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In the Gospel of John, Chapter 13, the Lord showed me some interesting things about the Last Supper. It gets to the point where you wonder if you could believe the surface translation of anything in the Scripture at all. The basic principle behind the revelation that I am going to share with you as to what really happened with Judas is this, that Jesus Christ has control over everything. He is building His Church, He is reproducing His life in us, and that life which He is reproducing in us is not yet fully grown.
Remember the child that is not yet fully grown is still likened unto a servant. We must be under tutors and teachers. We need the Lord Jesus Christ who is full grown and who has overcome this world, because Christ in us has limited power, and it is very common or not at all uncommon for the carnal minds of man, including our own carnal mind to cast us down. We do not always have all the answers. We do not always do what is right.
Christ Jesus in us, who is the Son, is not without measure. He is still growing up. We need our elder brother and our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is in full control. We are to do the best we can in our current condition of spiritual maturity. It would do us well to recognize when we cannot do anymore and cry out for help. If we cannot recognize our limitations and cry out for help, our carnal mind will kick in and give us the victory if it can. If our carnal mind succeeds in kicking in and giving us the victory, the victory is not for Christ. What does that mean? Christ has not increased in you, but your carnal mind has increased in you. You took that immediate victory, but Christ in you took a step backwards.
Ask the Lord to recognize your limitations and cry out for help from the Lord Jesus Christ rather than using your worldly techniques to have your needs met. Another basic principle that we will see demonstrated in the understanding of what happened to Judas, that I hope to impart to you today, is that Jesus was keeping the disciples, He was keeping them in righteousness. It was their relationship with Him, with this man who was in full stature, that was sustaining them in whatever measure of righteousness it was that they were walking in.
I found Greek words that indicate to me that the disciples that traveled with Jesus started out with what I would call an imputed anointing. It is that anointing that we see in Pentecost. It is the anointing which we see that is given without repentance. The gifts and the calling of God are given without repentance. What does that mean? Everyone says "I repent" when they come to Jesus. What do you mean the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance? It means, brethren, that they are given without a change in nature.
Some people come to me, especially people with a Catholic background. This is very common, and they will say, "I am not good enough for this gift from God," and I have a difficult time explaining to them that nobody is good enough for this gift from God. Nobody is good enough, He gives us His life when we do not deserve it. All that we deserve is death.
Knowing this, being no respecter of persons, from the Pharisee, whose behavioral sins are very limited but whose heart is very wicked, unto the behavioral sinner, the criminal in jail, the murderer, whatever your concept of the worst behavioral sin is, from one end of the scale to the other, He is no respecter of persons. He will give us of His life before our nature changes.
I am going to say it again. He will give us of His life before our nature is changed. We do not deserve it, but He gives it to us so that we can receive the power to change, because without His life, we will never change. He says, "You do not deserve it, but here it is anyway because I love you. I love you with a love you could never comprehend. I love you in your sins, I love you in your filth, I love you in your hatred, I love you in your pride, so here is my life. Use it well and let us get you cleaned up, but if you do not use it well, and you are not being cleaned up by your possession of it, I am coming with a recompense to wound you, not because I hate you, and not because I want to punish you, but because you are so fallen that even with my life in the midst of you, you cannot stand up. I am coming to punish the alien life within you that has wounded you and which is possessing you and which is calling you her own. I am coming to wound her so that my life can take root in you and become your primary life."
The only problem is, we are so joined to and interwoven with the alien life that in our mind we are in agreement that Jesus Christ is the enemy, and we will not change. Whether that is a conscious thought or an unconscious thought it is there. If you are listening to me and you are saying, "Pastor Vitale, I have another thought, I desire to change," I say unto you Christ is appearing in your heart, because the carnal mind does not want to change. If you have a second thought in your mind, you are a double-minded man, and the warfare has already begun.
I want to suggest to you that every human being in a fallen condition is capable or would have been capable of betraying Jesus Christ if they were present at the time of His flesh.
We find in corresponding Scriptures in Mark and Matthew where Jesus says, "Woe unto the man that betrays the Son of Man." If you look "that man" up in the Greek, it is anthrepos, Strong's #444. It does not mean "that man," it does not mean you, or you, or you. It means Adam. It means the man-faced creature, the whole of humanity. "Woe be unto that man-faced creature who betrayeth the Son of Man."
Brethren, all of us betray Him every day of our life. We betray the Christ in our own heart, we betray the Christ in our brother's heart. Why? Because we are fallen, and that is why we need a Savior.
I also would like to point out to you that Jesus says in Matthew and Mark I believe, "The one who did it, He is the one that dippeth in the dish with me." However, if you read this book from cover to cover there is no account of any of the disciples dipping in the dish with Him. No one dipped in the dish with Him. There has to be some problem with the translation. Jesus said that it is the one that dippeth in the dish with me that is going to betray me. Nobody dipped in the dish with Him.
The Lord showed me when He brought me into this study that Jesus knew...let me say this first, that Jesus had not yet ascended. Therefore, He had not yet poured out of His Spirit. Therefore, the imparted anointing was not yet available, that anointing which rose out of us, that anointing which increases into full stature, that hopefully most, if not all, of us in such a meeting as this would have. The disciples had an imputed anointing over devils and diseases. It was power that was given without a change of nature. It was power that was given without repentance.
The imparted anointing is given only with a change of nature. That is why you receive it as a seed, and that seed as soon as it starts manifesting begins to judge your carnal mind, and the judgments of God which are merciful result in a change of nature. The warfare between Christ in you and your carnal mind will result in a change of your nature from carnal to Christ, and the means by which this change of nature is accomplished is through the death of the carnal mind. Brethren, there is no other way.
We see the heart of man in the church today resisting this church. We see one common thread through every false doctrine being preached, and that is failure to tell you that your carnal mind must die. The only way you will have eternal life, the only way you will have power with God, is when your carnal mind dies. Your carnal mind dies little by little as your Christ mind increases and wounds your carnal mind.
The way that the Scriptures expresses this is that Christ is offering up your carnal mind as a sin offering to the Father. She must die. There is no good thing in her. There is death in her. No matter how much doctrine or how much glory she knows or she can talk about, there is no life in her. She has to die.
This teaching is absent through every doctrine which is not the true doctrine of Christ. Frequently, there is much spiritual truth in these false doctrines, spiritual truth about our existence, about where we came from, about the spiritual world, possibly even about God's plan for us. They fail to tell you that the only way to enter in is through the death of your carnal mind. Where there is no death, there is no inheritance, and you think that because the man, Jesus of Nazareth, died that you have His inheritance.
That was the first step. When Jesus of Nazareth died and was raised from the dead, and now He is inside of you, He is reproducing His life in you and when He does the same work in you that He did in Jesus of Nazareth, when He kills the carnal mind just like He killed the carnal mind of Jesus of Nazareth, you will inherit the same inheritance that He inherited, everlasting life. He inherited it because He killed His sin nature, because the servant is not better than His master.
Relating this to our study about Jesus and Judas in an attempt to find out what really happened here, there have been so many books written. Why did Judas betray Christ? "He was greedy, he wanted the money." I heard another theory that he was trying to force Jesus to become a military commander. There are all kinds of stories as to why Judas who walked with the Master, who was a trusted apostle, he carried the money bag, he had a high office in the ministry, how could he do this? What possibly was his motive, and after they crucified Christ, for him to be so distraught at what he had done that he destroyed himself, what in the world came over this man?
