The Kingdom of God is not a ticket. We cannot be a Christian yesterday. We cannot be abiding in eternal life yesterday. Either our life is in Christ and drawing eternal Life from Him or else the forces of decay and death are moving in and we are approaching judgment and condemnation.

There is no message more needed in America today than the truth that yesterday's salvation is not at work today, unless we are abiding in Christ.

There are several passages in the New Testament that remind us of the need to be abiding in Christ moment by moment, and of the fatal consequences of living in the world while trusting in some past religious experience to insure our entrance into Heaven when we die.

And envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:21—NIV)

But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned. (Hebrews 6:8—NIV)

If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. (II Peter 2:20—NIV)

There are many such warnings in the New Testament. Yet the current preaching of sovereign, unconditional grace proceeds as though such exhortations did not exist. The Evangelical churches are not prospering today, in terms of growth in righteous, holy living, because the contemporary teaching in numerous instances is not scriptural. We have departed from the Word and the lampstand, the testimony, has been removed from us. We have been weakened spiritually and we do not realize it.

What can we do? We can return to the Scriptures and start teaching, verse by verse, what the texts state rather than our traditions. If the ministers in America would return to the Bible and preach and teach the inspired texts we soon would have the national repentance that is needed if the nation is to survive.

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; (Psalms 91:11—NIV)

We do not know too much about the great multitude of angels that God has created. We do understand many of them rebelled and today we wrestle against them—some who apparently at one time were highly placed in the spiritual hierarchy.

Why do we have to wrestle against them? It is because they are in rebellion against Christ. They are losing their places of authority to Him and His saints. They stand against all we would do to obey and please Jesus Christ.

God's reaction to the rebellion of the angels has been to create man, and to place man on the highest throne. In fact, God is moving His throne from Heaven to the hearts of His obedient sons. From there He shall reign for eternity.

To be continued.