The Red Thread
by Victor Paul Wierwille
Take your Bibles and turn to the book of Colossians, Chapter 1. Tonight I'd like to open The Word with you. And, if I were to give this a topic or a title of what I have in my heart to share with you tonight, I would call it "The Red Thread." You find him everwhere in The Word.
It has been sin-consciousness plus condemnation that has robbed Christians in the past of their
believing. It has robbed Christians in the past of their sense of worthiness before God. It has robbed Christians in the past of the joy of their sonship.
We, as believers, just had not been taught, and consequently and subsequently we did not
know, the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We did not know we were more than conquerors
through him who loved us and who gave himself for us. We did not know that we could do all
things through Christ who strengthens us. We did not know that we were complete in Christ. We did not know that we were seated in the heavenlies now. People, we just did not know. For no one taught us.
In Colossians Chapter 1, in Verse 13 we read:
Today, in our Way Ministry around the world, we as believers believe that we are in Christ,
and we act as it is true. He has delivered us, past tense, from the power of darkness. And class, if
we've been delivered then we've been delivered. It's either the truth or it's a lie. Well, we believe
this is the truth of God's Word, that God in Christ Jesus has delivered us from the power of darkness. And that He has given us legal citizenship – sonship rights in that citizenship – in His own
kingdom, in God's kingdom, by the work of His dear Son.
Man's basic need throughout the years, as well as man's basic need at this particular moment,
is righteousness. Every human being who sincerely desires to make his or her life meaningful
while here upon earth has an inner yearning, an inner desire, an inner gnawing in the innermost
part of that being, to want to be righteous.
In Romans Chapter 3, and in Verse 20 we read:
Verse 22, very carefully:
The human mind can never comprehend it. But the spiritual man within can absorb it, utilize
it, believe it, walk on it, and bring the greatness of this truth into manifestation.
The righteousness of God! Well, how righteous is God? He is righteous! And all that righteousness of God – because of Christ Jesus and what he did for every born again believer – that
righteousness of God is unto all and upon all who do one thing, and that is believe. So when you
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you got the righteousness of God – which is that Christ in you
the hope of glory. That righteousness of God.
And if man has that righteousness, why should he ever want to live below par? Why should
he want to walk in negatives? Why in fears, and worries, and anxieties, and frustrations, when
we have what the Word of God says we have, when we are what the Word of God says we are?
And it says that every believer – unto every believer – because of the work of Jesus Christ, that
individual believer receives the righteousness of God.
"Unto all and upon all that believe…"
There is no difference between a man or a woman. There is no difference whether he is the
governor of the state, or the president, or if he is the local individual delivering the milk. There is
no difference whether it is a housewife or just a beautiful young lady, no difference. There is no
difference whether it is white, or black, or red – no difference. But the great difference that He
sets in here is the difference that had been between Jews and Gentiles. And now He says, there is
no difference between Jew or Gentile.
All have sinned – man, woman, black, white – doesn't make any difference. All have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. So man's basic needs, his basic needs people, is in the category of righteousness. And, once men and women receive Christ within, they have that righteousness of God. Isn't that a fantastic reality!
You see, Jesus Christ has dealt with the root problem of man. Jesus Christ has dealt with sin.
He dealt with it. And the root of man's unrighteousness is sin. Jesus Christ has dealt with the
root – the "sin problem." Therefore today it's no longer a "sin problem", but a "sinner problem."
Does the individual, who has not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, does he want to believe?
Does he want to receive the greatness of what God has made available in Christ Jesus? God dealt
with it in Jesus Christ. It's over with. Now it's a question of the individual believing to receive
what God made available in Christ Jesus. That's why the problem is a "sinner problem."
And when that individual believer confesses with his mouth the Lord Jesus, believes God
raised him from the dead, he is saved. Romans 10:9. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness,
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 9:10. Or 10. Well, whatever it is. It's in
Romans. 10:9 and 10, I guess. Someday I'm gonna work the Word just to see,
bless your heart. Look at Romans Chapter 4, Verse 25. Talking about Jesus Christ:
And the old text reads "for our sins."
He was delivered for our sins. Ladies and gentlemen, it is so easy and so simple. All it requires is believing. He was delivered for our sins. Isaiah says, in 53 I believe, that upon Jesus Christ he laid our iniquities, our sins. Let's say this teaching platform would represent the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did. He laid upon him our sins. There they are, laid on him. Once
they're on him, are they any longer upon me? Are they any longer upon you? No.
Boy, what a fantastic thing the Word of God makes known to people who want to know the
will of God. And ladies and gentlemen, you've got to come back to the Word of God if you want
to know the will of God. You can't go by what some individual says or what the world says – because we're are circumstance-conditioned, we're not world-conditioned, we are not conditioned
by the traditions of men. We are Word-conditioned. You've got to come back to the Word of God if you want to know the will of God.
And it says Jesus Christ was "delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification." I thinks it's Conybeare and Howson who translate this, "he was raised again when we
were justified."
