The Demands of Entering the Kingdom of God (LSC)


Eternal Glorious Fountain Ministry (EGFM)

www.egfm.org

Programme: Lekki Soul Center (LSC)

Date: Wednesday, 21st July 2021

Ministering: Reverend Kayode Oyegoke

 

 

God gave us His only begotten Son so that we should not perish. This is a great gift that God has given us, and this is the reason for Christianity The word ‘should’ means it is possible to perish because we are not assured access to everlasting life the day we believed. Our focus as children of God is to pursue everlasting life. It is possible to go to heaven without everlasting life. The purpose of New birth is to give us a life that cannot perish. Mankind is at the bottom line of extinction. The purpose of Jesus’ coming to earth is to stop perishing.

If the scripture is taught as intended by God, a whole lot of people will make a stronger commitment to pursue God. God’s intention is beyond man not going to hell. It is that man should not get to a place where he would be irreversible for repair. Satan has set perishing in motion so that man will race quickly to it before God comes for him. Everything created is a ‘good’; heaven and earth are goods.

The answer to perishing is everlasting life; this is the gospel. The spreader of perishing is Satan. He was a high, good commodity in the third heavens before he fell. “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.” (Eze. 28:15). The sin Lucifer committed was beyond the sin we can comprehend. Sin was not an earthly thing. God didn’t create sin; a creature created it. Sin itself is a creature of high heavenly material.

Tyre is a very small nation, yet it had great influence (Eze. 28:12). Tyre wielded the same power that nations like Babylon wielded because of the king that was in Tyre. The king of Tyre had a position under a spiritual king; Satan. Beyond the man-king on earth, there is a spiritual king. The King of Tyre was well positioned under this spiritual king and his ideas. One can get money from God and Satan can also give it (Matt. 4:8). It is not all those who have economic power that got it from God. Satan will put privileges around a man because he wants to use such a man to destroy the earth. This might not be by a physical war but to hold the world at ransom to push an evil idea. We must be careful who we make our role models. The actual role model for man is Christ; we ought to pattern our lives after Him.

The throne of Tyre was not ordinary. That’s why we have to pray for those who are in authority. There is a higher power over those in authority; one who lacks stature will be subjugated. The devil is not a fool; one who can stand as an enemy of God should not be taken slightly. God is a giver of all; He doesn’t hold back. God gave Lucifer all wisdom. Stones are spirits of fire. Satan traded his goodness for evil. For him to turn back, he turned all the things God lavished on him. Satan succeeded in turning the good God made in him to evil. Satan became very proud. When God sees pride in any man, it reminds him of Lucifer. Satan’s beauty became higher than his heart. Beauty was Satan’s excellency. Our things that are good can affect our hearts- that’s where pride starts from.

We are to slay every little fox that spoils the vine. The adversary can use the privileges around a man to slay him. Harness power to keep your heart with all diligence. We must pray that God should keep our hearts away from ourselves so as not to see ourselves. Pride should not be pampered; it should be killed before it kills us. Satan corrupted his wisdom. What fell on the king of Tyre was corrupted wisdom; though he was a man, he was thinking like an angel. Earthly, devilish, sensual wisdom teaches men in advanced countries to believe there is no God. This wisdom is hellish.

Perishing comes from corruption. What corrupts will eventually make one perish. God didn’t give His Son for man to come to heaven but to solve what Satan gave to man to wear him out. Anything on earth perishes by the use of them. Satan is not appreciating; he is depreciating. The number ‘666’ is a program that will detonate sins. Jesus purchased for us, redemption. Every temptation has an intention to expire one. The offer of the adversary is not a good offer; to be able to refuse him, you need power.

The spectacular works/evidence of the Old Testament prophets cannot touch (not potent to destroy the works of) the devil. Jesus did not come to work miracles; it is secondary. He came to destroy a being (Satan). The person who hated the Jews is Satan, not Arabs or Germans. This spirit hates Christianity and God. This is a deviating tactic that makes us focus on the trivial. Satan misconstrued that God was afraid of death. But God surprised his boast of death by going to die -- visiting Sheol. Death means a departure from God. Lucifer was cut off -- He died to God because he was ambitious to be a god away from God. Because of God’s investment in beings, it costs much to depart from Him. Satan was oblivious of the consequences of his lusts/disobedience; even his mercies are cruel. His most loving intentions towards us will lead to our undoing.

God raised Jesus, Satan tempted Him; but God was leading Him. For every leading, there is a temptation. Every leading is against what Satan represents. That is, whenever Satan tempts, he is tempted by a work already inside us. The adversary comes on account of that work but Jesus overcame them all. He overcame everything within Satan which he offered. The last place was the point of destruction - the cross.

