March 14th - The Comma at the End of the Death Sentence

Prayer Requests

Pastor Aaron Preaching
Bethany’s Birthday and Missions Trip Results
Sarah’s Birthday
PasXa outreach – April 2nd
Erin O’s Uncle
Erin C’s Uncle

Clark's Diabetes

Mr. Charlie's Hernia
Persecuted Christians in Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, and elsewhere
Summit in General

Text – 1 Peter 4:1-7

One of the beautiful things about spending a whole year in a single book is that you become to be very intimate with it, you know the ins and outs, you see things you wouldn’t see on just a cursory reading, and you begin to really appreciate both the human author and the Holy Spirit. Last week this jumped out at me that Peter is really spending a LOT of time on the Resurrection of the believer. This thought is REALLY magnified in chapter four, verse 6. This isn’t Peter’s only point in this Epistle, but it is one of his main points. It’s almost like he’s doing his best to point out the benefits of the resurrection in as many ways as he can. Remember that First Thessalonians is the Epistle to the Perfect Church, and Second Thessalonians is the Epistle to the Hopeless Church; if I were to nickname Peter’s Epistle, I would call it the Resurrection Epistle.

Besides this point, which we’re going to look at today, Peter is also really big on holiness, the fact that we are aliens and pilgrims to this world, that our home is Heaven, that the Bible is our final rule of faith and life, that the soul is eternal, that salvation is forever, that good shepherds are essential for the church, and that suffering and death are inevitable. This last point is tied directly to the issue of the resurrection.

So lets look at some verses real quick just to see this theme that Peter is working:

1 Peter 1:3-4 According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…

1 Peter 1:9 …obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 1:19 …who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

1 Peter 1:23 …since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God…

1 Peter 2:12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

1 Peter 3:4 let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit,

1 Peter 3:7 since they are heirs with you of the grace of life

1 Peter 3:14-15 Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…

1 Peter 3:18 Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit,

1 Peter 3:21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you,

So once again we’re skipping chapter 3, verses 8-12, the reason is because I think it will be beneficial to teach those verses with chapter 4, verses 7-11, because these verses bracket Peter’s most beautiful defense of the resurrection and fully understanding Peter’s emphasis on the resurrection will help us to see why passages on earthly living and loving the church are placed where they are.

So that leads us to chapter 4, verses 1-7:

1 Peter 4:1-7 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. The end of all things is at hand.

The word used for suffering here is Pathontos, it comes from Pascho, and it is a little deeper than just pain, but it almost requires pain to death, like torture. We see this in Christ, that he suffered in the flesh, and was put to death in the flesh, but as we saw in verse 18 of chapter 3, he was made alive in the Spirit. The way Peter uses this word, it pretty much requires that it is suffering to death, as we’ll see in a bit. Paul doesn’t always use this word to death, so this is why it is so important to read things in context. Christ didn’t just suffer, right? He died, and that’s what Peter means.

v.1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin…

Luke 22:14-15 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

Acts 17:3 explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ."

So we arm ourselves with this thinking, that it is both inevitable for us to die, and that Christ has gone before us, suffering for righteousness sake. It does us no good to not think about death, because beloved, we’re going to die, lest Christ comes soon. Verse 7 is powerful in this, Peter knew he was going to die, Christ had told him so, he knew there was no way he was getting out of this world alive, so he armed himself with the thinking that it is better to suffer and die for the sake of Christ than for vain things. I very much want to jump ahead, but also want to keep with Peter’s intent. So just briefly in a little while Peter is going to say don’t die for being a lawbreaker, die for being a witness for Christ.

And the beautiful part is that those who have died have ceased to sin; you can’t sin in Heaven. You can also apply this to Hell as well, that God will stop sinners from sinning, they will confess that Christ is Lord and even their unbelief will cease. This is another beautiful thing about going systematically through the Bible, it challenges wrong beliefs. Before we looked at the end of Chapter 3 I thought Jesus descended into Hell, but now I know he didn’t, and a verse in Revelation made me think there was sin in Hell,

Revelation 16:10-11 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.

But that verse is not about Hell, it’s people who are still alive. So to die is to stop sinning. This totally refutes the belief that God hates the sin but not the sinner. There is no sin in Hell, only sinners.

So then, if we can’t sin anymore in Heaven, should we get in as much sin on earth as we possibly can? Peter says,

v.2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

He’s going to explain a little more in a second, but the major point is coming from Christ’s suffering to bring us to God, that we live for him and walk in righteousness not to earn salvation, but to glorify Christ with the life we are given and to bring others to salvation or to leave them without excuse on Judgment Day. But haven’t we sinned enough? That is Peter’s next point:

v.3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.

The sins in the past are enough, they should remind us of our sinfulness, that we had much that we needed to be saved from. Peter says let that be enough, don’t live in the world any longer.

v.4 With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;

Two reasons they are surprised, first of all it sounds like Peter’s readers might have once partaken in these sins of outright paganism, and second because the Gentiles, or probably nations is a better translation here, think that this is all there is to life and are amazed that sojourning Christians do not want to sell their souls for the fleeting pleasure of sin. Notice that Peter doesn’t for a second say that these things aren’t fun or pleasurable, but his major point is that there is so much more to be inherited in Christ and so much more to lose than just a good time.

There is a ton in this verse, we’re just going to jump off a little of it. Notice the word Peter uses to describe their debauchery, or outright sinfulness, it’s flood, which is the very same thing that saved Noah and his family from the evil generation. The wages of sin is death, and payday is coming, Peter is driving for verse 7. The flood of death is stored up to wipe away the flood of sin, and it will, just as the flood of Christ’s blood has washed away the stain of the Christian’s sin. And the resurrection of Christ will bring us through the flood of death. Next is that the Gentile’s malign, or hate, make fun of, and slander, those who don’t partake of their sin. They did this to Jesus, calling him a glutton and a drunkard, yet it was totally slanderous, as he was obviously neither of those.

