Maurice M Johnson
versus
Albert J Kempin "Church of God" Minister
in the home of Clarence Morey
 Long Beach, California
March 16, 1961

Kempin:   ...of the kingdom of God in this dispensation is not Jerusalem of earth nor ever shall be. It is in heaven. Here is the scripture for it. Listen, if you turn please, you can see this very clearly. Galatians 4th chapter 26th verse. Here it is. This is our headquarters. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

That's it. The earthly Jerusalem dear brothers and sisters was the mother only of the natural Israel. This Israel, which will never be destroyed, and this Jerusalem up there, which will never be destroyed, is the mother of us all.

Who are the ‘all’? The believers, they are the 'all'. To show that this is true, turn to Luke's Gospel chapter 17. You will read the words of our own dear Savior who told you where the kingdom of God is. Let's turn to Luke's Gospel chapter 97, if you please. There you will see for yourself, verse 20, where the kingdom of God is and its nature. It is not a temporal kingdom at all like the kingdom of earth, or even like the kingdom of Israel was back there. Here is the kingdom of God,

And when he was demanded,

I'm reading at the 20th verse chapter 17 of Luke,

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation,

just like earthly kingdoms,

Neither shall they say, Lo here!

He was speaking in Jerusalem, or like the Mormons in Utah, or other people in other centers of earth, but where is the kingdom? He says,

the kingdom of God is within you.

Now, the Lord wasn't talking about these wicked Pharisees saying that they were equal to having the kingdom of God within them. He stated a principle. That the principle of the New Testament kingdom is this: it is a spiritual kingdom, it finds its origin in the heart of the redeemed individual, That's what He was saying. In the heart of the redeemed individual. That is the origin and the place of the kingdom of God.

Let us turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 50 and you will read here a statement that's shocking. Dear brethren and sisters, if I say this I happen to be a little insistent on it, please forgive me because this is a truth which some people can't see.  (I love you brothers and sisters ... you're wonderful people and I personally thank you for even listening to me and giving me this opportunity to witness to the truth as I see it.  It is wonderful of you to extend this courtesy to me.)  But listen to what Paul says in this case of verse 50 of 1 Corinthians. Notice this, verse 50, here it is,

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood ...

If you uphold any people in ? their fleshly origin and say they inherit the kingdom of God because they are Jews, for example, that is an error of the greatest proportions,

flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,

nor at any other time. How is the kingdom of God inherited? It is inherited by faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore it is a spiritual kingdom.

And to show that this is so, we fight a spiritual battle, notice this. Turn to Ephesians 6. This is the kind of warfare we're engaged in ... we shouldn't be fighting each other as Christians. But here is the kind of warfare in which, we should be engaged, Ephesians 6:11-18. Here's our enemy, here is our fight. Here is the struggle dear people of God, dear church of God, because you're in the church of God as much as I am. You're all Christian people. I recognize the fact that you're dear brethren in Christ; you're in the church of God.- Our fight is not with one another. Our fight is against these things that Paul mentions here, Ephesians 6 verse 11 on.

Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we,

here's the enemy, the devil,

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

So our battle is against the devil, against spiritual forces. We're never going to fight anybody as Christians in a combat of blood war of sword against sword, of missile against missile, of tank against tank. Anyone that says that that is the battle in which Christ is going to engage and His people is going backwards to say the least.

And I state this parenthetically, the battle of Armageddon ... and when I say the little statement that brother Johnson kind of played along with very definitely that l gave Paul credit for having written something hard. It's not ignorance that makes one say that Paul has written things hard; a better than I said that. Peter said the apostle's written some things that are very hard to understand. And so therefore it is a matter of modesty. I say this: I don't know all the answers, brethren, I'm searching for them as you are. I'm a learner. I'm not here to dictate to you or tell you that I know everything about the Word of God. We're just cracking the surface, and if all of us keep our hearts open, God will show us indeed. But the thing the apostle Paul does hammer at in Romans is this: that there is a new order in being now, and is come into being through Jesus Christ.

And this illustration you'll never forget      ?      , Paul merely illustrates God's economy of the past and God's economy of the present with the idea of two trees. He calls one a wild olive tree, he calls the other a good olive tree. The good olive tree is Israel, mark you, is Israel. But the wild olive tree is the Gentile world, those who are Gentiles. Now here is the tree that should have borne fruit, which is Israel. They did' not. And all he says ... now I ask you (I won't have time to go to it), I ask you to read Romans 8, 9, 10, and 11 in light of that statement, all that Paul says, the Israelites who should have glorified God, who should have accepted Christ by faith and should have served Him, did not do so. They were blinded, they were hardened, they sought salvation by works. Therefore, the Lord says., He broke them off. Broke the natural branches off.  But the tree still stood. That's the illustration. Here's the unbelieving world, the Gentile world. He took those branches that believed in Jesus Christ from here and grafted them into this tree. But there were some Jews around, a remnant, and also some who through all the centuries even till today who believed on the Lord. He grafts them back into their own tree. And that new tree, that one tree with both of them in, is the new Israel of God. And so all Israel shall be saved.

So now the battle is not against the Christians and even wicked people. The Lord said Himself if the Lord's kingdom were to be built by the sword, then His kingdom would perish by the sword. You can prove that conclusively from the Scriptures if you take a literal interpretation of this whole thing. The Lord said to Peter when Peter was ready to start a war with a sword and hack off the ear of Malchus, the servant of the high priest, why, Jesus rebuked this man and said, "Put up the sword. He that takes up the sword, shalt perish with the sword". And so therefore the Lord laid down the rule, if any nation is advanced by the sword, it will perish. History illustrates that only too much. And if the Lord's kingdom would ever be established by the use of force like that, it too would perish. You see, that's the same rule because whatever measure you mete out, the same measure is meted out again. And that's the thing. So therefore the Lord's kingdom is a different kingdom.

The battle of Armageddon dear brothers and sisters is not a battle of the Christian against any mortal in a blood combat, but the battle of Armageddon is a battle of truth against error, of Christ against Satan, of righteousness against unrighteousness, of the minds of Christians against the minds of wicked people called 'powers', 'principalities', and so on. And in this way we conquer through the blood of the Lamb. Not by stealing blood but conquered by the blood of the Lamb. (I have three more minutes left.)

And to prove that, remember this, Romans 14;97. What is the kingdom of God?  Turn with me please and read Paul's definition of the kingdom of God. Romans 94:17,

For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink,

nothing that concerns the natural realm at any time, but righteousness, and joy, (pardon me), but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. That's it. So therefore this is the order of God. It is a spiritual order. The progression of God through the centuries has always been the natural to the spiritual. Never back to the natural! Never!' Brethren, I ask you to think about the order of God is always from the natural to the spiritual, never back to the natural. And so therefore if we would go back to the natural for any reason or in any way, we cross God's appointed order. This is His order, from the natural to the spiritual.

I shall not have time now to develop this idea further because in the next instance, the Lord willing, I shall stand to show why God established this new order. The why of it. And so before my next minute is up brother Johnny, I shall be seated and give our dear brother Johnson the ...

MMJ:     First, I would like to say that nearly everything that brother Kempin gave I believe unreservedly. I'm sure that ...

Kempin:    Praise God for that. That does me good brother Johnson. We're nearer together than we ever think we are. Really. Praise the Lord. That does my heart good.

MMJ: ...in this present dispensation or economy or household order, I'm quite sure and have believed for many, many years that God's program today is building a new man, Ephesians 2. And as we read there, as he read, and as we may read again, in Ephesians 2 we're told that that middle wall of partition, "the law of commandments contained in ordinances," the enmity between Jew and Gentile has been broken down. Let's look at it, was abolished in Christ's. flesh, Ephesians 2:15. Let's begin at the 14th verse,

For he,

Christ,

is our peace, who hath made both one,

the "both" of course as brother Kempin did bring out, Jew and Gentile, the context makes it very plain. He

hath made both one, and path broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for

for a specific purpose,

for to made in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.

