April 18, 2008

• Eternal Judgment by Pastor Don

  Pastor Don has been going over the elementary principles mentioned in Hebrews 6:1-3.

  Before the Bible study Pastor Don told us that in business dealings, we are not to separate our business from our Christian walk. We need to communicate with people. So many Christians have given Christianity a bad name by how they deal with others in the secular world. Some do not pay their rent on time, which makes it tough when Pastor Don seeks an apartment for one of the members and the landlord tells him that he does not like to rent to Christians for they do not honor their contracts.

  Pastor Don says that some people wear the title “Christian” as a label, but not everyone looks at the label and sees or expects the same thing. We are responsible for our actions. We represent Jesus and we need to do a better job at that.

  There are physical laws that God has set in motion. Someone asked about medicine and sickness and if that conflicts with believing in faith for a healing. This was in response to the little child who died of a disease that could have easily been treated by a doctor, but the parents did not take the child to the doctor. Pastor Don replied that one example is pain – which is a warning system that something is off in our bodies. We can have faith for healing, but still need to address the pain in our body. We can seek treatment and also believe for healing for the condition. Paul wrote to Timothy to take wine. Hezekiah had a poultice.

  Pastor Don said that we need to keep ourselves alive so that we can get our miracle. If you are going to choose not to use a doctor you need to pray before that choice and make sure that what you are hearing is a word from God. He suggests going to a doctor to know what to pray about, and if you choose to have faith in medicine, God can heal through medicine. Pray over your pills that they will heal you quickly.

  Then Pastor Don was asked about the manifestation of the presence of God, and told us that initially when the presence of God was on Pastor Don he used to feel goosebumps and tingling. He then assumed that when those sensations were there, God was present. But later God removed those signs because what God can do, satan can imitate. Now Pastor Don knows by faith, not by external signs.

  Pastor Don pointed out that when a person claims to have huge faith, there should also be good works that demonstrate that kind of faith.

  But we are not to judge anybody’s faith. He called some of what we do ignorance gone to seed. If we are not certain about a person’s faith, wait it out, and that will expose the truth. Emotions can lead us to think we are believing in faith when it is really wishing and hoping.

  Here is the text we have been studying in detail so that we are not ignorant of the elementary principles of faith: 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.

  The last principle is eternal judgment. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

  Every Christian, Protestant and Catholic, believes in the New Birth. The New birth is for both Gentiles and Jews. And the New Birth has a result.

  John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

  Jesus must be crucified, which was the picture of Moses lifting up a serpent. (Heather’s comment, someone pointed out that in order for a serpent to be lifted up on a pole and remain there, there had to be a cross piece to drape the serpent over)

  John 3:15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

  The words “eternal life” is different from what is seen in verse 16 as “everlasting life.”

  John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

  The World – orderly arrangement of the universe. Loved means greatly prized. Begotten implies unique. Muslims misread these verses. Mohammed did not read or write, so he could not read the Bible to know what it said.

  In 600AD the Catholic Church attributed deity and sanctification of Mary.

  Mohammed did not associate Jesus as God, he saw him as only physical. But we know that while Jesus was born human, Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit, not a physical man.

  Believes means to trust, rely on, cling.

  Perish means destruction, to die, to be lost.

  Everlasting life – sometimes written ad Eternal and Everlasting life, is a concept of time. In Hebrew the terms everlasting, means ongoing and forever does not exist.

  In Hebrew the idea of Everlasting Life implies the sense of a relationship over a long period of time.

  You can golf with someone over a long period of time and when you get older you are still a golf buddy, or you can play cards younger and as you get older still play cards with a person.

  The relationship is ongoing, not ending. The relationship does not end, but has different phases.

  God is eternal, that is not chronos – measured clock time.

  God/Spirit does not exist in chronos time. He can enter into chronos time because He created time, but he does not have to stay in Chronos time.

  What is meant is AION time, you have to have this understanding – it means AGES OF THE AGES. Do ages end? No. Inside eternal ages of time are periods of AION time. They are of varying lengths, but are part of an ongoing continuum.

  Jesus says, “at the end of the Age.” But that does not mean at the end of all time, but the end of a generation, or an age, or an AION. Spiritual time is not tick tock time.

  An example of this is the 70 weeks of Daniel. We have been in the 69th week for a long time, 2000 years. But the 70th week has not happened. AIONIC time is connected with the prophetic age. God will determine when the AION is ended. God is not bound by our clock.

  Everlasting. Pastor Don said that we will not get to heaven and do nothing for all of eternity. With the passage of existence through death, we will be an eternal being, past Judgment, and become part of ages of ages. God looks for certain passing of events.

  God has waited 7,000 years of earth time for events to happen. In Heaven, how long is eternity? We don’t know, until God lets us know.

  God will create a new Heaven and a new earth that will last forever, for the ages of the ages, but we don’t know how long that is.

  The Age of Man is 7,000 years. Then we go into the next age, the Age of the Day of the Lord.

  There will be a millennial reign of 1000 years, This could be another age, approximately a day is as long as 1000 years. It could be as long as 2000 years in God’s timing, under the umbrella of everlasting. God has forever, and the Spirit of Man and Angels have forever as well.

  We roll into the 8th day, new beginnings, a different age. It is the same as the 1st day. God is not going to have the end of mankind and then everyone just sit forever. He will have stuff for us to do.

  Perish in John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

  Perish means to be destroyed or lost.

  The Spirit of Man is not destroyed if it is cast into outer darkness. It exists there for ages of the ages.

  There is a scriptural error to think that one is destroyed if they are cast into the lake of fire. They will be in the lake of fire from AION to AION. Some give the false teaching that at the end of the age everyone will come out of hell and be forgiven. Some have even said that satan will be forgiven. That is not what the Bible says.

  Pastor Don then used a fleshly example. He said that infants grow out of the infant stage (age). Teenagers grow out of their age. Adults grow out of their age. Why, then when we have the experiences of Jesus, and what the Bible tells us, do we not believe what it says about the ages of ages? We do not know what we will experience in the ages of ages.

  John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

  Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the World, but that people may be saved. But that does not mean that condemnation is done away with, it means that there is an opportunity to be saved. To escape condemnation is conditional, and God spells out the conditions.

  John 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

  The condition is that we are given a choice – to believe in the name of Jesus, God’s only begotten son, or not to believe. If we choose not to believe we are condemned.

  Someone brought up the question of the Africans who maybe haven’t heard about Jesus, and Pastor Don told us that God is just and He will make sure that people have that opportunity. Some may have heard about Jesus, and with knowledge chose not to make a choice – in that they sinned. Luke 15 gives the answer about the Father’s heart for the lost – it is several parables about rejoicing for what was lost was found. But in order to have free will, God has to give a person a choice. What joy would there be if a person who did not want to be around God was forced to be in His presence?

  Then Pastor Don said that with verse 19 it gets “gooder.”

  John 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

  Jesus is the light. Those who come to the Lord don’t have to be confronted with their sins. They know that what they are doing is wrong. The know that homosexuality, gambling, adultery is a sin. The light will expose the sin to them, and then they have the choice to accept Jesus and change. But the problem is, that many love the sin so much that they choose to reject the Light of Christ.

  John 3:20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

  If a person is stuck in darkness, they hate the light.  To walk in righteousness is to have the light, and the right attitude. When we walk in righteousness, the people around us will become annoyed with us for it exposes them. They will complain that we go to church for 4 hours. If we went to the mall for four hours they would not say one word, but because we are at church, then they complain.

  Pastor Don pointed out that many people move from one city to another, thinking that they will get a good job or more money, but many do not consider the Church when they make their moves. Will there be a church in the area where they are moving that will feed them the Word of God, or will they end up without a good home church? People forget that our prosperity is connected with our Spiritual life, and that God can provide for us where we are. Don’t make a move without considering the spiritual aspect of where we are moving.

  Our church. Living Word Chapel, has a cradle to grave ministry, social work, parenting, education and equipping the saints for service. Pastor Don points out that if a person leaves our church and then comes back 20, 10, 5 years later, they will be welcomed back with love and acceptance. Never be afraid to come back if you left.

  Pastor Don pointed out that in Verse 20 we see that people hide out in the darkness, but that will not protect them from the Wrath of the Lord. They hide out until pressure is brought to bear. For example on September 11, the Sunday following we had 11 people accept the Lord, and at least 30 visitors. Now we don’t see most of them, because the pressure eased.

  John 3:21  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.

  The one who does the truth comes to the light and walks in righteousness. The light will expose those deeds that are not of the light, not of God. In the move from darkness to light the battle is fought in the mind, then the actions follow. We have to choose.

  Pastor Don then began speaking about Judgment as taught in Revelation. I will continue that tomorrow.

  Hoping your day is blessed. I am hoping those of you who are in the throes of finals and term papers are able to accomplish all that you need to do.

  Heather

  • 8:01 am
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