World Tomorrow

Way of Life

by Herbert W Armstrong

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There seems to be no solution in sight today to the frightening world troubles with nuclear World War III threatening to blast all human life off this planet. But there is a solution and it's already underway, but the world doesn't seem to know it, or to understand it.

Now the United States and the Soviet Union are not going to get together and solve it; the United Nations isn't solving anything; modern science is not going to solve it. They've only built the weapons of mass destruction that can erase all human life from the face of this earth, can destroy all human life.

Now there are some religious broadcasters who seem to think that just accepting Jesus Christ, just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's going to solve all of our problems. But I want you to notice what Jesus Christ Himself said and it's in Mark the seventh chapter beginning with verse seven, He said:

"Howbeit in vain do they worship me [not only accepting Him, not only believing on Him, but worshipping Him], teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Mark 7:7)

If they don't live the way He said to live, and if they teach a different way of living, if they just teach about Christ. Unless you turn from the way you've been living it isn't going to help. And then He said:

"For [leaving] aside the commandment of God..." (Mark 7:8)

And they say that the commandments of God are done away, that Christ came and did away with His Father's commandments. But Jesus said He had kept His Father's commandments. He said; "Think not that I am come to destroy the law..." (Matthew 5:17), and yet they say He did.

"For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men [the things that men say, but not the law of God, which they say is done away]... And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may [hold to] your...tradition." (Mark 7:8-9)

So, we have what we call, 'traditional Christianity.' And I want to tell you, that while it is necessary to believe on Jesus Christ, and He is the solution; but just believing on Christ, just accepting Christ alone isn't going to do it. It's going to mean that you have to change your life, and that's what He said, and that's what He came to teach. That's what He came to have us understand. Now in Matthew seven and verse 21 He said:

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord [then accepts Christ, that believes on Christ; not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, that just professes Christ, just says; 'I accept and I receive Christ'], shall enter into the kingdom of [God]; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)

He that does; "...not [just] the hearers of the law...[shall be just, as we read in Romans again], but the doers of the law shall be [saved]." (Romans 2:13)

The Cause of Troubles and the Cause of Peace (PLAY FROM 03:46)

The troubles in the world have come from the way we have been living. We have been living the wrong way and that has brought all of our troubles on us; there has to be a cause for every effect. And if the world is in trouble today, if the world is unhappy today, if people are discontented all over the world, if half of the world is poverty stricken, living in filth and squalor, if half of the world is illiterate and can't even read or write, and that is true; then there is a cause. And it is the way people have been living, and it is because they have ignored the way of God.

Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel; and there is the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as I've read so many times on this program, in Mark the first chapter beginning with the first verse.

And He... "came into Galilee, preaching the gospel [what Gospel? the Gospel] of the kingdom of God [that's the Government of God, to govern the way we live, to govern our lives], And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand..." (Mark 1:14-15)

The time was fulfilled, because He had just conquered Satan who has been ruling the world. And the Kingdom of God was at hand, because He had come to build the Church which was simply the Kingdom of God in embryo. But not the literal Kingdom of God as yet; just the beginning of it. So, then He said:

"...repent ye, [repent] and believe the gospel." (Mark 1:15)

Believe this Government of God, and the Way of life of God. It is all a matter of the way we have been living. So, the cause is the way we've lived, the cause is what we have done. We've been transgressing God's Way of life.

And yet the Bible shows that we are going to have peace. Let me give you now the good news, it's in Isaiah in the second chapter, and it's also quoted in Micah, one of the prophets, just word for word. This is the second chapter of Isaiah beginning with verse two:

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains..." (Isaiah 2:2)

Here 'mountains' is simply a symbol for nations. In other words; the Kingdom of God, God's nation, the Kingdom of God. That's what Jesus Christ came to preach, that's what He came to teach us, about the Kingdom of God. A kingdom of people which are ruled by God, and God's Way of life. And you don't hear that kind of preaching today, except on this program, if I may say so. And that nation will be:

"...established on the top of the mountains [or the nations, mountains is used here as a symbol], and shall be exalted above the hills [that's the smaller nations]; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain [or the Kingdom] of the Lord [and], to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways [the way we live, of God's ways of living according to the law of God], and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2:2-3)

And you read in Isaiah, the eleventh chapter, that the earth will be as full of the Word of God and the Way of God, the Way of living of God, as the ocean beds are full of water. That's how it will be in the time just ahead of us when we're going to have world peace. Now listen to this:

"...for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among [many] nations [that's when the Kingdom of God is set up on earth], and shall rebuke many [nations]: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Isaiah 2:3-4)

We're going to have world peace! And the time is now near; because this is the generation in which Jesus Christ is coming to rule. Now Christ is the solution yes, but He's coming as a Ruler and as Government. But Jesus Christ came to start it, and it started on the way by His Church. Now Jesus came into a world ruled as the world is going today; man going his own way, and going the wrong way and the way that is causing all of the troubles; everything that we're seeing today.

Christ's Church (PLAY FROM 09:02)

But, when Jesus came He said; "...I will build my church..." (Matthew 16:18). He said He would build His Church. But He didn't build the Church with calling hundreds of thousands and millions of people immediately. Jesus came into a world such as we are living in now only it had not grown as big as it is now, there weren't as many people. The evils weren't as great as the evils are today, evils have multiplied, people have multiplied. It is just bigger in every way, but it is just that much more evil than it was then.

The word 'church' means; 'called out ones', the word 'church' means 'called out ones'. And so, you will read in Matthew four and beginning with verse 18. {1} Jesus didn't call thousands of people all at once but you will read how Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee. I've walked by the shores of this same sea many a time - it has to be the same spot, there's only one spot where this could be. And He "...saw two brethren [brothers], Simon [who was] called Peter..." (Matthew 4:18)

That is, he was surnamed Peter, and 'surname' is a title. It's the title of leader, he was the leader of the apostles. To be an apostle but he wasn't an apostle at the beginning; he was a student or a learner. Or, as the Bible calls it a disciple, which means a student, or one who is learning. So anyway Simon was surnamed Peter:

"...and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers." (Matthew 4:18)

They were fishermen. Now, they didn't want to be preachers, they didn't want to be apostles; they wanted to be fishermen. And Jesus was not asking now for volunteers, He was calling. And so, He said, He called out to them and He said:

"...Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from [there], he saw other two brethren [two other brothers], James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, [and they were fishing there with their father in another boat]. And they immediately left their ships and their father, and [they] followed him. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in [the] synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom..." (Matthew 4:19-23)

And you'll read in many other places how they were astonished at His teaching, at His doctrine, at the things He said; because He was teaching that they ought to live a different way. They were living the way that was causing all of the troubles in the world. And, He was calling them out of the world. The Church is merely the 'called out ones'.

Now Jesus didn't begin by calling everybody, and asking for volunteers and saying; "If you just accept me you'll go to heaven." But He called disciples, and He began to teach them a better way of living. He began to teach them about the Kingdom of God, the Government of God, and the way of life of God, God's way of life. And God's way of life is the way Jesus Christ lived when He was on earth. It's the way He and God the Father have lived for all eternity because they have lived forever. There never is a time when they began living, they have always lived.

Now let me explain something about the Church that you probably haven't heard before. He didn't just call for everybody to come to salvation; He called certain men, twelve men to be students, only twelve; and He began to teach those twelve. And after He had taught them for three and a half years, then He gave them the great commission, and I'm going to read that in just a moment. But Jesus was building the Church, and He was calling the Church out of this world, out of this way of living to God's way of life, as the beginning, and of the foundation of a different and a new world.

The Result of Adam's Sin (PLAY FROM 13:42)

Now, to understand the world that Jesus came into - what's wrong with the world, why we're having all the troubles we're having in the world. And we still are, because it's still the same world, only as I said a moment ago it is greater. The evils are greater, the troubles are greater, the population is greater. There's just more of everything today.

