What we're going to be doing
tonight is actually looking at the tail end of what we have
been contemplating around the whole concept of the kingdom
of God. And we looked at a graph last
week, a schematic of four views of eschatology, as you guys know.
And what I thought I'd better do tonight is actually deal with
certain facts, seven general facts that have to do with the
Lord's return we basically characterize the kingdom of God as taking
place in three parts entry occupancy and then we talked about finally
apprehension of the kingdom of God we want to apprehend it as
the apostle talked about in Philippians chapter 3 last week verse 10
and following apprehending the kingdom that means to come into
the full and total reality, substance and experience of it. But in
order for us to actually appreciate what it means to finally apprehend
the kingdom of God, we have to actually be taught what the Bible
has to say about in time things. And that's why we looked at the
four views last week. Tonight, I want to talk about
the return of Christ. As you see the title, seven general
facts about the return or the coming of Christ. And I did that
advisedly because there are two aspects to the idea of Christ's
coming or his return. The word return means that he
comes back. The term coming means a whole
lot more as we're going to see tonight, which ultimately means
he appears. And we want to deal with the
nuances of this concept, the coming of the Lord, the return
of Christ grammatically a little bit more tonight, but then just
to kind of give ourselves a mental picture of what the return of
Christ is going to be like sequentially in the unfolding of his coming. I think this will be beneficial
for everyone to contemplate in the seventies. when the late
70s, early 80s, when the Lord first called me by his grace,
one of the areas that I found myself extensively engaged in
is the doctrine of Christ's return, which is an essential component
to eschatology. As you know, the hope of the
believer is circumscribed by the return of Christ. Well, you don't hear a whole
lot about his return today in preaching and teaching, do you?
You just don't hear it. And sometimes the thing is absent
for so long that you don't actually miss it. Absence, making the
heart grow fond, is a very limited concept. There's a sense in which
absence can actually deteriorate one's perspective on a thing
that can be very important. And one of the traps, I think,
of the enemy and one of the, Endemic problems of the human
race is that things that we should deem important. We have a tendency
to diminish Time can be an enemy for us and Where we don't use
something we what? That's the basic colloquialism
and it's true on a lot of levels So if an individual is going
to be healthy in their assessment of certain values in their life
they have to visit those values frequently enough to retain a
sense of appreciation of those values. Don't they? It would
be true, and this encompasses virtually everything. It's a
fundamental relational principle. It would be true in relationships.
If individuals don't spend time with each other, the relationship
deteriorates. And all of the factors that go
into the relationship begin to then also diminish and you forget
or you fail to recognize the qualities that actually brought
those two people together in the first place. Now, what we're
talking about actually falls under the category of the danger
of apostasy. Apostasy is the falling away
of professing Christians from Christ or from the church are
from the gospel. And apostasy is just like that. It's where the individual or
the individuals or the church era fails to do those things
that are essential in sustaining a healthy relationship with Christ. And consequently, by and by,
they drift away. And this is why the Bible uses
so much of an anthropomorphical relational paradigm between God
and his people. That is a husband-wife relationship. That model is pervasive in scripture,
and it closes out with God, and even the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is also God, the father in the Old Testament, would constantly
beseech Israel to return, to remain, to stay close to him. to be exclusive with him, to
drink deeply of the blessings of Jerusalem and be satisfied
with Jehovah himself alone. The Lord Jesus would do the same
thing as you and I know, we're gonna taste a little bit of it
tonight. When he closes out in the book
of Revelation chapter two and three, the last church of the
seven churches of Asia Minor is the church at Laodicea. And
the Lord Jesus in a very, very dramatic anthropomorphical form
is on the outside of the doors of his own house, knocking on
the door because he's outside. His wife has so neglected her
relationship with him that she doesn't even miss him when he's
gone. Now that terminology evades us
because we don't make the ready application, but that's one of
the end time warnings. The book of Revelation, is the
big picture scenario of how things are going to unfold. And it's
from God's vantage point. The book of revelation was a
gift to the church to help the church understand how things
would fall out in the end time so that those who would take
heed would be blessed by that revelation and not fall prey
to the things that prophecy said would occur. You imagine going
to sleep and having a dream And in your dream, you being warned
of God that your spouse is on the brink of leaving you and
you had no idea because you were just doing what you were doing,
thinking that what you were doing was fine. But in fact, it wasn't. And your spouse is giving you
or God has given you a revelation of the outcome. Well, really,
that's what the book of Revelation is all about. It's a it's a dream. It's a vision. It's a revelation,
and we'll talk more about that, of how things will fall out in
the end time, and they're designed, the book is designed for an ethical
response on our part. It's not designed for us to pack
it away like a DVD. It's designed for you and me
to ask the question, how does this affect my life since I get
to see how things are gonna happen with regards to the church? The
last church, Laodicea, is the church that is so self-sufficient,
so independent, so autonomous, so wealthy, so prosperous, that
it really does not need the relational aspects of Christ. And our Lord
is so condescending, so humble in his disposition. He's a man
on the outside of his own church that he built, bought with his
own blood, his own bride he paid for with the dowry of his life.
And he's actually knocking on the door. He didn't kick the
door in. He's not a thug. He's not a brute. He's not an
abusive husband. He carries the dignity of a man
of God. And so he just knocks on the
door and say, hey, if anyone in there, anyone in there, anyone,
that's how profound his concern is for fellowship with the saints.
Anyone of y'all in there would just open up, let me in. It'll
be all right between you and me. But the prophetic implications
of Revelation 3, the church at Laodicea, is that the end times
would be much like that. We would be so engrossed with
the cares of this life, so engrossed with our own agendas, that the
idea of actually being with Christ does not occupy our minds. So
that's where we are with the concept of the return of Christ.
I just want to share with you tonight, again, as our outline
puts it, seven general facts about the return and the coming
of Christ to hopefully stir our minds about eschatology, end
time things, particularly as we go into the new year, if the
Lord lets us get there and we begin to build a composite sketch
of what he promises for those who love his appearing. All right, so I want you to look
at Acts chapter 20, verse 25 through 27, where the apostle
Paul is leaving the church in Ephesus and he makes these statements
that are going to be the premise for our consideration tonight.
Acts 20 verse 25. And now behold, I know that you
all among whom I have gone preaching, what? The kingdom of God. Notice
how he has now circumscribed his ministry as preaching the
kingdom of God. And that's the larger rubric,
that's the larger idea that we've been dealing with now for almost
a month and a half, the kingdom of God. Mark what he says. You know how I have gone preaching
the kingdom of God, but you shall see my face no more. Wherefore,
I take you to record this day. In other words, I am making you
accountable. There's another concept I'm gonna
bring to the table as we deal with awards in the new year around
the return of Christ. I bring you to record this day.
I testify this day that I am pure from the blood of all men.
What does he mean by that? He's getting ready to explain
what he means as an ambassador of Christ, as a preacher of the
gospel, as an apostle and a prophet, really. Here's what's on Paul's
mind as he leaves these people for the last time, which means
he must have gotten a word from God that he's not going to see
them again. And so with him knowing that
he will never see them again, how does the apostle respond
to them? by calling their attention to
certain facts about his intentions and the reasons for which he
now doesn't have to worry that he has been deficient in exercising
his office as apostle and preacher to them. He says in verse 27,
for I have not shunned or avoided to declare unto you what? All
the counsel of God. Now I want you to mark that last
line all the counsel of God, all the counsel of God. Now we
won't go into detail as to what that means with regards to Paul.
