RIGHTEOUSNESS, HOLINESS AND JUDGMENT
RIGHTEOUSNESS, HOLINESS AND JUDGMENT
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2017, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Thursday night (November 30, 2017) I had dream where I was in an assembly of ministers. I was seated in a chair. No one seemed to be preaching. I spoke out a prophecy “Watch for a sign in the sky. It will cause a paradigm or prophetic shift in the earth.” So, I begin my sermon today with what I don’t know. In the dream, I was even second guessing myself that I would make such a statement. While pondering the dream, I considered it could be another North Korean Missile. I posted on Face Book to encourage a response. So far I received the following:
- Saturday night, 12/2/17 – There was a super moon.
- Signs in the sky would be of divine origin, not man made???
- Voyager 1’s thrusters were fired up for the first time since 1980 enabling the astronauts to reorient the Voyager 1.
- A Sun-halo display in Europe.
I am praying and asking the LORD to give me more insight into this dream. I am asking Him, How should I pray?
This week we continue to watch as our government leaders are coming into judgment for their sins; and the cover-up of those sins. We must know it is only the Hand of the Lord who is exposing and judging these sins.
Matt. 11: 21-24: Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the Day of Judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.
Last week I spoke of those heroes of faith who fulfilled their Kingdom destiny and purposes that the will of God is done on earth as it is in heaven. Forces were set in motion by them that continue to operate even today. The grave cannot silence their witness for the fruits of Holiness and Righteousness lives on. There are also those who did not fulfill their destiny and the fruit of their failure also lives on.
All the goodness and love that we deposit into the lives of people lives on in the Spirit. Also, the evil that we do will also bear fruit.
C. R. Oliver in his book, Holiness and Righteousness, the Regal Pair tells a story of Russia, A Voice from the Grave:
“An international ministry was seeking to distribute Bibles in Russia. Because of a logistics problem, the flow of Bibles from their central distribution station in Moscow slowed to a trickle and could not meet the demand for the areas they were endeavoring to cover. Being in the city of Stavropol, they heard about the history of the city in the 1930’s. It was there that Stalin ordered the confiscation of all Bibles in the area. Great persecution fell upon the citizens of this city. The Christians were sent to prison, where most died. They were declared “state enemies,” and their properties and belongings were taken by a vengeful police. These righteous saints underwent horrific trials for their faith.
The Bible group heard about a warehouse outside the city which had been used to house those confiscated Scriptures. They wondered if the Bibles were still there. After prayer, they requested the officials of the city to verify this as fact and allow them to use those Bibles in their activities---if their information was true. They were granted permission. The Bibles were still there.
On site, with several local laborers, the Bibles were loaded on distribution vans which would be used to reach the people of Stavropol. Among the laborers was a young student who openly declared his agnosticism, stating he was thee ‘for the wages he would receive.’ During the operations, an overseer of the contract group noticed that the agnostic collegiate had disappeared. Upon searching for him, the overseer found him in a separated section of the warehouse reading one of the Bibles and weeping as he read.
Confessing his intentions to steal one of the Bibles (to sell for gain); he opened the cover to discover the name of his grandmother. Overtaken by her signature and knowing some of the persecution she had endured for her faith, he was drawn to read. Undoubtedly, she had marked sections which were her favorite passages (or written notes as many are drawn to do). Her righteousness became irresistible in that moment and drew him into the Word. God took the written Word and her testimony of righteousness and worked salvation into the heart of this unbelieving grandson. Her prayers, her faithfulness could not be daunted even by years. Righteousness, which is at the core of every holy heart, must be dealt with…its power is inherently irresistible.
Generations of righteous saints have come and gone through history, seemingly passing into oblivion. They lived their lives in the Spirit, walked humbly before God, the world judged them quaint and not noteworthy. Then just as Jesus pronounced in Luke 11:49, a day arrives when their righteousness must be dealt with:
Luke 11:49-52: Therefore the wisdom of God also said, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them will kill and persecute, that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of THIS generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation. Woe unto you, lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter in yourselves, and them that were entering in you hindered.
As unfair as Jesus’ message may seem, He pronounced a judgment the likes of which had never been heard in history. The magnitude of punishment was not understood fully by those who heard His words. Jesus said, in essence, “God and I are holding this generation responsible for all the blood of righteous people that has ever been shed in all of history to this point.”
Righteousness precludes its right to judgment. Righteous judgment is always correct no matter how fierce its affront. Righteousness allowed Jesus to hold His earth-generation responsible for all the righteous blood ever shed, for they were about to shed THE MOST RIGHTEOUS BLOOD.
Jesus said His earth-generation was a judgmental turning point in history and there had to be a reckoning.
Righteousness carries with it a sword and a mantle. It is possessed by the heart of the Heavenly Father and dwells in like manner in every person whom the Father acknowledges. Within the scope of righteousness is the work of judgment. Judgment is built into Righteousness. Just as the Lord is righteous in His judgments, so the souls of righteous saints lead to a reckoning judgment.
Righteous judgment is poised in these Last Days to carry out its duties in answer to the blood of martyrs crying for their hour. This generation is the one upon whom the requirement falls! Prophetically this hour stands as a turning point in history, and righteous reckoning is taking place in a way which exceeds the pronouncement about Jesus’ earthly generation.