Now that does not prove at all that there may not be after this another program, anymore than it proves that Adam and Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and Moses and' all were: in the church which is Christ's body, and that none of them ... for instance that Moses ... that Jacob's name wasn't changed to Israel and that his sons weren't children of Israel, and that there weren't twelve tribes of flesh and blood Israel, many of whom were believers. They, were believers; I'm sure brother Kempin won't deny that. We certainly know that Moses ... that Abraham (he was not a Jew), but Isaac was a believer, Joseph was a believer, Moses was a believer, Aaron was a believer called a saint of God in the book of Psalms years after he died. But did Moses lose his national Israelitish identity when he became a believer? He did not. Did Isaac? Did Joseph? Did Daniel? Did David? Paul quotes David in Romans the 4th chapter as believing the same kind of salvation we have today, but did David Lose his national identity? Did he cease to be flesh and blood king on the throne of God in Jerusalem? And it is so called that. The throne of God. And Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord in Jerusalem, and his mother sat down by his side, we read in one of the Old Testament books.

And so their belief in Jesus Christ's, shed blood ... now he mentioned one time that he challenged anybody to show where there would ever be a time in the future when any Jew could come into the presence of God, or be accepted by God, without because of his fleshly nature and without the cross. Well I certainly don't believe any Jew can now or can in the future or could in the past, come and he accepted in the presence of God without believing back in the old Testament Christ said, "Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, .and was glad". Now he wasn't a Jew, but he wasn't in the church which is Christ's body. Paul, I repeat now, Paul in Romans 4 quotes David, "Even as David", Romans 4, "Even as David describes the blessedness of the man to whom the lord imputeth righteousness without works", then says, "Blessed are they whose sins are forgiven", so forth. "Blessed is the man to whom the lord will not impute sin.^",  David believed in the coming Messiah as he said in the 40th psalm. He said, "Sacrifice and offering and burnt offering and offering for sin Thou hast no pleasure in". Then said, to, I come to do Thy will. In the volume of the book it's written of Me." Well when David said, "Open Thou mine eyes: that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law", do you think that he understood that that passage referred to Christ? We know it from it's being quoted in Hebrews the l0th chapter. So David believed in ... he said, "Purge me with hyssop and l shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow." That wasn't Judaism. That wasn't Mosaic legalism. That was David believing the promise of salvation given to his great-great-grandfather Abraham.

I've sometimes spoken on the subject, "Moses' Mirror and Abraham's Telescope", and I've referred to David. I've said there was a time when David ... "the law was given as a schoolmaster" Paul said, "to bring us to Christ". And he said, "We know whatsoever things the law saith it saith to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God". Well did the law do it's: God ordained purpose in David's case? It certainly did. It brought him to Christ. And that's why his statement about salvation is quoted way over, hundreds of years later by the apostle Paul, in Romans 4, as I've just given.

So David believed when he said, "Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Thou desirest truth in the inward parts. Create in me a clean heart, 0 God.' Why that's just as beautiful truth on salvation as I care to have today. And I'll give that today as beautiful Bible doctrine, the plan of salvation. But when David believed in the coming Christ and what He was going to do,  it  will be just in fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham. For instance, the promise of the seed of the woman back in Genesis 3. When David believed that, it didn't change his Jewish nature and it didn't take him off or keep him from getting on the physical throne of the Messianic kingdom in flesh and blood physical Jerusalem and be king in Israel on the throne God had promised him.

Let^'s not forget that now, but in this present dispensation neither Jew nor Gentile can be accepted with God without coming to Christ; neither could they before. But today God hasn't any distinctions in religion between Jew and Gentile. He broke that middle wall of partition down, the law of commandments contained in ordinances which was the enmity between Jew and Gentile for of the twain to make of one new man. But He didn't say there never would he a restoration of His work with flesh and blood Israel. But He said to the contrary over and over and over and over again.

In this present dispensation, there's no such thing as Jew and Gentile in God's family. Put God still wants us to recognize those three peoples: Jew, Gentile, and church of God, 1 Corinthians 10:32, "Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God". There's no difference as being sinners Jew and Gentile, but there's differences in God's dealing, His prophetic dealing.

Now on Jerusalem and the things he said toward the last was, in reading Galatians 4, that Jerusalem which is from above is the mother of us all. I bow before that like I do before every other verse he gave, but I want to rightly divide. The Jerusalem is from above, from above, was it the mother of Abraham in that sense? Of course. Was it the mother of Moses? Of course. Was it the mother of David? Yes. But did the fact that the Jerusalem of which is above was the mother of Abraham? He quotes the Abrahamic covenant in much detail, both the 3rd chapter and the 4th chapter and 5th chapter of Galatians. He quoted from Galatians 3: believers today are children of Abraham. We're children of Abraham. And the Jerusalem which is above is the mother of us all, but not of Abraham? Jerusalem from above is the mother of Abraham as well as me. But it didn't do away with Abraham's distinctive position in God's program. And the Jerusalem which is above is the mother of Moses, but he was still flesh and blood Israelite Moses. The Jerusalem which is above is still the mother of Aaron, but he was still Aaron a priest in the Levitical order of the tribe of Levi, and so forth. And David, a king from the tribe of Judah, flesh and blood king sat on the physical throne in flesh and blood Israel in historical Jerusalem. He was king in flesh and blood Jerusalem, physical Jerusalem. As to his salvation, his mother was Jerusalem above. Simple. I hope you can see how simple it is. Now back in ... may I say again, I covered it awhile ago but not specifically, the present phase of the kingdom so far as touching matters on earth is concerned is unquestionably spiritual, unquestionably spiritual. I do not hesitate for a moment, I rejoice in the truth (and I think I have some comprehension and understanding of it) that the kingdom in it's present form is not meat nor drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. One aspect of it, one aspect of it. But that's not the whole story. The kingdom today among believers ... he quoted the other aspect, but I want to bring out that there are two aspects, two phases. The other phase to which I'm referring now is given us in Colossians 9. We have been translated out of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son, raised up and seated in the heavens. And that's a perfect parallel, those two phases, to the two aspects of salvation given us in these words, "In Christ, there's neither Jew nor Gentile, male or female, bond or free". The woman preachers care glad to grab part of that and throw it out sometimes. "Well I read in my Bible that in Christ there's neither male nor female". I say, "I read in the same epistles, "Husbands love your wives".` Now is that a neuter husband and a neuter wife or a masculine husband and a female wife, what do you think?" When we rightly divide the Word of Truth we'll say, "Wait a minute now, there must be two aspects of salvation presented there". In Christ I'm accepted in the Beloved, seated ... raised up and seated in the glory, seated in the heavens. But I'm on earth too. Well on earth how is my salvation as to Christ? Christ is in me. And that neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female won't apply. The male and female part won't we know, because I'm just as much a male with Christ in me as before I received Christ in my life. And the ladies that are Christians here are just as surely female since they received Christ into their lives (and He dwells in them) as they were before they were saved; So there's two definite Biblical aspects of salvation, and the parallel to the kingdom which is another expression, I think, the kingdom's spiritual phase. As to my inner life, the kingdom of God is touching me, it's in me. Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. As to my being in the all conquering kingdom, I've been translated out of this darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. But what did Paul mean when he said, "You must enter into the kingdom through much tribulation"? What did Peter mean when he said, "That we may have an abundant entrance into His everlasting kingdom"?  What did Paul mean when he said in 2 Peter (the last one I quoted was in 2 Peter 9, now I'm in 2 Timothy), Paul said, "Timothy, God will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom"? What did Paul mean when he wrote to the Christians, overgrown babies at Corinth, overgrown Christian babies, and said, "You were reigning as kings without us", and he said, "I wish you did reign, that we might reign with you". The first was sarcasm, "You're pretending that this is the day to be king on earth, you will reign as kings without us." And he said, "I would to God that ye did reign that we might reign with you". We're on earth as pilgrims and strangers.