The world loves to call out Christian hypocrites, people who have done one thing wrong, but are still way less sinful than the world. I’ll give you a personal example; I’m not too into watching sports on TV, I like watching championship games and the occasional game, so when I was at the Superbowl this year and last I wore sports jerseys. In Tampa for the Arizona Cardinals I wore a Diamondbacks shirt, and in Miami I wore a Saints jersey with Psalm 37 on the back, which says that God will not forsake his saints. Both times I had belligerent fans heckle me about my sports addiction and that I was no better than them and that I couldn’t judge them. It was amazing how angry some of them got. The rebuttal is that 1. To the pure all things are pure. 2. I’m not addicted to sports. And 3. I wasn’t drunk and blaspheming like the hecklers were.

But in order to justify themselves in their own eyes, they need to drag the Christian down so as to try to make themselves seem ok for Judgment Day. This is obviously utter foolishness because the standard isn’t other people, but Jesus Christ himself, which is verse 5.

v.5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

We need to remind people that they won’t be judged against us, and whether Christians totally abstain or totally partake of their sin, they are going to be judged against perfection, and making someone else look more sinful isn’t going to help at all in front of the judge.

Imagine a car thief standing in front of the judge and saying, “Well at least I didn’t murder the owner of the car like that guy did.” Sure, the other guy is more guilty, but that doesn’t absolve the guilt of the thief. On Judgment Day an account will be given by all people, the living and the dead. So here Peter realizes that the gospel seemingly doesn’t help with the death problem, that all people die. This was a big stumbling block for me before becoming a Christian, that if the Bible seemingly promises eternal life, why then do Christians die?

Friedrich Nietzsche, a famous atheist who lost his mind at the end of his life, believed that faith was worthless because both the faithful and the faithless were afflicted and died. The greatest argument against this is the resurrection, which is Peter’s next point.

v.6 For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

This is without a doubt my favorite verse. What is the point of preaching the gospel to people who are dead? Why did Noah preach repentance to people who would die eventually anyways? I mean, Noah was saved from the flood, but still he died at 950 years old, so why preach the gospel if we’re going to die anyways?

It’s because judgment is coming to all people, a flood of death, but through Jesus Christ’s resurrection and his application to believers, we will live in the Spirit the way God does. The gospel is not only for life, it is not only for death, it is for both. We both live a godly life and partake in the blessings of the gospel in this life, but we also trust in Christ and his righteousness and resurrection to bring us through our baptism into death, to give us a perfect will in Heaven that we will neither want to sin nor ever sin again.

My favorite verse deals with this in John 11.

John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

And we must remember that in all of this Peter was an eye-witness of Christ’s resurrection, the best attested to historical fact in antiquity. Peter, who was afraid of a little girl before the resurrection then stood up to kings and crowds after the resurrection. We trust in the resurrection for three major reasons, its historicity, the effect it has on people, and because the Bible says so. It is a beautiful testament to the truth of Christianity, and it helps us set our affections fully on Heaven, for here we are just sojourners, pilgrims, aliens without a permanent home, and we have no lasting city on this earth, but we seek the city that is to come, which Christ will deliver us into on his righteousness and through his resurrection.

Finally, the beginning of verse 7 gives us a character of urgency and godliness.

v.7 The end of all things is at hand.

In Second Peter he is going to make a minor addendum to this to say that while the end is at hand, it is at hand in God’s time, not necessarily our time. Because really it’s been 1950 years since Peter wrote this and the end has not yet come, and in Second Peter he is going to make a masterful defense of why not.

But ultimately in the grander scope of eternity, the end really is at hand, within our grasp. And this verse really wrecks the Left Behind view of eschatology, that the millennium is not at hand, that Christ’s kingdom is not at hand, but that the Judgment is at hand when this world will be dissolved with fire and the new Heavens and Earth will be created.

So in conclusion, we are called to suffering, both the painful kind and the kind to death. Because Christ is risen death is dead, we will be saved and will no longer be able to sin, so we strive for holiness, we stand against sin, we call others to repentance so that they will glorify God through their salvation and not through their condemnation. Our former sins are enough, we do our best to abstain from all ungodliness, and we trust wholly in the resurrection to come, because through it we will be made eternally alive in Christ, even though our bodies will die.

February 28th - Baptism Now Saves You

Prayer Requests
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Bethany Going to Indianapolis
Bethany's Grandma going to Hawaii
Sarah and Mark Geil in Chicago
Greg Traveling
Dave Back at Work
Baby Eden
Christians in Iraq

Text – 1 Peter 3:18-22

I’ve done so much research on this passage this week that I have to teach it today, which is why we’re skipping verses 8-12 for now. Those verses are on prayer and I’m anticipating another Prayer Sunday, so we’ll hold off for a little so it can be taught on with the whole church.

The passage we are going to look at today is the only passage which Martin Luther didn’t have a definite belief on what it meant, and one that has caused a lot of confusion and arguments and even heresies have come out of it. The major heresy is baptismal regeneration, the belief that a person has to be baptized rightly in water in order to be saved. A baptismal regeneration belief will keep you from grace and keep you out of Heaven.

As we look at this lesson, one thing I’d really like you to take away is that baptism, which means immersion, is not synonymous with water, and water is not synonymous with baptism. You can be baptized, immersed, in the Spirit, in fire, in peanut butter, or in water. Likewise, you can go swimming in water and it not be counted baptism, even though in the strictest sense of the word, you are immersed.