We don't have time for that tonight. But what I would state is that
all the counsel of God would be everything that God had ordained
the minister, the minister of the gospel or the apostle or
the preacher to teach the people who were entrusted to his care,
that he did not have the right or prerogative to leave certain
teachings out just because they might've been untasteful or they
were unseasonal or uncomfortable. He didn't leave them out. Like
I'm sure Paul didn't leave out the final judgment. I'm sure
he didn't leave that out. I'm sure he did not leave out,
as we're going to deal with tonight, the resurrection. I'm sure he
didn't leave it out. I'm sure he didn't leave out
the need for these people to make their calling and election
sure. And he would press that home with every necessary doctrine
in the scripture that all Christians ascribe to. making sure that
we're truly born again, making sure that sanctification is a
vital reality in our life, making sure that our walk with God is
such that it's pleasing to him, making sure that we have our
eyes fixed on Christ as an ethos of life, but also fixed on Christ
as the ultimate prize that we shall obtain when he comes or
we go to him. I did not shun to declare unto
you all the counsel of God. Therefore he says in verse 28
take heed therefore unto yourself and and unto all the flock over
which the Holy Ghost hath made you Made you overseers to feed
the church of God which he has purchased with his own blood.
He's speaking to the elders now So when we talk about the whole
counsel of God, we're talking about everything from soteriology
entry into the kingdom of God and to the doctrine of sanctification,
the doctrine of sanctification, and ultimately the doctrine of
end time things, or the doctrine of glorification. That encompasses
the totality of what we call salvation, being saved, walking
as saved people, and finally receiving what Peter called in
1 Peter 1, the end of our salvation, the saving of our souls. So now
I wanna call your attention to something extremely important
and that is the doctrine of Christ's return. One of the cardinal doctrines
that the church holds is that Christ will return. So as we
run up our points, our first point will be, first proposition
will be that Christ will return or he will come, both concepts,
and he will come personally and what? Bodily. You guys see that? bodily this is a doctrinal statement
that Wow, this is a doctrinal statement that That the church
has embraced throughout history Like some of the fundamental
confessions early on in the church was that Jesus came in the flesh
This is what John taught in first John chapter 2 if anyone denies
that Christ came in the flesh. He's an Antichrist He has denied
the fact that God assumed the human nature in order to be the
mediator by which we could be redeemed. Gnosticism taught that
he did not come. The whole of our salvation falls
apart if we don't believe in the incarnation. Well, one of
the things that the early church believed and taught because Christ
explicitly explained it was that he would return again to set
everything straight and to bring his people to himself and his
return would be bodily as his first coming was. And that means
a whole lot in terms of its implications to you and me. He will return
personally and he will return publicly. So, his coming will
be personal and it will be bodily. Acts chapter 1 verse 11 underscores
this and I want you to see it. Acts chapter 1 verse 11. It's
there where we see our Lord Jesus Christ leave the church, leave
this world. And we read over in verse nine,
and when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he
was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while
they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold,
two men stood by in white apparel, which also said, you men of Galilee,
why stand you here gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus,
which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like
manner as you have seen him go into what? So verse 11 tells
us Christ will come again. And when he comes back, he will
come back the same way he went. Now, the way he went was bodily
in a post resurrected state. He had risen from the dead. He
had proved for over 40 days that it was him, not a phantom, not
an image, not an apparition, not an angel, not a ghost, a
real person who had risen from the dead by eating with them
and talking with them and sleeping with them and living with them.
But he also demonstrated a post-resurrected state of transcendence that is
he could walk through doors and do other things that implied
that his resurrection adopted an aspect of his physicality
that he did not demonstrate before so that post-resurrection of
Christ also was a sort of a token of what will happen in our own
resurrection mark now there's more to what happened to Christ
when he went back to heaven, as will be for us. But why they
had to observe him for 40 days was to prove that the resurrection
of the body was a true doctrinal position that the church is to
hold. that we will rise bodily and
physically. And the disciples saw him ascended
to heaven in a cloud. The cloud was a symbol of his
majesty, his authority, and his deity. It goes all the way back
through the Old Testament. The Lord came on the clouds.
So the clouds underscored Christ's deity and his authority. Remember,
the clouds were on the Mount of Transfiguration as well. And
as the clouds descended on the mount, the disciples saw him
in his glory and the father spoke from heaven, affirming the sonship
of Jesus. That'll get into some of our
seven points. And so the idea of Christ coming
bodily is laid down here. And what it underscores is the
character of what we will be discussing shortly, the revelation,
sorry, the resurrection. Now go with me in your Bible
to John chapter 14. You know these verses we quote these frequently
verses one and following At funerals and they are designed to bring
comfort to our loved ones when they pass away But largely I
want you to mark that verses one through three are really
Christ's promise to his elect about his desire for them to
be with him where he is and And thus he speaks to the fact of
departing with the objective of preparing so that they can
actually be with him permanently. The insight into the text actually
describes his longing for his bride to be with him forever.
That it is not a disposition on the part of Christ to have
been gone for 2,000 years away from his bride as if that's cool. When he leaves, what he says
is, I'm going to prepare a place for you so that where I am, you
can be. In other words, the emphasis
is with being with him, but he has to prepare that place so
that you and I can be with him. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house is
much room, many mansions. This is a real questionable translation,
but the King James did that because of the context in which they
were writing. Mansions describe the homes of fairly well-to-do
people, And here it's really denoting the expansive real estate,
if you will, metaphorically speaking, for the people of God. If it
were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place
for what? So now think about that. The
emphasis of Christ's departure is to make a place for you in
heaven with him. That's the emphasis. He's leaving,
he says, to secure your eternal home. Now, if that's true, that's
the promise that our husband leaves to us, ought not that
place to be of the utmost interest for our soul, right? So there's
a sense in which this statement underscores an alienation that
is part of the Christian life down here. That we're alienated
from our real home. We're strangers in pilgrims.
We have a real place, another place, a permanent place, an
eternal abode that we long to be in because when once we are
there, we will have arrived at our totally natural status with
God. That is, we would be in that
perfect state of eternal glory for which we were called. In
any event, the terminology is designed, saints, to have us
to understand that Christ went to make sure that where he is,
you and I would be. And again, within the framework
of a romantic paradigm of husband and wife, not only does the husband
who goes away to prepare this longs for his wife to be there,
but his wife ought to long to want to be there too. And that's
the trajectory of our thoughts when we talk about wanting to
understand end time doctrine and making sure that we derive
from end time teaching everything is supposed to do in terms of
making us ready to be with him. Think about this as we prepare
to go into these seven general facts about the resurrection.
When Christ made this statement in verse two, I go to prepare
a place for you Every believer that died from
that point in which he made that proposition would enter into
the blessing of that promise. Whether their death took place
an hour later or 2,000 years later, everywhere in between
that time to now, the believer has had the hope that he's going
home. However, that hope is diminished
if the believer is not spending enough time contemplating that
place. And how diminished can it be?
