wonderful blessing to others and being part of that blessing to others.

That is the transition point that we head for as our destination before a change into being divine, and actually being part of the God family in the spirit form. At what point along that line, right here, verses 5 and 6 and 7, which one of those do you want to park at?

Well, my human nature would like to sort of park there, about there. Where does God want you to park at? You know, Jesus said, he who endures or he who perseveres to the end will be saved, not somewhere along the line. He wants children full of the fruits of the family, children who are ready to harvest, a bride who is like him, fit.

To reign with him and help the people in the millennium. Not people who just want a crowd in the game. He says, ah, I made it! Where's my harp? Give me a cloud. Don't bother me with the details. I just want peace.

No. Maybe position, too. No, that's not what we're there for. We're to be replacing a sinful mindset with God's mindset.

Selfish, sinful, godly, righteous.

You can see the process again in Galatians 5, 19 through 22.

The works of the flesh is where we start. The fruits of the spirit are those things that are in result of a child of God.

And there's a process that we must go through in order to have that.

You know, in Luke 16 and verse 19, there's a scary story.

This is G-rated, but still scary.

Luke 16 and verse 19.

And I think, I don't know about you, but when I read this, I'm very disconnected with the story. For one thing, it's people I'd never personally known, and it's a land far away and a time long ago, or a future time.

And the events are so distant, you know. But in reality, it's me. I'm one of these three people in the story. Now, from time to time, maybe I shift between one of the three, or at least one of the two.

But when Christ comes, I hope I'm not the pea under the wrong nut in the...where's the nut game or whatever...

...and find the pea in the shell game. We've got to have made the journey here. We've got to really have made the grade. We can't just be playing this little shell game in the church. Luke 16 and verse 19. There was a certain rich man. That, my folks, is you and me. All of us are rich in knowledge.

We are rich in our calling and the opportunity to be called as the few, the chosen at this time, to be in the kingdom of God. We are rich in the understanding. We are the only ones, like Jesus said, you have your eyes open. You have your ears open. You can see where others cannot. We are the rich. And we're clothed in purple and fine linen and fair sumptuously every day.

Yes, that is us. To a tee, unfortunately. Because we're supposed to be clothed in white. But we're clothed in purple, which is about one looking after his own needs. Now, the color purple was something that was, remember, very expensive. Divers had to go to the bottom of the ocean and come up with the little shellfish that had the purple in them. And a little bit came out. And you could have expensive garments in purple. Ah! You kind of make, you feather your bed, you make it about you. Got the right situation, the right needs, got my needs covered.

I look after me and fair sumptuously every day. Yes, my needs are met. I'm wise in the faith. I'm wise in the church. I have everything from God. I'm looking for the kingdom, and I'm self-focused in purple and well-fed. Bring on the kingdom. Ouch! If that's where I am, I need to keep moving down the trail.

Now, there's nothing really wrong with being at that place at some point. Because you have to come from Egypt if you're going to get to the land of Canaan. And you've got to transition up the route, but you can't stay there. And here is an individual who decided to camp out in the gap. There was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate. An individual with needs, we might say.

Desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Maybe he didn't understand as much. Maybe this person, this man or woman, desired to know, desired to grow, desired for some help. Desired physically and spiritually needed a brother and a sister in the faith. At the end of the life, the beggar died. Carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. It's just kind of showing you where people ended up here, spiritually. Okay, he ends up in the right place, good place. Abraham's got his arm around him. The rich man also died.

And in verse 23, being in torments in Hades, the lake of fire, he lifts up his eyes and he sees Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he says, hey, what happened? I was rich in the faith. I was a good person. What am I doing over here? Somehow there's an issue. Abraham says, you know, son, remember in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus evil things. But now he's comforted and you are tormented.

Something happens here. Now, obviously, Jesus is using this as a lesson to various peoples, the Pharisees, because of their self-righteousness, the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection at all. This is an allegory and he's teaching a whole bunch of lessons here. But if we take it out of that context and put it into a context for me, is there something I can learn here? This is a position I don't want to be in. And I believe I can extrapolate from this a story for me, because in my lifetime I've received the good things, the truth, the teaching, and others who have not had that, maybe in a kingdom before me or without me.

I've seen a lot of people on the trail not make it through the gap. Verse 26, In conclusion, we each begin our journey through conversion with stop sinning. After faith, it stops sinning. And then start doing good. Your transformation in mind from carnal to righteousness will end up a reverse of that. Instead of stop sinning and doing good, it will actually be do good, continue to do good, or even do better good, but do good and avoid sinning.

Just avoid it. It's not part of you. So avoid it. In James 1 and verse 27, we can see this. Pure and undefiled religion is this. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father, before the family of God that we are to be children of. First of all, it begins with visit orphans and widows in their trouble and keep oneself unspotted from the world. Way beyond sin, it just remains unspotted and be one who is giving of agape and serving and loving. That's what we are to be doing. That's where we are supposed to be growing. That's pure and undefiled religion.

I'd like to conclude with the parable of the talents in the mean of Luke 19 and verse 12. Jesus gave a parable here that applies to all people who have been given the Holy Spirit, in my opinion. Even if you are not baptized, you haven't had a calling, you haven't understood all of God's truth and then repented of breaking that and then been baptized by a minister of God and had hands laid on by a true minister of God, received the Holy Spirit and begun that walk.

If you have and if you are somewhere in that process, here's a parable for you and for me. Luke 19 and verse 12. Certain noblemen went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. So Jesus Christ died. He went to heaven, to his father's side, to seek a kingdom and to return. He called 10 of his servants, like 10 virgins. Here's another 10 in another allegory. These servants delivered to them 10 amounts of money in this story. The idea was for them to do business and increase that money. It's like he gives us the Holy Spirit. He wants us to increase the fruit of that spirit. In verse 15. So it was when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. How far, how fully developed this gift that he had given them was. The first came saying, Master Yermina has earned 10 minas, 10-fold. He said to him, well done, good servant. Think about that. That shows what the will of God is. That shows that we are to grow, we are to mature, we are to develop, we are to produce fruit. He gets excited and says, well done, you good servant. And then he rewards him with 10 cities. And the second came in saying, Master Yermina has earned 5 minas. Likewise, he said to him, you also be over 5 cities. Doesn't indicate the well done, good servant. He just said, likewise, you'll be over 5 cities. Really puts a stress on we are to really do some development here. Now, the real lesson to this story, or a strong lesson to this story, I should say, I don't want to inject anything there. Verse 20, another came saying, Master, here is Yermina, which I have kept and put in a handkerchief. We had the calling, we start the journey, but at some point we sit down. At some point we say, I'm not going to make this whole transition. I'm not going to transform from the old man to the new man, to the image of Christ, all the way from darkness to light. I'm going to accept it, start the journey, and then stop. Pause. Park. Park on the trail. And he parked himself in the gap. And you know the story. He said, verse 22, out of your own mouth, I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow. That's an expectation that he has of us. Only we, with his help and inspiration, can develop the godly mindset, the agape mindset, transform into the children. He cannot create that character without us being fully involved. So, brethren, it's not just about stopping being under grace, or stopping because we're not breaking God's laws, but rather growing up and maturing fully into Christ, growing up and being mature children of God, a fitting bride for the Father's Son. So, as you travel the difficult path towards God's kingdom, keep moving forward and mind the gap.