A smaller mistake, and one that won’t keep you out of Heaven, but is still wrong, is the idea that Christ went to Hell. The newer versions of the Apostle’s Creed contain this belief,

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
-the Maker of heaven and earth,
-and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
-born of the virgin Mary,
-suffered under Pontius Pilate,
-was crucified, dead, and buried;
He descended into hell.
The third day He arose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
-and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
-from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
-the holy universal church;
-the communion of saints;
-the forgiveness of sins;
-the resurrection of the body;
-and the life everlasting.
Amen.

We’ll look at our passage today and see that there is no evidence nor reason to believe that Christ descended into Hell, but rather that the lowest he descended was from Heaven to Earth.

So let’s read our verse before we get too far ahead of ourselves. First though, usually I read from the ESV, I think it is a great Bible. However, here it is terribly translated to try to make it out that Christ went to Hell, and so today we’ll read from the NIV because it accurately translates the Greek. The NASB is also good.

I feel it is important for me to point this out because if you were to say read the NIV and the HCSB together, you’d see that this passage says two totally different things. One of Peter’s major points throughout his Epistles is to teach us both what the Holy Spirit says, and second how to read the Bible, you’ll see this in a major way when we look at 1 Peter 3:8-12 and 2 Peter 1. When we look at verses like the one we’re about to read it is more important to ask, “What does the Bible mean and what does the Holy Spirit want me to learn?” rather than, “What does this mean to me? How else can I interpret it?” We want to know what Peter originally meant, and I believe pretty strongly that this is how I’m going to teach it to you today, and how the NIV translates it.

1 Peter 3:18-22 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

The first thing Peter does is setup the context for what he’s about to say, having previously been talking about the suffering of the saints for the sake of God’s righteousness.

v.18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

This is my favorite verse. Christ was crucified ultimately for standing for righteousness, he suffered for doing good, and even though he was crucified for a very bad reason, check out what he accomplished, he has brought us to God. What men meant for bad, crucifying the Son of God, God used for good, saving all who would repent and believe the gospel.

It’s a very important point that Christ died once, as evidenced by the rest of the verse,

v.18 He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit…

Christ, though dead in the body, did not cease to exist or go to Hell to suffer in death, but was made alive by the Spirit. His body was laid in a tomb, yet he was able to say to a dying saint,

Luke 23:43 And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Peter is reminding his audience that there are two major parts to you, a perishable body and an imperishable soul. We see our bodies everyday so we begin to think we’re bodies with souls, but it is much better to think of ourselves as souls with bodies. This will cause us to take better care of our souls than our bodies, because our souls will endure forever but our bodies will waste away. Take a car for example, when it’s going down the road we think it’s a car with a person in it, but really it’s a person controlling the car.

Peter takes a radical tangent all of the sudden to really make his point well. I don’t know why he goes where he goes, it’s not where I would have gone, but it makes his point and makes it well.

v.19-20 also he went and preached to the spirits (who are now) in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.

How long does your average body last? 70 years maybe? 120 if you’re fortunate. Check out this major point Peter is making, Christ’s Spirit which he has today (AD 65), is the same Spirit he had in 2,400 BC, and ultimately it’s the same Spirit he’ll have forever. We know Christ’s Spirit is eternal with no beginning and no end, but Peter here is showing that Christ’s Spirit has been the same for 2,400 years, that’s a little longer than his body of 33 years was on earth.

Christ preached through Noah to the wicked generation before the flood. The Greek very clearly states that the same Spirit of Christ preached to the people in Noah’s day, which are now souls in Hell. After spending about fifteen hours of research on this I can’t see why anyone would remotely believe Christ went to Hell to preach to dead people. Christ did not go to Hell. He went through all of the sufferings of Hell on the cross, but there was absolutely no reason for him to have to go to Hell. John Calvin, one of the greatest theologians who ever lived, is only wrong on two points, first that he liked to get babies wet, and second that he believed Jesus went to Hell. I mention that so you trust the Bible more than men, although men can and do certainly reveal the truth in amazing ways, they can and do make mistakes, while the Holy Spirit never will.

Ephesians 4:7-10 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)

We’re going to talk in depth about Noah and the flood in Second Peter, so to cover this only basically, the people of Noah’s day were exceedingly wicked; greedy, violent, corrupt, yet Noah preached righteousness to them, and we believe the ark was considerably bigger than it needed to be, it could have held many more people if they would have just believed in God’s judgment and gotten on the boat. But they wouldn’t.

v.20 In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved by water

Wait a minute, I thought Noah and his family were saved by an ark. They were saved from God’s wrath by the ark, but what saved them from evil and corrupt men? The flood. Because God sent the flood which he brought Noah and his family through, he saved them from the violent generation of Noah’s day.

v.21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We’re going to talk a whole lot more about the mode and history of baptism next week, but this week we’re just going to look at what Peter means here. He says baptism saves you…the question is from what? I don’t doubt at all that baptism saves you, it’s just not that it saves you from the wrath of God like Jesus saves you.

Baptism (immersion), into death, saves you from the suffering and wickedness of this world, and just as the ark brought Noah and his family safely through the flood to a new world, so will Christ’s resurrection be that ark which brings us safely through death to a New Jerusalem.

This is why we say what we say from Romans 6 when someone is baptized,

Romans 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Water baptism is purely symbolic of the event that our soul went through, dying to sin and raising to Eternal life. But there is a second baptism, immersion, into physical death in which we are saved from the ability to sin as well as its effects. Baptism, therefore, into death, saves you. The world knows this when they give the eulogy, “He’s in a better place now.”

