Series: Systematic Theology

Here, in summary, are the posts in the series entitled "Systematic Theology." I'll be the first to admit that it's, maybe, a couple hundred pages shorter than Grudem's masterpiece. It may not be as deep as his, but I do hope you will find it useful.

Lesson 1--The Importance of Doctrine
Lesson 2--God the Father
Lesson 3 (part 1)--God the Son
Lesson 3 (part 2)--God the Son
Lesson 4--God the Holy Spirit
Lesson 5--Angels
Lesson 6--The Doctrine of Man
Lesson 7 (part 1)--Salvation
Lesson 7 (part 2)--Salvation
Lesson 7 (part 3)--Salvation
Lesson 7 (part 4)--Salvation
Lesson 8--Sanctification
Lesson 10 (part 1)--The Second Coming of Christ
Lesson 10 (part 2)--The Second Coming of Christ

Systematic Theology--Lesson 9, The Doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ (part 2)

So today we finish up our look at the last things, and with that we finish up our study of systematic theology. If you have missed any weeks, then you will have to get with Richard to schedule a time to make them up. If you have missed any of our topics, we started off talking about the importance of doctrine. That if we do not have a firm understanding of what the Bible teaches, and if we just run around trying to follow every new personality that comes along claiming to be speaking biblical truth just because they happen to be the most popular name at your Christian bookstore, we can find ourselves following doctrines that are flat-out unbiblical. The names that are popular today are men like TD Jakes and Joel Osteen, Rick Warren and Brian McLaren. These are men who—yeah, they quote the Bible, but what they have to say about it is a long ways away from the truth. And the reason people fall prey to these kinds of teachers—and the reason so many people who claim to be Christians get sucked into Mormonism or Jehovah's Witnesses is because they have no sense of doctrine.

That was week 1. Then we spent a week talking about God the Father. The immortal, invisible Father. We talked about how He reveals Himself through creation. Atheists don’t believe in a self-existent God—a God who is not dependent upon anyone for anything, but who is in fact the source of all things. But the fact that there is a creation is a stumbling block for the atheist because it puts him in a bit of a bind. Either the things that make up this universe were created by someone who existed before the universe began. Much like this podium—someone existed before this podium was created in order to put it together—unless they had a big explosion in the lumber department at Home Depot. Or the things that make up this universe were just always here, on their own, making those things self-existent—which, of course, throws cold water on their arguments against a self-existent God. Then we spent a couple weeks talking about God the Son, Jesus Christ. We saw that while many false religions say they believe in Jesus Christ, it means something different to them than it does to us. The Muslim believes in a Christ that was nothing more then a prophet. Mormons believe that Jesus was Satan's spirit brother. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that He was nothing more than an exalted angel. But we know Him to be the Son of God, one with the Father, sent to glorify the Father here on earth, to offer His life to atone for our sins, and by His resurrection, giving us a guarantee that we too would be raised with Him in that last day.

We then looked at the Holy Spirit, how He is indeed a Person. That what we believe about this Holy Spirit can affect our knowledge of many things. If we misunderstand His role in the Trinity and in our lives, it can lead us to believe some things that aren't quite right. We saw that when God saves us, He sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, as another guarantee—an earnest, as it is called in the KJV—that if He has saved us, He will keep us. Then we talked about angels. They're not babies with wings. We do not become angels when we die. Then we looked at man. That if we do not understand who we are in relation to God, we can miss the gospel completely. Because there is so much teaching out there that says something like, “God created you to be a champion!” And that we are essentially good people who just kinda need a hand up in order to be good enough to go to Heaven.

And then we got to salvation. That was a big one. About 5 weeks there. Salvation is not something you can phone in. You don’t just go into a room, learn 4 spiritual laws, pray a little prayer and ask Jesus into your heart, and have your pastor declare a dominus omnis over you and receive automatic admission into the Kingdom of God. It takes knowing who Christ is, believing He is who He says He is, and committing your life to Him. It means seeing the Law of God for what it is—basically a mirror that we hold up to our lives and it shows us where we fall short of His perfect standards for allowing us to walk in His kingdom. That led us into sanctification—that we are to separate ourselves from the things of this world. that when we walk in this world—we used the illustration of a UT fan walking into Rupp Arena, and how you could pick out the orange in that sea of blue. And how the world should be able to tell Christians from non-believers from the way we live our lives. Which led us into the doctrine of the church. that is was built upon Christ alone—and not the apostle Peter. That the church is made up of those whom God has called out from the world, to be separate from the world.

