Will You Reach the Goal? Part 4

You and I live in a world, in a universe, as human beings, in a creation that is multifaceted, very, very detailed. Our very bodies are so incredibly complex. Just the various feelings that you have, let alone the physical things, like the feeling of being thirsty, which saves your life, the feeling of being hungry, or the feeling of being full, or the thoughts of danger, let alone the many molecular processes that go into your body that you and I are largely unaware of.

Things like E. coli, which keep you alive, and you feed E. coli in your body, which provides your body with B vitamins. And yet, if the E. coli breaks through in your colon, it'll kill you. Your eye that is constantly washed and cleaned with blinking and fluids, automatically the swallowing and the fluids that come down through your nasal system, day and night. Various other processes that involve flashing in the brain, little synapses that pop and crackle in your brain, which constitute what you see as vision.

What you're seeing right now isn't reality, it really is what's there, but you're not actually seeing it through a lens. What your eye does is actually converts it to little triggers of multiple flashes that are so integrated and so complex and so voluminous. It takes your entire brain to process those. And hearing, which little sound waves going through the air, banging on things that knock on little hammers, that get distributed down little canals, that are also turned in to little electronic flashes that go to other parts of the brain. And you have this sense of perfect sound, sound from any direction, various levels that keep you alive and enable you in real time to see what you're about to impact and hear what's going on.

We take these things for granted. We take for granted the night sky, a night sky that is so deep and goes so vast that even the Hubble telescope can't see the edge of it. It can see light coming in at 13.7 billion years away, but it can't see beyond that and doesn't know if that's the edge of space or not. But we can turn that telescope around as it were and look down, and we can see minute molecules and then the aspects of those molecules.

And science has taken us several years ago into the theory of the quark and pretty well proved there were quarks, but it's moved past that into little specks of beings that are so minute and so temporary that they boggle the mind. And somewhere in between the largest star that's in the universe that's known, the largest gas burning ball out there, and the smallest little quark or submolecule that exists, the median size between all of that is you, is a human body. It just happens to be in the middle ground of it all. And yet with all the complexities of our universe and the complexities of our body, things we take for granted, the air, the fish, the birds, things like our own human genome that is very complex and yet a corn stalk has a more complex genome than you do, than your body does.

And that corn stalk and that fruit of the corn is able to give more life and more vitality to humans than almost any other thing on earth and has actually rescued the human race from the dark ages and rescued pilgrims that came to this country when they finally came upon a source of that much energy and that much complexity in one plant. And yet to you and me, this is our life. This is our world and we see the plants and the trees and we travel to other parts of the world and we see the animals there in the sky and the sun and this to us is normal.

Somewhere along the way we heard about God and we understand that we're here for a certain amount of time but this little period of time in this world in which we live, in this universe we live, we tend to think of this as it. And let's go over to Revelation for just a moment. Revelation chapter 21 and verse 5. And notice something that God says to us and wants us to be sure of, very, very sure of. This is something you can be absolutely certain of, he says.

The last of verse 5 he says, right for these words are true and faithful. And what are the words? The beginning of verse 5. Behold, I make all things new. All that you see and all that you're involved with and all the stars and all the heavens and the earth and all these systems, they're temporary. They're only here for a minute, as it were, in eternity. They're very temporary, they're here for a specific purpose and they are going to go away.

It's very important for you and I to understand why we're on this earth. Just a few pages back in 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 7, we find that all that we've come to know and all that science can find out and our whole room in which we are growing up in, as it were, this environment, it's our, it's our, you know, environment in which we can grow up. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 7, it says, but the heavens and the earth are preserved.

This is preserved somehow by the same word and are reserved for fire. These things are only here temporarily, just like your life is here temporarily. These things and all the huge massive complexity and the laws and all the physics and the God that made them and all the systems that preserve them we read of here. Let's notice verse 10. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away.