The Lord showed it to me, brethren. Every disciple that the Lord first called, He gave them power over diseases and over devils without a change of nature. He gave them an imputed anointing, and then at some point beyond that imputed anointing, the power which was in The Christ in full stature added Himself to every one of these disciples. He said, "I have not lost one of that which you have given me to keep except the son of perdition so that the Scripture could be fulfilled."
What Jesus was saying is that with the imputed anointing, with the power of God which is not accompanied by change of nature from carnality to righteousness, with that imputed anointing is the potential for every sin known to man.
This is a great mystery, brethren, but whether or not we spend our whole life and never act out any behavioral sin which I think is impossible, but just for argument's sake, if it were possible, we would still be found guilty according to God's law because of our potential for sin. If you can hear it, hear it.
When you read in the Scripture that no adulterer will enter into Heaven, do not puff out your chest and say you have never committed adultery, because every man has committed spiritual adultery. When you read that no homosexual will enter into the Kingdom, you say, "For sure I have never done that one." Every man is a potential homosexual and engaged in some level of spiritual homosexuality.
We are all guilty of everything in our heart. That was what was wrong with man in the beginning. He was righteous because God said to Him, "I pronounce you righteous." He was good. He was not righteous, he was good. What does that mean? He fit the specifications that God had laid out for him. Perfect? No. He had a potential for sin in his heart, because he was not complete. He did not have the imparted anointing yet. His righteousness was not coming forth because of the righteous image of God. He was in the likeness of God, but he was not yet in the image of God.
We see Jesus calling the twelve and giving them power over devils and diseases. They had an imputed anointing. They were carnal fallen men, and Jesus of Nazareth, who was Christ, added His spiritual strength to them. He covered over their sins. What does that mean? Every time they went to sin, despite the imputed anointing, He was there dealing with their sin, showing it to them, bringing them to repentance and forgiving their sins, which such procedure was resulting in a slow but sure change of nature. He kept every one of them from the sin which is unto death, brethren.
The sin which is unto the death is the sin which is not forgiven by the Son of Man. For two thousand years men are trying to figure out, "What is the sin unto death? Is it adultery, is it fornication, is it homosexuality, is it pride?" It is the sin that is not forgiven by the Son of Man.
Brethren, whosoever's sins you forgive shall be forgiven, and whosoever's sins you do not forgive, they shall not be forgiven. You think it is a simple thing, brethren, when Jesus says, "Forgive your brother, pray for those who hate you and bless those who despitefully use you." I think I got it backwards, that is okay, you could do it either way you want.
You think you have a choice as to whether or not to forgive your brother? You have no choice, brethren, because when you refuse to forgive them you have condemned them to death. You are a murderer, and it has been proven that you are not Christ but a natural man, and everyone you touch dies. Can you hear that?
We see the twelve, which Jesus called all of them carnal men, all of them capable of every sin, Jesus knowing that the natural man by his nature kills Christ. That is why He said in another place, or the Scripture says in another place that He committed Himself to no man because He knew what was in man. What was in man, brethren? The beast! The beast nature which automatically kills Christ or attempts to kill Christ whenever the two come in contact.
He covered over their sins, and He kept those sins from killing Him, but He read the book, and the book said that the Son of Man must be betrayed. How could the Son of Man be betrayed if He was covering, be betrayed by the one who eateth bread with him? It had to be one of His disciples. How could this be if He was holding down their sin? Does this not sound familiar, brethren? Is this not what happened to Adam at the time of the fall?
If you heard me preach it last year, Adam was in the garden. The Father put him, if you read that account, I think it is in Genesis 2. The Father put him in the garden twice. Did you ever wonder why the Father put him in the garden twice? The first time He gave him the imputed anointing, He gave him righteousness without a righteous nature. The second word "put" is a different Hebrew word. They are both translated "put." With the second "putting," the Father layered over him, covered over his sins and kept him from sinning.
What happened in Romans 7? What are we told by Paul in Romans 7, when the Father withdrew that overlaying to test the man, sin came alive and the man who had the imputed anointing, power of God with a fallen nature, or the man was not fallen at the beginning of time. I am sorry, but He had a nature which was not in the righteous image of God. He was in the likeness of God, but he had not yet been formed in the image of God. Sin came alive with a vengeance, it became exceedingly sinful, and it slew the man.
The man with the imputed anointing, the man whose nature is carnal, no matter how much power he has with God is weaker than the serpent unless the Lord is laying over him and keeping him for His own purposes.
We see that Jesus is in a predicament. The Scripture must be fulfilled. He must be betrayed by someone who eats bread with Him. His life in Christ, His imparted anointing, is covering over the sins of His disciples, and it is impossible for anyone to betray Him so long as He covers them. I suggest to you He uncovered Judas. He uncovered Judas. Judas became a natural man with an imputed anointing, and sin became exceedingly sinful in him.
I do not even have any reason to believe from this study I have done that Jesus even warned him. Jesus had full control over everything that would happen to Him. He chose the disciple who would betray Him, He removed His cover from him, He orchestrated the entire situation in obedience to the Father, that the Scripture should be fulfilled.
This is why after the whole series of events, when Judas found out what happened, and how he had been a vessel of dishonor, he could not bear it, and he killed himself. I am here tonight with a positive message for you. I am here tonight to show you some good things in this account, I am here to show you that Jesus is capable of keeping us. I am here to show you how the Father looked at Judas after this event, and it is positive.
If I make it tonight, I am being very long winded tonight, I may not finish this message tonight, but I hope to show you in the Scripture a fulfillment or another witness to the Scriptural principle of the Father saying He makes one to be a vessel of dishonor and another to be a vessel or honor. That is how He molds our clay, but whether we are a vessel of honor or whether we are a vessel of dishonor, He always takes back His spirit.
The teaching here is what we do for Christ, and every experience we have in Christ will be found in Him in that last day. I will show you, Lord willing, that principle demonstrated with regard to Judas which says that Judas was no worse than any of the other disciples, he was handed over to Satan so that the Scripture could be fulfilled. It could have been any one of them, it could have been any one of us.
The fact that he was handed over so that the Scripture could be fulfilled did not cause him to lose everything that he had been in Christ. Everything that he had been, that he was, that he accomplished, that he did, that he lived, went on in accordance with the teaching here. Can you hear that? You do not have to believe it. Can you hear it? That he did not lose everything because somebody had to betray the Son of Man, and he was it. What a message, huh? Let me try and show this to you. God help me bring this forth.
I am going to draw from Chapter 13 of the Gospel of John, and let me say this one more time. I know I repeat myself a lot, but the message is essential. Every man, brethren, is a potential murderer. There is no good thing in us. The sin nature must be crucified. This is the overriding message of the hour. Nothing will get you into eternal life, so long as your sin nature still lives. That is the word of the hour. Lord help me bring this forth, my notes are very poor, but in Christ I can do all things, amen?
The Gospel of John, Chapter 13, I would just like to point out to you Verse 18, in which Jesus announces what is coming.