It can be so diminished that the believer being called home
can be a troublesome factor for them. That somehow, that if they
are not clear on their eternal home, as Job puts it in Ecclesiastes
12 when he talks about the wearing down of the body. You guys know
the metaphor of the eyes going blind, the shoulders drooping
and the knees buckling and the ears becoming agitated by things. And then the inner parts, the
silver bold and the golden vows starting to break everything,
just the dissolution of the body because they're about to die.
If that is taking place in the life of an individual, who is
not adequately prepared to cross over into his eternal abode,
he might very well feel like he's being taken away from something
rather than going to something. And thus really struggle about
leaving this life because of a totally deficient view of glory,
which is his. Am I making some sense? He is
struggling to stay here. in a world that has no ability
to fix the mess that it's in. We're going from bad to worse.
And people are striving to stay here and live here as long as
they possibly can. And the Lord came the first time
in order to prepare an eternal abode for you and me, which is
designed to actually make us homesick. Mark this. And if I go, I'll
prepare a place for you. I will come again and receive
you unto, not that place, myself. Here it is. This is the emphasis
of Christ's departure, that where I am, you may be also. I want
you with me. Do you see it? Do you see it? So this is the clear attitude
of Christ towards his bride. He wants her with him. How profound
is this thought on Christ's part? Three chapters later, in his
high priestly prayer, he tells his daddy, I wanna come home. And I want all those that you
gave me to be with me, to see what I got. Why? Because Christ saw the apprehension
of the kingdom more vividly than we do. Christ actually went through
these whole processes coming into the world, occupying his
time and then apprehending the kingdom. Is that right? Luke
chapter 22 makes it very clear. My father has given me a kingdom
and I appoint unto you a kingdom as well in order that we all
might rejoice in the kingdom. Remember, Christ is always the
prototype of everything that you and I have coming. And so
his attitude is none of his people are home. None of his people
are where they're supposed to be until they're with him. You guys got that? See, now it's
a massive concept of love towards us. And what it's supposed to
do is drive and inform and shape our love towards him. And that
would set us up for the kind of integrity of no factors down
here, of all of the false lovers that would tell us life is great
down here. So let's go into our study. He will come. He will return
personally. He will return bodily. Under
the first point, I have the idea of the coming of the Lord, as
you see it in your outline. Do you see that? I am actually gonna
deal with that as the larger portion of our study tonight,
because there are several aspects of his coming that we need to
contemplate so that we're not insensitive to the different
texts of scripture that speak to his coming. But before we
do that, I wanna actually deal with the seven things that are
simultaneous and sequential to his coming. to just ringing your
ears as an information that is critical to our consideration. First, when Christ returns, appears,
comes, the order of events is like this. There will be a resurrection
of the just and the unjust. Do you guys see that? So when
he returns, when he returns, according to the Bible, we'll
touch on that a little bit. I'll leave room for Q and A if
you guys are are jazzed about asking questions. When he returns,
the first thing that will take place is a resurrection of the
just and the unjust. And I use that language advisedly
because while we have looked at the four views, the premillennial
dispensational view has an argument with this particular construction,
that there will be a resurrection of the just and the unjust. As
you noted and marked, they make a distinction between the resurrection
of the Jews and the resurrection of the Gentiles and a resurrection
of the church and a resurrection of the just. My proposition to
you is that the first thing that will take place is a resurrection
of the just and the unjust. Our text for that are the words
of our Lord himself in John chapter five, verse 28 and 29. I want
you to mark them. John five, 28 and 29. The first
thing that will happen is the resurrection in John 5, 28 and
29. So now, as I'm making that statement,
here's what I want you to think about, imagine, conceptualize.
The return of Christ being met with an act of resurrection is
going to be a radical imposition on this world in a very physical
way. That if there is a resurrection
of the dead, corresponding to the bodily resurrection of Christ.
Now I'm using that terminology because theologians and smart
pastors and even studious believers will know that I'm negating the
possibility of some spiritual resurrection or some gnostic
view of the Christian life as holding to the dichotomy of the
spirit and the flesh. Mark what I'm saying. False Christianity
and deficient Christianity falls prey to the notion that our bodies
and our flesh will just disappear. That it will waste away, that
it doesn't have eternal hope, that it doesn't have an eternal
promise or an eternal purpose. And in a sense, when you think
like that, you will throw your bodies away. When you and I think
that our bodies are just a temporary vehicle to be discarded at our
death, are to be annihilated in the
final conflagration of all things, you will not take care of your
body in order that your body might have the same hope that
your soul does. And yet the scripture says, both
my soul and my flesh shall rest in hope. Psalm 16. Now this is
a cardinal doctrine of the Christian church of which people collapse
into Gnosticism all the time. And once we collapse into Gnosticism,
mark this, We will not honor our bodies like we ought to.
Are you hearing me? You will not honor your body.
Once you have this false dichotomy, this bifurcation, that the only
thing that matters is my spirit, my heart, my attitude, and not
my body, then the very vehicle by which you and I are to serve
God and express our love and adoration to him in this world
now is limited. Because we're not going to take
this vehicle called our body serious enough to know that our
body has been redeemed right along with our soul And that
god wants us to enter into the kingdom with our bodies Occupy
with our bodies and finally ultimately experience and apprehend Eternity
with our bodies. That was what philippians 3 10
was about that. I might know him of his resurrection
and the power of his resurrection in what resurrection power implies
both in terms of Christ having been raised from the dead everyone
in him in their own order at his coming as we see and in fact
the whole world the whole world Paul says I want to be in on
the resurrection there's gonna be a magnificent mind-blowing
event. Listen to verse 28 and 29 marvel
not at this for the hours coming in which all that are in the
grave shall hear his voice. All that are in the grave shall
hear his voice and shall come forth. Do you see that they that
have what circle that child of God you who are going to be legitimate
students of in time teaching in the year 2016 because it does
not say those who have who have believed on Jesus. It says those
that have done good. So I'm gonna build the bridge
between faith and works on those kinds of concepts Okay, I'm gonna
build a bridge between faith and works on those kind of concepts
because those are the concepts that Christ left in his teaching
to help us understand Occupancy is critical to God's glory and
our honor when we apprehend Did you got you guys get what I just
stated? Occupancy is critical to God's glory in our honor and
when we apprehend. So he says for those who have
done good, a resurrection of what? Now that's crazy because
the true believer already has life. But what he's stating is
that the quantitative nature of the qualitative reality of
our life is going to be exponentially enhanced when he comes or when
we're raised again. That's crazy. Think about it. He that believes on the Son of
God hath what? Life. We already have eternal
life if we believe the gospel. But that eternal life is not
a static reality. It's a very vibrant, growing
dynamic which will take on much more of a reality when Christ
comes. So it's very important for you
and me to understand that we have to see eternal life on an
organic level. You guys follow what I'm getting
at? Who didn't understand what I just said? All right. So, when
a child is conceived in the womb, they are alive. Is that child
manifesting life at its fullest potential in the womb? You got
it. That's my whole point. That's
the whole point. Does the child grow in the womb? Yes. Does the child come out
into the world and continue growing? Does the child function in a
process of maturity by which he is able to demonstrate the
qualitative nature of his life? Does the quantitative nature
of the quality of his life increase as he utilizes his body to live? Can he live a full life of maturity
and development and usefulness and prosperousness towards himself
and others until he expires? Can you imagine doing that for
all eternity? Can you imagine that? Right.