Think of the heavens. Think of so many solar systems in so many galaxies and the number of galaxies out there with a string of long, long, long zeros. With any galaxy of which there are, I don't know how many, I can't say the word for how many zeros, there are probably that many or more stars within each of those galaxies. It says the day of the Lord is coming when the heavens will pass away. Look at these terms, pass away and dissolve. It's talking about being removed, annihilated, total removal, and the elements. They're going to pass away with great noise. When you think of things of physics that come apart, that get unleashed, you get heat, you get light, and you get noise. And here we see elements, great noise. Elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Verse 11, since all these things will be dissolved or ending, removed, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct, in godliness? Looking for and hastening the coming day of God because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat.

Nevertheless, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. And that's what he just told us in Revelation 21, that we can be assured of, we can believe him. I create all things new. That which we are, that which we are around us, is so amazingly complex, and yet it's about to go away. In about 1150 years, none of it will exist. And you scratch your head and say, why? What's it all about? That was a pretty big creation. That was really complicated. Well, it speaks to the importance of what is going on. Something big is happening right now. Something huge. Something that's changing eternity. Something that is changing heaven in the third heaven. Now, we see it from a speck of time. We see it as our reality. We see it as our environment. We see it as the normal. But it's heaven's earthquake.

It is really shaking things, and has shaken things, and will change things. In the third, the second dimension, I guess you would call it, that dimension of the spirit world, as opposed to the one that we primarily are aware of, the physical world. Let me ask you some questions. What was the catalyst that caused a third of the angels to become demons? Why did that just happen? What took Lucifer and propelled him in some way to become this awful, satanic devil?

Why is the carnal mind adamant that everything should be fair? Why did God plan before the physical creation to be tortured, to be stuck with a spear, to be spat upon, to bleed to death, to die? Why does Christianity require the concept of the Trinity? Why are a few chosen, only a few chosen, to receive the reward of eternal life? Now, there's a jumble of questions, but I want to get into all of those today. In a sermon entitled, Will You Reach the Goal? Part 4, Why the Kingdom of God is the Reward? Why is the Kingdom of God the reward? We take for granted, being in the church, that the Kingdom of God is coming, the Kingdom of God is something that we want, we desire, sometimes we elevate, sometimes we elevate it to our number one goal, which, as I've shown before, if the Kingdom of God is your goal, your true, pure, number one goal, you cannot be in the Kingdom of God. Because the Kingdom of God 29 times is called a reward for reaching the goal. And if you don't have the right goal and you're not pursuing the goal, you won't be given the reward. We won't be given the reward. So why all of this complexity is so important? Why is the complexity about to be destroyed? What's it all about?

Let's look at today why the Kingdom of God is the reward. Let's begin in Ezekiel chapter 28 by going back in time to a time outside of our physical dimension before we ever existed, a time perhaps before we were ever even thought of, or this physical universe was ever even thought of. In Ezekiel, the 28th chapter in verse 12, says, talking here to the king of Tyre, this is not a physical king of Tyre, the previous part of the chapter talked to a prince of Tyre who was a human being, but this comes into an anti-type, a king of Tyre, it's referring, of course, to Lucifer who became Satan. Breaking into verse 12, Son of man, take up a lamentation against the king of Tyre and say to him, thus says the Lord God, you were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect and beauty. So back in time now, if we step back into the spiritual heaven where God is, here's Lucifer and he's perfect and he's beautiful, perfect and beauty, seal of perfection. He was later on, verse 13, in Eden, the garden of God. So we know who he was and what he became. But before that, verse 13, every precious stone was your covering. Now, whether these are precious stones like you and I would just put them on as jewels or whether there's precious stones with light flowing through them. You know, the Bible has no way of saying, oh, red light, green light, purple light, because there were no light bulbs. So it uses stones quite often as for colors. And perhaps these stones that were part of him, part of his covering, were also lit. He might have been a very well lit person. Notice here, sardius, topaz, diamond, barrel, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, emerald with gold. There's the color. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes. You and I don't have anything like that. God doesn't evidently have anything like that. This is a created being, a created servant, like many of the different types of angels. Some are created to transport God on a portable type throne, wheels within wheels and eyes, living beings. Others are carobim, one over the throne, seraphim, many types of angels as servants of God. And this particular one was beautiful, the sum of perfection. All these things were prepared for you on the day you were created, the Bible said. In verse 14, you were the anointed carob who covers, indicating that his job was to cover, to be right above, perhaps below the rainbow over the throne of God, right above God the Father and the Word at his right hand, the 24 elders, the sea of glass, God the Father and his Son, who is his Son now, bright as you can imagine brightness.