And then last week we began to wrap things up by beginning a study of The Doctrine of the Last Things. We spent the day looking at Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2. And many people think it strange when you try to talk about the end times by using OT Scripture. I kinda compared it to those old “Magic Eye” things, where you hold it right up to your nose, and you stare real hard at one spot and suddenly you see Mickey Mouse waterskiing. And that many people study endtimes prophecy in the same way. They take the book of Revelation, they hold it up to their nose and stare real hard at one verse and all of a sudden you realize that your zip code is the Mark of the Beast®. Or Steve Spurrier becomes the antichrist. Of course around here, many people think that way regardless.

But when we are talking about the end times, and what God’s word says about those times, consider this one example. Here was God giving Daniel a vision about things that would happen over the next 500-800 years. Now, here’s a question: whenever God gives someone a vision, does He usually have a reason for giving that vision to a particular person, at a particular time? He’s on His own timetable, and He does not do anything without a reason. So when He gives this vision to not only Daniel, but Nebuchadnezzar as well, there was a reason He gave it at that particular point in history. Was Daniel or Nebuchadnezzar going to be around to see the Greeks come to power? In fact Babylon did not fall to the Persians until Daniel was in his 60’s and Nebuchadnezzar had died. But God gives this vision to this young man who will not live to see it come to pass—so he can explain it to a king who will not live to see it come to pass. Why?

To show the generations that would follow over the next, now 2500 or so years, that when God give a prophecy, it will come to pass. And not only prophecies about Christ—which we looked at on Resurrection Sunday—but also in terms of human events concerning kings and empires. It’s one thing to tell a skeptic that there are all these prophecies about Christ—but if they don’t even believe Christ was real, and they believe this book is nothing but a bunch of Jewish fairy tales, they will just brush them off. But when you show them prophecies about the history they read in their precious history books, it’s a little harder for them to brush away those things. And by the same token, it gives us who do believe yet another reason to believe that this truly is the word of God written for us. So with that in mind, let us move on from Man’s Kingdoms to The Messiah’s Kingdom. Singular. After man has had all kinds of opportunities to rule the earth, doing a horrible job at it, with no single empire that could stretch to every corner of the earth, God will give man what he wants—complete ownership of planet earth.

But before He does that, He will remove every restraint He has placed on it. The first thing He will do is to gather His people up out of this world. 1st Thessalonians 4:16-17—The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And this is of course The Rapture. The Lord Jesus Christ will descend, Michael will be blowing the horn and shouting, calling all of God’s people out of their graves and out of the world. Living, dead, it don’t matter. Even if someone was cremated—God made them one body, He can make them another one. Then this Revived Roman Empire will come that we talked about last week. All these countries will be scrambling to make treaties with each other, these loose confederations won’t hold, and they will need one central body to keep things together. Daniel 2:34—you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay…but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. The salt and the light will be removed from the earth. Things will fall into decay and darkness. And man will worship man even more than he does now.

God will remove truth from the world, 2nd Thessalonians 2:9-12—The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Think about that! God will make people believe a lie. Does that make God unfair? People want to believe a lie, He’s saying, “Fine! That’s what you want—here ya go!” And the world will see 7 years of misery, torment, anguish, death, disease—many people today ask, “Why does God allow so much pain and suffering?” WRONG QUESTION. The real question is, “Why doesn’t He allow more?” Because right now God is holding back and restraining the evil hearts of men and denying us what we truly deserve for our rebellion against Him. But when He takes His church up out of this world—just listen to some of the things that are going to happen.

In Revelation 6 we read about the 4 horsemen, bringing famine and disease and war and death—so that ¼ of the world’s population—by that time, probably close to 2 BILLION people—will die in a very short period of time. There will be there will be things happening in space that the greatest scientific minds won’t be able to explain.

Then in Revelation 8, we see that fire will fall down and burn up trees and crops. Something like a meteor shower will rain down on the oceans, killing 1/3 of the marine life and destroying ships. One third of the world’s drinking water will be contaminated. Then the antichrist will come, and give his mark to all those who worship him. He will sit in the temple that will be built in Jerusalem as though he were God Himself.

