The Church (Assembly) and the Kingdom of God

Part 8 of a study - by Bob Allgood

   The purpose of the Scriptures is to provide doctrine (teaching), reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works”.  Just because one is a child of God and/or even a member of a local visible NT church (assembly) does not mean they are perfect in understanding of all truth and/or without sin or error. There is NO perfect local visible NT church assembly because they are all made up of sinners. Those born of God’s Spirit are perfect and righteous in the sight of God because He has made us to be the “righteousness of God” IN Christ (i.e. IN the Holy Spirit, i.e. in the kingdom of God” – but in the visible church there is and always will be our imperfections and corruptions.

   The “church of God which was at Corinth” had many imperfections and problems understanding the truth and was, as a church (assembly) in darkness on many points of doctrine. Among the problems this church had was (1) carnality and walking in the flesh, as babes in Christ (2) divisions (3) fornication being tolerated (4) drunkenness at the communion of the saints (5) speaking in unknown tongues (ecstatic utterances) (6) women teaching in the church, and  (7) sins which had not been repented of – as Paul said in 2 Cor. 12:20-21, “For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults: And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed”.  Surely one would not claim that these conditions in “the church of God” – i.e. a local visible NT church (assembly), can be considered the “kingdom of God, which is “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” according to Paul’s definition in Romans 14:17. Paul went on to say, “For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.”

   What the Saints do in and out of the local assembly in this time world reflects on the testimony of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  In Luke 11:33-36 Jesus said, “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light”.

  Paul admonished the church at Ephesus, saying, “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light, (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret”.

 Walking in the LIGHT and walking in DARKNESS

Understanding the TRUTH about who will be “cast out” of His Kingdom

  The words “Light” and “Darkness” first appear in the New Testament in the same passage conveying the precept set forth in part 14 of this study. In Matthew 4:13-17 we are told that when Jesus began his earthly ministry he left Nazareth and “came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias (Isaiah) the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. Most of our Lord’s early ministry was done in “Galilee of the Gentiles” where “The people which sat in darkness saw great light”.

   The Oracles of God, the Law and the Prophets, had been given to the Hebrews, the house of Israel (Jacob), known as the Jews or “of Judah”. Until about 1533 BC when Moses started to write the first five books of the Bible, there was NO written Scripture. The Gentiles, starting with the creation of man, righteous Abel, Enoch and Noah, etc., had not been given the law, but those who were the elect of God, had done by nature the things contained in the law. This is what Paul taught in Romans 2:14-15, “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, etc. --- “.  The Law was given to the Jews because of their transgression. The Law never made anyone righteous, nor did obedience to the Law add anyone to the spiritual family of God.

  ALL natural Jews are NOT “children of God” any more than ALL Gentiles are children of God. This is made clear from the teachings of Christ in John 8:42-45, where Jesus said to SOME JEWS, “If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.”

   Paul also makes it clear in his writings that ALL Jews are NOT “children of promise”. In Romans 2:28-29 we read, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God”. In Romans 9:6-8 we read, “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed”.   ONLY GOD KNOWS his elect people. Man cannot and should not try to make any judgment concerning the eternal destiny of any Jew of Gentile. Paul told Timothy “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity”.  This PRECEPT tells me that “The Lord knoweth” – not Bob Allgood or any other minister or person – but ONLY the Lord knows “them that are his”.  IMO, it borders on blasphemy for one to assume that by ones “good works or evil deeds” he is destined to heaven or hell.

   The BIBLICAL precept of God’s eternal purpose IN Christ according to the principles of election and predestination is clearly set forth for any child of God to understand IF they will but follow the Spirit of Truth who guides into all truth. Three little words “As Many As” sum up this precept which applies to both Gentiles and Jews. IN Christ and IN the spiritual kingdom of God there is neither Jew nor Gentile. “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise”. ALL whom God chose in Christ, for God is no respecter of persons, have been made accepted in the beloved.

  When Christ came to this low ground of sin and sorrow to do the will of His Father who sent Him, “he came unto his own”, i.e. he came first to the natural nation of the Hebrews, known as the Jews. In John 1:11 we read, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not”. This statement cannot be taken to mean that ALL Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah. That would be utterly ridiculous! This must be understood that those Jews which were not of the elect, or those who had no light, or those who had not yet been born from above “received him not”. Simeon was a Jew, and according to the scriptures “was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:25-32).

  In John 1:12-13 we read, “But AS MANY AS (caps mine – ba) received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”. The “as many as” who received Jesus were ALREADY born of God and in the spiritual kingdom of God. The “as many as” who first received Jesus were Jews. Jews made up the first disciples of our Lord. Jews made up the First NT Church which was at Jerusalem, which was the mother church of many other NT churches. Jews made up the majority of many churches “throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria”. From the time Christ began to build His Church, the believing Jews were “added to the church”. Three thousand were added on the day of Pentecost, and five thousand later according to Acts 4:4. I have never read anywhere in the scriptures where “The Jews were cast out of the New Testament Church”.  I do read of where the Jewish kingdom was to be made “desolate”.  In Matt 23:37-38 I read where Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate”. Surely this is talking about the Jewish kingdom (economy) and not about the New Testament Church or the Kingdom of God or the family of God in heaven and on earth. 

  One may be disqualified from being part of a local visible NT church (assembly) because of his conduct, but those who are born of God and blessed to experience “righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” can never be disqualified from their inheritance in the “kingdom of God”. Those born of God will spend eternity in the Kingdom of God and none can separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus. “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth” (Romans 8:33).

  There is a concept (not a biblical precept) that everyone who says Lord, Lord, is a child of God. But I find this to be a false concept. According to Jesus, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt 7:21-23).

   Those who are ‘false professors” and “hypocrites” will be cast out of His kingdom “in that day”.  As Jesus said in Matthew “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear”.