And here was all this color, a servant of some type.

I established you. You are on the holy mountain of God. You walk back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. Is that referring to the two God beings who are the light, the brightness? Wow. There we have one back some time ago who was right at the heart of it all. We can go to Job chapter 38 and verse 7 and see just another glimpse from God's own statement about how things were then. Job chapter 38 and verse 7, there is incredible harmony and joy. You know, there's a scripture in the Bible that says, at your right hand is joy forevermore. A lot of happiness and a lot of exciting, positive vibes coming out of the throne of God. But here we also see some of this in Job 38.

In verse 7, where God asked Job, you know, where were you? When the morning stars sang together, singing... Can you imagine the angels, the morning stars, singing together? God created them with that ability and how wonderful and marvelous that would be. But notice the togetherness, probably the harmoniousness, all working together. And all the sons of God shouted for joy, all the angels. When the Bible uses the term sons of God, it's referring to whomever God was working with at a particular time. Sometimes the sons of God here are called the angels. Sometimes they're called the descendants of a righteous individual, perhaps a Noah or a Seth or a Abel or someone like that. These are the ones that God had given laws to and they were to follow those laws. Sometimes they were the children of Israel. Now under this covenant, God also refers to you and me as his sons. Those who have the Holy Spirit are the sons of God. And so here we have those who were made doing, fulfilling a role, relationship, a covenant with God are called sons, and these shouted for joy. Now this is the backdrop a long time before you and I came along. And something happened.

We understand that God developed a plan, a plan of salvation for human beings.

We understand that God's plan involved us being given a goal that we need to seek. We need to seek it fervently. We need to pursue that goal down a difficult path. We must fight and endure in it and persevere in it. We must win the race, receive the crown, as it were, and then receive the reward for that, the reward of salvation. This is something that we've known for a long time. Some of you, including myself, have grown up in the church and this is part of us.

Some others of you may be coming to know this, but you've known it for a while. This is kind of our reality. It's what we know. Timothy was told by Paul, you've known the scriptures since childhood.

Your mother and your grandmother, Lois and Eunice, they taught you since you were childhood. We grow up, we know these things, we learn these things, and that's good. But what about the timing of this plan? When did it start?

When did it start? When were you, destined as it were, determined, premeditated by God, to know what you know, to have this opportunity that you have? That's a very interesting story. Let's begin it by going to Revelation 17 and verse 8. Because as we look at the question, why is the kingdom of God the reward, we really need to understand this background to it, how it came about, how long it's been coming, how important and privileged you are to be in the position you are, and how very responsible then we should be with this opportunity that we have.

Revelation 17 and verse 8. And those who dwell on the earth at that time in the future will marvel, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. That's an interesting statement, huh? You'll find that there are only certain people right now whose names are written in the book of life. Now we find in Revelation chapter 20, there is a second resurrection and then another book said a book will be open and people's names will be written in the book of life. But right now there's very few called to an early harvest. And you'll find that the world at large do not have their names written in the book of life, notice from the foundation of the world. You have to understand this. Your names, judging by this scripture, were written in a book of life that said, I expect these people to be in the first resurrection before the first physical proton was ever created. Now we know that was before 13.7 billion years ago. We don't know any more than that. It was a long time ago. In Revelation 13 and verse 8, it talks about a false leader. It says, all who dwell on the earth will worship him. All who live on the earth will worship this individual whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. Over 13.7 billion years ago, I would deduce from this, more than that, Jesus Christ, it was determined, would die for those firstfruits and the rest of humanity. That he would be spat upon, that he would be shredded, that he would shed his blood, he would have a spear in his sight, and he would die. So that we would have an opportunity for this plan. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 20 talks about Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1 verses 20 and 21.

