#292 Kingdom: The Being and the Doing of the Kingdom

Mat 5: 20] “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

The Scribes and the Pharisees were very careful about what “they did” but what actually “was in their heart” was not important. Their righteousness was attributed to what “they did” in their outward life and their inward life was out of sight, so what they were in their character was irrelevant. The question then is this; Can we excel in “righteousness in outward life” beyond that of the Scribes and the Pharisees? Obviously not! Is Christianity evaluated by outward life and what we “do” as many churches teach? The fact is this; The natural man is entirely limited by what he can do in his own intelligence and ability. This is why the “natural man” cannot understand spiritual things because they are foolishness to him. Natural intelligence is limited to natural things. Then how can we make the transition from the natural man to the spiritual man that after Christ is in the image of God?

The answer to this question holds the solution to making the transition to the next restoration of God and to begin participating in the Life of the Kingdom of God. The Gospel of the Kingdom as it is presented in Matthew 5-6 &7 eliminates the natural man from any possibility of participating in the Kingdom.

The “natural man” is neither moral or immoral but kind of neutral like dirt. It is what is in the heart of the natural man that makes him corrupt, immoral, and rebellious. Satan was neither moral or immoral until pride entered into his heart. Adam and Eve were morally neutral until sin entered into them and then death from sin. Some wonder why God couldn’t have just forgiven them since He is a forgiving God. The “sins” could be forgiven by the shed blood of the animal that was slain to provide garments for them but the “sin” entered into their heart is not forgiven and the outcome of sin is death.

Comprehending the difference between “sin” and “sins” is necessary for us to recognize if we are to understand the various progressive experiences of the Outer Court. These actual experiences are necessary to participate in the Holy Place Life and ministry. All the experiences in the Book of Romans are necessary to participate in the Kingdom of God and not just “forgiveness of sins.” Thank God our “sins” can be forgiven through faith in the blood of Calvary. However the “sin” that entered into Adam and Eve and became their nature [that resulted in character defects] has come down through the generations to infect us. The sentence of death is still upon us because each of us have inherited this sin nature. It is this “quality of sin” that has corrupted our morals, infected our character, altered our disposition and perverted our motives and intentions.

“Sin” is a heart thing that affects our “being” and our “doing.” For example; Suppose we had achieved “forgiveness of sins” but the sin nature and our corrupt morals and bad attitudes remain. Even though our sins are forgiven our fallen character is still active within us because the “sin” problem is not yet resolved.

Even though our “sins” are forgiven and we are born again the “sin problem” is still not dealt with because it is infused into the natural man. Even though our spirit is alive because of imputed righteousness our body is still under the sentence of death because of “sin.”

If our “sins” are forgiven we can still continue our “new Christian life” in the flesh or out from the “natural man” in which still dwells “sin.” In fact these are so closely related that the natural man is called “sin that dwells in me.”

Romans 7: 18] For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. [19] For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. [20] But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. [21] I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good.

This “new spirit” that we receive when we are born again produces in us a desire to do good but there is still this other power in me that keeps me from doing the good I would like to do. This other power is called “sin that is in my members.” When these two opposites “have existence” in me they produce in me two fountains.

James 3: 8] But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. [9] With it we bless our Lord and Father; and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; [10] from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. [11] Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? [12] Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Neither can salt water produce fresh.

This dual source of water that comes out of us has been a source of confusion in the church for centuries. How could one fountain send out two kinds of water? It is because there are two sources within us and not just one. Romans 7 describes the two sources. One fountain is from the new spirit and the other fountain is from “sin” that dwells in the natural man. How can born again Christians have such a bad disposition, character flaws, and attitude problems? One moment he is peaceful and loving and the next moment he is a raving monster. He hasn’t availed himself of God’s provision and gone on with God’s plan to eliminate the bad fountain.

Criticizing or counseling the bad fountain will not help. What we need to do is get rid of the bad fountain. This is one of the several adjustments that is assigned to these other Outer Court experiences. To infer that forgiveness of “sin” is all we need is gross ignorance of scriptures and God’s eternal purpose and of the Kingdom life. The church has “accepted” the two fountains because they are common in believers but we have ignored God’s solution. We have assumed that since the believer is “born again” that he will grow out of the bad attitudes problem.

We may have had our “sins” forgiven and may be born again and still not become “new creations.” This will sound like heresy to “fundamental evangelicals” who have fixed their hope on the “forgiveness of sins.” To preach that water baptism does nothing for us is ignorance when God commands it and there is no solution to our carnality without it.