But the caveat is that believers are saved from wickedness by death, and saved from God’s wrath by Jesus, where-as unbelievers step out of this world into infinitely worse consequences for sin. So it is not true of everyone who dies, “he’s in a better place now.” When George Carlin died I preached at KSU that he’s in an infinitely worse place now and is praying that someone would go and warn his family, friends, and fans not to come there! (cf. Luke 16)

Right in the middle of verse 21 Peter gives a very quick addendum to make sure readers don’t think that the symbolic baptism by immersion in water is what saves,

v.21 (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God)

Martin Luther used to take every bath in remembrance of the baptism of his soul, the cleansing of his conscience, because the reason we need frequent washings is because we constantly get dirty. Read this back to verse 18, Christ died ONCE for all, his one act of obedience has made us righteous forever, so that where sin increases grace abounds all the more.

Romans 5:19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

We are washed, we are sanctified, we are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. We don’t need to work for salvation, we don’t need to be physically baptized, we don’t need to continually confess, because Christ has done all the work, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that he might bring us to God. Next week we’ll look at why we do get baptized, because there is a very good reason, and to not do so is a sin, but a sin which Christ is more than capable of paying for.

v.22 who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

So Peter’s major point, coming from verse 13, is that suffering is a part of the Christian life, but that Christ has gone before and has proved many magnificent things, first that he is mighty to save from sin and death, to reconcile us to God having absorbed the wrath, and that there is a soul that lives on after death.

We have this promise, that to live is Christ, and to die is gain, for our lasting city is the city in which Christ sits and reigns over, where angels, authorities, powers, and all things are in submission to him. We seek that city.

But until then, we seek to bring others with us, witnessing for righteousness’ sake, suffering for Christ’s sake, even into death, but this baptism into death saves us forever from pain and suffering.

Many people want to die peacefully in their sleep at a hundred years old. For the Christians they will pass into eternal peace, for the wicked they will pass into eternal death. Me, if given the option, I would face the most heinous of tortures to death, for truly this baptism will save me and for all the rest of eternity I will feel not a pinprick of pain.

So stand up for righteousness, no matter the cost. Are you afraid of having your feelings hurt? They crucified your Saviour. Are you afraid of the pain? They plucked his beard out by its roots. Are you afraid of the shame? They spit on him and crowned him with thorns. Are you afraid of losing friends? Christ’s friends ran from him and one of them sold him for the price of a slave. Are you afraid of death? Death has lost its sting. Are you afraid of failure? Through Christ we are assured of the victory.

Truly nothing of consequence stands between us and our King. God, once our greatest enemy, is now our loving Father; Death, once a daunting darkness, is now a friend; Life, once our greatest treasure, is beset on every side with pain and suffering; Christ, once just a name, is now our supreme reward.

So place your trust on him, lay hold of Christ, and while your body shall pass away, your spirit will reign eternally with the Living Christ, the righteous and triumphant Saviour.

July 5th - Hell

Prayer Requests
Barack Obama is a Southern Baptist
Pastor Aaron's new Sermon Series
Vacation Bible School
Builders for Christ
China - Tyler and Sarah

Text - 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12

So what's going on Thessalonica? Every manner of persecution you can imagine, people have been run out of town, they've been mocked, they've been banished, they've had to pay weird and imaginative taxes, at least a few of them have been killed, and now there is even spiritual persecution that someone has written them a letter that pretty much says they've missed out on Heaven.

Do you think God cares when his saints are afflicted? Of course he does, and that's what we're going to look at today, what he's going to do about it.

First though, is there a benefit to this persecution that Thessalonica is facing? Yes. What is it? Let's read verse 3 and 4.

2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.

What's another church that was persecuted and came out ahead? Smyrna. Persecution is a great way to have a pure church, and here in Thessalonica we have a pure church. But it is in danger because now they think they're suffering for Christ and they're missing Heaven. Paul's words that this "light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison." (2 Corinthians 4:17) are meaningless because they don't think the affliction they are suffering comes with Heaven.

So Paul has two problems to address in this letter, first what God is going to do to avenge his saints, and second to reassure them that they haven't missed Heaven. We're going to talk mostly about what God is going to do to avenge his saints today, we'll be on this letter for the rest of the summer and will see what sorts of events have to transpire before Christ returns; and it hasn't happened yet.

What we're about to read is the only place where Paul explicitly talks about Hell. He mentions it in many other places, but he only goes into detail here. Some people think the reason he spoke much more about Heaven than Hell is because he was called up to Heaven momentarily in about AD 43; what year was Second Thessalonians written? AD 52. Paul saw that the glory of Heaven and the inheritance of Christ was so wonderful that he preached more on it than on the terrors of Hell. Some think, and I agree, that this passage in 2 Thessalonians is here just so that Paul couldn't be accused of denying the existence of Hell, but he definitely mentions Hell in his other letters. So let's read the passage.

2 Thessalonians 1:5-12 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on thosewho do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment ofeternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we see that God is not ignorant of their pain, and he does care. God will indeed repay those who afflict his saints, and their affliction will be bigger than the affliction we receive, because when you pick on a Christian, who are you ultimately picking on? Let's read what Jesus said to Paul when Paul was persecuting Christians.

Acts 9:4-5 And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."

But God is waiting, why? Doesn't he know it hurts? Three reasons.

1. The persecution is a cleansing method for his church; suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:3)

2. Because of their hard and impenitent hearts they are storing up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:5) There are going to be no lack of sins for them to give an account for, because God let them keep going and going, digging themselves deeper and deeper. How many sins does it take to send you to Hell? 1. But God is letting them fill up the full measure of their sins so that they know they will certainly deserve it.

3. The riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience is meant to lead them to repentance. (Romans 2:4)

When will God repay them? Right here Paul affirms that the Second Coming of Christ hasn't happened yet, for he says, "when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance..." This is synonymous with Judgment Day, with the Day of Wrath, and with the Day of Christ. On that day, those who have died will be resurrected;

John 5:28-29 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

So who's going to be on God's side on that day, and who won't be? Paul tells us that Jesus will inflict vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Jesus said those who have done good will be resurrected to eternal life, who has done good? Jesus said nobody. Uh-oh.