It all began with the incident of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Now in the Garden of Eden God had showed Adam and Eve the way of life, His Way of Life. Eve had strayed away just a little bit, and she came across a serpent, a snake. But Satan was in that snake, and Satan is the great former archangel, that is now Satan the Devil, who rebelled against God. Who was filled with vanity, who was filled with an idea of destruction, instead of construction and building. Who was filled with the way of rebellion against God, and God's way of living; against peace, against everything good, against happiness. And he misled her, he said:

"'Has God said that you could eat of all of the trees of the garden?' And she said; 'Well, He said we could eat of all of the trees, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But, He said; if we eat it we will surely die' [well then, here came the first lie; he said]. 'You won't surely die, you're an immortal soul, you're going to live forever.'" (Genesis 3:1-4 paraphrased)

And do you know that people have been believing – and even traditional Christianity believes that lie today? That you are an immortal soul; you won't surely die, you are going to live forever. Well I nail that lie right here and now, in the name and by the Authority of Jesus Christ. Satan is a liar and he is the father of it.

And that was the first lie told. Not by human man but by Satan himself. But Eve fell for it, and she swallowed it hook line and sinker. And she took of the forbidden fruit, and disobeyed God, and gave to her husband. She started the first ERA movement; and she took her husband by the nose and led him, when he was supposed to lead her in love, and in happiness, and in God's way. But he followed his wife and he disobeyed God; and that started another world led by Satan. They rejected God, and they rejected eternal life which God had offered them in the Tree of Life.

And God would have given them eternal life by and through His Holy Spirit. His life had to be injected into them, begotten into them; because humans have been made from the dust of the ground. God formed man after His own image, after His likeness, after the God kind. God is reproducing Himself, and He made man to become like God. But He made man of the dust of the ground; and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became - the dust of the ground - became a soul. The dust of the ground became a soul, matter, not spirit.

But man disobeyed God, and Adam, the first man, could have taken of the Tree of Life. In other words, of the Holy Spirit of God, and that would have impregnated him with the life of God, and also with a mind like God, and with God's way of living. With an attitude like God, an attitude of love, of giving instead of getting, of obedience to God and God's way; which leads to peace, and happiness, and life, and good will, and joy, and everything that is pleasant and good, and wholesome and right.

But he went the wrong way, and that began a human civilization. There'd never been such a civilization on the earth - it was the first man, the first human, but that began this world. It was the foundation of the world at that time. And at that time, you will read in Revelation 13:8 that Christ, there called :"...the Lamb [of God, was] slain from the foundation of the world." (Revelation 13:8)

In other words; it was determined that time would come when Christ would be the second Adam. That Jesus Christ would come as a sin bearer, and He would live a perfect life setting us an example that we should live as He did; following His Father's commandments, keeping the commandments of God, God's Way of life. A way that brings peace, that produces peace, and telling us to follow His example, and live that Way. And He would live in a perfect way, He would never commit a sin; therefore He would never bring a death penalty on Himself. But then He would give His life for you and me, and:

"...God [Himself] so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son [Jesus Christ], that [we] should not perish..." (John 3:16)

You are not immortal, you would perish otherwise, except for Christ paying a penalty in your stead. And Jesus gave Himself to pay the penalty of sin that we do not have to die, but that we may yet have the Tree of Life opened to us. And receive the Holy Spirit, which Adam could have received and didn't, and made it available. But at that time God closed up the Tree of Life, and you read of that in Genesis three, verses 22-24, the last three verses of the third chapter of Genesis. Now also at that time, as you read in Hebrews 9:27, it was appointed that man should die because of Adam's sin, that human beings, man, should: "...once...die, but after [that] the judgment:" (Hebrews 9:27)

Then in I Corinthians 15:22 you read, I Corinthians 15:22, 23, 24, if you read right on from that point: "...as in Adam all die..." (I Corinthians 15:22)

And all do die, and all have been dying ever since Adam up to now. After seventy, eighty, some even a little over a hundred years. I'm not too far from it now myself but God has still given me the strength to talk to you, and give you His Truth.