If the kingdom prophesied in Daniel had been set up ... now it's one thing brother Kempin ... I don't see how brother Kempin could possibly read with godly attention and humility the prophecy regarding the kingdom on earth, and then believe that the church today, all Christians, constitute the kingdom of God prophesied. The church which is Christ's body was never prophesied. I think that's one of brother Kempin's main mistakes.

Now I'm not unkind when l call attention ... and he says he's not going to call personality. Well that's his privilege, prerogative, but I do. Paul did, and I can with godly frankness where I think it's helpful because of course he said things different from what I brought out last time, and that's what we're here for. Hoping and praying, God grant we all will, that we may see God's truth regardless of which one may have been advocating it in a given case, and then we'll all bow before God's truth.

Now turn back to the 132nd Psalm please. Now don't forget, that all the scriptures he gave. about that today believers on earth are new creatures in Christ and that a new program is started, I believe joyously without any mental reservation and with increasing confidence. That does not do away or denature God's former programs with believers nor future programs with believers. The fact that today we're neither Jew nor Gentile as believers in Jesus Christ doesn't destroy the fact (let me say again) that David was a  Jew  after believing in Jesus Christ and had a God given Jewish position. And brother Kempin knows that, of course,

But David wasn't an infidel, look at Psalm ... I quoted several of them, I won't take time to quote more on David's giving the plan of salvation. "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.' "Thou desirest truth in the ..'inward parts." "Create in me a clean heart, O God." Well when God heard and answered David's prayer, he was forgiven of his sins and justified by faith without works. But it didn't change him from being a Jew. He was still a Jew, a godly Jew. A believer in the promised and prophesied seed of David ... yes, seed of Abraham, Son of God.

Now, 132nd Psalm please, and the 11th verse; 132nd Psalm 11th verse,

The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.

He won't turn from it now. Not turn to the passage I called to your attention the other night here, Acts the 2nd chapter, Acts the 2nd chapter. Where Peter explaining in the Holy Spirit to these ungodly Christ murdering Jews that the one they thought was an illegitimate child and should have been rejected as an imposter and thief and should have killed (and they think still dead) as the son of David, son of Abraham, Son of God, raised by the Father, seated at the right of God. Now look at the 25th verse, Acts 2:25,

For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.

In other words, David was a believer in Jesus Christ.

Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope.

He believed in the resurrection of the body.

Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life,

 

David was a believer wasn't he in the plan of salvation,

thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren,

now Peter's speaking, not quoting David anymore,

Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him,

and we read it Psalm 132 verse 11, that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit, of his loins, now that's flesh and blood offspring, of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. So Christ is yet to sit on the throne of David because God in prophecy said He wouldn't turn from it; He swore and He won't turn from it, and is quoted by the Spirit of God through the apostle Peter these many years later after Christ is risen proving He was bodily risen, bodily risen, and He's going to sit on the throne of David.

Now that pass...

Kempin:     May I ask you to read the 31st, verse, please?

MMJ:     31st verse?  Fine.

He seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

But I'm very familiar, brother Kempin, with some (I don't know for sure what you do with that), with some mis-uses of this passage. The 30th verse doesn't neutralize or give the lie to the 31st verse or vice versa.

He seeing this before spoke of the resurrection of Christ,

the resurrection of his descendent from his loins according to the flesh. Now that's the important point for you to remember. I've already remembered it, see, and l want to keep on remembering it. But that's the important thing here. That he's arguing that this Jesus Christ that was to sit on the throne of David ... did He sit on the throne of David before this? Has He actually sat on the throne of David before the cross? Well He's going to do it. That's Paul's ... Peter's inspired argument, quoting from the inspired prophecy. God would not turn from it after He swore to David of his loins, flesh and blood. Let's not forget that.

Now .

Kempin:     Would you mind reading the rest of this chapter since you're ... from 31 on down brother Johnson, down to around the 36th verse?

MMJ:     I'd a little bit rather found some other verses that I ...

Kempin:   ... Keep on reading would you please.

MMJ:  This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost ...

Kempin: ... Notice that, "having received".

MMJ:     Oh yes, 

he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until, Until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God path made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart,'

and so forth. Now in the 3rd chapter, which I'm not going to quote but call attention to, Peter in another sermon gives some very arresting and very significant things on the subject of the risen Christ and the prophecies. Let's read a part of it, Acts the 3rd chapter beginning at the 17th verse.

But before I do that, lest I don't get time to do it otherwise, I'm going to call attention to brother Kempin's statement (not so much his comments ... yes, some of his comments) on 1 Corinthians 15:50, "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God". Now his use, or misuse of that, because I'm sure it was a misuse, was to try to prove that the kingdom is only spiritual and doesn't have any flesh and blood people in it. The text there stated "flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God". Nothing that we can do as our flesh and blood, no good works comparatively, so-called good works; it's a gift of God. But if that means there will be no flesh and blood person in the kingdom, then Jesus Christ on earth born king of the Jews wasn't in the kingdom. The king Himself wasn't in the kingdom because He sure is flesh and blood. Because that's what He came down to take upon Himself ... to partake a form like unto His brethren, Hebrews 2 and so on. And from the loins of David He was born of the seed of David and was traced back in the inspired genealogy in Luke and Matthew back through David: He's the son of David, flesh and blood. And He was the king (was He the king?), the king, the king of Israel He's referred to once before the cross., before His resurrection.

And John the Baptist said, "The kingdom of God's at hand", Matthew 3:2. Christ began preaching, Matthew 4:17 recorded the first time, "The kingdom of God is at hand". He chose twelve apostles and commissioned them and prepared them and sent them out and told them, to preach saying, "The kingdom of heaven's at hand", Matthew 10. He chose seventy and prepared them and commissioned them, told them to go out (recorded in Luke 10 for instance) and to preach saying, "The kingdom of heaven's at hand". And He told the twelve apostles and the seventy to heal the sick and connect with that message the kingdom's at hand; heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead. He gave them power over all unclean spirits, heal all manner of disease, all manner of sickness, cast out demons, and raise the dead. And He said as we read in Luke 12 to the seventy for instance, "When you go into a place, if they won't receive you, shake their dust off your feet, but say to them, "Know the truth, that the kingdom of God was at hand".

Now, when He said, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation," those Pharisees said as quoted in Luke 17, "When ... show us when the kingdom of God shall come?" Well, what was there? Was the king there? Yes. Did He have all power?  Yes.  In the 11th chapter of Matthew He said, "All-l-l things have been delivered", have, have, have been delivered into My hands." That's why He gave the apostles, the twelve, He gave them power; the king gave them power. He healed all manner of sicknesses and all manner of diseases, He cast out demons and raised the dead, in connection with what? The message, "The kingdom of God's at hand`: heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead.

He said, as recorded in Matthew the 12th chapter, after He had cast out some healed some lepers wasn't it or cast the demons out, yes, and some of them said, "He's doing it by Beelzebub the prince of devils". Christ said, "If I cast out devils by Beelzebub, then Satan's kingdom", kingdom, kingdom, "is divided against itself.  But if I cast out devils by the Holy Spirit, then the kingdom of God is come unto you." Brother Kempin, the kingdom of God was there in all it's essential potential. The king was there, and all-l-l things had been delivered into His hands He said as recorded in Matthew 11. And that's why the apostles, even Judas, while they were called, commissioned, and empowered by the king ... the seventy came back saying, "Lord even the demons are subject to us". They were reigning, reigning in the sphere He told them to, reigning over the devil. He didn't tell them to reign over Caesar, but over the victims of men's minds and souls with physical miracles, credentials of the Davidic, Messianic kingdom. The flesh and blood son of David was there in flesh and blood power. But He said, "I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel", because it was the Messianic, Davidic phase of the kingdom.

Now when those Jews rejecting those miracles as being credentials of the Messianic kingdom and proof that He was the king, son of David, Son of God, when they rejected it and in their willful disbelief said, "Show us a sign", and so on, "When will the kingdom of God come? He said, "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. The kingdom of God cometh not with observation." That is, you needn't look for the kingdom to come, for the kingdom is in your midst. The king's here, kingdom power's here, kingdom miracles are being performed.