He was indeed foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. So he showed up recently, but he was foreordained before the foundation of the physical world. Now, this is a very inspiring realization. We realize how much God has put into all of this, and before he even started it, that a few people actually had their names written in a book of life, and that Jesus Christ was pre-planned to go through what he was. This is a very high honor, isn't it? Very, very big opportunity that we've been given. However, this really nice reality for you and me is perhaps someone else's biggest nightmare. We don't tend to think about that.

In Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26 and 27, God said about the creation of us in the physical realm something different than he said about the angels, that he said about the seraphim and the carabine and the wheels within wheels and the pipes and the timbrels and all the colors.

He said in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26, then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. This is going to be something very different than has ever happened before. He talks about them having dominion, and then verse 27, so God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created them, male and female, he created them. Now remember back up at the throne, you have a third being at the throne of God, and he has timbrels and pipes and jewels. He is a different being, he's not a God being, and now these two are creating something and developing a plan that involves replicating themselves, replicating God beings. In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4, we see something that happened right there at the throne where somebody was overhead. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4, verse 4, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in agape love. We were chosen to develop the very mindset of the family of God, agape love. God is agape love. He chose us to be holy with him living in us, that's what makes us holy, blameless because we would be washed by the blood of his son, and in love because that was what God is developing. Children, real, full members of the family of God.

That is the goal that he puts out, that we would be without blame, that we would be holy, and that we would grow in this agape love. Verse 5, having predestined us to adoption or sonship in the Roman form as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, that's the reward. The goal is to grow in the nature of God, to grow up into Christ, the fullness of Christ, to develop that mind of God. The reward is to be part of the family of God. Uh-oh, up there in heaven, now you have a real shake-up at the throne. This plan involves God reproducing himself, not just once or twice, but children. Eloim is the Greek word, the uni-plural name of the family of God given in the Hebrew, that God is going to expand what was right there. In fact, those two chairs, the throne, or the two individuals sitting on the throne, would explode at that level in the firstfruits. Because if you go to first...wait a minute...Revelation chapter 3, which we'll do in a minute, you'll find that we are invited to sit on his throne with him. Now, you and I have this fantastic opportunity, and it's a breathtaking opportunity. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 14 and verse 12. Isaiah chapter 14 and verse 12. At some point in time, we don't know when, there was a big change that happened right there. And it could be that you and I are the very catalyst for what happened in the past. Don't know that. The Bible doesn't say that. But as we're going to look and see the importance of this reward and why the kingdom of God is the reward has other consequences for the third person that was at the family of God's throne. Isaiah chapter 14 and verse 12.

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, Son of the morning. How you are cut down to the ground, you who weaken the nations. Now, this could be talking about Babylon. This is talking about the fall of the king of Babylon. And some of this seems to be an interplay, just my words here, an interplay between the literal fall of the king of Babylon and the literal fall of the king of Babylon, who became Satan the devil, the mindset of that. For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. You remember how at Babel they built this tower that was going to ascend into heaven. Here's a similar mindset that comes from Lucifer. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, above the angels of God. I will also sit on the Mount of the congregation in the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. And notice the universe 14. I will be like the Most High. What did God create you like? The Most High. God created you in the image and the likeness of the Most High. Did He create Lucifer and the angels in that image? No. Here is someone who was jealous, envious, covetous, and it ruined him because he determined he wanted to be like the Most High. You and I have this fantastic opportunity. It involves Revelation 3, verse 21. To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne. You know what the word overcome means? It means to win. We've each been given a race, Paul says, and we have our own race to run. And we're to win that race. And if you win, if you overcome, which means to win, to be victorious, you will get to sit on my throne with me, Jesus said. As I also overcame, no, he wasn't a sinner, but he won, didn't he? He won his race, and he sat down with my Father on his throne. This is God being pulling for us, encouraging us, helping us, sacrificing, giving all their all to us, if we give our all back to them, to make that happen, to make a Godhead right there at the throne level.