To insist that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit was just to get the church started and now all the “spiritual gifts” are passed away and we are left with just natural abilities is criminal. We ignorantly pursue “personality profiles” to determine the “natural gifts” for the natural man. To a church that is having difficulty swimming these doctrines are like millstones around our neck. They offer no solution to the stagnant church.

Let us begin this study of the difference between “our being and our doing” by affirming that the “new creation” [where old things have passed away and all things have become new] has produced a genuine “new species.” This new creation assumes a genuine “new creation” that has abandoned the old creation and brought it to a final conclusion. We want to remove the “new creation” from the category of a “Christian cliche” and establish it as an essential and eternal fact. We will not limit our definition to being “born again” but to the believer becoming a “whole new species” upon the earth. That is really the meaning of the “new creation.”

The New Covenant is exclusive and cannot include the old Adam or anything that belongs to Adam The New Covenant eliminates Adam from participating. The standards established for the Kingdom life are too extreme and is too impossible for the “adamic” life to accomplish because the Kingdom requires a higher life just to begin. The Kingdom life is not a mixture of our old life of Adam plus the new life of Christ. This may sound too radical but God has provided NO SALVATION for Adam within the New Covenant. God only has one plan for Adam and that is death, burial and “processed” to a final conclusion.

It will require a completely new species of (believer) person (a new creation) in order to participate in the fulness of the New Covenant. Then to function within the laws and life of the Kingdom of God and to be perfected for eternity, everything connected to Adam must be removed from us. The conflicts, controversies and problems begin when we bring the old Adam into the church! The problems increase and are much worse when we put old Adam in the pulpit. My theory is that we are either part of the old creation or we are part of the new creation. A mixture is not possible when are speaking about the Kingdom of God.

It is for that reason that Peter made this a package deal. Acts 2:38] And Peter said to them, “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. [39] “For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself.”

I am presenting this commandment as the minimum requirement to begin and certainly not as “the full gospel.” This is but the first 3 steps into our “so great a salvation!” We may participate in these three steps just as 3000 new souls did on that day and still be far from the Kingdom life and ministry. Some preach “receive Jesus as you personal Savior” and take your place in the church which some say IS the Kingdom on earth! To preach that these 3 steps plus healing is the “full gospel” is about as ignorant as saying the church is the Kingdom.

2 Cor 13: 3] since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, and who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. [4] For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we shall live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you. [5] Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test”

This very fact of “Christ in us” is why Christianity is different from every other religion. Because of what other “religions” represent and the standards they set, it is not accurate to call Christianity a religion because the standards and methods are totally different. Any person that Christ does not actively dwell in cannot produce Christianity. Christianity is the only “religion” that promises a “new Creation” that requires a “new species” to participate.

Some religions may promote “right doing” but Christianity promises our “right being.” We can call “right being” by the scriptural term of “righteousness.” Experiential “righteousness” is more than right standing and includes “right being.” This “experiential righteousness” is subjective and affects our “inner being.” Imputed righteousness is objective and relies upon God’s grace and mercy and our faith to appropriate it to our account. It seems that “righteousness” has a fulness that we may identify as “Christ being formed in us.”

Gal 2: 20] “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.

Who is this “I” that Paul is speaking about that no longer lived? Was Paul some kind of ghost that was floating through the church or was he writing to the Galatians from the spiritual realm? I think he was saying that the Life of Jesus Christ was dwelling in Him and the old life of Adam no longer existed as his life. We may wonder how long it took for Paul to advance to this high position of no longer living and if we could ever come to this experience personally. When did Paul receive this experience? Was it when he was caught up to the third heaven? No! Paul entered into this experience 2000 years ago when Jesus Christ was crucified.

While we may know that doctrinally we may still be striving to experience it but we will be disappointed if we put this in the future tense. It is true that we must reckon our deliverance from everything connected to Adam and the old life backwards to the sacrifice of Calvary 2000 years ago! This includes each of the four aspects of His sacrifice. That is His blood, His death, His burial and His resurrection. These four personal experiences are the minimum to become a new species.

God does not make a new creation or a new species by repairing Adam or by adding anything to Adam. Adam must vacate our life and experience before it is possible for us to be re-created to become the new species. Jesus Christ brought Adam to a final conclusion 2000 years ago and we must reckon on that fact. Still, the demise of the Adam life must be personally entered into today, experientially, through our active faith in Calvary. That means bringing Calvary into the present tense! Our reckoning still must focus upon Calvary 2000 years ago. The fact is that we must enter into His death and not attempt to enter into our death. When He died we died. When Christ died He brought Adam and his life and genealogy to a final conclusion and became the sovereign Head of a new species upon the earth. All who are in Adam must die but all those in Christ shall be made alive.