Now brother Kempin, that's got to be the truth or you've got hopeless confusion when you come to Matthew 21:43 and try to deal with it with spiritual intelligence. "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you," Matthew 21:43. That's before the cross. Before Pentecost, "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you," how could it be taken from them if it wasn't there? "and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof", and that nation hadn't appeared on earth yet. Go back and read the prophecies of the Messianic kingdom.

Now watch. If the kingdom that was "at hand", "come unto you" (Matthew 12:28-30), "in your midst", "taken from you", was a spiritual kingdom, then all of those Israelites were hopelessly damned when the kingdom was taken from them. If that's the same phase of the kingdom as "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit", that was your argument on the 17th chapter of Luke, the thought there, if the phase of the kingdom referred to there, "kingdom at hand", "kingdom at hand", "kingdom at hand", "kingdom come unto you", "kingdom in your midst", "kingdom taken from you", if that's the spiritual phase of the kingdom, then when the kingdom was taken from the nation Israel they were all hopelessly, irrevocably damned spiritually.

But that wasn't true because we know from the first sermon preached after the, king was crucified, buried, rose, ascended, and went back to glory, sat down on His throne, the first sermon preached, over 3000 of those kingdom rejecters, from whom the Messianic kingdom had been taken, received the spiritual essence of the kingdom, the Holy Spirit. And in the next couple of chapters 5000 of those Messianic kingdom rejecters and flesh and blood Israelitish king crucifers repent of their sins and receive Christ as crucified, buried king, Savior, glorified son of David, and received the spiritual, phase of the kingdom. And we know later they were put into this new institution which is called the church which is Christ's body. But the kingdom as such is yet to be restored.

May I call this to your attention, and to me it's the most misunderstood doctrine and truth in all Christendom. Roman Catholicism and their leaders completely ignore this or mess it up, and so do the Episcopalians, so do the Lutherans (I mean the sect), so do the Campbellites, and (I'm sorry to say) so do the "Church of God" as he's represented with it (the leaders). This... the risen Christ, according to Luke 24, opened the understanding of all the apostles. The risen Christ, opened the understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures. Now what Scriptures were in existence at that time? Only the told Testament so-called, from Genesis to Malachi. "He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures." What did He do? He spoke to them for forty days ... He expounded them in all the Scriptures, Moses and the Psalms and the prophets, He expounded them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Speaking to them forty days of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God, Acts 1. And then said, "John truly baptized with water, you're going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence". And those apostles whose understanding He had supernaturally, the risen Christ, had opened that they might understand the Scriptures; get the picture: He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scripture and spoke unto them for forty days out of the Scriptures on the subject of the kingdom, and then when He made this new promise and prophecy, "John truly baptized with water, you're going to be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence", they said, "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Were they wrong in thinking the kingdom was going to be restored to Israel? If they were, blame the teacher ... who had opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures and talk to them on the subject of the kingdom for forty days. He didn't rebuke them and say that's a narrow, judicial, racial conception. He didn't do that at all. He said, "It's not for you to know the times and the seasons."  God help us to check up on those things...

Kempin:     I'm glad that brother Johnson agrees with me to that extent where he gave a very fine statement at the very beginning. I think we all are very happy for that. I shall answer some of the statements that brother Johnson raised as I proceed now to show why God established the new order based upon a new creature, a new people who are called the people of God, the Israel of God, the church of God, and so on.

The reason for the Lord's rejection of the Jewish people was this: they broke: His covenant. Turn to Jeremiah 31 verses 31 and 32, 31 and 32.

Behold, the days come, with the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake,

See, dear brothers and sisters, please remember that God Almighty had made a covenant with those people who were the natural Israelites, but they broke that covenant. And that New Covenant, which was to be made, was to be centered in Jesus Christ the Lord. He is the originator of that New Covenant.

So turn please to Matthew 26 and I'll read here another statement by our dear Savior. Matthew 26 verses 26-28,

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, Drink ye all of it.

Now notice this, here's the New Covenant and it's origin.

For this is my blood of the new testament,

or covenant, that's what the word 'testament' means:, "covenant",

which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

So therefore the old order was withdrawn because the people broke the covenant, the Israelites. The new order was set into being by Jesus Christ through His precious blood.

The reason why the Lord took the kingdom from the Jewish people is evident. Let us turn to Matthew 21, the scripture our dear brother Johnson quoted. Matthew 21: 32-43,

For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him. Hear another parable,

and the Lord gives this parable of

a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country,

that's Jesus going back to heaven,

And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all,

here's the picture,

he sent unto them his son,

our Savior,

saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.

That's the idea of the Jews toward Jesus Christ, they rejected the king, mark you. He was to be the king of Israel, yes. They rejected the king, they crucified Him, they did away with Him.

When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?

the Jewish people, the husbandmen,

They say unto him,

they put themselves in the trap, they condemn themselves, notice this,

He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you,

this is the thing that brother Johnson quoted,

Therefore I say unto you, The kingdom shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

He said there is no such nation yet. I read you from 2 Peter the first epistle (the 2nd chapter 1 Peter) where Peter himself says, "Ye are a chosen generation, ye are a peculiar people, ye are a holy nation^". This is the nation that brings forth the fruits of the kingdom of God. So therefore the kingdom of God was taken from them, and therefore now a new nation would have that kingdom; it would be a nation that brings forth the fruits thereof.

To emphasize it, let's turn to Peter just to show again this truth in order to keep in mind, we all ought to keep in mind without any reservation mentally. Here we have a glorious truth presented. Listen to this dear brothers and sisters,

Unto you therefore which believe,

that's both Jews and Gentiles.,

believe ... but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation,

this is the new people that is emerged to bring forth the fruits of the kingdom of God which the Jews as natural people failed to produce,

that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Now, listen to the words of Jesus concerning the natural Israelites. Doom?

Yes, He did pronounce doom upon them. Doom without mercy? No, mercy was possible in this dispensation. Notice this, Matthew 23 verses 37-38. Listen. Here Jesus winds up His scathing denunciation. I wish you'd read the whole chapter, chapter 23 of Matthew. Read it. The Lord's attitude toward the unbelieving Jews, how terribly He denounced them. No language could be stronger. Listen. He finally wound up this denunciation by this agonizing cry,

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not!

Notice that,

ye would not! Behold,

here^'s their doom pronounced upon fleshly Israel, natural Israel, which the lord Jesus never withdrew. Now, listen to it dear brethren, see this is so,

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate

Never more will it ever be restored. It's left unto them desolate.

For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall stay,

see there's the provision for individual restoration, the branches being graft in again.  Here's doom and yet hope.  Mark you, dear brothers and sisters,

till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

As they say that, they are again restored into the privileges which were theirs, which they lost by rejection of Jesus Christ. Now in Hebrews 8th chapter verses 8-13, we read that the old order passes away. Turn, brothers and sisters, to that passage. Hebrews 8 verses 8-13, here it is. The covenant which God gave, the law which God gave was good and holy like Paul says. But what was wrong? The people were wrong. Here it is.

For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the lord, when I will make a new covenant,

that's why he's quoting it, because it's now offered through Jesus Christ, right now.

I will make a new covenant,

see,

with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant,

you see they broke it,

and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

In other words, He disregarded them; He set them aside as a people with whom He had special dealings, and made all the world equal in His sight.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I wilt^-put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

Now listen brethren, this is not an automatic salvation that he's talking about. This salvation is not automatic; it's always contingent upon faith. Always. Remember that. It looks as if it's automatic here, automatically He forgives their sins whether they ask Him or not in a blanket fashion. That's not God^'s method at any time. The individual must come to the Lord for salvation and believe.

In that he saith, a new covenant,

listen to this; who made it old?

he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

So all who wish salvation must come under that New Covenant. Now, Hebrews 9 verses 7-10. Everyone who wishes to come under that New Covenant must come now this way. Hebrews 9 verses 7-10,

But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.

See the plan of God was not fully revealed in the Mosaic time, in the Davidic time. Now it is fully revealed.

Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts. and sacrifices, all of which foreshadowed the coming of Jesus Christ, that could not make him that did the service perfect,

in other words^,, they were still sinful, only in Christ it's possible,

Which stood only in meats. and drinks, and divers, washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

The reformation is the coming of Christ; He ushered in the reformation, He did.

But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Now, there's no difference therefore between the Jew and the Gentile. Romans. 10. Let us read that. Romans 10 verses 12-13, Romans 10 verses 12-13,

For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever,

that's it, they are doomed people just like we are doomed; every sinner is doomed. That's all there is to it. The Jew is doomed, we're doomed. But there's a way out of the doom, by faith in Jesus Christ. That's the idea.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be the day of salvation have I succoured thee.

Notice the language dear brothers and sisters,

and in the day of salvation,

this is it,

have I succoured thee: Behold, now is the accepted time;

there will never be any other time where anybody will be accepted in Christ other than this day in which we live today,

behold, now is the day of salvation.

If anybody preaches another day of salvation after this day, he's adding one, that's all. The apostle doesn't say it, the Scriptures do not say it, he's adding one. All right, that's not to be done indeed.

Notice then not only 2 Corinthians, but 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 7. Please turn to that, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse- 7-10. It's the second epistle, pardon me. l forgot to put down number two. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 7 on,

And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven,

there's the second coming brothers and sisters,

shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God.

When He comes this is what is going to happen, when Jesus comes. He takes

vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ: Who,

at His coming, mark you, who are to

be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.

And in accompaniment, not only will this happen, punishment, but also notice this, verse 10,

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints,

and when at the same time there's punishment for the unbeliever and the ungodly, the same time He is,

glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

Then, read also with me another very definite passage of Scripture, Hebrews 4: 6-11, Hebrews 4 verse 6-11.

Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to who it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again he limiteth a certain day, saved.

And all that believe in Christ are that new Israel of God.

Now, in the next instance, brethren, I want to show that salvation through Christ is the only plan of salvation that God has for the race, the human race. There is no other plan of salvation. There is no other plan of salvation. This is the only plan of salvation for the human race. Read please Titus 2 verses 11-15 with me,

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness,

See, "hath appeared."  The grace of God ... there will never be anything else in this world. The grace of God is the summation of His dealings.

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.

There is no other world where you're going to live for the Lord that way

in this present world.

We must live this way if we're going to live at all.

Looking for that blessed hope,

see, we live this way here, we're

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

They're the fruits we bring forth.

Then, Hebrews 9.27-28 please. Turn to Hebrews 9:27-28, and read here that this is the  final age;  there is no age to come after this age dear brethren in which God will show any kind of salvation to anyone. There is no salvation. If anybody preaches a second chance, he's preaching another gospel, not the gospel of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9:27-28 and we'll read,

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time,

only one more coming,

the second time without sin unto salvation.

What does that mean? He's not coming to atone in any way for any kind of sinners:. He's coming to take all those that believed in Him to be with Him forever.

Then also, 2 Corinthians chapter 6, 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 2 if you please to show that this is the final age of salvation. No salvation for anybody after this age is over. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 2, For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in

he's talking about the Jews, notice this. This is the destiny and the fate of the Jews, summed up by the greatest writer of the New Testament, I think.

Again he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, who is quoted,

Today, after so long a time; as it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus,

or Joshua that is,

had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

This is the day in which the covenant is in force.

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us. labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

So therefore today is the day when God is saying to all, especially to Israel, repent and receive the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 25, let us turn to that. Matthew 25 verses 31-36, the great judgment scene, here it is. I won't refer ... read it all for the sake of very little time, but you know the scene. The Lord comes in His second coming. He puts the sheep who are the children of God on the one side, the goats on the other side. And anyone who says these sheep are sheep nations and these goats are goat nations is certainly arguing foolishly because I'd like to see any sheep nations in the world; they are all goats, including the United States of America as dearly as we love the United States of America. He's talking of individuals: the righteous are the sheep of God, we are His sheep, the sheep of His pasture; and the wicked are the goats. To some He says, "Enter"; to others He says, "depart". And there is no other period of time after that. The destiny of all mankind is settled then and there when the Lord comes.

John 5:25, let us turn to that, and also John 5:28-29. We want to read something concerning the resurrection when this takes place. Here it is, John 5:25 says,

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now

notice the emphasis "now is",

when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

They're the spiritually dead, just like the prodigal when the father says, "This my son was dead and is alive again". Like Paul says, "And you hath he quickened, who was dead in trespasses and in sins". So therefore there is a resurrection, a spiritual resurrection going on right now with those who are dead spiritually, like the woman, "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth", who hear the gospel, they live, they are resurrected spiritually.

There is a resurrection, listen to this. For whom? For how many? For just a few? Or just a portion of the human family? Listen,

Marvel not at this,

verse 28,

for the hour is coming, in the which, all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

And so (thank you) I shall wind-up this situation and simply show that when the Lord Jesus comes, all of His parables substantiate that, when the Lord Jesus comes He settles the matter of destiny for all at once. He never gave hope to anybody that there would be any dealing with anybody after He comes again the second time. Let us read then this verse now, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 23-24. I shall wind-up our lesson with this. This is very conclusive, 23-24, 1 Corinthians 15,

Put every man in his own order; Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then,

at His coming, mark you brothers and sisters. Is there another age to come after His coming? In your Bible like mine, the word 'cometh' is in italics, and any Bible student knows that's inserted.

Then the end,

when? At His coming. Nothing more. At His coming.

when he shall have delivered up the kingdom, of God.

Notice this. When He delivers up ... He's had His kingdom, He's reigning when He comes. What's He do, start reigning? No. He delivers up

the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down,

is He going to begin to rule? No. He puts down all rule and all authority, when? At His coming.

For he must reign,

how long?

till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

What kind of enemies?

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

When does that happen? At His coming. Death is destroyed at His coming.

So therefore dear brothers and sisters I wind-up my statement to simply say that the Lord Jesus Christ is on' that throne. Dear brother Johnson read the verses without comment (and I know the reason why) because the writer Luke says, "he seeing this", the prophecy of David that Christ should inherit that throne. ? on the resurrection and Jesus Christ ascended, the argument is clear: not David but Christ ascended and therefore Hebrews we hear instead, "That now we see Jesus seated at the right hand of God almighty, crowned with glory and in honor". There's our Christ for you. He's reigning now; when He comes again, He comes to judge all mankind. There is no salvation for anyone, nor any kind of reign afterwards. If you're going to reign, reign now with Christ.

MMJ:     The overgrown baby Christians at Corinth that Paul said were carnal, Paul said, "You reign now without us. I would to God you did reign that we might reign with you." Brother Kempin, what does that do with your last statement?

Kempin:    We reign in life by one, Christ Jesus, Romans 5:17.

MMJ:    By Christ Jesus. But as to ourselves on earth, we're pilgrims and strangers to a foreign country. We are the church, the ecclesia, the called out company.

Now... I've already taken up as far as that ... I wish you'd note the same thing happened the other night. I took up everything he gave and I'm sure gave a Biblical answer in my first speech and in his second speech completely ignored and brought up other things, and he's done the same thing tonight. I took up over and over again the arguments he gave and gave Biblical answer and brought in some other things.... such for instance the kingdom of God ... "flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God", if that means no flesh and blood human being can be in the kingdom, then I said Christ on earth flesh and blood king of the Jews wasn't in the kingdom.

Kempin:   Pardon me brother Johnson, I must clarify that. You misunderstood me entirely. I quoted that  "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" just like it is to show the spiritual nature of the kingdom. That's it. If you can't see that, there isn't very much else I can say.