What's the solution? The gospel. What's the gospel? It is the good news that Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, died on a cross paying for the evil we've done so that we can inherit his goodness, because he never sinned and was and is forever perfect. What is the response to the Gospel? How do you be obedient to the Gospel? As Jesus said, "Repent and believe." Turn from your sins, turn to God, trust in him and him alone that Christ's payment on Calvary's cross was entirely sufficient to pay your way into Heaven.

Jesus will inflict vengeance on those who do not obey the gospel, who will not repent and believe, those who refuse to submit themselves to God so that he will adopt them into his family.

v.9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might...

Hell. The eternal destruction is a destroying that lasts forever, an eternity of dying.

Luke 16:23-24 And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.'

Matthew 13:40-42 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, theseworshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.

Hell is hot, and forever, and terrible. A man named Dante summed it all up in one statement, what he considered would be a good sign to put above the gates of Hell. "Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here."

One of the reasons it is so bad is because God is Love, and Paul says that Hell is eternal separation from God, therefore there is no love in Hell, and since every good thing comes from God, if he is not there, then there is no good thing.

The second reason it is so bad is because God is furiously angry.

Psalm 7:11 God is angry with the wicked every day.

Matthew 25:41 Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'

God hates sin and sinners with a vengeance. Sin has caused every manner of death and suffering on this planet and God hates it. But people love sin, going so far as to do everything they can to get God out of their lives. The worse thing that can happen to you is God says, "Fine, have it your way."

In Hell, the niceties and fun we had in this world will fade away like dreams. When we got back from camp, I started to prepare the Sunday School lesson, then took a nap, while napping I dreamt I finished the lesson, it was a nice feeling when I woke up, until I realized that there was indeed no lesson. Have you ever had a really nice dream that you didn't want to wake up from? Then afterwards you try to tell someone about it and all of the niceness is gone, you think, "I'm pretty sure it was a nice dream, but now I can't really remember." That's how Hell will be, people will think, "I'm pretty sure it was a nice life...I think I had fun, I think there was love, I think there was joy, but now I can't really remember."

Psalm 73:18-20 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

Psalm 21:8-9 Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.

Who goes to Hell?

Revelation 21:8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

God is serious about this. His perfect justice requires a perfect punishment, a sin against an infinite God requires an infinite retribution. Surely many will be terrified and hate Christ's appearing, there is even some evidence that people will continue to curse God in Hell forever, refusing to repent even as they die forever.

But, some will not hate his appearing.

v.10 [All this will happen] when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

Why can we be happy that Jesus is returning if he is going to require payment for sins on that day?

Our sins are already paid for; he paid for them 2000 years ago on the cross. When we look at Christ's crucifixion, we see his physical appearance marred beyond semblance of a human being; you couldn't even tell he was a man when Herod and Pilate got done with him, but that external punishment was piddly in comparison to the wrath poured out on him by his Father. It pleased God to crush him, because Jesus was made our vicarious sin, and God held nothing back and our payment was paid by the God-man Jesus Christ dying in our place.

Consider this story which Kirk Cameron likes to tell, "I told him a story of a tribal Chief on an island. The Chief was a good man. He was physically strong, morally uncompromising in Justice, and loved his family and tribe greatly. The chief loved his tribe so much that his penalty for anyone who violated the law was severe, which resulted in very little crime and ensured safety for the tribe. One day, some men reported to the Chief that food had been stolen, causing another family to go hungry. The penalty for such a crime was 50 lashes. The Chief ordered that the criminal be found and publicly disciplined. Two days later, the men told the Chief that the thief had not been found, but instead, had stolen again, causing another family to go without food. The Chief commanded the tribe to search the island until they found the thief, and then bring him immediately to the place where he would be publicly punished with his sentence of 100 lashings. The tribe searched until they found the thief, and brought him to the Chief. When the Chief looked at the captured criminal, he was shocked as he recognized the man to be his very own son. All the tribe gathered around the place where the man would be punished, and they waited with great concern to see what the Chief would do. Would he uphold Justice and have his own son whipped with 100 lashings, surely causing him to die, or would he compromise Justice and overlook his son’s crimes. With tears in his eyes, the Chief knew that his son must be tied to the tree and his 100 lashes must be given. The boy was strapped to the wood, and as the man with the rock studded whips raised his massive arms to tear into the back of the young thief, The Chief stepped forward, removed his robe, and wrapped his own arms around his son’s body. With his bare back exposed to the executioner, hiding his son’s tender flesh beneath him, the Chief said, “Begin the lashings.” And the Chief took all 100 lashings, allowing his own blood to be shed to save his son. The Chief upheld Justice—the punishment was given--and at the same time, he demonstrated his great love for his precious son."

Do you know why Hell will last forever? Because it will take eternity to pay the infinite fine accrued against God. But Jesus paid that whole fine on the cross, when he ransomed us, he suffered more at the hands of his Father than any sinner ever will in Hell.

So we hope in him, that he has given us grace, granted us to repent and believe in his gospel, to know him and be known by him; for this is eternal life, that we might know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.

God will be glorified in one of two ways by our life, we really don't have any say in whether we will glorify God, because we will. We will either glorify his perfect justice as he judges us guilty of sinning against him and casts us into perfect punishment for eternity, or we will glorify his grace, that while we deserved Hell, Christ died for us, so that we can go to Heaven on his goodness and his mercy.

