Local churches are authorized to provide for needy Christians, continued

Objections

• James 1:27 – “Can’t the church practice pure and undefiled religion?”
  • This passage is talking about individuals – not the church acting collectively.

• Luke 10:30-37 – “Jesus taught us to do the same as the good Samaritan.”
• “Even the Old Covenant provided for the needy and the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant.”
  • God defines what is “better.” We can’t pick and choose things from the Old Covenant.
• Acts 2:46 – “The early church broke bread from house to house.”
  • “All” must be kept in context. The passage is not saying that 100% of their goods were in the church treasury.
• II Corinthians 9:13 – “Paul said the money went to ‘them’ (needy saints) and to ‘all’ (non-saints).
  • This money would do more than just pay the bills – it would cause others to glorify God.
  • Paul mentioned this money seven times in three different letters, always noting it was for needy saints.
    • I Corinthians 16:1; II Corinthians 8:4; 9:1,12; Romans 15:25, 26, 31
  • Acts 10:28, 34-35; Galatians 2:11-13 – Relations were icy between Jews and Gentiles.
  • Romans 15:25-27
  • Paul is referring to the money and the message is sent about the relationship between Gentile saints and Jewish saints.

Herod the Great (37 BC – 4 BC)

• Matthew 2:1-8, 12-20 – Herod sought to kill Jesus in fear for his own power.
• Herod the Great was constantly paranoid about losing power.
• Herod was the great builder at the time, building fortresses (Herodium, Masada, etc.) and doing massive renovations on the temple and surrounding buildings.
• John 2:19-21
• Mark 13:1 – A few years later, the Roman army destroyed the temple as Jesus prophesied.
• I John 2:15-17 – God always wins. The world will pass away.

Herod Antipas, the tetrarch (4 BC – 39 AD)

• Mark 6:14-28 – Like his father, Herod was afraid of embarrassment before his dinner guests. He was also afraid of John the Baptist.
• Son of Herod the Great.
• Herod knew that there was power outside of him that he had no control over and it made him afraid.
• Luke 23:7-12

Herod Agrippa I (39-44 AD)

• Acts 12:1-3, 19, 21-23
• Nephew of Herod Antipas, grandson of Herod the Great.
• Matthew 10:28
• Herod had power over James’ body, but it did not go beyond that.

Herod Agrippa II (48-93 AD)

• Son of Herod Agrippa I.
• Acts 25:23; 26:1-32

Final take-aways

• Don’t be afraid of “power.”
  • Romans 13:1
• No one outlasts King Jesus.
  • Revelation 1:5-6
• Seize the truth!
  • Proverbs 23:23

Time

• Romans 7:9 – Paul was alive apart from the law because he didn’t know good from evil.
• Romans 3:23
• I John 1:8
• Mark 16:16
• Acts 2:38
• Romans 10:9-10
• Romans 8:24
• Ephesians 2:8-9
• Colossians 1:12-17
• Hebrews 9:27

Death

• Where did Jesus go?
  • Luke 23:40-43
  • Paradise – II Corinthians 12:1-4
• Did Jesus die?
  • Matthew 27:50; Luke 23:46; John 13:33-39
• What about the thief?
  • John 19:31-33
• Was that heaven?
  • John 20:12-17, 30-31
  • Acts 1:9-11 – Jesus ascended to heaven.
  • Luke 16:19-31
  • Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8 – The second death is eternal separation from God. That death is optional!
  • Physical death – Ecclesiastes 12:7
  • Spiritual death – Revelation 21:8

Hades

• All the dead will be raised (Revelation 20)
  • I Thessalonians 4:13-18
  • I Corinthians 15:35-55

Satan and sifting

• Job 1 and 2 – Satan asked permission to sift Job (to see what he was made of).
• Matthew 3:11-12 – “and his winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean his threshing floor” (wheat from chaff)
• Amos 9:9 – “shake the house of Israel as grain is shaken in a sieve”
• Acts 5:3 – Satan filled Ananias’ heart to lie
• Luke 22:3; John 13:2, 27 – Satan entered Judas’ heart

“Has requested permission”

• Satan was not content with Judas alone (John 13:2, 27)
• Mark 5:1-15 – Jesus has control over demons.
• Acts 19:10-19 – Paul had power over demons also.
• II Corinthians 2:11 – “We are not ignorant…”
• We like to think that we don’t have control over our errors because of fear, stress, emotions, etc.

Peter’s basic personality and demeanor

• Extremely self-confident and often not as smart or tough as he thought it was.
• Very motivated, to the point of appearing arrogant at times.
• Always the first to speak and relay his plan to all.

“To sift you like wheat”

• Some of Peter’s sifting:
  • Luke 22:54-61; Mark 16:7 – humiliation
    • Peter realized he was not as smart or as tough as he thought he was. Would Peter be excited to see Jesus again after His resurrection?
  • John 21:15-23 – not enough faith
  • Acts 4:3-11; 5:18; 12:4-11 – prison
    • Peter had quickly gone from somewhat of a coward to a man that would loudly proclaim Jesus without fear of death.
    • Peter was sleeping in prison the night before he was to be put to death!
  • Galatians 2:11-14 – publicly condemned by Paul
    • Peter was caught up in hypocrisy. He still needed sifting. This is no doubt something Paul did not want to do.\
  • I Peter 1:6-12; 4:1-2, 12-16
    • As you grow older, has your personality and understanding of God changed?
    • The testing of your faith makes you a different person.
    • Sifting and testing are the same thing. Peter is no longer concerned about death. He is concerned about having his name written in the book of life.

How does God prepare us for His service?

• By gifting us – Romans 12:6-12; I Peter 4:10; Matthew 25:29
  • This process allows us to grow talents we have and acquire new ones.
• By sifting us – I Peter 4:12-19
  • This process helps me to eliminate the bad thing in me and enhances the good.

Remember

• God always totally controls the sifting process.
  • Job 1-2
    • Job was being sifted, but he had no clue about it!
  • Philippians 1:19-21
  • I Corinthians 10:11-13

Two responses to the sifting process

• Anger, rebellion, depression, etc. – That leads to eternal death and destruction.
  • Romans 1:24-32
• Repentance and confession of wrong attitudes and actions – That leads to godliness
  • James 4:13-17; I Peter 5:6-7
    • How much of our anxiety can we hand to God? All of it!
• Eventually, we all repent!

Considerations

• The world beyond, the world unseen, the world in which we enter after death is a world that is not revealed in human philosophy and human reason.
• There have never been any human philosophers that have been able to pull back the veil that lies between life and death.
• There is no amount of knowledge from science, math, or otherwise that can help us understand what happens after death.
• That is why so many highly educated men view immortality as a myth.
• Isn’t it amazing that the Bible spends an enormous amount of time in this very subject of what happens after this life.
• The prophets saw it for 1500 years before the birth of Jesus.
• 4000 years ago, Job spoke in detail about it (Job 14:14; 19:25-26).
• The apostles revealed it in great detail, and the revelation unveils a glorious life that is yet to come almost 2000 years ago (I Thessalonains 4:13-17; I Corinthians 15:50-58).
• So not by human or philosophy, only by revelation from God, we have an enormous body of information on the matter.
• Believe it or not!

The first five minutes of eternity

• Without exception, entrance into the next life is absolute and immediate.
• Soul sleeping, purgatory, limbo, and period of probation are all of human creation because there is no mention of any of this in revelation from God.
• With absolutely no exception, we are ushered into the next life immediately, and we will spend eternity there.
• This was even true with Enoch and Elijah (Genesis 5:22; Hebrews 11:5; II Kings 2:11, 17).

Life in two parts: this life and the next life

• There is a blessedness in life and a cursedness in damnation, and the two are always presented in detail in the Bible.
• There are no gray areas with God, only black and white.
• We are either saved in Christ, our sins forgiven in Jesus, and we are forever in the presence of God, or we are shut out and eternally separated from God (Luke 13:22-30).
• In Luke 16, the angels come to get the soul of Lazarus and carry him to Abraham’s bosom immediately after his death (Luke 16:22).
• Luke 23:43 – “Today you shall be with me in paradise.”
• II Corinthians 5:8 – “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”
  • II Corinthians 5:1-8
• Hebrews 2:15 – The fear of death causes us to be held in slavery.

First five minutes

• I Thessalonians 4:13-17 – There is one great redemptive triumph in the final judgment of the body from the dead.
• II Corinthians 5:1-8 – Immediately upon death, a child of God enters into that eternal life with God.
• The same thing occurs in the other world.
• Luke 16:22-23 – The rich man died, and in Hades he lifted up his eyes being in torment, and saw Abraham and Lazarus (immediately).
• In my first five minutes in eternity, I am in, and will life for eternity in heaven or hell.

The two states

• Given this is the way God reveals the matter, what do you think preachers ought to do about presenting this material?
• Should we discuss issues of the day? Political climate?
• These kinds of events have changed a thousand times since mankind came to this earth, and might change a thousand times more if the Lord does not return.
• What does it mean to be lost?
  • To die without the atoning blood of Jesus covering our sins
  • No man can see God without it
  • To experience complete separation from God for all eternity
  • Separation – sheep from goats – Matthew 24:31-46
  • Wheat from the chaff – Luke 3:17
  • Fish caught in a net – good kept, bad thrown away – Matthew 13:47-50
  • Wise and foolish virgins – Matthew 25:1-13
  • Luke 17:34-36 – Separation
  • Luke 16:26 – A great gulf fixed – no one can cross forever
• Greater suffering than any human ever experienced for eternity
  • Luke 16:23-24 – Agony, torment, flame
  • Weeping and wailing, gnashing of teeth – Matthew 13:42, 50; 24:51; 25:30
  • The worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched – Mark 9:44
  • Always a sense that damnation and hell and separation is a place of suffering that humans have never seen on earth for eternity.
• The meaning of being lost is death
  • The second death – Revelation 20:11-15
    • A second death means to die forever in torment.
    • It was this that caused Jesus to die on the cross for the future sins of every human – Hebrews 10:4-18; I Timothy 1:15
  • Have you ever seen a devout Christian die? Heard them discuss death?
  • There is no fear in their hearts of breathing their last breath.
  • They had been preparing for this trip for a long time.

Final thoughts

• Eternity is a place – John 14 – “I go to prepare a place…”
• We will have bodies in that place – Luke 24:36-40; I Corinthians 15
• A bodily resurrection – I Corinthians 15 – Beautiful description of the resurrection of the body
• Someday God will raise up a resurrected body and a redeemed soul to live in a place called heaven – Revelation 21:1-3; II Corinthians 3:18