"I speak not of you all, I know whom I have chosen, but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me."
There are two Greek words that can be translated "eat." We did this study in our series, "Jesus in the Book of John." I believe it is Chapter 6 in the Gospel of John, where our Lord is talking about, "He who eats of me, or He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood shall have eternal life." In that chapter there are two different Greek words, but one is translated "eat" and the other "eateth," I believe.
Any person reading this Scripture, it would never occur to them eat, or eateth. The significance of the two different words are this, one word means that you eat something, and it just abides in you, but it does not mix with you. You take something in, but it does not mix with you. There are certain foods that we can eat, brethren, and they do not become flesh on our bones, they pass out in the draft.
The Holy Ghost, brethren, is taken into us but is not necessarily mixed with us. It is not necessarily digested. In accordance with our study in the Gospel of John, Chapter 6, and this is right in line with the teaching here about the fact that you receive the Holy Ghost does not necessarily mean that the Holy Ghost has engrafted to your human spirit. You can speak in tongues, you can have all the gifts, you can prophesy, you can be very anointed, but that does not necessarily mean that this Holy Ghost has cleaved unto your spirit, has joined unto it with such a completion that they are now one.
The Holy Ghost and your human spirit have now become one, the first cell of the formation of Christ in you. The fact that you speak with tongues or prophesy or dance in the Spirit or any other gift, does not mean that you have received the engrafted word, which is the spirit of adoption.
One Greek word translated "eat, eateth or eat" has that understanding. Let me give you the number just in case you are interested. That number is #5315. The second Greek word which is translated "to eat" is Strong's #5176. This word means "to crunch up, to chew, as an animal will chew corn," that the corn is shredded, that it is separated from the husk, that it is ground into another substance and swallowed and absorbed into the body.
Some other translations, some translations other than the King James, translate this word not as "eat," but "to partake of." In other words, "to become one with," and this is speaking about the Holy Ghost that becomes one with you, and now is no longer the Holy Ghost but is become the engrafted word, the immature manifestation of the imparted anointing, the beginning of the formation of Christ in you. You are pregnant, one day, one week.
The Greek word in John Chapter 13, "That he who eateth bread with me shall lift up his heel against me," is the second Greek word, which means "partake," the Greek word which means "to be joined." The Lord says, "The one who has his sins covered, he is the one who is lifting up his heel against me."
We see that the person that betrayed Jesus had to be not only a disciple, but somebody who was being kept from sin by the Master Himself, somebody who was incapable of sin.
We see this whole exercise proving,
(#1) The sin nature in man,
(#2) The potential for Jesus to keep us from all things,
(#3) The power and authority which is in Christ to keep us for His purposes and to let us go for His purposes.
Further on down in Verse 31, I know you cannot see it in the King James, but Lord willing, if I do not get to it tonight, which I do not think I will, I definitely will get to it before I leave. I will show in Alternate Translations of the Greek how the Lord is saying that even though the keeping power of the Lord Jesus Christ lifted off of Judas Iscariot, everything he was in Christ, nevertheless, will be with the Father in that last day.
I hope that gives you hope, brethren, that everything negative in our life is being washed away in the draft. That does not mean that you do not strive for righteousness, but it means that the good that you do which is in Christ will not be lost, because in any error that you make, there is no mistake that you can make that can cancel out your true experiences which are Christ.
Seek the gold, brethren. Seek the experience which is in His nature, because that is the only thing that is passed on. If you can hear it, hear it. In the same manner that the evil that he did, after it was completed, went out in the draft in the same manner. The good works that you do which are not in Christ go out in the draft. It is only what you do in Christ that goes on.
Back to our beginning premise of this evening. If what you are doing is not in Christ, but you think that it is in Christ, it is a form of spiritual suicide, if you can hear it. "He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me." This word "bread" is a word that is a Scriptural symbol. Jesus clearly said that He is the bread of life, and in another Scripture we hear Paul talking about all of us becoming one lump and purging out the leaven.
Bread should not be that much of a mystery to us, brethren, that bread is a symbol referring to the Christ.
I would like to draw your attention to our Alternate Translation concerning the temptation of Jesus which took place in Matthew 4:2 where the devil, according to the King James, is challenging Jesus to make bread, I believe, out of these stones. Our Alternate Translation says, "And the devil aggressively approached Jesus saying, If you are really the Son of God, let us see you bring the many members of the living soul into spiritual maturity in their present sin filled condition."
We see, brethren, that the devil's goal, or Satan's goal is to mature this creation in an unrighteous condition. I have done a lot of teaching on that recently, I do not know whether I have done it here or not, but I have messages on it. It is the issue of the hour. Satan, if he can do it, wants to raise you up as a full expression of evil as opposed to a full expression of righteousness, and he is referring to the body of Christ or the Sons of God as bread or loaves.
We see Jesus opening this scene with a mystical comment. Can you imagine all of His disciples sitting there trying to figure out what in the world is He talking about now. "This Master of ours, He talks in parables all the time, we never know what He is talking about, half the time we fall asleep, on the mount of transfiguration we fell asleep, we have to have everything explained to us, what is He getting at now?" I suggest to you, He is setting them up. He is getting ready to ask them or to make a leading statement to them. I will show it to you, I will show you His leading statement.
We are going to skip down to Verse 21. I guess I should read you 19 and 20 so we have the context. "Now, I tell you before it come, that when it come to pass (What? That one that eateth bread with me will lift up his heel against me) that you may believe that I am He (or that I Am. "He" is in italics. He said, "When it comes to pass, you should believe that I am the son of God). "Verily, verily I say unto you, he that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me, the Father."
Verse 21, "When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit and testified and said, Verily, verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me." This expression "troubled in spirit," the word "troubled" is the same Greek word which is translated "troubled" in the account of the angel troubling the water. It is referring to the stirring up of the water.
I suggest to you that our Lord was not nervous, nor was He worried, nor was He scared or anxious at the thought of crucifixion, no more than He was in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is a lie out of the carnal mind. I suggest to you that the Spirit of Christ in Him was stirred up.
I may have mentioned to you before that I believe that a man in full stature, that Jesus of Nazareth in full stature, was not always at the same height of spirituality, and we see this principle in the type of the Zadok priesthood. He had an ability to ascend very high at which point He communed with the Father, and then He had an ability to come down very low, but not losing His Godhead. He had an ability to come down low enough to minister to the most ignorant, illiterate man.
We see this in the account of the adulterous woman where He moved His finger in the dirt. The Scripture says that He got down on His knees. When we looked everything up in the Greek, we found out that what happened was, He humbled the part of Him that was man, that human part of Him, the Son of Man in Him, which was able to relate to the most humble human being. That part of Him went down, and the Son of God in Him came up, and He ascended to His highest position of Godhood, His highest position and His position of greatest power, from which point He changed that woman's nature, and that in her nature which made her a habitual adulteress was erased, and in its place He wrote holiness in her soul.
Based on that principle, I suggest to you that Jesus' troubled spirit was the stirring up of His Spirit to a high place where He was not the Son of Man, but He was the Son of God. Remember, the man, Christ Jesus, He is the only mediator between God and man. Sometimes He is the Father or the Son of God, and sometimes He is the Son of Man. He went to His highest position for the specific purpose of prophesying to the disciples.