Now, if we go to Ezekiel chapter 28, verse 15, we see this wasn't fair. This was not fair. If you'd been around for a long, long time, and you had been right there, and you're part of what's going on, is it really fair to sort of slide billions of other God beings in there that you are expected to help raise and protect and assist? Well, let's look. Ezekiel chapter 28, verse 15. You were perfect in your ways, God said of Lucifer, from the day you were created until iniquity was found in you. What would cause iniquity? You think in all that joy and happiness and everything going on that just iniquity shows up? What kind of iniquity? Where would you come up with this idea, I will go up? I will be like God? Does it not come for something that's unfair, or somebody else is going to get an opportunity that you're not? Just a question. Just a question.

Not really pushing that, but I'm trying to show how wonderful a calling you and I have been given, higher than anything else currently that's existed in the universe forever, in the spiritual realm, in the third heaven forever. Suddenly this opportunity is being given to you and me.

By the abundance of your trading, I don't think there were stores and shops going on, but there were relationships, weren't there? There were relationships, and the abundance of that relationships you became filled with violence within, and you sinned. He was upset, became violent, and I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O covering carob, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. Then he goes on and talks about, kind of reverts it back to the tire a little bit, perhaps. Not sure how things go back and forth there, but we'll know someday. You know, when you think about the plan of God, it's very unfair. God is very unfair. And you think, God's unfair? Yes, God is unfair. Let me tell you why God is unfair. Unfair means it's unfair to me. It's unfair to my. Did you see that guy? He broke a rule, and my team got penalized. And it makes me mad. Did that happen? And you come, and I lost. That was unfair. I'm going to sue you. See, unfairness is about me and my.

It's jealousy. It's covetousness. It's envy. Yet God is giving and serving and helping and lifting up. God is not about fairness because God is unfair, as we'll see in a minute, thankfully.

So we find in Luke chapter 10 and verse 18, Jesus said, I saw Satan fall from heaven-like lightning. He doesn't fit with the agape mindset. He has a different mindset. He has a different purpose. And in time we see Satan show up here in the Bible. We go back to Genesis. Genesis chapter 3, we see him come on the scene. And what kind of mindset does he have?

Genesis 3.1, now the serpent. You look at the Hebrew, I think you'll find that serpent can mean hissing or it can mean whispering. He comes along and he says, has God indeed said you shall not eat of everything of the garden?

What was his purpose? What was his mind? What was he trying to do here?

You know, Satan's goal is to get you and me killed along with all of humanity. That's his number one goal. Why would he have a goal like that? We'll talk about that in a minute. So we go on and the woman says, well, we can eat of everything.

The God is made in the garden. Verse 3, but the fruit of the garden, which is in the midst of the garden on that tree, God has said, notice you shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. And Satan said, oh, really? Why don't you go ahead and eat it then? Because that's what I want you to do. Die! And they ate it. And that sin, which mankind has continued to sin ever since, has put the death penalty on all of us. The penalty of sin is eternal death. And that's what Satan wants. And he doesn't want anybody wriggling out of that. He wants us to die. Now, some considerations on this theory about the timing and whether Lucifer and his fall into Satan had anything to do with the announcement of the plan. Again, the Bible doesn't say so, but some of the names used for him include the destroyer. Why would he want to destroy anybody? I mean, what would that come about? Because of. Well, if we go to Job chapter 1 and verse 6, Job chapter 1 and verse 6, now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. Here's the angels in this particular verse.

And Satan also came among them. He has access to the throne of God, obviously.