Then skip to Revelation 16, and those who take the mark will suffer some sort of disease that covers them with sores. Every living thing in the seas will die. Then every source of drinking water will be poisoned, there will be great heat poured out upon the earth, probably some kind of nuclear exchange—and those people who remain will still curse God. The Euphrates River in what we now call Iraq will dry up, and there will be earthquakes all over the world.

Then this New World Order, which is called Mystery: Babylon, or the great harlot in Revelation 17-18 will be judged by God and destroyed. That’s the bad news. Now, here’s the good news. Revelation 19:11-13—Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. Next time you hear somebody say that Christ Himself came and spoke to them, ask them if He looked like this. Revelation 19:14-16—And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. This will be Armageddon. That word is the Anglicized form of the Hebrew Har Megiddo. This is where the armies of man make war with Christ and His saints. This not going to be pretty. There will be more blood spilled here than at any other time in history.

How bad is it going to be? Revelation 19:17-19—Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.” There will be so much carnage that all the birds of the air will think they're at Golden Corral®. And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Guess who’s going to win?

This is where things get good. First we see Christ’s kingdom is A Supernatural Stone. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, look at what it says in Daniel 2:34—"You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces." Who is the cornerstone of the church, the one on whom it is built? (HINT: It ain't Peter!) This Stone will come and smash every single power that man has upon the earth. Man’s kingdom’s will come to an end. What about Christ’s kingdom—will it last a while? Daniel 2:44-45—"And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure." God said it. That settles it. It’s gonna happen. Period, paragraph. What’s gonna happen after that? The Beast and the False Prophet will get first dibs on lakeshore property. Unfortunately for them, that lake will be the Lake of Fire.

Then Christ will set up His kingdom on earth and reign for 1000 years. Revelation 20:1-5—Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus…they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. Will Christ be a King that will put up with any opposition? Four times the Scriptures tell us He will rule with what? A rod of iron. He will destroy the kingdoms of men, and there will be no opposition to His reign for 1000 years.

But then what will happen? Satan, who has been sealed in the bottomless pit for those 1000 years—God’s gonna let him out to make one final battle. Think the Pittsburgh Steelers versus your local high school team. Your high school team has a better chance than Satan. Revelation 20:7-10—Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations…They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Anybody who does not think Hell is eternal does not believe the Scriptures. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Period, paragraph. Write it in stone, it is FOREVER!!

This will be the final destruction of Satan. God made him lick the dust of the earth in Genesis 3. He defeated Satan at the cross. He will put him in a pit for a thousand years. And He’ll STILL make war against Christ. He just never learns. Kinda like us. He shows us foolish humans time and time and time again that He is God. And people still like to say, “No you're not—I am!” And there will be people in these VERY last days who will live during the rule of Christ, who will see His power and might—and STILL take sides with Satan. And what will happen to them? This is the part so many people don’t like to hear. That there will be a final judgment, where all those who EVER despised God, who died in their sins—those people who thought they were “good”—will stand before Christ to settle their accounts. Revelation 20:11-15—Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

See where it says, Books were opened. I believe—and I'm not going to argue over this, it’s not a hill worth dying on—is that there will be at least 3 books besides the Book of Life. There will be the book of there “good” works. There will be another will all their sins. And there will be The Book of the Law—God’s Law. Romans 2:14-16 (NASB)—For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do the things of the Law…they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts accusing or defending them, on the day when…God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. Those who never knew Christ—small, great, no matter what kinds of “great things” they did in the eyes of men—will stand before Christ, and be found lacking. It doesn’t matter if it’s Albert Einstein or Mahatma Ghandi or John Lennon or the guy that lives across the street. Anyone who does not know Christ will be judged by Christ, and against Christ and His righteousness. But I'm not going to end on a sour note. Here’s the good news.

Anyone who knows Christ, who has been given Christ’s righteousness—they will receive reward. They will hear the words that mean more than anything this world can offer. “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into thy rest.” Revelation 21:1-4—Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” There is an old song called “I Bowed My Knees and Cried ‘Holy!’” And this is only a microscopic sliver of what it’s gonna be like:

As I entered the gates of that city,
My loved ones all knew me well.
They took me down the streets of Heaven;
The sights, too many to tell;
I saw Abraham, Jacob and Isaac,
I spoke with Mark and Timothy.
But then I said, “Timothy, I want to see Jesus,
For He's the One who died for me.”