So my point is, is that often in our Christianity, we're thinking
in a static sense about things like life and faith. We don't
think of them in terms of the way the scriptures actually depict
them as a growing thing and a bounding thing, a maturing thing. And even the word is a perfection. But see, Paul knew, in Philippians
3.10, that there was more to be had than the dynamic of regeneration
and renewal and this vital relationship that he had with Christ that
was in a real sense deficient. In other words, if you're an
honest believer with me tonight, You have heard a whole lot more
about the glories of eternal life than you have experienced. If you're honest, if you're honest,
the soul from the point of conversion has been occupied with and on
occasion affirmed in its relationship with God, Abba Father, we cry
Abba Father. But we have been in a state of
constant desire for the fullness of that life from the point of
conversion to now. There's a real sense in which
in every believer is a great disappointment and a great longing
for that for which we have been apprehended. Every true believer is honest
when they say, I want more of him. That's if you're honest. But that aspiration is intensified
and affirmed only to the degree that we know that there's more
to be had. If Christians are thinking that
The low ebb of Christian life that we're experiencing in this
world in a body that is limited both by its physical nature and
by the sinful tendencies still latent in it is all there is. Then we fail to understand the
glory. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? And so the struggle that the Christian has is knowing
what he is in Christ and also knowing what he is not in his
own experience and desires to enter into a fullness of that.
Verse 29 again, and shall come forth they that have done good
unto the resurrection of life and they that have done what?
Unto the resurrection of what? So now we see two categories
of people experiencing a resurrection that according to the Lord appears
to be at the same time. Okay, at the same time. It does not indicate anywhere
in this text a resurrection first of the believer and then a resurrection
secondly of the unbeliever. It doesn't give that kind of
order of resurrection even if it was on the same day. It doesn't
indicate that in the text at all, does it? It indicates a
simultaneous resurrection of all men, those who have done
good and those who have done evil. Is that true? Absolutely.
Absolutely. Now, go with me in your Bibles
to the book of Acts. Chapter 24, verse 15. And let
me show you how the apostle Paul and the Christians of the first
century understood it as well. Understood this concept. Acts
24, 15. This is where Paul is going to
use this terminology, I think is critical for us to also recover
in our doctrine of faith around the concept of the resurrection,
which is a future thing that is inherent in the nature of
faith. Faith is the substance of things,
what? Faith being the substance of things hoped for means that
faith resides in our lives as a continual impetus to drive
us towards things that we don't yet possess. So faith resides
in our life as an impetus, driving us towards things that we don't
yet possess. If my faith is not constantly
driving me towards things that I do not yet possess, my faith
is suspect. If my faith settles me down and
tells me we are cool right where we are, then I'm like the rich
man who said, you know what? We've done well for ourselves.
Let us build bigger barns, let's store our goods and let us settle
down and enjoy life. Let's take our ease. To me, that is a betrayal of
the very nature of faith, which is fixed on a permanent and eternal
union with Christ. which the gift of faith is a
vouchsafe to you and me. It's a token. It's like a down
payment. It's like an agreement. It's like a contract that we're
gonna get there one day. We're gonna actually be with
him one day. But so long as we're not with him, faith must operate. Is that true? Since it is the
substance of things, what? And the evidence of things, what?
That's right. See how important faith is? But
it has to be dynamic. It has to be dynamic. And therefore,
a characteristic of faith is longing, desiring. Again, Philippians 3.10, here
it is. Here's what he said to the rulers that were examining
him of the gospel that he preached in chapter 24, verse 15. I'm gonna start at verse 14.
Are you there? But this I confess unto you,
that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the
God of my fathers, Now watch this, believing all things which
are written in the law and the prophets. What Paul just stated
was he worshipped the true and the living God and he worshipped
the true and the living God according to scripture. Believing all things
that are written in the law and the prophets. Now, until that
first generation apostolic era, where they were qualified to
write scripture, the only thing they had was the Tanakh, the
Old Testament. Genesis to what? Malachi. That's
all he had. And what Paul was saying is,
I believe everything in this book. You know what that means?
If the Old Testament is adequate in its theological fullness,
it will teach the resurrection to. Watch next, watch the next
verse. Here it is. And I have hope towards
what? Haven't I been explaining that
under the concept of faith, that faith has hope towards God and
I have hope towards God. which they themselves, that is
the Jews also, allow. Here it is, here it is, that
there shall be a what? Of the what? Both of the what? Did he just echo Jesus? So you
tie John 5 to Acts 24 and underscore that what Paul taught is what
Jesus taught, that there's one resurrection of all men. The
distinction is the just and the unjust. You guys see that? Very
important for you to know. Very important for you to know.
Now go with me in your Bibles to, I'm gonna leave that, let
me see how I do that. All right, one more verse, 1
Thessalonians 4, verse 7. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 7. In 1 Thessalonians 4, this is
where we begin to discuss the characteristics of Christ's return
around the resurrection As we deal with concepts like the rapture
as they call it and what will happen then I want you to just
be sensitive again to the language that takes place here because
what we're talking about is the return of Christ or the coming
of Christ or the appearing of Christ and what will happen as
soon as he comes subsequent to or rather a consequential consequential
to or sequential to his coming. We read in chapter 4 verse 15
these words for this We say unto you by the word of
the Lord that we which are alive, that's one category, and remain,
that is remain faithful to the gospel. Unto the coming of the
Lord shall not present or precede or go before them which are asleep.
That's another category. And it's talking about the believers
who have died in Christ. Their bodies are asleep. So for
those of you who have struggled with the, what we would consider
a heretical and false teaching of the Jehovah Witnesses of this
thing called soul sleep. The soul does not sleep. The
only thing that sleeps is the body. So here when it says those
that are asleep, it's not talking about believers being in some
place called paradise or Hades, sleeping as it were in an incognito
state. But the physical body goes into
the ground. And as it were, it's sleeping
or resting in the ground until it's awakened at the resurrection. So the distinction is between
the believer who is alive, living, physically functioning, and the
believer who has died and gone on to be with the Lord, but his
body is in the ground. His body is waiting for the what?