And the Lord said to Satan, where do you come from? Oh, I've been going to and fro on the earth. Okay. Verse 11. But Satan says to God, now stretch out your hand and touch all that this guy Job has, and he will surely curse you to your face. Satan wants Job to curse God to his face. That's the point of killing off his family and his animals and everything else. You see? Why? Because if you curse God, he will kill you. You know, if you sin against the Holy Spirit, if you say, God, I don't like you, I don't like your agape mindset, I want nothing to do with you, and you curse God in that sense, God said, there's no forgiveness for that. Here's Satan trying to get Job to do this very thing. Didn't work the first round, so he said, let's try it again. In verse 7 of chapter 2, So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and he struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.

That'll get him. What will that result in? Sometimes Satan gets others to help out a little bit.

You know, Satan's not trying to get a following, by the way. It's not like he's trying to get more followers than Christ, because he knows we only live a short life and then we rot. It's not much of a following, is it? He's not trying to get a following. He's trying to get rid of the... trying to eliminate the competition as he sees us.

So sometimes he'll work with other individuals. Verse 9, Then his wife said to him, Do you still hold fast to your integrity?

Curse God and die! She's encouraging him to curse God and die.

See, what Satan wants from you and me is for all the saints at this point to die, and eventually all contenders for the family of God to die. Another thing is that Satan's names include the term adversary.

He's in competition. He's an adversary. He's trying to beat us out of something.

Okay? If there weren't something at the throne of God that was going to insert people into something that he wanted, and this just hasn't made him go ballistic, he wouldn't be an adversary, would he? I think he'd just, what am I going to do today? I don't know. Maybe I'll be an adversary.

No, it propels him an adversary. Let's go to 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8.

1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8.

It says, Be sober, or the margin says, self-controlled, and be vigilant, watchful, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He wants to kill you, not just kill you, tear you apart, get rid of you, take you out of the way.

That's the adversary that he is. Why does he want to do that if he does not see you as competition?

Third thing, Satan's system is about competition. It's all the term healthy competition, friendly competition, competition, all these excuses for competition. But competition has at its core a win-lose philosophy. One wins, the other loses. That's what competition is. Whether it's a game as simple as card games or marbles, to a football game, to corporate competition, whatever. The spiritual competition. Who's going to be at the right hand of God?

Winning comes at the expense of losing. We even have a term in sports, I believe it's called a sudden death play-off or scoring anyway. What do you call it? Sudden death. Because one team is going down. You know, in any competition you have this victorious winner, the thrill, the highest thrill of victory. And then right next to it you have this lowest form of dejection and emotion, the loser. Competition. Competition advances me and my and it defeats you and yours.

And we bring into that, it's not fair! Well, if I don't win, it's not fair because of this thing or that thing happened. It wasn't fair that I didn't crush you. And I think competition can be well demonstrated by some forms that are actually very aggressive. Whether it's two gladiators in a forum and the last one alive wins, or teams that suit up to actually do physical violence against another team. But win-lose is the mindset of competition. And in James chapter 3, verse 14, we're told something about this. James 3 and verse 14 says, if you have bitter, envious self-seeking in your hearts, it's about you. It's about promoting you.

Do not boast and lie against the truth. Verse 15 of James 3, this wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly sensual demonic.

For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.

Now God's mindset, which you and I have been called to embrace, which you and I have God's Holy Spirit in us, God living in us as His temple, He's wanting to develop and grow in us a product to harvest. And that product that is harvestable is His very nature, His holy righteous character. It is that nature which then He can embody in a spirit being on His throne, with regards at least to the first fruits, and in His family with regards to all humanity that eventually repents and grows and reaches that goal of producing that godly mentality.

Now this agape mindset is about oneness. Jesus said in John 17, I would that they would be one.

I and you and you and me and us and them and they and us and one.

Harmony. It's about win-win. Agape mindset is win-win. Everybody wins. There's no such thing as anybody that doesn't win. And you sacrifice to help people win. And if somebody in their race falls, you interrupt yours to raise them up and help them win in their race. And if you're the God in heaven who's creating, you create yourself out of the high exalted position and into the lowest position. And you are shredded and you die and you serve and you help and you shed your blood so that they can win. And everybody that gets involved in that process wins. There are no losers. Now, is that fairness? No, God is not fair. God is not fair. It was not fair for God at the right hand of the Father to create all of this wonderful beauty. The Father threw him doing it and then come down and be killed by it.