So that wraps it up for our study of Systematic Theology. Next week we’re going to pick back up in Philippians. We finished chapter 1 a while back. We’ll review a little bit for a couple weeks and start chapter 2 the following week.

Systematic Theology--Lesson 9 (Doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ, part 1)

The first of our last two studies in our Systematic Theology. Since this week and next will be our last two weeks in this study, we will be talking about the last things. The end times as they are called. There are people who spend years studying these things. What we’re going to do over the next couple weeks is to take a step back in order to look forward. Remember those 3-D puzzles that you put up to your nose and suddenly those little dots turn into Mickey Mouse, or the Eiffel Tower? Some people tend to do that with Revelation. They see this one little dot and all of a sudden your Social Security number is the Mark of the Beast. Meanwhile, they ignore the other hundred little dots that make it impossible for that to be true. We’re not going to go real deep into end-times prophecy because we could get bogged down in so many details that we’d be spending three weeks figuring out who the third toe of the Great Beast is going to be. Today we will look back at an OT prophecy about the endtimes, then next week we can plunge into deeper water.

First, we will look at The Emphasis on the Second Coming of Christ.


Did you know.....prophecy occupies 20% of Scripture? God spends most of His time preparing us for something before He actually does it. He knows that we foolish humans need a clue or…a hundred. He spent 4000 years preparing mankind for the Messiah—and many people who actually saw Him and heard Him still missed Him.


Did you know.....There are 1527 Old Testament Scriptures that talk about His second coming. Not only was God getting the people ready for the FIRST time Messiah would come. He was getting them ready for when He would COME BACK. One of the clearest is Zechariah 14:2-5—For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then YHVH will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Thus YHVH my God will come, and all the saints with You. Another clue in here about the Trinity. Is it going to be the Father’s feet that will stand on the Mount of Olives? Whose feet will it be?

Did you know.....one out of 25 verses in the New Testament refers to the 2nd coming of Christ?
Did you know.....next to faith, the subject of Christ's second coming is the most dominant NT subject?
Did you know.....there are 8 times as many prophecies about Christ’s SECOND coming as there are about His FIRST.
Did you know.....over 50 times we are exhorted to be ready for Christ’s return. Not to LOOK for His return. Don’t bother LOOKING for it. Nobody knows when it’s going to happen. But be ready for it. Do firemen try and predict when the next house fire’s going to be? No. But are they ready for when they get a call to a house fire? Don’t bother looking for it because it’s going to come like THAT. Be ready for it—because it’s going to come in the blink of an eye. Luke 12:45-46—“But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the [other] servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.”

We were all young once, weren’t we? What happened if mom and dad left us alone in the house? We did exactly what we were supposed to, didn’t we? What happened if mom and dad came home early? We got a whoopin. Or we at least got grounded. That’s nothing compared to what will happen to those who are not ready when Christ returns. Look at what He says He will do. See, the first time Christ came, people heard Him and saw Him, they had three years to decide whether He was real. Next time—in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

Next, The Essentials of the Second Coming. First, Man’s Kingdoms. Let’s take a look at Daniel for the remainder of our time today. In Daniel 2, we find that the young man is an interpreter of dreams, much like Joseph in Egypt back in Genesis. And the king at the time was a man named Nebuchadnezzar. He was a pretty powerful guy. In fact, Daniel refers to him as a king of kings. Not to be confused with Christ, THE King of ALL Kings. Nebuchadnezzar was a king who ruled over other kings. And here is Daniel, a man who loves and serves God with everything he has, serving under this king whose rule stretches for literally, thousands of miles in all directions. The Babylonian empire stretched from Iran and Iraq on the east, through Saudi Arabia, over to Egypt and Ethiopia, up through Israel and Jordan and Syria, into Turkey and up into what we now call southern Russia. Yet this most powerful ruler on earth is having a horrific dream that will not let him sleep at night. So he calls his magicians and seers to interpret his dream. “O king, tell us what your dream was!”

And he basically tells them, “If you're such great wizards, you tell me what it was.” But God told Daniel what the dream was. Here is the dream, Daniel 2:32-35—“You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” Daniel, who was born some 600 years before Christ, and died about 530 BC, served under some of the most wicked—yet most powerful—kings in the history of planet earth. Daniel has told Nebuchadnezzar, “I know what you have been dreaming; now I'm going to explain it.” This image, this dream, was of course about the various kingdoms who would rule on earth at various times in history. The first four have, at our point in history, come and gone.