The resurrection. The believer is present with
the Lord, right? 2 Corinthians 5, 8, and 10, which
we'll deal with when we get there as well. So I'm helping you understand
theologically some of the entrails going along the concept of the
resurrection that's critical because people, you know, a lot
of us have inadvertently or by virtue of, you know, family members
being in these different cults and groups have foisted these
ideas on us. And if you haven't worked them
through theologically, now you get a chance to do so. Sleep
in the scriptures. When it refers to those who die,
refer to those whose bodies are in the ground. That's what Acts
chapter two through four says when it says, and David, his
body is with us now. He sleeps in the ground waiting
for the resurrection. But David is in glory right along
with every other believer. His body has now been put in
what we call the deposit box of the grave because God has
purchased it to bring it back. Manifests his glory through the
power of the resurrection Reunite the body with the soul so that
they become become again a complete personality for all eternity
in the same way Christ rose again Are you guys with me? This is
very important to know So in first Thessalonians chapter 4
verse 15 and 16. Here's what it says in verse
16 for the Lord himself Shall what? So now mark this, the emphasis
is on the personal return of Christ. For the Lord himself
will descend from heaven with a what? This speaks to the character
of his return. It's not secret, it's real loud. It's not private, it's universally
public. I'll get into this later. I won't
have time today to deal with it. But this speaks to an aspect
of his coming called the perusia. And the perusia is the form of
return of a king or a magistrate who has actually won a battle.
And now this is in parade form. His return is a parade. It's
a parade. It's a loud, joyful parade. When he comes, it's not secret.
He's not trying to tiptoe up on nobody. There's no secret
rapture. There's no secret rapture. When
he uses the term shout here, again, this is old nomenclature,
Old Testament language concerning the blowing of the trumpets.
There are seven trumpets we have to deal with metaphorically,
and the last trumpet is what's being blown, the final trumpet.
This corresponds to 1 Corinthians 15. I show you a mystery. We
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, the trump shall
sound. That's the shout. The trump shall
sound. And those are the first set of
judgments in the seven trumpet judgments of the book of Revelation.
So when the trumpet is blowing, God is acting in a very visible,
demonstrative way, and no one can deny it. If the trumpet be
blown in the city, who will not hear it? That's Amos chapter
3. So when the enemy was coming,
the watchman had the job of doing what? Blowing the trumpet, letting
everyone know The enemy is coming. Or in this case, the king is
coming. Listen to the language. For the
Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the what? Archangel. And the what? Trump
of God. There it is. This threefold magisterium,
this magnificent announcement, this universal expression of
open revelation of his coming and the dead in Christ shall
what? Right. So he's giving us the order of
events at the resurrection. So this is powerful because what
he's stating is he returns. He returns loudly, publicly,
boldly, joyfully, confidently, because he's getting ready now
to maximize or close out what his heart has always desired.
And that is the totality of the body of Christ, which is his
bride to be with him. You don't you don't get it. This
is a very happy day for Christ. Okay, this is a very happy day
for Christ because he gets to rescue his bride Every member
of his bride from all of the hellish things that come against
her in this world They all get to now come to be with him He
gets to now begin to correct everything going on in our world
Then they which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds together with whom those who rose first
bodily in the cloud to meet the Lord where this line in verse
17 is an affirmation of Acts chapter 1 verse 11 when the angel
said this same Jesus whom you see going into heaven will in
soul like manner return How did he go? In a cloud. How's he coming? On a cloud. Because the cloud
is a symbol of divine majesty and sovereignty and power. The
Lord rides upon the clouds. That's how he's coming. Here's the last line. And so,
shall we ever be with the Lord? That's the objective is to have
us permanently with him. Which means there is a sense
in which When Jesus is up there and we're down here, we're not
with him. You have to accept that. There's a sense in which
we are not with Christ now. You guys got that? Right. So
again, when we are building theological concepts and we hold to doctrines
like the union of the believer in Christ, Christ in us, the
hope of glory, us in Christ, the union between the two, he's
the head, we're the body. There's a sense in which we're
together, but there's a sense in which we're not. We can retain
those two. They are not contradictions. They're paradoxes, right? But they're not contradictions.
You guys know the difference, right? You know the difference between a
paradox and a contradiction. A contradiction are two opposing
views that are irreconcilable. You cannot reconcile these views.
They have no point of harmony. A paradox are two doctrinal truths
that appear to be at odds, but really actually line up. priority-wise. They don't conflict. They line
up priority-wise. Paradoxes and contradictions
are not synonymous terms. The third thing or the second
thing that will occur, and I want you to circle this like I circled
it, point number two is the transformation or a transformation or a what? Glorification of all what? Now this is very important. So
when Christ comes, there's a resurrection. He's going to recover all that
he has. That resurrection is going to lead into a glorification. You guys see that? Glorification.
Now, it's going to be important for you to capture that concept
and understand and be sensitive to the sequence of that event. The second, and it may even be
simultaneously with the resurrection, but I doubt it. The second thing
to occur is the glorification of all believers. First Corinthians
chapter 15 verse 51 puts it like this. And again, I just quoted
it, but I want you to see it for yourself. And I want you
to see the close association between the resurrection and
the glorification of the believer so that you can be sensitive
mentally of the sequence of events that take place when he comes.
This is going to help you. If you understand, listen to
me, Saints, that when the return of Christ occurs for his elect,
that something happens upon his return to you and in you that
changes the qualitative nature of who you are to prepare you
for the subsequent events. So I'm gonna say that once again
for the record because what we have to talk about in the new
year can only be appropriately received if you understand the
order of events. Are you hearing me? His coming will be coupled with or accompanied
with a resurrection that will culminate in a glorification
of all of his people. Glory is what we're looking for,
but that glory is going to start in us, upon us, in order to make
us compatible for communion with him where he is. Are you guys
following that? We could talk about why that's
so, but I just want you to receive it. Because when you and I start
to deal with the subsequent events of his return, and our resurrection
if we are dead bodily and the totality of our resurrection
when he comes, it's important for you to know the state you
are going to be in for those subsequent events. If you fail
to understand the state that you are going to be in, you're
going to make all kinds of assumptions about the facts of what will
transpire when he comes back. And those assumptions are going
to be flawed only because you're going to be thinking like you're
thinking now while you are not glorified. Jan, are you with me? No, you're
not. It took you too long to go. So
I'm going to say it again just for the record. Can I do it one
more time? Because I want you to get this because if you don't
get this, what you're going to have, you're going to struggle
with the Lord coming Setting his BMC down and judging every
man according as his work shall be You're gonna struggle with that
And the reason you're gonna struggle like people do people don't even
teach this Because they don't have a way to conceptualize Facing
the judgment Good or bad in our present mental condition. Are
you hearing me? So if you are viewing this process
of reward and judgment of which the scriptures are inescapably
clear from Genesis to Revelation, because accountability is something
with which every human being cannot escape. even though we
act like we will not be accountable, we shall be accountable. Are
you hearing me? And if we should extract from
biblical teaching accountability, this is the reason why people
are living like hell and think they're going to get into God's
heaven without facing the master first. Are you hearing me? Are you guys hearing me right?
Very important. But now if in fact, the next
thing that occurs, after the resurrection is a radical glorification
of every one of God's people from the beginning of time to
the present hour, to the hour that Christ comes. Doesn't the
circumstance of your situation secure your place in the subsequent
processes that will take place? I'm gonna say it again. If in
fact, The two immediate events that transpire when Christ comes
is my bodily resurrection and then the glorifying of my whole
being. If that in fact is what takes
place, it doesn't matter what Christ does in terms of accountability. If he brings me before him and
says, Jesse, it's time to give an account for everything you
did. He will have qualified in the
totality of my makeup, having glorified me already, to be ready
for that process. How many of you got it? How many
of you got it? I just need to, I need to know. How many of you got it?