While Jesus was to be killed and buried, by the rite of ritual/sacrifice in the spirit at Gethsemane, He prayed that the cup would pass over Him (Matt. 26:39). Here, Jesus was neither afraid of whips nor the nails. The real pain and fear of Jesus were that He was to be joined to Satan for three (3) days. He was “made sin”, not just a ‘sinner’. Sin is what makes a sinner; sin was the stature inside Satan, and this is what Jesus became on the cross; and He remained that way for three days. When God came to raise Him, He had to destroy sin in Christ our Lord. God expired it in hell, and He raised Jesus.

Whenever we exalt and teach Jesus, sin becomes powerless because it had been destroyed (Col. 2:15). Sin was not destroyed by physical combat with Satan. The actual destruction was through our Lord Jesus; Satan was laid on Him, and then They destroyed Satan in Him. This was what Jesus did not want to be identified with on the cross. Immediately this happened, He cried! (Matt. 27:46), and the atmosphere/sky became dark because God could not look at it. The Holy Ghost could not behold it. One of Them, He who holds all things (Col. 1:17), Jesus, was the One that died. Even geography gave way/responded in an earthquake, the stars refused to shine and the earth opened.

There was darkness for the space of 3 hours; this signified that there would be darkness for three days. This also means that the spirit, soul and body were paid for on the third day. God raised Him. By the law of sacrifice, He who is not an offender but only a bearer is not liable to stay in hell for more than three days. By the law of sacrifice, three days of death is enough to bear consequences for the other. Three days of death for the whole of mankind symbolized an eternity. For this reason, when Jesus came out, He became an eternal sacrifice (Heb. 9:13-10:18).

We have earlier discussed the need for having Everlasting life, but now, we would look at the ‘how’ of having/coming into Everlasting life. Adam ate the tree, and death came on us. Man is expiring, without a doubt. At New birth, we received a ‘shock’ of resurrection - this shock sends a wrong signal to corruption that things are no longer as they used to be in the soul. Many Christians are oblivious that the battle begun at new birth - a battle between our spirit, soul and body.

Corruption has been removed from our spirit, that is, our spirits are no longer suffering decay. Corruption or perishing has its roots in the spirit (before new birth). Corruption is a spiritual thing that sends its program to the soul and then to the body. But as soon as we become born again, so also did our spirit. The spirit is no longer corruptible. He is called the hidden man who is not corruptible (1 Pet. 3:4). The old man that the spirit was died, and another man was raised, called the New Man (Eph. 4:24). Upon the arrival of this new man, a war begins within the soul and the body. Both the body and the spirit contends for the soul (Gal. 5:17).

The soul is the middleman; whoever (spirit or body) gains the soul wins the battle. For this reason, scriptures instruct us not to walk in the flesh; that is, our bodies should not rule us (Gal. 5:16). But rather let our spirit occupy/takeover the soul, and then we bring our body under. This ought to be the everyday teaching in the church. Regardless of how much we make a Christian successful, without this teaching, corruption would erode souls and thereby defeat the purpose of our initial salvation. Many children of God are unaware of soul decay. The subject of decay, corruption and incorruption informs the understanding of the Kingdom. In biblical terms/definition, Kingdom isn’t merely about a few people entering in and having a hedge. It is about either the forces/materials of corruption or incorruption not having an influence on the person. To escape corruption, we must enter into the Kingdom.

Nicodemus, coming to Jesus, having a bad programme about dominion (John 3:1-16). Jesus knew that he was one of the rulers of the Jews, and he wanted to retain this status to have a hedge. Therefore he came to Jesus by night and said, “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him” (John 3:2). Jesus discerned that Nicodemus intended to make up for his fear of Jesus’ Disciples becoming the new Jewish religious authority by the miracles of Jesus which the people wondered at, and for which a huge crowd followed them - Nicodemus did not want to lose out (John 6:2).

But Jesus educated him that the Kingdom of God does not work in such a way, because in entering in, one must become born-again (John 3:3). All that Jesus ministered was about the Kingdom, even the heralding of John about Jesus, to prepare His way (Mark 1:3, John 1:23). John announced that the world of the incorruptible had come, and men should escape into it. It is in the Kingdom of God that corruption seizes finally.