But how do we know that God accepted Jesus' payment? If he just died and didn't come back, then maybe he was just a loony who thought he was God. But he did come back, he defeated death three days later, the tomb is empty. Death is swallowed up in victory; as Paul writes, O Death, where is thy victory, O Death, where is thy sting? For the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

After Jesus defeated death, he did something astonishing, he approached the Gates of Heaven. No-one in history had done that, for in order to approach them, you must have clean hands and a pure heart, and no-one ever in history was qualified to come to these gates. Let's look at my favorite verse; the setting is the gates of Heaven, a man stands without, and here is what he says.

Psalm 24:7-10 Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

The Angel of the Gate, whose duty it is to keep men and sin out of Heaven challenges,

Who is this King of glory?

And Jesus answers,

The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

And the Angel challenges again,

Who is this King of glory?

And Jesus answers,

The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah

And beloved, you better believe those gates were opened up.

Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

In Hell there is no hope, in Heaven there are no tears. Beloved, this King of Glory is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to him, those who will obey the gospel by repenting and trusting in his sacrifice.

Paul concludes,

v.11-12 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

To this end Paul prays, that all will repent and believe, that all will be made worthy in Christ, walking in the truth, so that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in us, and him in us by saving sinners such as us, redeeming us when we were without hope.

Oh beloved, repent and believe the Gospel, flee from the wrath to come, seek the Saviour who suffered eternity for you and died to ransom you and deliver you into his kingdom forevermore. This God-man who stepped out of Heaven so that through his resurrection he could open to you the Gates of Heaven; he is the King of Glory.

June 14th - Eternal Rewards II

Prayer Requests
Camp! Whoohoo!
John Gillis Preaching
Sarah and Tyler going to China

Praise
Your Youth-Pastor and His Wife

Text – Psalm 73

Real quick, what’s going on in Thessalonica? They’ve gotten a letter from someone claiming to be Paul saying they’ve missed the rapture. If they’ve missed Christ’s return, then they are probably thinking the same things we’re going to talk about today.

Since Dave and Channing and others are going through Psalms this Summer, and in order that a passage in Second Thessalonians falls on the right day that I want to teach it, today we’re going to look at a Psalm that I very much enjoy, Psalm 73, on the excellence of serving God.

How many Psalms are there in the Book of Psalms? 150.
How many authors? 7.

Most of these Psalms were written during David’s day and by David, it was an age of great music and writing. Besides that, other authors include Moses (Psalm 90), the Sons of Korah, which was likely a musical group, Solomon (Psalm 72, 127), Heman, and Ethan.

The one we’re going to look at today is Asaph. Asaph wrote twelve psalms, he was David’s chief music minister. His position was like Jimmy’s, only instead of like Jimmy serving Pastor Aaron, Asaph’s position was right under the king of the nation.

Everyone please turn to Psalm 73. The introduction to this Psalm says this: “A Psalm of Asaph.” These introductions were included to sort of give us an idea of what these Psalms would be used for and how they should be sung. A psalm is a song, and many argue that it should have a rhythmic recital. Psalm 73 doesn’t come with a lot of instruction, only telling us that it’s original purpose was to be sung.

Just to show you some others, look at Psalm 74. This one is called a Maskil, which means it is a teaching Psalm, mainly for the purpose of reminding hearers something about themselves and instructing about God. There are a lot of titles in the Psalms telling how it should be sung, without spending too much time on each one, here they are:

Alamoth – Sung in a high key; some have argued that this should be a girls-choir
Sheminith – Sung in a low key
Gittith – A Joyous Psalm, lots of powerful instruments in the background
Mizmor – This is not a rhythmic psalm, but more of a flowing psalm, accompanied by instruments
Neginah – To be accompanied by stringed instruments
Mahalath – To be accompanied by high-pitched instruments
Nehiloth – To be accompanied by high-pitched instruments and a high-pitched choir
Menazzeh – Administrative, this type of psalm is used for coronations, dedications of temples, and other official events
Maskil – Didactic, specifically for teaching

These can intersect a lot.

So that’s way more introduction than we probably needed, but the purpose of a psalm is often important when we start to read it. Each psalm talks about one major topic; these songs are pretty much a holy version of what we hear today; very few songs try to cover more than one topic, and neither do psalms. The purpose of Psalm 73 is to show that service to God is never wasted.

Lets read it, it’s broken into three parts, and introduction of the problem, a revelation of the solution, and an application:

Psalm 73
Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.And they say, "How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?"
Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.

Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.

Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

Asaph, whether recounting his personal testimony, or that of someone else, even David, starts out by introducing the problem,

Psalm 73:1-3
Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

God has historically been good to Israel by calling them out of captivity, giving them land, prosperity, protection, and a lot of things, but Asaph wonders, “What has God done personally for me?” We might say the same thing…God has historically been good to the church, but what has he done personally for me? Asaph is going to go on further to say, “I’m not rich, I’m not particularly happy, I’m not well fed, my body aches, some people don’t like me…what’s the point?” He says this by pointing out the seemingly peachy lives of those whom don’t honor nor fear God.

Psalm 73:4-14
For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.And they say, "How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?"
Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.

Asaph sees that the wicked live long painfree lives and die peacefully in their beds. They boast in themselves, they make their profits on the pain of others. I talked to a baseball player once who said that since his success was his own doing, he didn’t need to thank God for it. Beloved, how conceited this is to use the machine of our bodies given to us by God and fail to give him the credit.

Example – I picked up a cup and pointed out how incredible picking up that cup is. Science would love to be able to make a machine that was so sensitive to be able to pick up something so fragile as a cup. It is very difficult to build a machine that grips the cup and is able to lift it without crushing the cup.