This book was translated by the carnal mind. It is good, do not misunderstand me. There is good in it, but when you are called to full stature we have to get into the depth of the Word. We have to find out the spiritual truth about what happened to Jesus, because He wants to do the same thing in us, brethren. We have got to go on.
Jesus was never troubled. Just let me put this in. I know I am really rambling tonight, but I feel it is the anointing so I am just going with it. Listen, brethren, the church world is very offended that I preach that Jesus was not perfect up until the point of His baptism. I believe He was perfected at the time of His baptism. They are offended, they call it blasphemy, they call it heresy.
I say unto you that these very people who will fight to the death to prove that He was born perfect, even though His mother was a fallen woman, without using those words that He was imperfect, you cannot tell me that God was worried. Worry is sin. You cannot tell me that God was troubled, or scared, or nervous, or anxious. That is all sin.
As usual, the carnal minds of men, the carnal minds of the nicest men, I am never against the man, have it backwards. It is always backwards, because the Spirit of Christ stands opposite the carnal mind. The soul realm is a mirror, and the fallen mind of man sees everything backwards. I have had some people say to me, "You take these Scriptures, and you completely turn them around, this cannot be of God. You are saying that they say the exact opposite of what they say."
I am saying that I am not turning them around. The King James translators turned them around. This is what God intended for them to be. Which mind's translation will you believe, the carnal mind's or the Christ mind's translation? If you want to believe that Jesus sniffled, and that He was troubled, and He was scared, and He sweat blood, if you want to believe it, be my guest. I do not believe it.
"When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said...," After He said all that He had to say, the spirit of prophecy (and that Greek word translated "testified," means "to prophesy.") ...the spirit of prophecy rose in Him and He said, Verily, verily I say unto you that one of you shall betray me." The word "betray," the Greek word translated "betray" really means "to hand over, to hand him over."
Verse 22. "And the disciples looked one upon the other, doubting of whom He spake." In this King James Version translation, the word "doubting," sounds like they were saying that they could not believe that it could be them, but in the Greek that is not the indication. The indication is that they just did not know what in the world He was talking about, and there were other Scriptures that clearly indicate that they never understood that He was going to be crucified.
There are several Scriptures indicating that and, in fact, after the crucifixion they were so upset that He was crucified that Peter went back to his fishing, and the disciples just scattered. They did not know what to do. They did not know what to make out of the whole thing. At one point they were even moaning and groaning, "Did you hear what happened to Jesus of Nazareth? They crucified Him. We thought that He was the Savior of Israel, woe is me, woe is me." They never understood His purpose.
I used to think that the disciples understood everything that He taught them. They had very little understanding, they were carnal men, brethren. When He tried to preach to them and teach them about the spiritual lifetime and multiple incarnations in Christ Jesus, not reincarnation, multiple incarnations of the Christ man of the Spirit, it was so unbearable for them, they fell asleep. They were carnal men, and it takes the mind of Christ to understand these deep spiritual truths. They could not make heads or tail out of it. They did not doubt that they were capable of it, they just could not figure it out.
He was always confounding them, saying things to them that they could not understand. One time He asked them if they had brought bread, and they got all confused, accusing each other of forgetting to bring the bread. He continuously spoke to them about spiritual things, and they continuously tried to understand Him with their carnal mind.
In case you do not know it, when two people are trying to communicate, and one person is speaking spiritually and the other person is hearing naturally, you have a communication problem! You do not understand each other, and the carnal man is always misunderstanding the spiritual man, and the carnal man is always attributing evil to the spiritual man, and the carnal man is always killing the spiritual man with his fallen heart.
That is the way it is, just as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. That is why the only hope for humanity is a change of nature. It is our only hope. Christ in you, Christ in you, Christ in you! The hope of glory, it is our only hope. We will never be righteous, and we shall surely die in our sins without a change of nature.
I am on Verse 22, "Then the disciples looked one on the other, doubting," not knowing what He was talking about. Verse 23, "Now, there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples whom Jesus loved." How many of you have seen a picture of the last supper of John laying on Jesus' chest? I never really thought about it until the Lord brought me into this study. I always thought it was strange. Of course, there are those perverse people that say they had a homosexual relationship, have you heard that? Yes, of course, especially the homosexuals would like you to believe that.
I suggest to you that what this Scripture is speaking about is that John and Jesus had a spirit tie.
The Greek word translated "bosom" is the same Greek word which is used with regard to Abraham's bosom. If you have studied anything about Abraham's bosom, I have a message on it and several other respectable writers in the Kingdom of God, we all seem to be in agreement on this issue, that Abraham's bosom is the place of righteousness which is in Abraham. It is in that righteous spirit which was in him, that is what it means.
I suggest to you that John and Jesus had a spirit tie, that John had a relationship with Jesus that the other disciples did not have, because they were continuously carnal. John had something special. I do not really know what it was or why it was just him, but some how he was permitted to connect with Jesus on this high spiritual level.
We see that John has Jesus' ear, and we see as we read on that Jesus made a leading statement, a statement where He was throwing out a bone, He was saying, "Come on ask me, He who eateth bread with me is going to raise up his heel against me." (What are you talking about?) "One of you will betray me." What are you talking about? Everybody was afraid to ask Him. Peter put John on the spot, he said, "You are His closest associate, you ask Him. You pick up the ball, He just threw it out to you, you ask Him what He meant."
Everybody was afraid to ask Him what He meant. Jesus made His statement designed for His disciples to ask Him what He meant. We call it a leading statement. He threw out a fish line to them, and John bit on behalf of the whole group.
"Now there was one leaning on Jesus' bosom, one of His disciples whom Jesus loved..." That Greek word translated "love" is "agape." Jesus had an agape love relationship with him. We see two witnesses, not that Jesus and John were homosexuals, but that they had a spirit tie, which was rooted in the Spirit of Christ. They shared the same spirit.
Verse 24, "Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom He spake. And He who was lying on Jesus' breast saith unto Him, Lord who is it?" I call your attention to the change of the words in Verse 23. We see Jesus' bosom. In Verse 25, he was lying on Jesus' breast. Nothing in the Scripture is an accident, brethren, any subtle change has a change in meaning.
The second expression, "lying on Jesus' breast" the Greek word translated "lying" means "to seize or to take possession of," and the breast is a word which describes that part which stands out. I suggest to you that this is the phrase which indicates that John bit the fish hook, John laid hold of the line that Jesus cast out. He picked up the challenge, and He asked the question. That is what it means.
Verse 26, "He it is to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it. So when He had dipped the sop He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon." I have an Alternate Translation for you on this verse. It is a very complicated verse, we will take it a word at a time. I suggest to you as I have told you many times, the deeper the revelation, the harder it is to get it out of the words that are used. The King James translators, having no understanding of it at all, put together the most carnal interpretation that they could. Please bear with me, I seem to be suffering from this heat a little bit, but I am going to get it out one way or another. Glory to God!
"And Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop." We are going to start with the word "sop." The Greek meaning of the word "sop" is "crumb." Crumb. It means "a morsel." I know in New York we call it crumb. I do not know what you would call it here, a morsel, a crumb of bread.