Raise your hand like you got it. Right. This is important. This is important. Now, if I didn't believe that
this sequence of events fell out this way, I'd be troubled
about meeting my master. But I'm not troubled about meeting
my master at all. Do you understand me? Because
he's going to make it where I don't have to be troubled about the
process at all. But my job down here is to make
sure I finish well. Do you hear what I'm saying?
In order that I might have the same passion that Paul does in
Philippians 310, that I might experience the power of his resurrection.
You got that? Listen to the language. First
Corinthians chapter 15 verse 51 and 52. Now this I say brethren
that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Do you see
that? Boom. Preach it, preach it, preach
it, preach it, preach it. Now what I'm dealing with here
when I look at this is not the physical body as it presently
is. It's a statement that has to
do with the Adamic nature as a whole composite. In other words,
Adam one doesn't get into glory, only the last Adam. You got that?
Last Adam. The first Adam was a living soul. The last Adam is a quickening
spirit. Now watch this, watch this, watch
this. So the quickening spirit of whom Christ is, is going to
quicken me so that as he is, I will be. That's the only thing
that's going into the kingdom. because he is my prototype, right? Everything that he is, I am in
him. Everything that I am, he was for me. So when he received
me to himself, I'm gonna be just like him. He's going to quicken
my mortal body. Got it? Crazy, that crazy, right? In other words, he's going to
prepare us for the process of accountability. He's gonna prepare
his elect for the process of accountability. Because the accountability
process is going to encompass both our honest presentation
before the Lord and our residence with him in judgment of the world. See why you gotta study this
stuff? Yeah, because you know, we'll hear concepts and ideas
and we won't understand that it's in piecemeal. and parts
of our thinking are flawed because we haven't had them sufficiently
taught. So now mark this. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither death
corruption inherit what? Incorruption. Behold, I show
you a mystery. Now that's why he's given us
verse 51. I'm gonna show you a mystery now. We shall not all
sleep, that is, we won't all die, but we shall all be what?
Right, see, so here is where we build upon 1 Thessalonians
4, which says, some sleep, some don't, We'll all be resurrected,
but everybody's going to be what? Metamorphi. Metamorpho is the
Greek term. We will all be changed. That's
the metamorphosis. We'll all be changed. We won't make it if we don't
get changed. You got that? The change has to take place
to enter into that stage of apprehension. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed in a moment. Do you see that? In a moment,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump. There's the Trump again. Is it
there? It's the same Trump. It's the
last Trump. For the Trump shall sound and
the dead shall be raised. What? And we shall be what? He's saying the same thing here
that he said there, but what he's adding is the metamorphosis or
the glorification. He's letting us know that a change
will take place when God calls us up. In other words, the resurrection
will be auspicious for the believer. It will be favorable for the
believer. It will be a blessing for the believer. No matter what
else takes place subsequent to it, the believer will be highly
blessed at the return of Christ. Some of you got it. So the resurrection
and then the transformation. Are you Two more verses to underscore
that. Philippians 3, verse 21. Philippians
3, 21. The Lord comes. He shouts through
his archangel. The world hears. The bodies of
the elect rise up out of the ground. The bodies of the non-elect
rise up out of the ground. Folks are tripping. The elect are snatched up into
the air. glorification takes place of
the elect not the non elect do you see the do you see the distinction
there they partake of the resurrection only to be called to accountability
without change you guys got that the believer will be called to
accountability with change So these two categories are frequently
described in scripture as taking place under different metaphors. You'll pick them up, you'll taste
them in the future when you see, you'll be able to grasp them
now. But here's what Philippians 3.21 says, where Paul underscores
once again, the blessing of that privilege of becoming fully like
Christ. Now watch what he says in verse
20. For our politics, see the word conversation? It's the Greek
word politics. Our conversation, our lifestyle,
our citizenship. That's really what it means.
This is what I meant when I said we have to comprehend the concept
of the kingdom of God as being both now and then. A reality
now, but it's also a future reality. The kingdom of God is a reality
now, but it's also a future reality. In a real sense, you and I are
strangers and aliens in a world that we're supposed to occupy,
but our citizenship is in another kingdom from which we get our
marching orders. Are you guys following that?
Now watch this. For our conversation is in heaven
from whence also we what? See? Simple Simple the disposition
of every believer that is sufficiently informed about the nature of
the kingdom of God the promises of God The gospel is that his
eyes are her eyes. Their eyes are fixed on Christ.
They are looking they are looking They are looking for their Savior
Biblical theology should result in us longing for him Do you
guys get that biblical theology should result in us longing for
him? not just as a form of escape
from the troubles of this world, but as a consequent of the passionate
desire to be with him, to be like him, because we have drunk
so deeply of the word of God and had such a profound crystal
centric teaching that Jesus now becomes more and more lovely
to us and desirous to us. That's really the way it's supposed
to be. Our Christianity should lead us to a passionate love
for Christ. All right, so now watch this.
For our conversation, our citizenship is in heaven. From whence also
we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, just to deal
with this title, the Savior, it does imply, necessarily so,
that down here, the tenor of our life is suffering. And so
the coming of Christ is a rescue from our troubles. So if you actually grasp the
teaching here, you see the parallels with the life of David, all the
hell that he's going through and will go through. And that
when he actually takes secession on the throne, it will be a kind
of final arrival in that state of glory and triumph representing
all believers. You got that? Right, right, right.
So in the world, you shall have what? That's right, because we're
headed to the throne. We're headed to session. We're
headed to be seated with Christ. We're headed as the bride to
sit with him on his side. Do you understand that? But down
here is trouble. So what the believer is desiring
is to be with him And to finally be delivered now So god will
see to it that the conditions of our present world are such
That if we're his elect Life is not going to be comfortable
down here Where we're saying our lord delays his coming so
i'm going to eat and drink with the drunkards And i'm going to
abuse the servants of the lord And i'm going to do those things
that the slothful and unbelieving servant did in luke 12 You guys
follow what I'm saying? Now you will taste some of that
in your journey. The ebbs and flows of life where
you get casual and careless, but an extensive casual careless
life will lead to abuse as with anything. And you will abuse
your privileges in the kingdom and you will actually become
an enemy of the people of God who are telling you, get off
your lazy tail. It's a nice way I can put it tonight and get
back in this race. Are you hearing? The warning
is only few go make it in. So he goes on to say, who shall change our what? Stop. Stop. So here's what we're
doing. We are living life from the kingdom
in this world while we're looking for our Lord and savior, Jesus
Christ to come. and his coming will be met with
buttress up against the changing of our vile bodies. Got it? Who shall change our vile bodies. See what Paul is getting at?
Paul is getting at the thing that is most necessary to bring
us into that level of our inheritance for which Christ died. The thing
that is most necessary is to take the body and co-join it
to the soul in a state of glorified unity so that we can actually
be satisfied in our salvation with Christ. There's a very clear
inference to me that I cannot be with him in the fullness of
the sense of being with him until I am made compatible with him
in a state of glorification. Do you got that? Right. That's
what's being inferred in the text. Who shall change our vile
bodies that it may be fashioned like unto his what? This is the
text we use for the doctrine of the glorification, his glorious
body. And here's again, Paul drawing
from the power of the resurrection, according to the working whereby
he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. There's
a power that's going to overcome us, envelop us and radically
transform us so that we enter into the fullness of our inheritance
on a bodily level. Powerful, isn't it? So, first
when he comes, the resurrection. Secondly, the glorification.