The first was The Babylonian Empire. And in verses 36-38, he explains it. "This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold." Babylon was an empire known for its vast wealth of gold. And here, Daniel is telling the king that he is the mightiest of all the rulers of the earth at that time. That who gave him his power? In verse 37? "The God of Heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory." Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn’t Babylon one of the most wicked and corrupt and despicable empires to ever exist in history? What was it that they did to the people of Israel? In fact, Daniel wrote this book during this 70-year period when Israel was captive and slave to Babylon.

Why would God give a man like Nebuchadnezzar such power? He did it to punish Israel for their disobedience. We Christians, in this country, think that God owes us a president who believes like we do. But make no mistake, God will raise up an authority to persecute His people when they go astray. It has happened before; I believe it is happening now. The church in America is drifting away from the truth of Scripture to serve physical needs at the cost of the gospel. So, God is punishing her by giving her what she wants. And one day, and it will happen again when God takes His hand off of men’s evil hearts and lets people do what they desire to do and this world falls into chaos and wickedness and death—much like Babylon.

Next there was the breast and arms of silver. The Medo-Persian Empire. Verse 39a. "But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours..." This second kingdom was not as glorious—in man’s terms—as Babylon. Yet Persia—or as we call it today, Iran—defeated Babylon in the year 538 BC. And in terms of land ruled, was larger geographically and in terms of wealth than Babylon. So what does this “inferiority” refer to? It was said by one man that “The kings of Persia were the worst race of men that ever governed an empire.” As wicked and evil as the Babylonians were, the Persians were even worse. And militarily, they suffered some very embarrassing defeats. The most famous being depicted in the movie “300” that came out a couple years ago. It told the story of Persia trying to invade Greece at a place called Thermopylae. A battle in which it took over a million Persians--and not a little treason on the part of a Greek local--to defeat a force of about 5000-7000 soldiers. It wasn’t just the 300 Spartans; they had a couple hundred from here, 1000 from somewhere else. None the less, it was a rather humiliating effort on the part of the Persian king Xerxes.

The Persian Empire was seated, primarily, in what we now call Iran. Off the top of your head, can you think of any crazy, out-of-his-mind, whack-job lunatic that is running around Iran right now? What kind of love does he have for Israel? Any ties with Russia? So there’s the head of gold and the breast and arms of silver.

Next we have the thighs of bronze, a reference to The Grecian Empire. They were known for their bronze. Here’s the thing about bronze. Is it a pure metal? No. It’s copper, and usually mixed with tin, or some other metal. And as such, the fact that bronze represented Greece is actually kind of interesting. For one, they used bronze in their weapons and their armor, and for good reason. Unlike iron, bronze only oxidized on the outside. It did not allow the layers underneath to fully rust. So not only was it easier to mold and shape, it was more durable--although it’s not as pretty and shiny as silver or gold. The Grecian Empire was known for their excellence with weapons and warfare.

And while they were rather wealthy, they really prided themselves on their military prowess. The most famous Grecian general was, of course, Alexander the Great, who was more famous than his brother Alexander the.....Eh-Not-So-Much. He lived from 356-323 BC, he was educated by Aristotle, and his goal was, quite literally, world domination. And during his rule, the Grecian Empire stretched from Greece in the west to as far east as the Himalayas.

Then we have the legs of iron, this being The Roman Empire. This was the number one superpower that ruled and reigned during the time of Christ. They occupied Israel, they set up their own governors over this little piece of land that was, to them, no more than just another victim of their superiority. And they did, in fact, conquer and crush nearly every army that got in their way. “Inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces.” The Roman Empire did indeed rule over many of the lands which had once been held by Babylon, and by Persia, and by Greece. In fact, at the height of their power, Rome controlled all of Greece. They conquered every nation that bordered the Mediterranean Sea, to the extent that they called it Mare Nostrum, literally, “Our Sea.”