Jesus is the bread from Heaven. The morsels are those in whom His life is appearing. They are the crumb, or the morsel, or the piece of the whole bread. I want to suggest to you that Jesus was speaking in parables, and that the morsel which is dipped is the apostle who is baptized. The question at this point is baptized into what?
The Greek word translated "dipped" is the root of the word "baptized." When He is talking about the morsel, He is not even talking about a piece of bread that He would be dipping for the Passover. He is talking about a crumb. I suggest to you that each and every one of us is a crumb in the whole loaf of the bread of Heaven, which is Christ. Jesus was speaking in parables when He was saying, "The one that is going to betray me is the one that is baptized."
I am going to jump ahead so you can know what I am getting at, and I have pretty much put it to you already. Jesus is saying, "The one who is baptized into my Spirit, the one that I am keeping, He is the one that is going to betray me," which should be impossible. The only way it could happen is if Jesus cuts them loose, and I will show you that in the next few words.
Jesus answered, "He it is to whom I shall give a sop." In the Greek text, the King James translators have moved the translated words around to make it into good English, but in the Interlinear Text it reads like this, let me read you the Alternate Translation first, then I will try and show you where I got it.
"That one, after I having separated him from Satan and baptized him into my life, I (Jesus speaking) shall hand back over to Satan." Jesus is saying right here and if you want to look at it in the Greek, that Jesus gave him back. How would Jesus give him back? I already told you that He lifted His keeping power off of him, which ever one Jesus would have chosen, and when Jesus lifted His keeping power off of him, the man went back to the imputed anointing, a man who had power with God, but who had the carnal fallen nature, who was capable of betraying the Son of Man.
This is the same experience that Adam had in the garden. Jesus' removal of His hand from Judas Iscariot resulted in sin becoming alive, exceeding sinful.
If you recall the account in Romans 7, when sin was released from his jail, when Jesus lifted His hand off of him, he arose with a vengeance to bring down that man as rapidly as possible. Lord willing, I will show you further on with Alternate Translations of other words, that Jesus did this to force the issue. He was in full control, "Let it be done."
The tenses are all wrong in this verse. "Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop." It is very hard to give it to you word by word because the King James translation is very poor so I am just going to give you from my notes.
"Having dipped...," the translation is "...Having dipped, It is he to whom I shall give a sop." Let me start with that. "Shall give," Strong's #1929 means "to give up or to hand over." "The one to whom I shall give," not the one to whom He is giving the morsel to, brethren, but the morsel that He is handing over. Can you hear it? Not the one who He is giving the sop to, but the morsel, or the crumb, or the son that He is handing over, this is the one who He is telling them it is going to be. "He it is whom I shall hand over." It is the disciple whom I shall hand over.
Then the King James says, "When I have dipped it." The English word "when" is not in the Greek, it was added in by the King James translators so that they could make sense out of their translation, which I disagree with. "He it is to whom I shall give the sop, when I have dipped it." The Greek says "having dipped it," "having dipped it."
Please note that it is two different Greek words. One Greek word says, "He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it." That is one Greek word, "dipped it" and in the same verse, "And when He dipped the sop," a different Greek word.
"When I have dipped it," one Greek word, "And when He had dipped the sop," a different Greek word, a second Greek word. "When I have dipped it," the first Greek word translated "dipped," the correct tense, "having dipped," Strong's #911, meaning "to immerse," and it is the root of the word baptize.
For those who are interested, the Strong's number for "morsel" is #5596, and the exact translation is, "that which is rubbed off, a crumb that is rubbed off as a piece of corn from the husk."
"He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it," and there are two different Greek words translated "give" also. The first one is Strong's #1235, and it means "to give over, and to deliver, to give over into the power of somebody." "Jesus answered, He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when He had dipped the sop, He gave it."
There are two different Greek words on the "gave" also. Both of them mean "to give over into the power to somebody," but with different degrees of strength. There are three words that are not translated into the English, "into that one." "Into that one" is in the Greek, and it is in the Interlinear Text, but it is not in the King James translation.
The words "and after," we are told, can be translated "against." This phrase, "and into that one," means he was given over into that one, he was given over to the power of that one. The King James translators did not translate "into that one," because they are not telling you that Judas was given over to the power of anybody. They are telling you that Jesus gave Judas a piece of bread, so they forgot to translate the words "over" into "that one" which indicates that it was Judas that was given over into the power of that one.
The Greek word which was translated "that one" according to the Thayer's Lexicon of Greek Language, can be translated, "that notorious one," "that notorious one."
I am suggesting to you that Jesus turned Judas Iscariot over into the hands of that notorious Satan. I have a partial Alternate Translation for you here. "And that notorious one Satan, came into or came to life against that morsel, Judas. And that notorious one, Satan..., "entered into" can be translated "came to life" ...against that morsel or against Judas." Jesus handed him over, and that notorious one came to life. That Greek word translated "came to life" is not translated in the Greek and it is in the Interlinear Text.
Verse 27, "And after the sop Satan entered into him." "Entered into" is in the Greek, but "that one" is not in the Greek, "that notorious one" is not in the Greek. "Then said Jesus unto him, that thou doest, do quickly. And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, that thou doest, do quickly."
We had a very similar situation here when we did Romans 8:20. If you listen to that message, you will hear me telling you that the King James translators had such a problem translating that verse that they separated obvious subjects from their verb and switched them around, and this is what I suggest to you that they did here.
This phrase, "what thou doest, do quickly," you have a double verb there. It is the same Greek word translated "doest" and "do," and I suggest to you that this is a poor translation, but they had an extra verb because they misused a subject in the prior phrase. They misused it to prove their translation, so they had two verbs.
Let me read you my Alternate Translation before I try and prove it to you so, at least, you know what I am getting at. I will give you the whole Alternate Translation that I have so far.
"Jesus answered, that one whom after I have sanctified him and baptized him into my Spirit, I shall hand over. Therefore He gave over Judas Iscariot to the imputed anointing." He sent him back to the imputed anointing where he was capable of betraying the Son of Man. And that notorious one, Satan, came to life against Judas, and put him to sleep."
"Put him to sleep," where in the world did I get that from? I will tell you. This phrase "Jesus said," means "to go to sleep." Where it says, "Jesus said," it is Strong's #3004, and the first and primary translation of the word is to "lay down or to put to sleep." As you know most Greek, all Greek and Hebrew words, and all English words, they have more than one translation. Believe it or not, this verb that can be translated "to say" has a primary translation of "to sleep."
I suggest to you Jesus turned Judas over to that notorious one, Satan, and Satan put him to sleep. We know that Paul talks about awaking to righteousness. I suggest to you what happened to Judas was that his righteousness died, and that he went to sleep. Remember what I said, the imputed anointing is an anointing without a change of nature. It is power with God without righteousness. Jesus layering over the sins of Judas gave him righteousness. Christ was formed there. There is no Christ in the imputed anointing, it is just power to do miracles. There is no righteousness, and righteousness is found in Christ.
The Christ that was formed in the man Judas, because Jesus was giving him His spiritual strength,went to sleep, and he became a man. He went backwards, and he became a man with an imputed anointing, a man with power with God, but without righteousness in his nature. The whole point, brethren, is that when we get that imparted anointing, as it builds in us, Satan loses his power over us. As our nature becomes righteous, Satan loses his power over us.