Dominion/kingdom is to stop perishing. As a child of God, we are born-again to see the Kingdom i.e, see the incorruptible. However, corruption drove Nicodemus to Jesus. He lusted for a corruptible dominion. Political power is not true dominion. Satan does not give any man this dominion at no cost - they all suffer corruption. Satan’s works are not being seen. They are unobvious. Although we call money laundering and other obvious cases ‘corruption’, it is beyond that. Corruption has a deeper import even on us who react in anger to these menaces. Satan assigned these evil spirits in charge to keep our corruptible state ongoing.

Jesus’ emphasis was not to save the Jews from the Roman Empire but to save them from a king (the adversary) who possesses high wisdom and created a first-phase/face* of deception to define his works. Meanwhile, beneath it, something else is going on - he is corrupting, decaying and reducing man. To stop this program of corruption, we must be born-again.

Men go to the lake of fire because they have become spoilt; not merely by the decision of God to mete out punishment. The biblical judgment is that God considers that such sinners have their souls beyond repair. They would not be useful or responsive if they are kept in heaven. Their souls have completely perished. A soul can be trained to die. It is good that we are aware of what is up against us so we can keep our souls safe in God.

True dominion is to handle or overcome a king we do not see - an evil king who has been killing for ages; he killed in heaven and came to earth to do the same. Jesus calls him a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). He can suffocate life out of a spirit and train a soul to hate God. But Jesus has come to bring salvation (John 10:10), He is offering us substances that would make/form us in a manner that Satan is unable to break us; we become formidable, protected and indestructible, not just by the shielding of angels but by growth to withstand and outlast the devices of the enemy. God could vouch for knowing His servant, Abraham (Gen. 18:19). This state is also not far-fetched from us. It is in the scripture but seems elusive to us because we are so far apart from these teachings. This is the essence of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not about earthly initiatives; it is salvation.

New birth is the power to see the kingdom (John 3:3). An unbeliever cannot be taught the kingdom. Such one would not see it. The spirit must be raised back to life (resurrected), then the spirit would energize the soul to comprehend the Kingdom. Seeing the Kingdom is not in visions, but to imagine it -- to have an understanding of its kind of dominion. Till now, we still mix Satan’s dominion with God’s Kingdom in our imagination because all we have been taught is the dominion of Satan. His dominion is not only characterized by occult powers but also by our ‘nice lives’ here.

‘Kingdom’ is not demonic possession; it is written in the mind and heart. It is a program we use to run our lives. The dominion of Satan is a kingdom race with corruption. It is a kingdom built with corruption. God created man as a living soul. The first Adam was made a living soul while the last Adam (our Lord Jesus Christ), a quickening spirit (1 Corin. 15:45). From Genesis 6, man had become flesh, and God had to destroy all flesh with water (Gen. 6:3 & 13). The kingdom of Satan takes a soul from ‘living’ to make them ‘meat’ - turns them to flesh, such that man would no longer be different from animals. This also gave rise to the practice of bestiality, excessive compassion towards animals than our fellow mankind and a wrong hierarchy of rights/legitimacy of living.

When we are born-again, we must desire to stop being flesh. Although we are born-again, it doesn’t make us cease being flesh. But we possess the power in our spirit to move from flesh to becoming spiritual. It is common to be flesh. There are Christian-flesh, i.e. those who are yet to be admitted into the kingdom. These are carnal Christians. It is unrealistic to become spiritual immediately. It takes the process of growth. Jesus grew from being flesh into the status of God - the King of kings. The Kingdom of God earned Him this.

Satan has infested our churches; he broke into the churches to change the message (emphasis on the Kingdom) so that the change/movement from flesh to spirit would not occur. He does things by promoting wealth and prosperity messages in the church. This is a warfare which spiritual leaders unknowingly succumb to because they are concerned about the outward estate of the flock. This is a temptation. It is difficult to stay on course and preach people out of their captivity through the gospel of the kingdom. For this reason, the kingdom suffers violence (Matt. 11:12). The kingdom of God does not come to us while sleeping; we have to fight!

We must fight/contend to show God that we love the kingdom. If it is otherwise given to us on a platter of gold, we will discard it. Whatever a soul fights for, it becomes precious to him; what he has to bleed for cannot be easily snatched from him. We must resist spirits and fight wars. The kingdom is received by grace, and grace empowers us to war and hold on tenaciously.

Whether you like it or not, you have to wrestle. You are not wrestling against man, but against spirits, except you want to remain flesh. The kingdom of God is a costly treasure that requires all that you have (Matt. 13:44-46). It demands a lot of thr giving of yourself: you need to war against yourself and deny yourself to own it. It is more precious than anything anyone can get on earth and in heaven.