And be killed by that third member up there at the throne who was given into that member's hands and allowed the worst of possible things to happen to him. That wasn't fair. And I don't want God to be fair. It's not fair that you and I have the eternal death penalty hanging over our heads every time we break the law of God. I don't want God to be fair because Jesus Christ washes that away with his own blood, which wasn't fair. And it's not fair that you and I are called to be firstfruits anyhow among all the peoples and nations of the world to have a few called out before the foundation of the world to be part of this early crew. That's not fair to those who aren't called and don't have their names written in the book of life. Fairness is not something really that needs to be in our vocabulary because GAPE is about developing love for anyone in any circumstance and those who are not responsible, even taking your shirt and your coat off and giving it to them who are not responsible. Those who didn't harvest and have nothing to eat to give them food. And that's not fair when you've worked so hard. God is about making sure everybody wins in every situation and he wants us to develop that mindset. In 1 Timothy 1 and verse 5, we see the summation of the whole Bible. It was done by Jesus Christ when he said, you know, all the law and all the prophets are rolled into two commandments.

And that's a GAPE love for the Father and the Godhead and a GAPE love for everyone else.

And then a bringing along and a helping and a sacrificing for them to make sure everybody wins because that's the nature of the family. But here in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 5, we see the purpose of...

we see the goal, as it was, of the Bible. The goal. Now the purpose of the commandment, the purpose of everything, is a GAPE love from a pure heart and a good conscience. That is our goal. That is what God can harvest. That's what God can make into beings in his kingdom. That is why the reward is the kingdom of God because it is godly. It is that which God can make sons and daughters eternally out of that can be at his level within the family. Love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. Wow. That is the pure, final, refined in fire, pure substance that God can take away from all the heavens and all the earth and all the time and all the people. He gets a little bit. Many are called, but few are chosen, and there will be some of this fine, refined goal. Satan wants to come in and smash it. He wants to grab it. He wants to violate it, get rid of it, trick it, offend it. He's going to have this little bit of refined stuff from what little bit there is. Remember, not more than five of the virgins were allowed into the kingdom. Only those who were sheep in the church, only those who were the wheat, not the tares were allowed in. Just this little refined stuff right here. It's so pure. It's so precious. Satan wants to obliterate it and to test it and try it and make sure it's going to be delivered into his hands. The false prophet and the beast at the end time will have the saints delivered into his hands. Some of them, a lot of them, we read in several places. But what will take the love of God out of you? Paul asks, will tribulation, will that, you know, if your life is impacted with tribulation, will that cause this nature, this refined nature of God to flee? Not if it's really you, it won't. Will hunger, will famine? You know, what's going to remove the love of God from us?

Well, if it's true, if it's really the nature of God, nothing. Nothing will remove it because God's living in us and that is who we are becoming. We are putting on a new man.

Can you see why the eternal is giving us the kingdom of God as a reward?

If we look in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, that's why. That's why the kingdom is our reward, is because we are becoming Him. Having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the God of God, to the glory of the Lord, to the praise of the glory of His grace by which He made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of His grace. That's the plan. That's how He's made this possible for it to be able to take place in such basic creatures as we are. And yet He's made a way by which this holy righteous character can be developed and then harvested. In Revelation 22, verse 11, Jesus Christ, who will do the harvesting and the raising up, the reward giving, makes some important statements to us. Revelation 22, verse 11, He who is unjust, let him be unjust still. In other words, God is sifting wheat from tares, sheep from goats, wise from foolish. He is refining. He is getting the real stuff ready for the harvest, and He needs to know who you want to be. If you're unjust, be unjust. He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. It's okay. There's a reward for that. He who is righteous, let him be righteous still. He who is holy, let him be holy still.

Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work.