When it is the imputed anointing, when it is power without righteousness, when it is doctrine without righteousness, when it is anything without righteousness, it is death. We have got to get the righteousness, and righteousness is only in Christ. Christ is only where the Spirit of Christ is, and He is in no other spirit.
As I told you in our opening exhortation, the issue is not doctrine. The issue is righteousness. The issue is not doctrine, the issue is life or death. "Jesus answered, that one whom after I have baptized him into my Spirit, I shall hand over." Therefore, He gave over (who? Jesus) gave over Judas Iscariot to the imputed anointing and that notorious one, Satan, came to life against Judas and put him to sleep. We cannot say "Then said Jesus..." because we translated the Greek words "said" "to put him to sleep," so what we are left with is, "Then Jesus said unto him, that thou doest, do quickly."
I suggest to you that one of those two translated "do," which is the same Greek word should be, "Then Jesus doest unto him, that thou do quickly."
Let us find out what that is all about. It is nothing like what it sounds like at all. The Greek word translated "then" is Strong's #3767, and it can be translated "this is how." The Greek word translated "do" twice, " doest" and "do" is Strong's #4160, and it means "to prepare". It can be translated, "And this is how Jesus prepared," or "This is how Jesus did what He had to do."
Did you ever hear the expression, "I have got to do what I have got to do?" This is how Jesus did what He had to do, and that which He had to do is turn over one of the disciples so that the Scripture could be fulfilled. We are being told in the 13th chapter of the Gospel of John how He did it.
There is one more phrase left here that we have not translated. I am going to jump down to Verse 30. "He then having received the sop, went immediately out, and it was night." The Greek word translated "received" is Strong's #2983, and it can be translated, "to lay hold of for the purpose of using." I suggest to you that it was Satan that laid hold of the sop, who laid hold of the morsel, who laid hold of the man, Judas.
One thing you will notice in these difficult translations, we have the same situation in Romans 8:20-21, the Scriptures says, "this one, that one, this one, that one." We also found it in 1 Corinthians 15. It is not clear who the scripture is talking about, it is not clear. If you do not have the revelation in your heart you will never understand this.
The Greek words "this one" are indefinite, and one form of the word means "this one," and one form of the word means "that other one," and it goes back and forth, this one and that other one, this one and that other one. In Romans 8:20-21, we found out the Scripture was speaking about the fallen Adam and the righteousness of Adam, saying that "this one is coming, the Lord Jesus Christ is coming to subject that other one who subjected us." We see the same principle here.
Who is the Scripture talking about "that one?" "Then he having received the sop went immediately out." Everybody assumes it was Judas who took hold of this piece of bread. You probably think he picked it up out of the dish, except he never picked it up out of the dish. There is no Scripture anywhere that says he picked it up out of the dish. I want to suggest to you that it was not Judas that picked up the sop, but that it was Satan that laid hold of the sop, which was Judas, that morsel, that piece of bread which is a part of the whole loaf. "And he at once went out," Strong's #1831, this is the word, "acbollo." It is the same word that is used to describe a demon being cast out. It means to go out with force. It can also be translated, " to go out as a light." Thayer's says that it is used of a people courting the land which they have previously inhabited.
I want to suggest to you that when Satan laid hold of this vessel, Judas Iscariot, the Christ mind which had been formed in him, because the Christ in Jesus of Nazareth was literally engaged or had a tie with Judas' spirit, when Jesus withdrew from that tie, the light which was Christ went out. Satan lay hold of that vessel, and the light which was Christ went out. "He then having received the sop went immediately out, and it was night, and he was in darkness." Who? Judas, the sop, the morsel, the crumb, was in darkness. He did not even know what he was doing. He came completely under the power of his carnal mind.
Alternate Translation of Verse 30, "And as soon as Satan lay hold of Judas, the imputed Christ broke up, and Judas was in darkness." I say the imputed Christ broke up because Christ is a formation which results from a union of the Spirit of the Father and the spirit of the man. Jesus let go of him. Jesus was the Father unto him. He withdrew His Spirit.
We found out in our series on Elijah that this initial joining of the Spirit of the Father with the spirit of the man is the forming of a spiritual altar on which the mind is laid, and we see the mind of Christ being the bush that burns without being consumed. Every altar brings forth a sacrifice. When the Spirit which was in Jesus pulled back from the man Judas, the Christ which was on that altar broke up, and Judas went into darkness.
I found that the Alternate Translation of Verse 30 actually belongs back up in Verse 27. Let me give you the whole Alternate Translation here. "Jesus answered, That one, whom after I have sanctified him, and baptized him into my Spirit, I shall hand over. Therefore He gave over Judas Iscariot to the imputed anointing and that notorious one Satan came to life against Judas and put him to sleep. And as soon as Satan lay hold of Judas, the imputed Christ in him broke up, and Judas was in darkness. This is how Jesus accomplished what needed to be done without waiting for one of the disciples to lose control over their own carnal minds." He forced the issue.
The whole point being that unless Jesus sustained them, when they lost control they would not have recovered themselves. In other words, let me make that clear. The whole point being, these men did not have a righteous nature. Jesus laying over them, every time sin rose up in them, it was the righteousness of Jesus Christ that overshadowed that sin, and He pointed it out to them. He put it down and He prevented them, and they confessed and repented, and He forgave their sins and they went on. Instead of waiting for the disciple to sin and then refusing to forgive his sins, Jesus forced the issue and turned him over to Satan so that the Scripture could be fulfilled.
In these couple of verses that I skipped over, where it says that it sounded like Jesus was telling Judas to go buy supplies, Verses 28, "Now no man at the table knew for what intent He spake this unto him." If you look at that in the Greek, what it really was saying is that they could not tell what Jesus was saying. They could not figure out what He was saying. It may have appeared like He was talking to him, and they may have heard voices, but they could not even make out the words. They had no idea what He was saying to him.
Their carnal mind rose up and said, "Well, Judas is the one who keeps the money so He must be telling him to go buy food."
This is the operation of the carnal mind, I am up against it all the time. I tell everybody, please ask me, do not think you know what I am thinking, because you never know what I am thinking, and every time you think you know what I am thinking you have got it backwards. Please ask me and do not make up my mind for me, and do not draw conclusions about me, because, most likely, nine times out of ten you are going to be wrong. If you try to think you know what I am thinking about, ninety nine out of a hundred times you are going to be wrong, because you do not think like I think. That was just fantasy in the minds of the disciples. This whole spiritual conversation was going over their head.
Jesus clearly told them the Scripture has to be fulfilled. "The one that eats bread with me is going to raise up his heel against me." He baited them, they had John ask the question. He answered the question, and they still did not know what He was talking about, because He was talking in parables.
Jesus clearly told us in another place that the reason Jesus talks in parables is because He does not want you to understand. Why would he tell them if He did not want them to understand? It was for us to understand, brethren. He spoke in parables so that somebody would write it down, so that the 2nd generation of Christ would understand what happened, and would understand this essential message.
THERE IS NO WAY, BRETHREN, YOU OR I WILL ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OR ENTER INTO RIGHTEOUSNESS UNTIL OUR NATURE IS CHANGED.