This psalm contains one of my favorite verses for open-air preaching. I tweak it just a little to say, “When you take the name of the Lord your God in vain, you set your mouth against Heaven, you declare war on the God who made you.” (See Psalm 139:20) Think about how ludicrous it is for any person to declare war on God, it’s even more ridiculous than if one of the young ladies in this class called up the Secretary of Defense and declared war on America.

And you remember from James 3 that our tongue leads our whole life; that out of our mouth our heart professes. If my mouth declares war on Heaven, then my heart must be pretty dark and foolish.

Asaph then goes on to say that because of the prosperity of the wicked, the people of Israel turn back to the ways of the world. If the world seeks instant gratification, and the wicked have instant gratification, then they have to find a way to deny God in order to appease their conscience. They ask, “How can God know?” Oh beloved, this is so idolatrous, our equivalent is asking, “Can God really know everything I do all the time? I mean, there are 7 Billion people and he knows them all?” Oh idolatry! It denies the sovereignty of God; beloved, I promise you, God knew you before you were, he ordered your steps, he knows not only everything you do, but also everything you think, he knows the number of the hairs on your head, and he knew how many steps you will take in your life. Do you know how many steps you’ve taken today? God is just a bit smarter than you and I.

But in order to do whatever we want, we have to outright deny God’s omnipotence.

Asaph gets a little mad at this point…the more wicked someone is, the richer and better off they seem in their lives…he basically says, “Everything I’ve done towards holiness was for nothing! In fact, everything I’ve done for God has made my life worse!”

Asaph says he almost started preaching this, but first he went to the temple, read the writings of Moses, and discerned the will of God.

Psalm 73:15-22
If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.

Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.

Asaph sees what their end is…Hell, because God despises them. Some people in Jesus’ day said there was no resurrection, no Hell, no Heaven, no afterlife, and Jesus pretty much calls them stupid for not knowing their Old Testament. We don’t need to see the word Hell, it is described here. The life of the wicked may be peachy, but their end is utterly terrible, destruction, ruin, eternal hatred by God, separation from the only source of good and love.

Oh wow. I imagine Asaph must have gasped when he realized this. He despised himself for his arrogance in questioning God, in wishing he had the life of the wicked, because their end is the end of demons. We’ll talk more about the end of demons in our second lesson on Second Thessalonians in three weeks.

Psalm 73:23-28
Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

We haven’t looked at many other verses during this study, but we need to look at

1 Timothy 4:7-8 Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

You’ll never go wrong in reading your Bible, telling people about the wonderful works of God, discerning the will of God: that which is good, acceptable, and perfect. He is continually with us, holding our right hand so that when and if we fall, he will lift us up, because he has ransomed us on Calvary’s cross in order to present us holy and blameless on the last day.

The glory that is to come, the glory that is found in Christ, is so much greater than any piddly pleasure or possessions you might find on here earth. And even better, Heaven lasts forever.

So as we head off for camp, spend the week in prayer, in serious study of the Word of Life, in seeking the will of your Saviour, in desiring to know him and find your whole portion in him, forever.



Prayer
Two things we ask of you;
deny them not to us before we die:
Remove far from us falsehood and lying;
give us neither poverty nor riches;
feed us with the food that is needful for us,
lest we be deny you
and say, "Who is the LORD?"
or lest we be poor and steal
and profane the name of our God. (Proverbs 30:7-9)

June 7th - Eternal Rewards I

Prayer Requests
George Tillers Family’s and Church’s Salvation
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Camp --> Especially Bethany's friend and cousin
Freedom Explosion (June 10th)
Channing’s continued ministry

Rick's brother passed

Daniel's Grandfather

Sarah and Tyler going to China

Text – Various: Revelation 2-3, 20:11-15, Romans 14:7-12, 1 Corinthians 3:10-15

First of all, Dr. George Tiller was killed last week. He was one of the wickedest men in America with more blood on his hands than most warlords with an estimated 60,000 murders. What made him so bad was that he was an abortionist without a conscience; he had no problem performing late-term abortions, which is when the baby is undoubtedly a baby, it looks like a baby, it has its own heartbeat, if it was born it would survive, and he had no problem killing it, he even killed babies who were born accidentally instead of killed in the womb. Most abortionists won’t perform an abortion after 12 weeks, this is still undoubtedly murder, but at the very least it shows some sort of sanctity towards human life. After 20 weeks the baby has a fairly decent chance of surviving if it is born prematurely.

Ezekiel 33:11 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

God finds no pleasure in the death of a wicked person, albeit this verse does demonstrate that he does have pleasure when wickedness ceases. His preferred method of this is repentance, but if repentance doesn’t occur, he has no problem squishing a person into eternity. Not us doing it, but vengeance belongs to God.

Genesis 38:7 Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD put him to death.

Not every death is God putting to death the wicked, such as when Stephen was stoned, or when Paul was beheaded. But sometimes with especially wicked people you can see God’s hand in it.

To make it even worse, Tiller would baptize the babies afterwards so in his weird understanding of Christianity they would go to Heaven. Why would he need to baptize them if they weren't people with souls?

Do all babies go to Heaven? Absolutely.

Matthew 18:10 See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Should we pray for sinners to repent? Yes, we could look at all sorts of verses to that effect, 1 Timothy 2:1-4, 24-26, 2 Peter 3:9, Matthew 28:19-20, and many others. But what is the other way that we should be praying for God to cease their transgressions? Through imprecations, asking him to give them what they deserve.

Revelation 6:10 They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

In Heaven the babies that Tiller had murdered asked how long until their blood would be avenged. God answered them last Sunday at 10am. Many have prayed for God to stop Tiller, and God finally answered; his patience ran out.

This leads to judgment.

