April 9, 2008

• Resurrection of the Dead and more on discerning spirits by Pastor Don

  On our Friday Bible studies we have been going over in detail the elementary principles of our faith as listed in Hebrews 6:1-3 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.

  We have been reading in 1 Corinthians 15, and it is there that we continued.

  1 Corinthians 15:40-41 There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

  Everybody doesn’t shine the same, and that is the same for the dead.

  1 Corinthians 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.

  We are human and faced with sin situations, and our bodies are in corruption, but when we are raised we no longer have corruption, but are in incorruptible bodies.

  1 Corinthians 15:43-44 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

  Our Spirit has a body. The Spirit of your body changes. Jesus walked the walk, dying on the Cross for us, and because of His sacrifice, the physical body is no longer subject to disease and death.

  1 Corinthians 15:45-46 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.

  The spiritual is not first. What was first was that God THOUGHT  before He spoke.  God thought about the Spirit and the Spiritual aspect of God’s thinking, then He spoke it into existence. In man the spiritual is not first, first comes the natural, then the spiritual.  Our flesh nature is the first to emerge. The law teaches us right and wrong, then we have the Spiritual when we accept Christ into our lives.

  The first Adam was physical, the first living, then we had the Second Adam, Jesus Christ who was spiritual.

  Someone asked about the law and when is a person accountable.

  Romans 7:7  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

  The physical is first, the natural man is sinful but does not know the spiritual holy state without the law to instruct  him.

  Romans 7:8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.

  Once the law is known, the natural man says, let me violate that.

  Romans 7:9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

  Pastor Don asked us when we were alive without the law, wanting those who did not know the answer to try and figure it out. The conclusion was reached when we were a little child we did not know the law, so what was done was not done deliberately but in ignorance of the law. A child does not know right from wrong. When a child grows old enough to comprehend right from wrong and the law, then God will hold them accountable.

  When it says, “alive once,” that is because the wages of sin is death and at that time, before  the law is known, there is no wall of separation between me and God. When sin rises up in us, we die and then we need to be born spiritually. First the natural, then the spiritual.

  Jesus did not come to do away with the law and the Covenant, but to show that the law could be lived on the earth. Jesus was found without fault.

  One of the most misapplied scriptures is what Jesus said in Luke 6:37 “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

  Pastor Don explained that we are not to judge unless we are ready to be judged.

  1 Corinthians 15:47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.

  We are dust – in both the Greek and Hebrew, it is like a clay with full spectrum of color, white to black and all colors in between. So the issue of races is not appropriate for the first Adam was all. We are one nation of color. Paul, who was a darker skin person, may have used this also to defend his identity.

  1 Corinthians 15:48-49 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

  Pastor Don’s comment about this was, “This is shouting ground.”

  We then read the rest of the chapter.

  1 Corinthians 15:50-55 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting?
  O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

  Someone asked about the Lake of Fire and the end times, and judgment. Pastor Don gave a brief explanation, but spoke very fast. I took down all that I could.

  Death itself will be sent to the Lake of Fire. Hades is another word for hell. God did not make hell for men. The only ones going to hell are the ones who want to. We will be changed to supernatural beings. There will be emotions, Isaiah shows us that the Spirit has emotions. There is a millennial reign, the spiritual flesh is not subject to the work of the devil. On earth there will be those who are not ungodly. They will have heard the truth, know the truth, but were not living by that. They still have unrepented issues and continue to do acts that show that they have not made Jesus the Lord of their life.

  In order to go up in the rapture, our robes need to be pure, clean, righteous, and holy, and looking for the return of the Lord with enough Holy Ghost so that they are not habitually bound. Those with unrepented issues, captive to actions of the flesh, bound by perversions, will not, although saved, go up in the rapture. They will be like the foolish virgins who did not have oil in their lamps. The third group are the sinners who don’t care, don’t have the robes of righteousness, and do not want God in their lives, they have refused and rejected the gospel. They will not be raptured.

  Those who have accepted God will hopefully repent during the tribulation and be saved. The sad news is that there is nothing in the Bible that says that any Gentile sinners who refused God before the rapture will repent and get saved during the tribulation. They will listen to the lies of the antichrist.

  The Jews will be saved, and Paul tells us that that is a mystery, and he doesn’t know how, but there will be a remnant of saved Jews on the earth.

  Ezekiel talks about the dead bones and God asks him if they can live again. In the last days God will breathe on them, and they will have new skin and God will put the Word in their heart. Therefore at the resurrection of the dead, lots of Jews after going through the tribulation will be saved. They had not been living godly lives, had fallen into ungodly ways, but they will be changed.  Hebrews 6 spells it out, that the Jews and the group that is known as the friends of the bride groom will be saved, the rest will be cast to outer darkness for they hate God.

  Isaiah 40, God talks about how he hates divorce. Because of unbelief he gave blindness to the Jews to raise the gentiles to salvation. God cannot lie. He has said that He will never leave or forsake the Jews, so they are blinded for a time. In Revelation it talks about 144,000 Jews who preach the Gospel with signs and wonders. We are not to listen to false teachings from some of the cults about the 144,000. If you notice, the 144,000 are pulled from the 12 tribes of Israel. Why would God go to the trouble and identify them as tribes if the Jews were not to be saved?

  Pastor Don then stopped this discussion and spoke about the discerning of spirits that he spoke on in the previous Bible study, since it is basically the same teaching as the previous two studies, in my next entry, I am only going to include those notes, that add new information to the previous posts.

  Praying your day is blessed.

  Heather

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