THE ONLY WAY OUR NATURE IS CHANGED IS THROUGH DEATH. IT MUST DIE.
The way it dies is that Christ in you offers up your fallen nature as a sacrifice, as a sin offering unto the Father. This is the battle of Armageddon, and it is a battle to the death. Your carnal mind will never agree to it. The carnal mind does not care if you heal the sick, he does not even care that much if you cast out demons. He certainly does not care if you spend your whole life talking about doctrine. He would like it if you could be fighting with each other, but he does not care if you are talking about doctrine without power. When you start killing this carnal mind, he cares.
He will do everything he can to knock you out. He will do anything he can to stop you from killing your carnal mind. He will do everything he can to cause you to sin. He will do everything he can to cause you to fall, to fail. He will do everything he can to set you at enmity against your brother. He will do everything he can to make you go against the one that God has sent to help you. He will raise up pride in you, he will raise up rebellion in you. He will push every button you have, he will pull every string you have to save his life.
Is that not that what you would expect? Did you really just expect him to just bend his knee and present his head to be beheaded? If you did you have to put that one with the Easter bunny and Santa Claus also. If you believe that he is already ashes under your feet, you have to shack that one up too! These lies are going to kill you. If there is no conflict, you are not in the war, and if you are not in the war you are completely captured! We see brethren that Jesus loves us very much.
This last verse shows how Jesus looks at this whole thing. Verse 31, this first phrase of Verse 31, I moved it up to Verse 30, and it was a part of that Alternate Translation that I just gave you. "He then having received the sop went out immediately and it was night. Therefore, when he was gone out." That is all a part of that last Alternate Translation. Alternate Translation: "As soon as Satan laid hold of Judas, the imputed Christ broke up and Judas was in darkness. This is how Jesus accomplished what needed to be done without waiting for one of the disciples to lose control over their carnal minds. He forced the issue."
Let me take just a few minutes to show you how our Lord views what happened. He is not depressed over what happened at all, this is how He sees it. In Verse 31, "Therefore, when He was gone out..." That is the light going out, it does not tell you who went out. When Christ went out, the light of Christ went out. "And when the light of Christ went out Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified." Everybody thinks He is talking about His crucifixion, I suggest to you that He is not.
The Greek word translated "glorified," Strong's #1392, can be translated "to think." It is speaking of an opinion. It can also be translated "to shine." Actually, it has nothing to do with crucifixion at all. We are going to translate the next two verses. "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straight away glorify Him."
Nobody knows what He is talking about, so everybody draws the conclusion He is talking about His crucifixion. Not at all.
We are going to translate this word "glorified." You see the word ‟glorified" translated several times. Half of the time we will translate it, ‟The mind of Christ," and I take that from the opinion, the opinion of Christ. "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him." He is talking about the mind of Christ being in the Son of Man. That is what He is talking about. The opinion of God, which is in the Son of Man. That is what He is talking about. He is saying, ‟Now look, do not be depressed over what just happened to Judas, because the mind of Christ which is in the Son of Man..." Listen, brethren, Judas was the Son of Man. Christ was formed in him. Wherever Christ is, is the Son of God, and the Son of Man.
Christ is the Son of God, and the Son of Man. Christ, the Son of the living God, not the man Jesus who was born of the fallen woman, Mary, but that mind, that glorious holy thing, which was in the man, Christ, the mind which was born of the seed of the Father and the spirit of man. The Father of the Son of God being God, and the mother of the Son of Man being the human spirit which is in man.
We see that wherever Christ is, is the son of God and the Son of Man. We just read that Christ was formed in Judas, that the Christ which was in the mind of Judas, was the light which went out when Satan entered in. I suggest to you that Jesus was talking about Judas in Verse 31 and 32. He is saying, ‟Do not be depressed, because the mind of Christ which is in the Son of Man, which was in Judas, it was seen in the man Judas. That mind of Christ which is in the Son of Man, was seen in him, glorified in him, seen in him, the man Judas, and God was glorified in him, God was seen in him also. If God was truly seen in the man Judas before the light went out and he was truly darkness, if God was truly seen in him, then God will honor Judas, in Himself."
How will God honor Judas in Himself? In that last day when God appears as the sum total of every experience He has ever had in Christ, He will honor Judas in Himself. Can you hear it? Can you hear it? "And they shall be seen together." Who? God and the Christ who was in Judas in that generation. "Now is the Son of Man glorified." The mind of Christ which is in the Son of Man was seen. "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God glorified in him."
The first time, "glorified" is translated "mind of Christ," and the second time "glorified" is translated "seen." Both are legitimate translations of that word.
The mind, the mind of God, which is in the Son of Man was seen in the man Judas. God was seen in him, the Father, the Spirit of Christ was seen in him also. If God was truly seen in him, (who?) the man Judas, then God will honor him, (who?) the man Judas, in Himself, (when?) in that last day, when He appears as the sum total of every experience in Christ, and the two of them, (who?) the Christ that was in Judas and the Father shall be seen together in that last generation of Christ.
What a glorious message. It is a positive message. It is a message of hope, it is a message of life, it is a message of victory, but it must be made real unto us, and it can only be made real unto us when we die to everything that is unrighteous in us. Pick up your sword, brethren, and kill that thing and make the death of your carnal mind a top priority in your life, that Christ should be glorified in you, that He should be seen in you. Hopefully, we are that last generation. I think we have every reason to hope that Christ will appear permanently in our generation, that means in our flesh, that we will be the ones in whom He shall express the sum total of His entire experience in the earth.
Kill your carnal minds, brethren, because it is the only way you will enter in. You have to come with your slaughter weapon and, in accordance with Ezekiel 9, you have to slaughter not your brother's carnal mind, but your carnal mind, that you might enter in.
Praise you, Jesus. I did the best I could under some difficult circumstances. I hope you got the message. You did? Praise the Lord. I will take a couple of questions. I will do the best I can to answer them. It is nine o'clock. Does anybody have a question on anything that I preached tonight? No questions tonight? You have a question? Okay.
COMMENT: What is the hope of deliverance for those who do not have lexicons and a Strong's concordance to check out these things?
PASTOR VITALE: That is a good question. We did cover it earlier, you came in a little late. The hope is this, the hope is you and the hope is me, that by the power of Christ which is raised up in us, we are going to plant the seed of Christ in their mind, and when that Christ forms in them, they will also be the sum total of everything that Christ is to date. This is the whole principle of the judgment. This is what the judgment is all about, it is two- fold.
When any carnal mind conflicts with the mind of Christ, it is like two animals that have horns, a ram and a goat for example. The horn which is spiritual power pierces or wounds that carnal mind, but it is a wound unto the death of the carnal mind. As the horn pierces into the carnal mind, it simultaneously deposits the seed of Christ.
No matter what the circumstances look like, first of all, you have to be hurt when the horn of the power of God penetrates your carnal mind. Whether you confess it or not, a wound is given unto you, it has to wound you, and at some point the Lord will bring the reality of it to you.
It is just like saying a surgeon took a scalpel to you and cut you open to save your life but, simultaneous with the wound, that seed is imparted. In due season every seed truly planted by the Father will sprout. If you are in the ministry of Christ, and He brought to pass that conflict, and the result of that conflict was that the seed of Christ was deposited, it will surely sprout.