Who among us cannot say that the LORD’S judgments are on the earth? Just as Jesus required His generation to bear the judgment for all the righteous blood spilled since the beginning of time, the Twenty-First Century church is being held responsible for all unrighteousness, the compromise, the fleshly deeds, the atrocities, the twisted doctrines and insidious hypocrisy characterizing the “church” age since the days of the Disciples.
I believe I shared with the congregation a dream I had in November about two churches of the age:
Dream: I walked into a mall (kosmos) to attend a progressive church. The door was wide open. Actually there was no visible door. I sat on the back row to observe. The pastor came down the aisle smoking a pipe. The congregation was chatting and sharing their ideas on marijuana, same sex marriage, fornication, etc. I was immediately translated to a denominational church. The service was over; but there was a lady there who recognized me by the Spirit. She walked over to me and asked me to pray for her. When I did, she fell in the Spirit and cried out, “Revival is here.” Immediately the people began to gather around me asking me about the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, dreams and visions, etc. They had no knowledge of the things of the Spirit and were hungry. From four corners of the church, I saw four Deaconesses’ enter and were observing me and judging what I was saying.” End of Dream.
I believe this was a visual snapshot of the state of the church of the Twenty-First Century except for the remnant Church.
The mantle of righteousness is falling upon those called forth to form a “kingdom of the righteous,” and the “sword of righteous judgment” is about to be revealed on those not in that kingdom.
So great is this time in history that the righteous are to be known for their boldness in Him. Their holy hearts will engender spiritual deeds not recorded since the days of the prophets and patriarchs. They will be personified in the Two Witnesses slain because of their testimony but raised by God’s power to walk and live again.
Undefeated, unstoppable, irresistible, the righteous are about to be revealed in power. Righteousness and holiness are inseparable in the heart of God and in the hearts of His people. Holiness and Righteousness cannot be defined apart from each other. They cannot exist apart from each other. The breath of one is the breath of the other, inseparable, because no righteousness ever existed apart from a heart made holy by the Blood of Jesus Christ. They co-exist in the arms of each other. They are the essence of heavenly marriage and define their roles in Jesus and the Bride!
God revealed, at the offset of God’s earth-work (in the first five books of the Bible), that the journey into righteousness and holiness would begin with Him. He who is called “Holy” by angels and man is also known as the “righteous judge.” Just as He must be reckoned with, so all Righteous souls find themselves in a world that must deal with their essence and being. Some of the world will embrace them; others will seek to destroy them, but the Righteous Man must be dealt with! Righteousness carries a sword and a mantle!
Who can deny that Jesus lived in those extremes? His righteousness exposed those who were unrighteous because the power of an endless life energized him. They wanted to kill Him. Some will want to kill the modern believer because righteousness energizes all who are His beloved.
Jesus proved this point over and again. He walked in the extremes that righteousness demands. He cleansed the Temple, yet taught the common people in the same time frame. He cleansed a temple because He responded to the outcry of righteousness within Himself; after all, the Temple was occupied by “great pretenders.”
Luke 19:45: Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, it is written. My house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to Him.
Jesus taught the common people daily in that Temple. He watched as “the pretenders” paraded. His righteousness was a constant reminder to them of their unrighteousness. The Priest and scribes sought to neutralize Jesus by publicly discrediting Him.
Luke 20:20: So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words…
Yes, pretense can mask being righteous, but it fails when it approaches its companion, holiness. One may fain righteousness, but there is no way to fain holiness; this is one more reason why righteousness is covenanted with holiness.
The same words that meant healing, salvation and deliverance to the multitudes were the ones that exposed unrighteousness and pretense in the Scribes and Pharisees. Jesus’ righteous life gave new light to a people who were dwelling in the shadow and darkness of religious piety. Because the definition of righteousness was vague and ill-defined by hundreds of years of compromise and sin, the multitudes had grown accustomed to the vagaries of the pretenders. The pretenders ruled!
Jesus’ life forms a genuine blend of holiness and righteousness. His righteousness poured out toward the lost and the diseased while simultaneously bringing judgment by comparison to those who lived otherwise.
Again the “hour of the end” demands those who are righteous---to walk in that righteousness as a final call to a world grown accustomed to the pretenders. Across the universe, the righteous are about to rise to their occasion. No longer will the pretenders find smooth sailing in the “realms of the religious ideas.” The sword and the mantle must be taken up by each saint, whether it causes his or her death or ends up causing revival (deep repentance and great deliverance)
Like my dream of the two churches, religious enterprise will fail. The Holy Spirit will not fail. Deep draws to deep and He is drawing the saints who have “received the kingdom (Daniel 7:18)” to their deepest commitment in history---to exhibit in flesh that which dwells with the Father: Holiness and Righteousness (the inseparable twins of God).
Holiness and Righteousness in God and His people are irresistible, irrefutable and incapable of defeat.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. and N.K.J.V.
I entered into the labors of C. R. Oliver, The Regal Pair, PO Box 132874, The Woodlands, Tx., 77393 (Zadok Publications.) cro– dreams and visions were given to Carolyn Sissom – comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of Dr. C. R. Oliver.
From: croliver@zadokpublications.com [mailto:croliver@zadokpublications.com]
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2017
10:33 AM
To: CAROLYN
Subject: RE: FW: Bro. Oliver -
permission to post
Thanks for giving credit to the book and the Lord. You have my permission, of course. Glad you could use it.
Be blessed and thank you for emailing. cro