Thirdly, what's our third point? A destruction of the evil one
and this world system. A destruction of the evil one
and this world system. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 7 and
8. 2 Thessalonians 2, 7 and 8. So, the order of events that
I'm laying out is what I call seven general facts about the
resurrection, People who are more fastidious and detailed
about the return of Christ will argue with me if they want to
in what I call incidental details. But the overarching principles
are undeniable. The order of events are such
as I am laying them out. And the order of events are designed
to teach us something, ladies and gentlemen, about the nature
and character of God. God is known by what he does. God is known by what he does.
You're going to learn this on Sunday. So David down here on
earth is in a mess. How many of y'all with me right
now on Sundays? Is he in a mess? The boy's in a mess. I mean,
technically speaking, it's going to go from bad to worse for a
long time. For a long time. Watch this. Years. Are you with me? For years, years. Now, here's what I want to get,
get you to, to, to, to hold on to. This is the way God works. This is the way he works. So
like, if you want to get to know God, you're going to have to
learn who God is by the things that happen because he works
in Providence this way. He works, in the unfolding of
the circumstances of our life this way. You got that? Now,
when Paul, as it were, echoed and gave us this wonderful Magna
Carta, of which we jump on all the time, when we were in the
book of Romans, one of the most famous verses we quote is what? All things work together for
good, to them that what? Stop right there. So if you actually
believe that and you understand it sufficiently Then you realize
that your knowledge of God is rooted in all the hell you go
through Which is an integral non-negotiable part of your journey
It's an integral non-negotiable part of your journey It's an
integral non-negotiable part of your journey in other words
we can ask our for God to give us an easy excursion into heaven,
but you won't get it. You won't get it because you're
asking for God to not reveal himself to you. Okay. You're asking for God to
leave you alone. That's what you're doing, which
he does with a lot of people. He leaves them alone. He lets
them do whatever they want to do. He does not disturb their
life. Why does the wicked prosper and
spread his wings like a green bay tree? Why does he not experience
troubles, troubles like me? Why are his children happy? Job
said it and David said it. the people whom the Lord leaves
alone. Why do people seem to be able
to do whatever they want to do? Because they're bastards. Because
God has no claim on them. Because they have not been predestined
to be conformed to the image of Christ. That they might be
a partaker of his glory through suffering. You guys hear me? Right. So when we are finding
ways to avoid trouble, we are asking not to know God. So here's
what happens. If you ride with David, David
is getting ready to, and he already is learning about God in ways
he would have never known God had he went from the sheepfold
directly to the throne. You guys follow that? He would
have never known what he's learning about God. He would have never
known. So, my message this Sunday is
going to be designed to show you how God gave David what was
necessary all along his journey to get him from one point of
experience to another and David be able to say, the Lord is with
me. The Lord is with me. You understand
that? It's going to be powerful. On
the other hand, on the other hand, we're going to be 2 Thessalonians
1, verse 7, not 2, verse 7. On the other hand, King Saul, who is the antithesis
of David, are you following me? Is doing whatever he wants to
do. Isn't he? King Saul's doing whatever
he wants to do. Free doesn't know God from the
man on the moon. And he acts like it. He's not
praying. He's not calling on God. He's
not using any of the refuges that David used to get God's
favor. Are you guys here? He's a man
without God, but he's in the church. He's just as in the church
as David is they're all in the same church You guys understand
that they all go to the same church He's just a rebel King
doing whatever he wants to do and David is God's anointed King
being shut up straightened through troubles because God is shaping
him and shaping his character and Manifesting himself to David
in order for David's reign to be something that glorifies God
This is scary. I'm going to share it with you
on Sunday, but I'll share it with you because you came out tonight. The one
time in the Bible where Saul actually inquires of the Lord
one time, you know, you, you got a problem when you go through
the trouble that Saul went through demons hunting you all night
long, taking away your peace and your joy, creating all kinds
of suspicions and turmoils in you. You drinking yourself to
death. You getting high, trying to kill
a pain. Don't you think you ought to actually go to the throne
of grace and ask for mercy in time of need once Will you hear
me? He goes one time And he demands
the priest to talk to god for him one time jan, do you know
what god says nothing Nothing isn't that dreadful This
is crazy. He goes to God and God says nothing. God steps back and holds his
pieces. I'm not talking to him. He gets no advice from me. He's
doing his own thing because he's without chastisement. You guys
got that? He's without chastisement. He
can beat the priest. I know he's going to kill all
these priests in a couple of months pretending to pray in church.
You got it? It's amazing juxtaposition, juxtaposition
rather, between David and Saul, where Saul is this free radical,
and David is this man constrained by all kinds of troubles, and
yet David is the one God loves. A destruction of the evil one
and this present world system is 2 Thessalonians 1, verse seven,
and it shouldn't be two. Verse seven, notice what it says.
Let me start at verse... Verse six, seeing it is a righteous
thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble
you and to you who are what? Do you see it? What's the general
tenor and character of the believer in this world? Here's what he
says, rest with us. Now, there is a rest that the
believer has in the midst of trouble when you know God is
with you. So Paul is exhorting them to
rest with Him when the Lord Jesus shall be what? See, so here's
their confidence is the revelation of Christ. Revelation of Christ
from heaven with His what? So now here's a character of
His coming. His coming now is a coming of vengeance and justice
and recompense and setting things straight. And He's coming with
His mighty angels. Verse 8, in what? Flaming fire. doing what? Taking vengeance
on who? Them that know not God and that
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is designed
to comfort the believer because the believer is being harassed
and persecuted and beat down and killed by these very subjects
to whom Christ is going to come when he comes. So in other words,
the thought of the believer, the contemplation of the believer
is not only when Christ comes, he will fix what's wrong with
me, but he's going to fix also what's wrong with the world about
me. Point four, because I could give you several more. You can
read them in your own time. A session with Christ in the judgment,
a session with Christ. That means that's royal terminology
to be seated with Christ as part of the ruling body politic against
those that you are bringing judgment on. a session with Christ in
the judgment. You guys see that language? That's
what it means to be in session. It's the terminology that's used
for elders, a body of elders, a body of rulers. It's used in
our government. It's used in court. Court is
in what? Session. That's right. So I want you to
get it. So now mark how this works. There'll be a resurrection
of both the just and the unjust, a transformation or glorification
of all believers, a destruction of the evil one, and this evil
world system and the destruction of this evil world system will
set humanity up for the final assizement or the judgment. It
is appointed unto man once to die, and then what? Now mark
the nature of the judgment. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse
2 and 3. 1 Corinthians 6, 2 and 3. I want
you to just hear what the apostle says around this. This here is
remarkable too. This is worthy of astonishment
in your own mind as well. It's astonishing To think that
we will participate in the judgment of humanity, right? That's an
astonishing concept. And here's the reason why it's
astonishing. Because we are still in our physical
bodies with our corrupt minds and a memory bank full of hell. Wondering how will we be qualified
to be in a judgment over anyone else? Verse one, two, and three, but
we've already resolved that tension, haven't we? Have we resolved
that tension? We've resolved the tension of the sense of inadequacy
on our part to participate in the judgment. Christ resolved
that problem, didn't he? Did he resolve it? Verse one
and two, and then three. Dare any of you have matters
against another and go to law before the unjust and not before
the saints? 6 verse 1 of chapter 6 is crazy because it actually
means this are you ready? It actually means that When the
church is operating holistically and comprehensively We should
not have any matters that require us going outside of the church
to be resolved on matters of legal or moral disputes however
Because the church is so deficient in its capacity to walk in the
fullness of Christ. The expression of the church
today, particularly in the West, does not have the capacity to
resolve those issues, because we live both in the world and
in the church at the same time. Do you guys hear me? We live
both in the world and the church at the same time. We have not
entered fully into the commonwealth of Israel. We have not fully
adopted the kingdom of God in such a way that all matters spiritual
and practical can be dealt with inside the kingdom. This is why
I say to us frequently that Western Christianity is a hybrid of kingdom
monarchial ideology mixed with a democratic process of self
autonomy. And those two are mutually exclusive.
This sort of democratic self autonomy with which we operate
militates against a monarchical system that has a complete constitution
by which we could actually do what the kingdom says do if we
were operating fully in subjection to it. But we're not. Are you
guys hearing me? No, we're living in two worlds.
We do part of the world that's convenient for us. And then we
do the part of the kingdom that benefits us spiritually on sort
of a justification level. But the pragmatics of our life
expose us to the authorities of the secular world. How many
of y'all didn't get what I just stated, right? Just give me one.
Okay, good. One or two, right. Here's the word I'm gonna write.
I want you to think about in your head if you know. And I'm gonna stop
in five minutes just for the sake of taking a few questions
and closing. and we'll come back here three weeks from now. We're
gonna be off next Friday, off on the subsequent Friday, because
it's the end of the year. Then we'll come back in the new
year and take this up. Is that okay? Here's the word that I want you
to grasp. Because of the dysfunctionality, because of the dysfunctional
nature of the kingdom of God represented in the church, accountability
comprehensively is not only impossible, It's not desired because of the nature of our
culture and its impact on our lives. Biblical accountability
is impossible and not desired. How many of you didn't understand
what I said right there? Give me a reason to expand. Somebody
give me a reason. Lie and act like you didn't get
my point. Okay, I want to talk about this. So I shared this about five years
ago in our church. I just kind of hinted at it.
And I said, you know, when you read your Bible carefully, when
you read your Bible carefully, Christ provided in the kingdom,
everything necessary for life and godliness. He provided our
ethic. He provided the rules by which
we conduct ourselves. He provided the process by which
when we violate those rules, recovery can be done, can be
experienced. He provided boundaries and limitations
and parameters for the safety of the people of God. That's
called relationship. When we get into our rules of
engagement three this year in May, what I'm going to be dealing
with is the concept of relationship in the context of communication.
Seems abstract, but you'll understand what I'm saying when I start
getting there. And it has to do with this. If Christ knows
that he's going to leave a body of believers in this world. And
they're going to actually make it as the kingdom of God, is
he not going to sufficiently endow them with everything necessary
for them to function as a kingdom, especially if they're gonna actually
be in a system where other kingdoms operate alien to them. Are y'all
hear me? Watch it. So then I'm gonna help
you understand it in a very easy way by taking Israel as a model. The old church is a model. When he took them out of Egypt,
he gave them 40 years in the wilderness to divest them of
their carnality. Didn't he? He killed everything
that wasn't ready to think like Christ. 40 years and older, he
killed them all because they were not ready to be new creatures
in Christ. They wanted Egypt in the promised
land. He said that doesn't work. So
he had to kill everybody and take the babies in. Except you
become like a child, you don't enter into the what? Right, so
he took babies in because babies believed him. They were just
dumb enough to believe God, along with a few men, Caleb and Joshua. And when he brought them in,
he brought them in with a full scale system of government. Did
he not? So that they would not have to
depend upon the heathen for nothing. For nothing. Because they were
his people. They were living in daddy's house.
Mama was living in her husband's house. He's a good provider. He gave them everything necessary
to live. But what did they do? They straddled
the fence of the seven nations that were among them, not willing
to be the set apart people of God. On a practical level, here's
how this works. In the 21st century of an apostate
world, a very dangerous world, a very corrupt world, a very
perilous culture. You ready? Every man is doing
that, which is right in his own eyes. And we're more like the
book of judges. Then we are like the book of
Joshua. The book of judges was a disenfranchised broken set
of people who could barely enter into their inheritance, even
though it was given to them. They would be given their inheritance
and lose their inheritance because they weren't fighting by faith.
They weren't doing God's will. And they were divided. They were
in conflict with one another all the time, never obeying God's
word. And so over the decades, what
you would see is idol worship everywhere. Are you guys hearing
me? They were idolaters more than
they were worshipers of Jehovah. That's the state of the church
in America. I'm telling you the truth. So
every man is an island to himself. And do you know what happens
when you get in trouble? You don't have a recourse of human
resources in the kingdom to help you because you haven't been
functioning in the kingdom on a practical level so that those
resources are there to avail you. Does anybody get an idea
of what I'm talking about? When you're in trouble, it's
hard to come because you haven't actually been living the kingdom
with the people of the kingdom in terms of God's objectives. And you know what happens? Then
we do the world and trying to fix our problem. And then as
one of the judges, that's what I am. I'm a judge and I have
to deliberate issues, hard issues, easy issues, difficult issues.
Then you come back to me when it's all broke because you've
been doing it out there that way. And there's no way to pick
up the pieces because we aren't facilitating the Commonwealth
of Israel. in this model that demands accountability. Accountability. Are you guys
hearing me? See, we don't wanna be accountable
until we get in trouble. And then when our little raft
is going so far out in the ocean, save me, save me, save me. Now we gotta go way out there
and tow you back in. Try to help you out. When we help you out,
you leave again. Go back to the worldly patterns.
And the church never makes his way. And that's why we have to
be engaged in so many secular institutions that help deal with
people's pathology, which is a consequence of an ignorance
of the principles of relationship, which are rooted in accountability.
Are you guys following me? All relationship is accountability. All relationship is accountability. Are you hearing me? No accountability,
no relationship. And to the degree that we minimize
the relationship and the accountability, to that degree, we minimize our
effectiveness collectively. as well as individually. Let's
close and pray and we'll come back next time. This is getting
a little late. Father, thank you for this time.
Thank you for your word. Thank you for the study. Thank you for a reminder
of the nature of the kingdom. You, you told us, seek ye first
the kingdom of God and all of his righteousness and everything
will be added. You told us, you plainly told us to be careful
of serpentine and riotousness and drunkenness and the cares
of this life, which would come upon us. like a snare. You told us. You told us these
things will come. You told us that we will be constantly
being vied for our souls by false lovers would draw us away. You told us that's where we are
today in much of our Christendom. Have mercy on us. Prepare us
for worship on Sunday. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. God bless you guys.