Revelation 20:11-15 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

The wicked, those who have not had their sins atoned for, will be cast into Hell for eternity. Baby killers will certainly have their place here, but the Bible says if you’ve broken one, you’re guilty of all, and it says that not only will murders have their place in the lake of fire, but also revilers, people who hate others without cause, and it culminates in saying that even all liars will be punished for eternity as well. The smoke of torment of those in Hell will waft before the Throne of God for eternity as a reminder of his perfect justice.

Where is atonement, reconciliation, and forgiveness found? The Lamb of God who took our sins on himself and bore our reproach, dying in our place, so that our names in the Lamb’s Book of Life represent our citizenship in Heaven, our purchasing, our redemption. So we stand before the Great White Throne, our names are found in the Book of Life; what happens next?

Romans 14:7-12 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Now we have to give an account to God, not of our sins, which have been washed away, for while we were stained in our sins, red as crimson, we have been washed as white as snow. So we’re not going to see if we get to go to Heaven, we go to see if we get rewards for our works in Christ. The word in verse 10 for Judgment Seat is Bema, it references an Olympic judge.

1 Corinthians 9:25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

Revelation 22:12 Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

First of all, what do we all get?

2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

We all get a crown of righteousness, this is a gift from Christ to us, it signifies our salvation. Similarly, we all get a robe of righteousness. In other words, we’re dressed as the King, which is how his Father sees us, as perfect, coinheritors of Heaven with Christ. Job saw this 3700 years ago,

Job 29:14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.

What’s a diadem? A crown, especially one with a lot of symbolic jewels. Zechariah calls each saint a jewel on Christ’s crown. (Zechariah 9:16)

This crown of righteousness is also called the crown of life, and the crown of glory. Pastors get their crown bejeweled with their flock, that’s 1 Peter 5:1-5, we’re cruising through this because there is a lot to cover. Evangelists get jewels for those they share the gospel with.

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.

Funny story, I was in Tampa preaching with some friends and we got hungry. We’re looking for a restaurant and nobody can choose, and I saw a Spanish restaurant and said, “Lets eat there!” The food wasn’t that good, but my friend Rick witnessed to the waitress Sarah and hopefully she’ll get saved. Afterwards I told Rick, “You know, since I picked the restaurant, I think I get that jewel.” I don’t think that’s how it works, but it’s a funny story.

After the crown of righteousness that we all get, there is something we all desperately want to hear.

Matthew 25:21 Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.

I don’t just want to hear this once, I want to hear it once for me, then as I stand to the side I want to hear it said for Adam, I want to hear it said for Hannah, I want to hear it said for Matthew, I want to hear it said for Jessica, Abbie, Jamie, Bethany, Kari, Summit’s whole student ministry, and so many more.

Now everybody flip over to Revelation 2; most believers will get most of these things, but some are special.

Revelation 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

First, real quick point, who spoke these letters? Christ. Who wrote them down? John. Who does Christ tell us says these things to the churches? The Spirit. Once again, John is pretty much just the secretary, God the Son and God the Spirit are making these promises, when God makes a promise, it is binding.

First promise, he who conquers will be allowed in Heaven, and will be allowed to eat of the Tree of Life; the same tree that Adam and Eve were banned from.

Revelation 2:11 The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.

So the believer is welcomed into Heaven and protected from Hell.

Revelation 2:17 To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.

After an athlete won a race in the Olympics, one of his prizes was a feast with the other champions. In order to get into this party, you needed a ticket, the ticket was a white stone with your name written on it. After we’re in Heaven, we’re invited to the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, when Christ will wed the church.

Revelation 2:26-28 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam was given dominion over the earth. After he sinned, he lost it. Here Christ is returning that dominion to his saints. This may refer to the final judgment of Earth when Christ returns with his saints following after him, but that’s hard to say.

I will give him the Morning Star once again refers to the Wedding Feast, when the church and the Son of God will be wed together for eternity.

Revelation 3:5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.

Here is our robe of righteousness, and our eternal guarantee of Heaven. Our name will never be erased because we will never die. Not only so, but Christ himself knows our name and confesses it boldly to his Father and the angels.

Revelation 3:12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.

We will be Trophies of Grace, to declare the excellencies of him who called us out of the darkness into his glorious light. We will never depart nor grow weary of singing his praises. If you wonder how you can praise God for eternity, I suspect once we get there, there will be no doubt at all.

Revelation 3:21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.

Imagine this, a person with no possible reason to be allowed to be king is invited by the King to sit with him in his royal court. This is us, we don’t deserve it one bit, and yet the Son of God who bought us on the cross will grant us to sit with him as we wear our robe of righteousness and crown of life.

What will our crowns be adorned with? Not everyone is going to have the same quality or quantity of decoration.

1 Corinthians 3:12-15 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Our works will be tested in the consuming fire of God to determine the motives they were done in. Imagine I send you each out with $1000 and tell you to bring me something back. For $1000 you could fill this room with firewood, or this whole trailer with straw, or you could bring back a couple pounds of silver, or a pound of gold, or a bunch of beautiful little diamonds. Now we throw these each on a fire, what do we have left? Of the firewood and straw we’ve got a handful of ashes. Of the silver we have the same lump we started with, the same with the gold, and the diamonds still glitter. So will be our works, works done for Christ’s sake with his glory as the goal will withstand the fire. Those that were done out of self-elevation or other wrong motives will do no more than provide a spectacular bonfire in Heaven.

So, our works have been tested, our crowns have been handed out, the jewels are affixed, what do we do now?

Revelation 4:10 The twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."

We give the crowns back, as was an ancient custom. The lesser king or prince kneels and would take his crown off before the superior king. As a sign of peace, the superior king would restore the crown to the lesser kings head. This is probably what we should expect in Heaven, but ultimately Christ's glory should be our utmost reward.

Finally,

Matthew 6:19-21 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

And a song...this version is terrible, but the story is awesome: