The Story of the Bible (Part 6)
Announcements:
- March 1 Concert
- Coffee and Canvas March 7
Introduction:
Slide 8 –
Christians are commanded to be making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Triune God, and teaching them to observe what Jesus commands.
App: How are you doing on that?
1Tim. 5:1 “ bDo not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, cyounger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.” – Accordance
- Instructions from Paul to Timothy on pastoring. Good advice to apply to discipleship as well.
- Consider household of faith as family, and encourage one another in that way.
Titus 2:2-6 “Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, psound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. 3 qOlder women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, rnot slanderers sor slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, tpure, uworking at home, kind, and vsubmissive to their own husbands, wthat the word of God may not be reviled. 6 Likewise, urge xthe younger men to be self-controlled.” – Accordance
- In my own life, I have always benefited from the friendships I have made with older, spiritually mature men.
Here’s a fairly easy and natural way to obey this mandate to be a disciple and make disciples. Try to find at least one person who you identify to be more spiritually mature than you are. Make friends with that person. Spend time with that person. Talk with that person. It’s good if you talk about the Bible or praying or various matters of faith with them. And the discipleship won’t be very effective if you don’t. But even when you aren’t directly talking about the Bible with them, you’ll have opportunity to see how they act in certain situations. What they do and what they don’t do. Learn to imitate that.
And while finding someone more spiritually mature than you are to be friends with, also find someone younger in the faith than you to be friends with. You want to come alongside the person you want to disciple, not come over top of them. There’s a difference. If you try to parent them, they probably aren’t going to like it and that relationship probably won’t go very far. But if you come alongside and encourage them like a brother and sister, you can go far.
Link: While being discipled by and discipling other believers remember this Proverb.
Proverb 27:17 – “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” – ESV
You will learn less in life if you assume you can’t learn from those younger than you.
So, two relationships to seek out – a person more mature in the faith to disciple you and a person less mature in the faith to disciple you. Simply make friends with them and some discipleship will happen naturally. The more intentional you are about it, though, the better.
One more relationship – someone who is not a Christian for you to reach out to. If every Christian were to keep their relationships exclusively with those who are also Christian, then the church would die out very quickly. This current generation would have strong disciples, but the next would have few.
Link: To the non-Christian in this dispensation of the Church Age, God’s command is to obey the Gospel.
Acts 17:30-31 – 30 iThe times of ignorance jGod overlooked, but know he lcommands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed ma day on which nhe will judge the world oin righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and pof this he has given assurance to all qby raising him from the dead.” – Accordance
In this dispensation, God is commanding the world to repent and believe the Gospel. Our job as Christians is to give that Gospel out to the world. Hopefully that helps to embolden you on that mission to reach other people for Jesus.
You don’t need to be and should not be ashamed of the Gospel because there is a divine command from God going out to the world that they should repent and obey it. And it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Don’t be ashamed of it. It’s what this dispensation is all about right now and you’re on the right side of history if you’ve chosen to trust in Jesus.
Link: Now, like all dispensations, this one will end in judgment upon disobedience. In this case, the judgment comes upon those who have rejected God’s command to obey the Gospel. That’s what 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10 is about.
Read 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Notice what this communicates:
The Lord will bring relief to Christians. But the Lord will bring judgment upon those who do not know God and do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. Christians will receive relief from God and non-Christians, punishment.
1 Thessalonians 5:9 further reassures us with these words: “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Christians are destined for relief, not wrath.
Link: This leads into the subjects of the Rapture and the Tribulation. The Rapture is relief for believers. The Tribulation is judgment for those who have rejected Christ.
Slide 9 –
At the end of the Church Age, the Church will be raptured so that they are spared from the wrath to come upon those who have disobeyed the command to believe the Gospel. Relief for Christians, punishment for those who have rejected God’s command to obey the Gospel.
Link: The rapture event is spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 “For nthe Lord himself will descend ofrom heaven pwith a cry of command, with the voice of qan archangel, and rwith the sound of the trumpet of God. And sthe dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be tcaught up together with them uin the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so vwe will always be with the Lord.” – Accordance
The Rapture is when Jesus descends from heaven to the clouds – not to the earth, that is important – all Christians who have died are resurrected and meet Him in the clouds too. Christians who are alive are changed and go to meet Him in the clouds. All those rising to be with Christ at that moment are changed. They put on immortal bodies and become completely holy in practice – they will never sin or desire to sin again.
Every Christian from the Church Age then goes into heaven with Christ to experience relief while the events of the Tribulation take place. All the people left upon the earth after that event are people who have not trusted in Christ as Savior. They will enter the Tribulation.
Slide 10 –
What follows after the Rapture is the Tribulation. This is what the book of Revelation is mostly about. Revelation 5 to Revelation 19 is all about the Tribulation. The bulk of Revelation describes God pouring out judgement upon the earth with increasing severity.
In Revelation you read of angels bringing judgment, demonic powers setting up kingdoms on the earth, creepy armored locusts attacking people, water becoming undrinkable, war happening everywhere, famine, meteors falling to earth, the land covered in darkness, innumerable people dying.
The majority of Revelation is about an angry God bringing punishment against a world that refuses to worship Him and chooses instead to openly worship Satan. It will be a very low point that humanity reaches. It’s going to be terrible. It’s going to be ugly. By the end of it, very few people will be left alive.
Slide 11 –
The Tribulation period ends with the Second Coming of Christ.
*Read Revelation 19:11-16*
When Christ returns in the Second Coming, any person who has not repented and turned to God is killed at that moment. Jesus, who is the Life, will speak a Word, and they will all instantly be cut off from life and die. Battle over. One man against an army and the army doesn’t stand a chance. We will follow Him into battle, but not because our efforts are needed.
Revelation does talk about quite a number of people who actually are saved during the Tribulation. There will be some survivors. Not everyone on earth will be at this battle. Hidden alcoves of small groups of people, in particular many Jewish people whom the Lord in particular protects through the Tribulation, who are not part of this army that Christ destroys at His second coming.
Notice I said many Jewish survivors. Revelation speaks of 144k Jews who are protected by God through most of the Tribulation. Revelation also speaks of Satan being really, really aggressively angry toward the nation Israel and God hiding Israel from the wrath of Satan. During the Tribulation, Satan will try very hard to destroy believing Israel, but will fail because God is protecting them.
And so now we get to why I spent a good bit of time last week talking about the promises God made to the Jewish people. The Old Testament talks a lot about Israel being restored to the land which God promised them, and having a kingdom once more, and having an eternal King to rule over them in this kingdom. This promised kingdom is what the Jewish people were looking for when Jesus first came to earth. Unfortunately, they did not correctly identify Jesus as the Messiah and they rejected and killed Him. Though at that time they rejected God, God did not reject them. God did not reject His people Israel, nor has He forgotten the promises that He has made to them.
Those who are alive at the end of the Tribulation, mostly believing Jews, will go into the Millennial Kingdom. All the Old Testament saints, the church, and the believers of all ages who return with Christ will go into the Kingdom as well.
Read Revelation 20:4-6
It is during this period that God will be working to fulfill the promises He has made to Israel. Believing Christians will also be there, but the emphasis will be upon Israel. This kingdom is talked about all throughout the Old Testament in far too many passages to cover today. The best passage describing it is Ezekiel 36:25-38
Read Ezekiel 36:25-38
The earth will be like a new Garden of Eden. Jesus will be ruling all over the earth, food will be abundant. It will be overflowing with joy, and peace, and righteousness, and health, and vibrancy, and God’s glory. There will be a great many people there. Israel will be there, whom God is working with in a special way. Many nations will be there. People who have been resurrected and made perfect will be there. Survivors of the Tribulation will be there.
On the surface, and in the hearts of many, things will be perfect. But there will be people there, children of those who survived the Tribulation, many children over 1,000 years. In the hearts of many, they will not fulfill the responsibility that God puts upon man during this dispensation. Their obedience of and worship of Christ will be mere lip service. Something done out of fear, not love. And when another opportunity comes for rebellion and setting up a different kingdom, they will take that opportunity.
Link: The final failure in the final dispensation is described in Revelation 20:7-9
Read Revelation 20:7-9
At the conclusion of the 1000 years, Satan is released and countless people immediately reveal themselves to have merely tolerated the reign of Christ and longed for the reign of Satan instead. They will form an army, led by Satan, in one last attempt to overthrow God.
But like all the times before this, the attempt was hopelessly doomed from the start. They stand no chance. How can one ever succeed at overthrowing the One who gives life and takes away life?
A lot of people have wondered: Why is Satan released? Why is this allowed to happen? It doesn’t say that he breaks out. It says that he is released. He is let out. Why would God allow him to be let out?
The Bible doesn’t answer this question, so I can only give you speculation. God has not spoken on this subject and I am not speaking for Him now. He will clear it up if He desires to in His time.
But my speculation comes from seeing a question that is answered by this event.