Boy what a reality! That's the truth of that verse! He was delivered, delivered, for our sins. And he was raised again, God raised him, when we were justified. Look at Verse 1 of Chapter 5:
We receive the righteousness of God when we are born again. You could not receive the
righteousness of God if God had not previously justified you. And He justified you in the death
and in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He raised him from the dead, we were
justified. We were made righteous. Therefore being justified by faith – the faith of Jesus Christ, the believing of what he did – we have peace!
Everybody seems to be looking for peace, except at the right place. You don't get peace by
legislation. You get peace by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. You don't get
peace by starting a war. You don't get peace any other place than from the Author of peace who
is God through Jesus Christ, ladies and gentlemen. You can't legislate peace. You believe for it. Because it is available to every believer to be born again, and not only have the righteousness of God, but to be justified, and to be at peace.
Ladies and gentlemen, all these places where they sell those things you take at night to go to
sleep on... (Here Chuck. It's getting warm up here. I don't know if it's warm down there.) ...they'd
all go out of business if we believed God's Word. You know why? We don't need a sedative to
go to sleep at night. The reason you need a sedative is because you're all shook up inside, you
haven't got peace.
Ladies and gentlemen, we've got peace! We've got it! We do not have to bite our fingernails
up to the second knuckles. We don't have to lay awake at night counting sheep. We can just believe in the Shepherd, and keep going. See. That is right! Boy! We've got it. We have peace. It's not something you pray for. It's not something you ask God for. You've got it. It comes wrapped up in that spiritual package of Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Boy! It's in there. Sure! Boy, we've got it, people. Every believer's got it. Peace. Peace. Peace with God! Peace with God! We're not at loggerheads with Him. God isn't mad at us. We're not at enmity with Him. We've got peace with God! Man, what a tremendous "umph" that puts in the soul of a man or woman, when he comes to that day of realizing that he is at peace with God. All those little devil-things lay down then, all those problems sort of evaporate; like happens to the dew in the morning when the sun shines on it. It just evaporates. Boy, what a tremendous reality!
Look at II Corinthians Chapter 5, bless your heart. Verse 17. II Corinthians 5:17:
He hath, past tense, not only made righteousness, justification – all of those available – but
He hath reconciled us. That which separated man from God has been reconciled, brought together. It's like the snapping of a telephone line, and the repairmen going there and putting that
line back together. Or like an electric line being broken, and the repairmen going in and reconciling it. That's this word "reconcile," which literally means "to bring back together that which has been severed."
Boy oh boy! That man in Christ, in that new creation, old things are passed away. You don't
have to be concerned about the sin you committed 25 years ago. Old things are what? Passed
away. You do not need to be concerned about how you treated your family in the past, and all
the problems you had with your wife or husband, or with your kids. Old things are what? Passed away. It's a new day, it's a new time, it's a new moment in a man's or a woman's life. Old things are passed away, behold all things are become, what? New.
You see, when you are born again of God's spirit, having Christ in you the hope of glory,
that's all you are ever going to get spiritually. It is all you need! That's a full deck, full house. So
the thing that you have to work on yourself on, is to get your mind with that spirit of Christ in
you in alignment and harmony. Get the mind and the spirit in fellowship, and that is the renewed
mind – to renew your mind according to the revelation given in God's Word. And this is why
that Romans Chapter 8 speaks so loudly to a man or a woman who has ears to hear.
There is no condemnation spiritually. And yet a man can have Christ in him the hope of
glory, and live far below par. We have seen this by the thousands across our country and the
world, perhaps millions. Born again believers, but from their walk they might as well be unbelievers. Because their walk does not indicate the fruit of the spirit. It doesn't indicate that Jesus
Christ came that they might have life and have it more abundantly. Because many times you will
find a Christian just as negative, just as full of fear, just as full of anxiety,
just as sick as the unbeliever.
Why? There has to be a reason. For every cause has an effect and every effect has a cause.
The cause is that that individual – who has Christ in him, he's born again – has not been taught
what's available, or he has not believed that it was available. That's why you have to get your
mind in fellowship with the spirit, which is the Christ in you, and that's renewed mind.
The psalmist said:
A hind is a mother deer, d-e-e-r. And the mother deer places its front feet up there, and tests
out the rocks on the slopes, on the hills, on the mountains. And then the mother deer places its back feet exactly where the front feet were. It is only when you domesticate animals that their back feet do not track with their front ones. "He maketh my feet like hinds feet, and setteth me upon my high places." That mother deer could never climb to those high places, nor could its
fawn. And by the way, the little baby deer steps its little 'ol tootsies exactly where mama did. Mama goes up, tries it out, then the little fawn comes behind it. "He maketh my feet like hinds feet, and setteth me upon my high places."
There is therefore now no condemnation. No condemnation. Boy, that's a new day in the life of a man or a woman. And you have to get your mind in harmony with the spirit of God in Christ in you, the hope of glory.
You know, my people, there was a time when we were blind, but now we see. There was a
time when we were unsaved, but now we are saved. There was a time when we were groping and
hoping, but now we know and we believe. We are no longer at the mercy of the enemy. Romans Chapter 8:17 says:
We're not at the mercy of the enemy. We are children in the wonderful household of God, in
His family. Joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, and a joint- heir is one who shares fully. What a fantastic reality! This day and time in which you and I are living, for us – for many of us at least – it's a new age of knowledge of what we are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:26 says:
This is the Christ in you, the hope of glory, the fullness of the power of God from on high,
His holy spirit, His gift, Christ in you. And that spirit of God in you – which is in Christ in you –
that spirit makes intercession for you. He's making intercession for you at this moment. He's making intercession for all of his people where they're operating the principles of God's Word according to the renewed mind. He makes intercession with "groanings" – that word means "with everything he is" – which cannot be expressed, "uttered in words."
He makes intercession for the saints. A saint is a born-again believer. It's not someone who's been dead a thousand years and somebody says they ought to "saint 'em." Jesus Christ coming in makes you a saint. You're a saint now. (You're never gonna be an angel, so quit worrying about it.) He's the one that makes intercession for the saints. Man, how thankful I am for that!
I don't know how many times you may have thought about this, some of you older men and
women, but I thought about it a thousand times in years past. I wondered why my saintly
mother – who was a great woman of God who passed away before I went into the ministry – if
she was what I had been taught, erroneously in my Christian experience – if she was already
there in heaven close to God with Jesus Christ up there, why wasn't she doing more for me down
here?
That's right. I thought, man, if I was up there I'd do something for my brothers and sisters.
And I knew my mother, the great woman she was. I just knew that, somehow or other, there had
to be more than I had been taught. Because, if I was up there in heaven, I'd work for you. If I had an interview with Jesus I would intercede and say, "Hey send a little down there to Emporia, they need it down there." That's right. But then I discovered one day from God's Word and the integrity of it, that the dead are dead until Christ's return. That was a release in my heart and mind, and great understanding. And then I discovered that there is something up there that is a lot better than my mother, and that is Jesus Christ!
Boy. Boy! He's seated at the right hand of God, and he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Man, and he doesn't loaf on the job. He's up there pitching for you,
working for you. All you need to do is get down here and work for yourself a little bit. Believe God's Word! Start walking on it! Well bless your heart. Boy!
The word "purpose" is the word "will," according to God's will. Ladies and gentlemen, I
never willed to be upon this earth. My mother and father made that decision for me. That's right.
And as far as my will was concerned, I never willed to be God's child. I just heard the Word and
believed it. That is how I got to be one. Look what it says here, "...to them who are the called."
God called. I heard that call and responded to it. I heard it via the revelation of the Word. Revelation 3:20 says:
If any man hear and open the door. You've got to open the door. You've got to believe God's
Word. You've got to act, then God will act, for God has already acted in Christ Jesus. Now it is
your move and mine. Then it's God's move. Verse 29:
Read Verse 38. It's electrifying, people:
My people, the light has dawned. And it is rising to the height of its midday brilliance among
us today. Why? Because he is the Way, that's why this is our way. He is the Truth, and this is our truth. He is the Light, and, this is our light. He is the light of our lives, people. He is, therefore we are.
This is the go-thrum, the red thread. You find him everywhere throughout the Word.
Who is this Jesus Christ? Yes, who is this Jesus Christ? He is the Red Thread that binds together the Word from Genesis to Revelation.
He is the doom of the Adversary as promised in Genesis 3:15 and accomplished in Revelation 20, verse 10. He is the "no night" of Revelation 22:5, of which Genesis 1:1 is night. He is
the light of Revelation 21:13, of which Genesis 1:16 and 17 is the sun and moon. He is the "no
more death, neither sorrow or crying" of Revelation 21:4, of which Genesis 3:16 and 17 is sorrow, suffering, and death. He is the "no more curse" of Revelation 22:3, of which Genesis 3:17 is
the curse. He is the welcome home to paradise of Revelation 22:2, of which Genesis 3:22 to 24 is the banishment from paradise.
Who is this Jesus Christ? He is Abel's sacrifice, Abraham's ram. He is Isaac's well. He is Jacob's ladder.
Who is this Jesus Christ? He is Judah's scepter, Moses' rod, Joshua's ram's horn, Samuel's
horn of oil, David's little-ol' slingshot, Hezekiah's sundial, Elijah's mantle and Elisha's staff. Who is this Jesus Christ? He is Job's prayer, Isaiah's fig tree, Ezekiel's wheel, Daniel's Jerusalem window, Jonah's sea monster and Malachi's storehouse.
Who is this Jesus Christ? He is Peter's shadow, Paul's handkerchiefs and aprons. He is the lily of the valley and the rose of Sharon in life's desserts. He is the pearl of great price. He is the Rock for pilgrims in a weary land.
He is the believer's justification. He is the believer's righteousness. He is the believer's sanctification. He is the believer's redemption. He is the believer's knowledge. He is the believer's wisdom. He is the believer's all-in-all in all. He is the believer's completely complete completeness.
Who is this Jesus Christ? He is the bright and morning star, and he's my Lord and my Savior.
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