MMJ:   You brought out the other night, and your doctrine is consistent with the other night, that the kingdom of God  is  only  spiritual and therefore a Jew as a Jew couldn't be in the kingdom because in the kingdom flesh ...

Kempin: You have to be born again, that's why. You have to be born again, that's why. John 3:3.

MMJ:    I'm willing for you to break-in as much as you want to, but you see, I never did that.

Kempin:    I must have some recourse when you confuse the Scriptures that way brother Johnson.

MMJ:    Did I seek any recourse while you were speaking?

Kempin:    No, go ahead ... the perversion of the Word of God makes me a little indignant, I'll tell you that.

MMJ:    "Great peace have they that love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them." I'm stirred All right ... but anyway, never mind that kind of personal dealing.

But back to his first statement about 1 Corinthians 15. Let's turn to it, 1 Corinthians 15. And right there brother Kempin is your fundamental error both as to saved and lost, and as to what the kingdom is, and all of the fundamental errors that I'm sure you embrace in your organization, your denomination (that you don't profess is, but I'm sure is).

1 Corinthians 15. What is the scope of this chapter? It has been, I think, all but universally among those who comment on it, recognized as the great resurrection chapter, very much as 1 Corinthians 13 is the love chapter, and so forth, and John 6 the bread chapter, things like that. All right, this great resurrection chapter, Paul begins by saying I delivered unto you the gospel how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and so forth, and he gives the witnesses that were qualified witnesses of the fact of the resurrection. Now he said if there's no resurrection from the dead then Christ isn't risen, and if Christ isn't. risen, why sure enough you believed in vain, and your faith's vain, we're false witnesses, they that have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. He said if, if, if, but then corrects all those by saying now is Christ raised from the dead. He gives the consummation of the gospel: there's no gospel if death isn't destroyed. Now God help you brother Kempin to get this and take it home with you and study it. If Christ hasn't already conquered death, then you're on your way to hell and so am I and everyone that's already died has gone to hell and will await the resurrection of the damned.

Kempin: Here again dear brother Johnson I must break in to say again Christ conquered death on the cross, sure, but He will conquer death for all of us at His resurrection when He raises the dead. You see, dear brethren, (pardon me for breaking in Johnny) I must comment a little when brother Johnson deviates from any clarity of thought I would express.

Morey:   Of course he could have done the same thing to you.

MMJ:    Pardon me Jack, no I didn't, I didn't one time because I'm quite sore that the truth humbly and faithfully given....

Kempin:    He did conquer death, I believe that the   ?    you do, but when He comes again He conquers death for all men.

MMJ:    I'm using your argument, I'm using your argument in 1 Corinthians 15. If Christ is going to conquer death in the future for anybody but the saved, then... you talk about no second chance, I agree with that; but that's really a second chance^-, that's Universalism. That's what the Universalists so-called teach on this passage. They say Christ is yet to reign till He's put down all enemies, and that was your argument in 1 Corinthians 15 (that it's future) that Christ must yet reign (you said He's now reigning and He must reign till He hath put down all authority (you read that) and dominion and might), and I was very fair and I would say accurate in listening to you in getting what you said because it fits your doctrine, but it is utterly unscriptural and absolutely subversive of the gospel of the grace of God.

Kempin:    Dear brother Johnson, why don't you read the passage? Why don't you read it ... let it speak for itself, without your comment? Why don't you read it?

Morey: Pardon me, brother Kempin .

MMJ:   Watch your time.

Morey:   He should have the right.

Kempin:   All right pardon me, I stand corrected, but I wish he'd read it through.

Morey:   Give him his right.

MMJ:   I read some more ... that you asked me to read awhile ago. I followed what you read me awhile ago right after I started speaking.

Put now watch, let's come back. I called your attention that the scope of this chapter is the resurrection and Paul's argument, inspired of course...

Let me stop right here to say that I do not believe for one moment that anybody who ever lives and dies will have a chance after they die to be saved. Nobody. No heathen so-called. Nobody. "Christ is the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world", John 1:9. Every man's had enough light before he dies, he would have enough light to render him responsible before God. Romans 1 brings that out also very plainly. And the 1Oth chapter of Romans makes it very plain. "Have they not all heard? Yes, verily, their sound went out to the whole world", quoting from the 19th psalm. And Christ said, "!f l be lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all men unto Me. This He said signifying what death He should die." He died, He's the red magnet, Calvary's the red magnet that draws every man. That's why every man feels somewhere in his life a pull toward the Creator of the universe, and right then he... begins to settle his eternal destiny, what he does with the light God gives him. If God sees fit to give him more light by a gospel preacher, well that's God's business. But so far as a man having excuse, having lived and died without ever having had a chance, that's a horrible lie that most so-called evangelicals peddle, but it's not true.

But now back to 1 Corinthians 15, begin at the 21st verse,

For since by man came death, by man came also,

'came' past tense,

also the resurrection of the dead.

Notice it's past tense here.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,

but it's only those that are in Christ. This is reverenced to Christians. This is speaking of the resurrection of believers in Jesus Christ. This is speaking of the resurrection of believers in Jesus Christ. This is speaking of the capstone of the gospel he said that "I delivered unto you". The gospel has no capstone, it's not finished if Christ hasn't defeated the last enemy. Now watch.

For as in Adam,

but you see his idea of the kingdom ... now that's a very favorite misuse of this passage. The Campbellites do the very same thing: that Christ is reigning now and He's got to reign until He defeats the Last enemy, and when He finishes that then He's going to hand the kingdom over to the Father. All that's wrong with that is that it's all wrong. Christ has already reigned over all enemies, and He has already handed the kingdom over to the Father, and He's seated now waiting till His enemies be made His footstool when He comes back to glorious power and might. Not to defeat a single enemy, but to put them where they belong. He's all ready to reign. Now watch.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then the end,

in other words, "What's the consummation of this gospel I gave you? What's the purpose of it if there's no resurrection from the dead? Then Christ didn't end the work He came ... but the gospel wasn't ... it's not good news at all." But the end came.

Then cometh the end,

now what's he talking about? He didn't say the end's going to come in the future.  The end's already come. The great purpose for which Christ came into the world, so far as sinners are concerned.

Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

Now I want to stop just here long enough (too hurriedly) but to surely bring out that in 1 Peter the 3rd chapter the last verse reading ... speaking of the resurrection of Christ, Peter said, "Principalities and powers being made subject to Him". In Ephesians the 1st chapter, all power, might, rule, and authority, and dominion, and every name that's named in this age and that which is to come is already  under Him, Ephesians 9. Colossians 2, He has already spoiled principalities and powers, made an open show of them in His resurrection and ascension and spoiled them we're told as He went back to glory. I could give you others but those are certainly enough to prove... and no...  he wished to... what about Revelation, Revelation 9?  He had the keys of death and hell. The risen Christ came out with the keys of death and hell.  Is death destroyed?  Is death conquered?

And Hebrews 2. Now one of the stakes here, and we who believe in the gospel of the grace of God, we who believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, should be clear on this if for no other reason (but there are other reasons) than to stop the mouth of such people as Herbert Armstrong and the Seventh Day Adventists and the so-called "Jehovah Witnesses" and the Universal Reconciliationists every one of which argues that death is annihilation, that death is cessation of being, that death is extinction of being. Now you gave other scriptures earlier on that subject when you said that there's a resurrection that's spiritual, "She that lives in pleasure is dead"; prodigal son, father when he said ... but you forgot all about him when you got here, or Hebrews 2. We're told that Christ took upon Himself a form like unto His brethren, flesh and blood, that He through death might destroy Him that had the power of death, that's the devil. He through death, not through a future reign. But that He through death might destroy him that had the power of death.

Now I called to your attention very carefully and repeatedly (in my first speech) from the 11th chapter of Matthew that all things were already delivered into the hands of Jesus Christ. All things were delivered to Him, Matthew the 11th chapter.