There's going to be a dissolution of all things physical, along with any human beings that are around at the time. It's all going to burn up. And there's also a reward for those who are righteous and those who are holy because God is in them. And there is a reward for that, which is eternal life in the family of God as a God-being. And again, to whom will the good reward be given? We see in 1 John chapter 3, and really all of the book of 1 John speaks to this, but we'll just single out a few verses here at the beginning of 1 John 3. Behold, what manner of agape love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God. Wow! Do you see this timeless creation that at some point was spiritual and came along just fine until a point when a new plan, a plan of creating God-beings and children at that level was created and a new physical realm was rolled out on a temporary basis. And what manner God has bestowed on us who is nothing? We didn't even exist, but out of nowhere he created us and gave us the opportunity.

That is a win-win mindset. God will win because he has children like him. We will win because we will have life, life eternal. And that family who wants the best for everyone will continue to interact with the angels and whatever else the Father decides to do. We don't know what the future may bring, but we will be of the oneness of mind. Verse 2, Beloved, now we are children of God, it has not been revealed what we shall be. Nowhere in the Scripture does God define or describe what you will be like in the next realm, what you'll be doing. He doesn't describe the spirit world beyond a few little vague concepts. But we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him. See, Satan hates that. He does not want you to succeed. He does not want you to be like God.

And we shall see him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure. So we see the goal. It's described various places. Crucify the old man and put on a new man. The new man is not you or me. The new man is Jesus Christ. In other words, put on the God family. Put on the mind of Christ. Put on new leaven. No, put out the old leaven. Put on the new lump. What is the new lump? Well, that's Jesus Christ. That's the Passover, the pure, unleavened bread of Jesus Christ. Eat that daily. Become a God-minded human being so that God can raise you up and make you a member of his family. As it says in Ephesians 4, verse 13, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's what our goal is now, is to become as godly as we can be with the character and the mind and the deeds of the God family now as much as possible with God's help and him living in us.

And if we do that, then there's a reward. There's a reward. In Ephesians chapter 2, as we finish this up in verse 6, it says, He's raised us up or is raising us up or will raise us up together to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And we're going to sit on the throne with him, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in the kindness of us, his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. In verse 10, chapter 2, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. You have been predestined to be called now. It's been prepared beforehand that you should grow and develop these things. God is an expectations parent waiting and wanting for children, but he can only give that reward to those who think and act like he does with him living inside them. And that's why he's giving us the reward of the kingdom, is because we are to be family. We're to become family now. And if we fully achieve that which we are here to do, then he'll give it to us. Chapter 3, verse 10, to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be known by the church to the principalities and powers and the heavenly places. This is being known in heaven, what God is doing here, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him. Verse 14, For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in agape love, that mindset of God, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and the length and the depth and the height, to know the agape love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of Elohim of God, filled with the fullness and become a full member of the family of God. Brethren, we have been called to grow, if we want to, into godly beings with his help. And those who reach that goal, or are determined to reach that goal, and the end of our life will interrupt us before we ever do that, will be given a reward. And that reward is sonship in the God family, to live and be like God. It's a fabulous opportunity.

The importance, the significance of it, the unbelievable opportunity of it is shown by the heavens, by the molecules, by the fish in the ocean, by the plants that are here, by the diversity within the human culture, all the things that God has made that are so interwoven and complex that are just here, so the children can be known and then it will be destroyed. But that's nothing to God. Let's conclude by reading Revelation chapter 21, beginning in verse 1. Revelation chapter 21, verse 1. We look forward now. We've looked back. Now we're going to look forward to a time when nothing that you and I know or see or have ever seen will exist. It simply is not there.

And I, John, saw a new heaven. Remember, God promised that He would create all things new. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Verse 2. Then I, John, saw the holy city, a spirit, construction, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. It won't be men then. And He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. And finally, verse 7. He who overcomes, He who wins, you're going to win the race you're on, you're going to develop that fruit, you're going to have that gold that's purified into 24 karat gold that God can harvest, that fruit, the grain, whatever you want to term it, or whichever example the Bible uses. Verse 7 goes on, He who wins shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. The only question that still remains is, will you and I reach the goal?