The purpose of the kingdom of Satan is to depreciate men or cause people to perish. It is a dominion that depreciates everything and everyone in it till they become irredeemable. We must not remain carnal; we can be spiritual! What makes a man spiritual is how he sees; so, to make a man spiritual, his understanding needs to be opened.          

Before a man enters the Kingdom, he must first see it; then, he can begin to take measures of entrance. Seeing the Kingdom will show you how to enter; you will begin to see the demands of entrance. Once a man sees the Kingdom, it will change his perspective of life. Kingdom sight automatically redefines your life.

The two dominions (God’s and Satan’s) place demand on how you live. You must count the cost and reorganize your life accordingly (Luk. 14:28-33). The kingdom of darkness puts pressure on how you live; it is responsible for how men live on earth. What makes men depreciate is how they live. The software that runs the corruptible life is translated through lifestyle and spirits are in charge of it. Everyone on the course of corruption is being watched over; and spirits know the day that their eyes are opened and begin to see life differently from what corruption has programmed them to see.

A time is coming when people will be willing to press into the Kingdom, not minding the cost (Ps. 110:3, Luk. 16:16), because they will see nothing here on earth. God will move and get the flock ready even when pastors are not ready; men will start to seek for more than just ephemeral things. We must hold tight to that which God is giving us. Many that we think would never come to the knowledge of the gospel are coming.

Entering into the Kingdom is by water and Spirit. It is not just by getting born again, but entering into a place where corruption stops. That is true safety for the soul. To be born of water and of the Spirit is doing the will of the Father in heaven. We must do the will of God till we enter into the Kingdom. What you need to wash by water and Spirit is your soul because the soul is the bed of conversation. It takes the soul to interpret that which is in the spirit. When a man’s soul is taught what is in his spirit, it will live it out. What makes a soul carnal is when its conversation is that of the outward man (flesh).

There is a time you talk to Christians as carnal. It is not wrong for a season, as long as they do not remain in that state. It becomes offensive when they are still carnal when they are meant to have become spiritual. Carnal people are not kingdom people yet; they are babes in Christ and must be fed with milk. We must grow! Speaking can only go through when comprehension is developed. Speaking and comprehension must be commensurate. God will do a “crash programme” for the church to cause men to learn good milk and begin to hear things of the Kingdom.

True milk will make you desire the spiritual. It is bad milk that makes you concentrate on the flesh and desire only to solve problems of the natural. When a man stays in such a state, Satan will keep him occupied with problems so that he will never grow up and become spiritual. The journey out of flesh to being spiritual is an exodus, just like that of the children of Israel. A carnal man is still in Egypt. We must be led out of flesh. The Red Sea is a journey that a carnal man must not undertake. When the host of Egypt tried to go through the Red Sea, they drowned; but the people that God was leading to becoming spiritual were able to pass through.

The meat and drink the children of Israel were fed with was Christ. When you lay the foundation for spiritual life, which is the Stone, you are laying Christ so that people can drink from the Rock.  The spiritual meal was manna from heaven which no Egyptian could partake of. There are some things God gives that unbelievers can partake of (like healing), but there are spiritual things that no unbeliever can partake of. We must be fed with both spiritual meat and drink to enter into the Kingdom. The meat and water are the will of God that can cause men to enter into the Kingdom. Nobody can enter into the Kingdom if he is not a spirit.

The Kingdom of Satan births flesh; but the Kingdom of God reverses the course of flesh and births spirits through the meat of the word. When people get born again, they must also be prepared for a rebirth that will make them spiritual. They must become so spiritual until they break through into the Kingdom and enter into incorruption.

“Becoming spirit” does not refer to the human spirit, but a kind of man that has a different life entirely; a man that is controlled by spiritual laws. When you are a spirit, you have life. Many levels of life are in the Kingdom, so Jesus wants to keep giving us life till we have it more abundantly (John 10:10). This is a state when we can be said to have everlasting life or everlasting spirit.

No one can come into the Kingdom outside of conversion from flesh to spirit. The Kingdom is a place where corruption has no power. The greatest in the Kingdom is he that can never be corrupted-- that is, an everlasting man or a sure man. An everlasting man is one who has made his calling and election sure (2 Pet. 1:10). This calling is not anything ministerial but becoming what God wants you to be.

The bringing of the Kingdom to us is treating of whatever problem we have. The creator of our problem is a dark dominion. When you learn the Kingdom of God, you will be free from the dominion of Satan. The most immediate need of every man is the learning of the Kingdom. It takes people who are wise to be free from the dominion of Satan.

 

 

 

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