After this the judgment, and: "...as in Adam all die...so in Christ shall all be made alive." (I Corinthians 15:22)

Everyone who ever died is going to be brought back to life by a resurrection.

God's Plan for the Future (PLAY FROM 21:12)

Now then, God had closed up the Tree of Life. It was not even open to ancient Israel, they had no salvation, no eternal life was ever offered to ancient Israel. But in Joel, one of the prophets, Joel 2 and verse 28 you read that the day will come, the time will come when God will again: "...pour out [His] spirit upon all flesh..." (Joel 2:28)

Now, that time had not come yet, but it was just beginning in the time of Christ. He taught His disciples and after He had taught them for three and a half years you read in Matthew 28 and the last three verses beginning with verse 18:

"...Jesus came and spake unto them [and this was after His resurrection, and], saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach..." (Matthew 28:18-19)

Now remember He had taught them, He was a teacher and He had taught them as students. Now they had graduated from that college, so to speak, and now they were going to be apostles. That was their degree, their college degree, so to speak. Now He said:

"You go, and teach [they now were to become teachers] all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them [they were to go and teach others, teaching them] to observe [what?] all things whatsoever I have commanded you..." (Matthew 28:19-20 paraphrased)

That He had taught them! He taught them God's Way of life, and now He told them to go out and teach others God's Way of life. It's a lot more, my friends, than just believing on Christ and accepting Christ. That's the beginning. First you believe, or first of all you repent, and then you believe, and then you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now they started out on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came, and on that day the apostle Peter preached a marvelous sermon. And the people that were there, there were a few thousand people there, and they were pricked in their heart, and they said; Well: "...Men and brethren, what shall we do [now]? Then Peter said; Repent ..." (Acts 2:37-38)

That is, change your mind, admit how wrong you are. Admit the way you've been living, you've been living the wrong way. Repent; and it means turn around and go the other way, and start living a different way, and believe on Jesus Christ: "...and [you] shall receive the...Holy Spirit " (Acts 2:38) he said.

Now when you receive the Holy Spirit you are not yet born of God, that is only the impregnation, you become a child of God, yes; but you are a begotten child. You are an heir, not yet a possessor of the Kingdom of God.

So, then after that what does one do? They were starting the Church, the Church started with Christ, and it started then with Him teaching twelve. And then those twelve went out and they taught thousands. There were three thousand that were converted and baptized in water on that day, and they received the Holy Spirit on that day of Pentecost. About a day or so later there were two thousand or more and the Church began to grow.

And the Church then become students. That is, they become disciples and the Church is founded on; "...the apostles and the prophets [the prophets of the Old Testament], ...Christ...being the chief corner stone;" (Ephesians 2:20). And the Church itself will grow, and in the time of the Kingdom of God, when Christ comes very soon and Satan will be put away, the Church is going to teach the rest of the world how to live. And the earth will be as full of the knowledge of God and the Way of Life of God, as the ocean beds are filled with water, as I said awhile ago. And then at last we're going to have peace, and I read that prophecy just awhile ago.

The Church is the Kingdom of God in embryo, but only in embryo; and when you were an embryo on your mother's womb you weren't born yet my friends; and we need to learn that lesson.

Very few people understand the Church, and what it is, and why it is, how it was started, how it grows, the True Church of God. Oh, I wish people could just understand the real truth, if God would open our minds to see it. And certainly we can see the troubles all about us; certainly we can see the result of the way people have been living. And God's Way is a way that makes sense, it's a sensible way, and it makes sense, and it's the only way that does. And we're going to have to live the way that brings happiness, and peace, and joy. And then there will be great production and there will be everything good and that is the real Good News that Jesus came to bring, and the Gospel means Good News.

(NB Headings are not part of original, but are added for clarity)