And He said if you will receive the kingdom, John the Baptist is Elijah. If you will receive the kingdom, the kingdom's here:, the king's ... all things are delivered into His hands there, He said if you will receive the kingdom, that John the Baptist is Elijah. There won't be any coming according to prophecy back in Malachi, and so forth. John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah, but Elijah's going to yet come. They didn't receive the kingdom, they spit in the face of the king.

But his arguments are in giving those verses about why the kingdom was taken from them, Matthew 21, he said notice why ... and the covenant broken, old covenant  (he quoted that, Jeremiah 31 and Hebrews 8),  he made that appear that that did away with Israel as a nation because some of them broke the old covenant, broke the old covenant. But every Jew ... Paul broke the old covenant. David broke the old covenant, Moses broke the old covenant, Abraham broke the old covenant, everybody but Jesus Christ broke it. Don't forget that my dear brother. And the new covenant was promised to the same people that had the old covenant. Don't forget that my dear brother. And it's so quoted over in Hebrews 8. Paul wasn't led of the Spirit of God to change it when he quoted it in Hebrews 8. He said, "Behold the days come when I^'ll make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah", quoting from Hebrews ... Jeremiah 31, "not according to the covenant I made with their father's,"  flesh and blood Israel, "when I took them by the hand out, of Egypt, which covenant they brake", but "this is a covenant I will make with them  after those days."  Go back and read the context in Jeremiah the 31st chapter. After what days? After Israel and Judah are restored, after the cities of Israel...

I intended to give this awhile ago but I didn't have time because ... hold this place in 1 Corinthians 15 and turn back to Jeremiah 3 please. I read it the other night, read it the other night, and like nearly everything I gave, brother Kempin just ignores. I didn't ignore what he gave. I dealt with godly honesty and some Biblical clarity. But now Jeremiah 3:17,

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered into it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.

Now that's plain enough,

Jerusalem ... there'll be the Jerusalem from above, yes. But it won't do away with the Jerusalem from beneath. I wish you had mentioned, but of course you had these other things you wanted to give, I wish you had made some reference to what I brought out about your argument on Galatians: Jerusalem the house up above, if it's good (the way you gave it), that now we who believe the gospel are no longer flesh and blood Jew or Gentile (neither did you give what I gave "neither male nor female in Christ", but .anyway). If your argument was true there, then remember I brought out then, what about David. Did David believe in Jesus Christ? then he didn't have Jerusalem which is from above so far as his spiritual mother in the way of a city, but didn't he have flesh and blood or physical Jerusalem just the same? Yes he did. Now today, we children of Abraham through faith in Abraham's son Christ, we have Jerusalem from above (the mother of us all) and we don't have Jerusalem in Palestine. But David and Joshua and others, they did have it, and they are going to have it in the future.

Now watch. Because some of the Jews rejected the covenant and the Messiah and the Messianic kingdom with the throne of David in Jerusalem, does that prove that the promises, "David shall never want a man to sit upon his throne", Jeremiah 33, "David shall never want a man to sit upon his throne", does that mean when David is raised in the resurrection and Moses is raised in the resurrection and other of those godly Israelites raised in the resurrection, that they'll be utterly amazed to find that the kingdom they looked for and that they had a part in, and that David heard God promise over and over again, "I won't like to you, you'll have a son to sit on your throne", and he'll then find out: "Well wait a minute, this is an entirely different kingdom"? But the Lord says they are going to sit down in the kingdom; Moses and Abraham are going to sit in the kingdom, going to sit in the kingdom. Are they going to be in the church which is Christ's body? No, I don't think he even believes that.

But now watch, Jeremiah 31. No, I don't think I better take time for that. All of his statements about ... I've already covered that ... no salvation for anybody reject... let's turn to 2 Corinthians 6th chapter that he gave to try to prove that there's no salvation after Christ comes back for any sinner, couldn't be because now is the day of salvation. There's a statement brother Kempin that you doubtless know of that is applicable lots of times, and it is here, "A thing that proves too much, doesn't prove anything". An argument that proves too much isn't good to' prove.

Now your argument on there because the word 'now' appears, "now is the day of salvation", 2 Corinthians 6, "behold, now is the day of salvation", "now is the accepted time", if that proves that there couldn't possibly be any future time, then it proves there wasn't any former time because it's 'now'. So Abel was damned and Enoch was damned, Noah was damned and Abraham was damned, Isaac and Jacob were damned because this says 'now'. Brother Kempin that proves too much, and therefore it doesn't prove anything. It is true that now is the day of salvation, but it isn't the only day of salvation that God's ever had. It's the only day of salvation for the people then, the people living now. Now that's the truth. But it does not mean what you tried to make it mean. God help you to see that 'now', just like this 'mother of Jerusalem', mother of us all.

God help you to see that brother Kempin, and do ... the part that you said something about it the other night that you're so old (nearly 72 ), I heard McGee say on the radio the other day that "People try to correct me writing letters", he said, "I'm too old". Well, by the grace of Almighty God I'm not too old. Anybody show me something that's wrong and I pray God that I won't be so thick skinned. I haven't got any books, or any denominational position and all, that will embarrass me. If I'm shown where I've been wrong, God help me I'm going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and then I'll sure give up of everything that anything that I may be teaching that's wrong. And I want to get ready before then. I don't want a      ?      in my doctrine, that's why I followed you carefully; I followed you carefully, what you gave, and I didn't simply bring ... I got plenty of other things ... lots of other things I could bring and do without ever mentioning what you've given, but I want to follow what you gave and help you to see, and others here, how wrong it is.

So this is the day of salvation for the people living here. Now, yes. But it's not the only day that ever appeared on earth (and not looking ahead), it's already 1900 years. Quite a long day. So don't forget, so far as there being another day of salvation for the people that were living then and died without receiving Christ, there's no day. They went to hell. They passed through their day of salvation. But I got a day of salvation long after these sinners died that were living in that day, as you all know of course.

Now as to making the Jew and Gentile ... making the Jew the center today, he said, the spiritual center. Well nobody that rightly divides the Word of Truth, distinguishing between Jew, Gentile, and church of God says the Jew is in the center of God's program today.

And now awhile ago, he referred ... made a reference to maybe what I said about his saying that (he didn't give the chapters) Romans 9th, 10th, 11th chapters.., he said that, "I admit, they are difficult". And I came back and I said, "Brother Kempin, they are difficult to you and it's impossible for you even to understand them with your present conception of the kingdom and the church and Israel".

And his argument about Galatians 5, "As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and the Israel of God". Brother Kempin, that's unworthy of a reasonably intelligent man. To make it appear that that 'and' doesn't connect two different groups. As you came back tonight and try to make it appear. I called to your attention, and the folks present here last time, that anybody that'll read carefully the epistle to the Galatians (and that's the last chapter the last lines), anybody that'll read that epistle with attention, whether saved or unsaved infidel, will recognize that Paul is dealing with Gentile believers, primarily, who had been troubled by Judaizers that had followed him in his missionary work up there, followed him and told the Gentile believers, "You must became Jews in religion". And Paul argues, for instance, from the 5th chapter, "Why, if you are circumcised, Christ will become of none effect to you. You're fallen from grace." And then he closes the epistle, "Now in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything", being a Jew after the flesh with his physical religion, "or the uncircumcision", a Gentile. Now Galatians 5:15, now "In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation". "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom I'm crucified into the world, and the world unto me." "As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and upon the Israel of God." I called to his attention at that time, the time the epistle to the Galatians was written so far as we know in the book of Acts and 1 Corinthians 9, Paul himself when he was among the Jews continued to practice Judaism. And the truth of Colossians 2 and Ephesians 2 had not been revealed to the Jews as a whole, the Christian Jews. They were still looking for the Messiah to come back as we read very clearly brought out in Acts the 3rd chapter. And that's why Paul had Timothy circumcised as late as Acts 1b:3 for because of the Jews. But he refused to have Titus circumcised when some of the Jews wanted to have him circumcised because Titus was a Gentile, his mother was a Jewess, and he hadn't been circumcised. That's brought out very clearly. And Paul, after he established the church at Corinth, he goes to the next town Cenchrea and had his head shaved with a Jewish vow, Acts 18:18. I called that to his attention the other time. And then in Acts the 21st chapter, when he gets to Jerusalem he tells James and all the Christian elders there, Jews!', he tells them all what God's been doing with him among the Gentiles. And they rejoice, that they said, "Brother Paul., thou seest how the many thousands of Jews here which believe and they are all zealous of the law". And did James and the elders say, "Now brother Paul, we are the Israel of God and that part of us, these many thousands of Jews which believe which are still zealous of the law, don't you ask a feast of God of them"? But he did. He said, "Now they have been informed concerning thee", better look at Acts 21. l sometimes grieve the Holy Spirit when 1 think I haven't time to take to get people to look at the book themselves, and quote rapidly,, and probably that grieves the Holy Spirit at times, doesn't get a spiritual job done as effectively as it would. Acts the 21st chapter 18th verse. This, according to Usher's chronology, 5O A.D. probably was somewhere around thirty-odd years after the church which is Christ's body began historically (I believe was the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2), but the truth of them.