The demarcation point from the old creation to the new creation was Calvary and all those who will become part of the new creation must reckon their death, burial and rebirth upon Christ’s provision at Calvary. This may appear as only symbolic or maybe legal but it must become the point of our reckoning for our death, burial and resurrection (rebirth) into the new economy of the Kingdom and as a new Kingdom species. If this transition from one species to another species does not take place experientially there is no basis for Christianity being any different than other religions.

2 Cor 5:14] For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; [15] and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. [16] Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. [17] Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Jesus Christ carried all of the first creation that was connected to Adam into His death, burial and solved the problem in His resurrection. He has provided a “higher Life- Zoe” for those who participate in His death and resurrection. All who participate in His blood, His death, His burial and His resurrection become part of the new creation in Christ because the old creation in Adam has passed away. Then some will ask why do we still see the first creation all around us? Because the new creation is spiritual. First the natural and then the spiritual. The first Adam and his race lived upon this earth and the Last Adam and His race also lives upon this earth. On the earth there are only two races now! The race of the first Adam and the race of the Last Adam. WE must either be in one race of people or the other. All who are “in Christ” are of “the one new race (species)” and in that species there can be no distinctions between Greek and Jew, male or female, bond or free because all are one in Christ. Racial distinctions in the church is ignorant and ignores what Christ has accomplished. If all who were born of first Adam are of the one flesh with him. Now, all those who are born of the Last Adam are of one Spirit with Him.

Therefore, where most religions emphasize “right doing”, Christianity emphasis “right being” or “righteousness.” The Christian life then IS Christ in us our hope of glory. Or when “Christ who IS our life” shall appear then shall we appear with Him in glory.

We should all see that to claim these promises we have to avail ourselves of His blood, His death, His burial, His resurrection and we must live by His Life. These 7 Outer Court experiences are designed to totally separate (sanctify) us from Adam and the fall and its consequences and then to separate (sanctify- set apart) us to Christ. The futility and frustration of “having church” with a group of people who have not escaped from Adam is well known.

The real question is this; Can Jesus Christ really impart His Life, His nature and His character to me so that He and I are actually one? That means in a Vine-branch union when my nature, disposition, motives, character, attitudes, vision, and goals are the same as His. Preaching about a “John 17 oneness” without this experience of “union” seems a little ridiculous. When we are living in this dimension of His Life we can say we are in “right being.” It is my theory that “right being” is what will be required to participate in the eternal Kingdom. But what about “right doing?” The Kingdom will certainly require “right doing” but the source of the “right doing” will be the “right being.” All the outward activity we see today that is called Christian ministry will be burned up if it does not originate in “right being.” “Right being” can be identified as “Christ in us doing His works” the same way the Father in Christ was doing His works.

In the Holy Place Life and ministry “our being” which IS Christ in us will fully overshadow “our doing”. To stand before the Lord, minister to the Lord and to burn Incense out of “our new being” will supercede and precede our “doing His ministry” toward His people. While both directions of ministry are necessary the ministry towards Him will be the most important and require the most consecration.

The point I am making is that Adam cannot make this transition to the next restoration or to spiritual and eternal things. Adam can only function on the earth and is even excluded from the church that Christ is building! Unfortunately “Adam” can be found everywhere in the visible church that men are building. Why is this true? Because the ministries have ignored the Word of God and accepted believers into the church that have not experienced His death, His burial and His resurrection and not escaped from the old species. Old things are still old things and the new things have not yet come. Nevertheless, all the provision for the new species has been provided at Calvary and the scriptures are clear how we experience these new things. It is ONLY through His blood, His death, His burial and His resurrection.

Most church goers will say they “believe” that He died, He was buried and on the third day he was resurrected so, therefore, they are saved. However, to teach that we have the very Life of Heaven NOW and we must enter into the reality of these foundational experiences to escape the first Adam and the life of hell seems ridiculous to the natural man.

When “our being” is in first Adam “our doing” will be rejected and become as fire wood or flammable material during the testing. Every aspect of man’s work MUST be tested by fire to see what sort it is. Most ministries are not aware that they are just building with wood, hay and straw which is all the natural stuff that comes from Adam and the first creation. Only the new species can be identified as silver, gold and precious stones. [1 Cor 3: 10-15]