This is how mentally retarded people are going to enter into the Kingdom, not only illiterates, but mentally retarded, incompetents, and the people in our society in the absolutely worst condition, this is how they are going to enter in. The Sons of God in full stature, by the power of Christ, and with their mind, signified by a horn, by horns in the Scripture, will wound their carnal minds, just as you wound the soil when you have to plant a seed.
You take a sharp instrument and make a hole in the ground, and you drop the seed in. It is the same principle. The only problem is we cannot do it until we are in full stature. We can do it in degrees before full stature, but you can only wound people in Christ in areas where you have already overcome.
It is not legal in God's Kingdom for an unrighteous man to wound an unrighteous man. If you have overcome sin in a particular area of your life, and you are moving as a member of the two-witness company, that means... Who is a member of the two witness company? Men who have Christ being formed in them, who have had some measure of their nature changed, who to some degree have had their carnal mind destroyed and replaced with righteousness, you are a member of the two-witness company.
Even though you are a member of the two-witness company, you can only go to people to judge them in areas where you have overcome and now righteousness is appearing in you in that area. An unrighteous man cannot judge for God. You have a conflict with somebody, the righteousness of God in one man conflicts with the carnal mind in another man, and there is a wounding. The seed enters in and, in due season, righteousness is born in that man, whether he be a highly intelligent man, whether he be an illiterate man, whether he be an incompetent, or whether he be mad.
I do believe as far as the insane go, and the incompetent go, I do not see that happening today. It is probably going to take the men who are in full stature to go out into the world, into the institutions, into the streets, whatever, and just as Peter said, "Gold and silver have I none, but such as I have give I thee." We are going to be able to say that by the power of Christ which is dwelling and abiding in us. We are going to be able to wound that person's soul just like Jesus did, when he said to the adulterous woman, "Go and sin no more." He changed the writing on her soul.
We are going to go to illiterates and change the writing on their soul. They are going to read and be geniuses by the power of the Christ in them. They are not only going to be literate, they are going to have all of the experiences of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus of Nazareth, plus everything that you put into them. I believe that when we are in full stature, we will have the power to do that in a short period of time.
I believe that this is what happened with the Gadarene demoniac. When the Scriptures says that Jesus rebuked the legion, first of all let me tell you what I think a legion is. A legion, you may know, is a name for a Roman regiment that had approximately 6,000 men in it, six being the number of man. I am of the opinion that Jesus used that word ‟legion" to say the number 1,000. In my understanding of Bible numerology, 1,000 is the human spirit completed.
We are hoping to be complete in Christ that we might be the righteousness of Christ. I suggest to you the number 6,000 in the Gadarene demoniac indicated that this man was completed in unrighteousness. His human spirit was totally completed by Satan, and he was totally insane, suicidal, and not functioning in society. I believe when Jesus rebuked the legion, what He did was break up that formation of Satan in full stature in that man, joined His Spirit with that man and brought forth at least some measure of Christ in that man.
We are told the next time he is seen, he is sitting up. Spiritually speaking he was lying down, meaning that the Satanic realm had full dominion over him. The next time we see him, he is not standing, he is not in full stature, but he is no longer under the full dominion of Satan. He has some power over his circumstances and his surroundings. He was fully clothed, which means he now had a cover, and I suggest to you that at the very least he had the imputed anointing. He had to have something of Christ. If he was in his right mind after his recovery, he had to be in his left mind when he was in the tombs. He was a full manifestation in full stature of the evil and the wickedness of Satan.
I believe that in this hour, God has told me that this humanity is a child. She is the offspring of Satan and the living soul. We are growing up, we are maturing, and as small children, as we look at our natural examples, we see little boys and little girls, and we can look at their bodies and tell whether they are male or female, but they are children, they are asexual, they are not functioning as males, and they are not functioning as females. They are all neuter.
In that same way, this living soul is neuter, because to be fully male, spiritually speaking, we would be in the full stature as righteousness which is in Christ, and to be a full grown female, we would be in the full manifestation of wickedness, as we see in the Gadarene demoniac. This humanity is still in its childhood, and it is neuter. Spiritually speaking, we are not, very few of us have grown up into a full manhood of spiritual authority, either male or female, either negative or positive.
This event is about to happen very shortly, and I believe that once a human being, if you will, grows up spiritually or fully manifests to the negative side of the creation, that although Jesus demonstrated that He could do it with the Gadarene demoniac, I do not know that there would be much of a chance of a hope for salvation for them.
In this hour, the workers of Satan, workers of witchcraft are frantically moving to seduce human beings to open their hearts to a full manifestation of the carnal mind, which will grow them up in unrighteousness. Not telling the people, you know promising them power, but not telling them that the unrighteousness, or the maturity which is unrighteousness results in death and destruction. It could result in insanity and whatever else.
We are at a turning point in creation, and men need to know that we are either going to grow up into the righteousness of Christ, or we are going to grow up into the fullness of evil. We are growing out of our neuter condition. As we see the ministry of Christ going forth in the earth preaching the Doctrine of Christ, and teaching the Spirit of Christ, and encouraging all men to repent, and to turn away from their sins, and kill their carnal minds so that righteousness can appear in them, as Jesus is preaching this through His ministry, Satan is out there doing everything he can to lay hold of as many human beings as he can, and manifest to the fullest degree, to the degree of Legion in them, if you will.
This is the urgency of the hour. There is much more involved here than sitting around in a classroom and talking about the things of God. The issue is life and death.
Anybody else? Any questions? This has been a tough night. It has been really hot, so I think I am just going to bless you all. I would like to pray for you all tonight, and I think I am going to go home. Unless there are any other questions, I will take one or two more.
PRAYER
Father, in the name of Jesus, I just bless this group oh God, I bless them Father and I call them the Saviors of Nigeria. I call them the church that you are raising up in Nigeria, Father, and I ask that everything that you have given me Father that is of Christ, should be imparted to them, and if it be your will two-fold, Lord. I pray that you anoint them with wisdom, in grace, in truth, in honor, in fortitude, and strength in the glory of your life. I pray that you equip them and furnish them if they are not already equipped and furnished for the battle which is at hand.
I know that you have promised to break the curse which is on all of Africa, and apparently I see moving to begin in Nigeria. I do not know about a move anywhere else, but I pray that everyone that you call, you perfect Father, and that you do not cease from the good work that you have begun in each of them Lord, and that you raise up these Saviors on Mount Zion, and you teach them all that they need to know. I also pray that you correct them in every area that they need correction Father. I pray that you put your character in them, and your nature in them, and you give them the strength to stand through everything they must go through, because having your carnal mind killed is not easy, but I know that you are able to keep them and bring them through, because this whole nation and this whole continent is waiting for them.
I pray that nothing, that no man and no spirit, should turn them that you have called away from their task, and I know that nothing will turn you, and I pray for that day, Father, that this curse is broken, and that the bondages are broken, and that Ham is returned, Father, unto the righteous position that he was unlawfully cast down from, and to the fullest extent, whatever I can, whatever I have within me now, I break that curse on everybody here, and to everybody to which you would extend this prayer, that this curse be broken, and I thank you, Father, for the privilege of serving, in the name of Jesus, Amen. God bless you."
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