I better stop right here and draw attention to what he said about, "Now brother Johnson said that", then commented upon about being hard to be understood, "well Peter himself said", and then he referred to what Peter said in Acts ... in 2 Peter the last chapter the last few verses. For he said, "even as our brother Paul with same things wrote according to the wisdom given unto him of these things as hp did in all of his epistles writing of some things hard to be understood". Now he referred to that awhile ago, said brother Paul said "hard to be understood". But you didn't finish, "which they that are unlearned and ignorant wrest to their own destruction as they do also the other Scriptures".

Now you and I shouldn't be unlearned and ignorant when we’re coming to and study for years and years and years Romans 9th, 10th, and 11th chapters because they were given to keep us from remaining unlearned and ignorant. And in the 11th chapter as I read the other night, in the 11th chapter of one of those passages which you say you don't understand ... now I don't profess to understand anything comprehensively, but thank God I have some accurate knowledge of Romans 9th, 10th, and 11th chanters. They were written for our learning, and I've received the Spirit of God to teach me, to lead me. "We've received the Spirit, not of the world, but the Spirit which is of God." And I read the other night in Romans the 11th chapter 25th verse, and I think l mentioned after I read it (I haven't heard tape of what I gave but I think I recall that I said), "Brother Kempin, I pray God that you won't remain ignorant. I believe you're ignorant now of this mystery referred to in Romans 11:25".

Put Paul said,

"Brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. And so all Israel shall be saved. For this is My covenant unto them, when I will take away ungodliness from Jacob",

a future time. And I called your attention very slowly and repeatedly in Romans the 11th chapter of the fall of Israel the riches of the world; if the fall of Israel be the riches of the world, how much more their fitness. You completely ignored that because it demolishes your kingdom doctrine that the church is the kingdom and Israel.

And you said a moment ago that the only way and time Jews can be saved is now, no future time after Christ comes back. Well that's not according to the Word of God, and all through the Scriptures on the second coming of Christ to the earth.

In Romans 11, after Israel ... you said, when you said now that the new olive tree is the believing Jew and the believing Gentile in the new olive tree. That is utterly contrary to the fact there brother Kempin. The olive tree hasn't changed it's character, some of the branches only. The root and fitness from which Israel was broken off, and I called that to your attention the other night. I said there are people who teach that those who are grafted in are grafted into Christ. They make it the same as salvation. But if that is true, then the Jews that were broken off were broken out of Christ. But I said the facts are that they were broken off because they refused to take Christ as their Savior. They were broken off from their national position. They were broken off from the natural olive tree which represents Israel nationally, and the tree as such was the people of God nationally, they were close to God, they had the covenants. And we Gentiles were far off, wild olive branches. Put when the Jews rejected the Messiah, they were broken off gradually as the natural olive branches, and the Gentiles were brought in. Brought into Christ? No! Brought close to Christ. The promises of the need to be saved. That's what happened to Cornelius' house. When Peter was given a vision, he was shown that God's cleansed those things, and later interpreted too, that Gentiles are not to be called common or unclean, but they were still unsaved! They were nationally and ceremonially clean; they are not to be called nationally and ceremonially unclean. Why? Because the Jews that were nationally and ceremonially clean.  Paul said, "As touching the law I was blameless", but he was a poor lost sinner, "But concerning the righteousness which was in the law, I was blameless", but he was a poor Christless soul.

Now watch. So the Jews were close, national olive tree, had the covenants of God and the promises, they were God's earthly nation, "Christ came unto His own and His own received Him, not", they were broken off. Broken off from what? Their national position of favor. Well what happened to these wild Gentile trees? They were brought in, grafted in. And then the gospel is preached to them, and when an individual Gentile received the gospel, he's taken out of that tree and put into Jesus Christ where there is neither Jew nor Gentile. God help you to see that brother Kempin. No one... let me say it kindly because I love your soul, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend". Let me say it kindly, we ask God to help you to study the 9th, 10th, 11th chapters of Romans and let it smash your preconceived Gospel Trumpet conception of the church of God being the kingdom and the so-called "Church of God" reformation as you referred the other night.

The world isn't getting better (three minutes, thank you). And don't forget to check up on that matter of Christ having already conquered death. He's already gone back to the glory. I believe when Christ was ascended, I believe He was raised, and a woman started to touch Him, He said, "Touch Me not. I have not ascended to My Father." Then was when He ascended. He said, "I ascend unto My Father. Go tell the disciples." He ascended and He handed over the kingdom because He had reigned, reigned, reigned over how many? All principalities, power, might, dominion, authority, rule. Check up all those words, and look at it in the Greek too because there's some difference in the King James' translation. But I've got a chart with all the Greek words and all: the kingdoms, the power, might, and rule as they appear in 1 Corinthians 15 and as they appear in 1 Peter 3:22 and as they appear in Ephesians 1 and Colossians 2 and Hebrews 1 and Revelations1, and we're told ... well anyway, Christ has already conquered the last enemy, and He's gone back and handed the kingdom back to the Father and sat down at the right hand of the throne while "made head over all things to the church which is His body", a new man. And He's not going to come back in order to reign over any enemy to defeat them. He's already conquered the last enemy, has the keys of death, seated in the glory, and the gospel of Jesus Christ has that glorious capstone of the finished work of Jesus Christ. Death is destroyed as surely as it could ever be in God's program. Death is destroyed. Remember, that's why we're told in 1 Corinthians 3, "Death is ours". Every Christian can say, "Death belongs to me". Paul said, "Well what are you arguing about and having a little fence of denominationalism? All things are yours whether Paul, Apollos, Cephas, things present, things to come, life, or death. It's all yours." That's why death is not an enemy to the believer; it's not an enemy to the believer. It’s been conquered by the Lord Jesus and it's our friend now, we own it. No, the Lord Jesus has promised in so many places, in the 30th and 31st chapters of Jeremiah, quoted partly in Paul's epistle to the Hebrews, the Hebrew believers mind you, the book of Hebrews he put it, but he didn't call attention to the fact that those are Hebrew believers; he's showing their part in the Messianic program for Israel: it's the New Covenant. But when Paul is dealing by inspiration with how Gentiles are saved, he probably would agree with me that the two epistles that deal most with the salvation and justification of Gentile believers are Romans and Galatians, and the New Covenant isn't mentioned once in either epistle. But the Abrahamic and the Mosaic covenant are mentioned because we're perfectly taken care of for our salvation by the covenant made with Abraham, which is not the New Covenant. The New Covenant is the Jewish part of the Abrahamic, but we Gentiles haven't a thing in the world to do with the New Covenant. And there's no New Testament church on earth today, and there hasn't been for 1900 years, in Bible terminology. The church isn't a New Covenant church. That's why we're called as believers in Christ 'children of Abraham'. The New Covenant is new in relationship to the Mosaic. Read carefully in Hebrews 8 ...       (end of tape )

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