A lot of people, myself included, are uncomfortable with the idea of an eternal place of punishment, away from God. Many people reject the concept of an eternal lake of fire, away from God’s presence. There have been numerous thoughts to try to get around this idea. Roman Catholics invented a place called purgatory, where people could find some way to escape this fate.
Many people, myself included, have friends and loved ones who do not know Christ as Savior. The thought of them not experiencing eternal life is hard to bear. God Himself has said that He does not desire that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God Himself is even grieved about the idea of people being separated from Him forever.
So, many people, throughout the years, have asked questions like these: “Why doesn’t God let everyone into heaven? Surely, if given enough time and enough chances, they would choose Him eventually, right? If they knew about Him better, they would choose Him, right? If they could just experience heaven, and know how good it is, they would choose Him, right?”
The pattern of the dispensations reveals the answer. This final rebellion makes the answer very clear.
You could look at Adam and Eve and say “Yes, they had the Garden of Eden and they choose someone other than God. But that’s only two people and they were deceived.”
You could look at the generation of Noah and say “Okay, right they all rejected God and murdered each other, but they didn’t have government and law, right?”
You could look at the tower of Babel and say “Well, they all had a bunch of bad influence. If they could just be scattered around everywhere, not influencing one another for evil, they’d choose God, right?”
You could look at the nation of Israel during Christ’s day and say “The nation of Israel, yes, they had the Law, they had government, and they rejected the Messiah, but they didn’t have the New Testament.”
You could look at the world during the Church Age and say “OK, yes, they have the completed Bible and the Holy Spirit reproving the world of sin, churches all over the world, and the Gospel being preached to them. But they don’t really know how good heaven will be, right?”
You could look at the Tribulation period and say “OK, yes, they rejected, but they were being punished and that made them angry and Satan was with them the whole time. If only they would know the love of God, and Satan were completely out of the picture, then surely they would choose Him, right?”
And then you get to the Millennial Kingdom. Here God puts mankind in something as good as a new Garden of Eden. Satan is out of the picture. Jesus Himself is with them. They see Him fulfilling all promises to His people. They see His people in their glorified resurrection bodies. They see peace throughout all the earth. They lack for nothing. They see Jesus in all His beauty and glory. They see, as close as can be seen this side of eternity, what heaven will be like. And they get to see it for 1000 years. They’ve seen heaven. They’ve seen Christ in His glory. They’ve seen it all. And they still don’t want Him.
God knows what is really going on and God decides to give mankind one final choice, one final test. One last chance to choose life over death. His adversary from of old is released to see, once and for all, if mankind will choose Him or choose His adversary. One final petition to a mankind which, in their hearts, do not want Him.
The answer is disappointing. Better than what happened in the Garden of Eden, but disappointing. Some choose God and some choose the adversary. The ones who choose God are the ones from all the ages who have come to Him in repentance and faith. And those who did not do so during the Millennium don’t do so now. All has been said. All has been done. And they simply don’t want heaven.
Now, could God have a different reason for letting Satan loose at the end of the Millennium, He sure could. That is my speculation only, but I think it answers a lot of questions.
Slide 12 –
Read Revelation 20:10-15
What happens after the final rebellion is the resurrection of those who from all ages have rejected God and His grace and tried to be their own god instead. No one resurrected at this time will make it into heaven. Their names will be found to not be in the book of life, and they will be separated from God forever and have to bear the penalty for their sins against an eternal God.
Read Revelation 21:1-7
*Talk about greatness of heaven*
Application:
Mankind has a sin nature and ultimately fails the responsibilities that God gives to them. If salvation were by works and obedience, no one would make it. But God is a gracious God. Over and over again, for thousands of years, God extends forgiveness to us if we would only come to Him in faith.
He has made a way into eternal life and an eternal heaven through His work through Jesus Christ. He has accomplished all that is needed for us to enjoy eternal life with Him forever and He offers it to us freely. We must simply choose to trust His Gospel.
Throughout many ages God has demonstrated to mankind His goodness, His grace, His forgiveness, His love, and His wrath towards sin. God wants to extend grace to mankind and opportunities to come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ. He did this before the Church Age and He will do this after the Church Age too. In all ages God shows His goodness to mankind and asks them to choose Him.
In this dispensation, He has given us the task of giving this Gospel to people and to show His goodness. We are His voice calling out to a fallen world saying, please come home to the good, good Father.
Let us stand shoulder to shoulder with one another, disciple one another, and reach out to a lost world together, in obedience to God, for His glory, and that more people might stand beside us in God’s glorious mercy, grace, and love.