There was a long period of peace under Roman rule, and that was referred to as Pax Romanus, meaning "Roman Peace." Of course, the only reason there was peace during this time was because they submitted to Roman rule rather than be obliterated. Kinda like a protection racket. You know, when Louie the Hammer shows up at your business and tells you, “Hey, ya know, if you wanted to pay us $1000 a month, we’ll make sure nobody burns down your store. Ain't dat right Rocco!” Back then it was, “Pay your tribute to the Caesar, and we’ll make sure that no little band of miscreants attacks your homes.”

Rome ruled with an iron fist. There was not a lot of mercy when it came to worshipping the Caesar. It was like Islam is today. The word Islam means “submission,” and many people—especially those who have their head in the sand—have bought into the lie that Islam is a “religion of peace.” Well, it is, so long as you don’t go ticking off the local Imam, and you don’t say or do anything to offfffend the Muslims. If you do offend them, then things won’t be quite so peaceful. But, if all of us dirty kafirs and infidels pay our dhimmi tax to make sure that nothing happens to, say, the World Trade Center or the Pentagon—then it will be a religion of peace. And although we do not have a Roman Empire right now, we can still see the influences that Rome made on our education, our language, and many other areas of our lives.

Which, in fact, brings us to the feet of this statue, The Revived Roman Empire, in verses 41-43. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. This also refers to a Roman Empire, but one which has not come yet. This empire will not be come about by military means, but it will come about from nations trying to make peace with one another—not out of a desire for peace, but for what they can get out of it.

Most of these countries would probably have had no prior agreements or foreign relations before signing a bunch of treaties that will make them all buddy-buddy with each other. But what’s gonna be the problem with these treaties? “As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.” Melt some iron, throw in some clay, let it cool and what’s gonna happen? Yeah, it's gonna fall apart into a big old pile of stuff. And in much the same way, you'll have countries like Iran making a treaty with Pakistan; China with India; Great Britain with Syria, and so on and so forth. Everybody making treaties with everybody else. One problem—these nations won’t mesh. They’ll kinda get along, but just on the surface. They will need some kind of mediator between them to keep peace with each other and with the nations they hate already. And who will be that one that will keep peace between all these nations? The one we call "The Antichrist."

You see, the real Christ did not come to bring peace on earth. He came to bring a sword (see Matthew 10:34-35). This false Christ will come, and he will bring peace between all nations—but they will make war with God. So this antichrist will rise up during this time, and bring peace, and as a token of that peace, he will give his number to anyone who will take it. And so long as you have that number, you can go one about your business, you can buy and sell. But if you don’t.....you're going to die.

Now, real quick, I do want to bring Israel into this, and if we’re not careful we could take up more time than we have. Suffice it to say, these nations won’t want anything to do with Israel. For a time, anyway. But this Beast will make a treaty with Israel, let her carry out her sacrifices in the temple, and he will in fact occupy the temple in Jerusalem as though he is God (see 2nd Thessalonians 2:4). I don’t know the exact timeframe this will take place, but it will happen. Because, as we have seen so many times, if God says something is going to happen, is it going to happen? If you want to know what’s gonna be in the newspaper tomorrow, read your Bible today.

So that’s Man’s Kingdoms. That kinda sets us up for next week. We’re not done with Daniel. Next week we’ll use Daniel to study The Messiah’s Kingdom—singular. We will see that He is the stone that dashes this whole bloomin’ statue to bits. That while He builds kingdoms up, He also tears them down once He’s done with them. And we will see what the fate of this antichrist will be. I'll give you a hint—be glad you ain't him!

Systematic Theology--Lesson 8, Sanctification

Let’s say we leave Knoxville, and we drive up to Lexington. Hop on I-75, about a couple hours we’d be there. We drive onto the campus of The University of Kentucky. We look for this large building with probably the biggest parking lot on campus. We make our way through the front door, pass through a couple turnstiles, around the concession stand, up a flight of stairs, and there we are looking out over the basketball court in Rupp Arena. What do you suppose would be the first thing you would notice about 99% of the people there? They would probably be wearing blue. So you would be looking out over this big sea of blue. But here’s the thing. You're not a Kentucky fan. You're a Tennessee fan. And you're looking for other Tennessee fans. Do you think you could spot a Tennessee fan in the middle of a crowd of Kentucky fans? What do you think you're going to look for? You’ll be looking for somebody wearing orange. Do you think that somebody wearing orange will stand out in a crowd of people who are wearing blue? It’s easy to tell the difference between a Tennessee fan and a Kentucky fan.

But is it easy to look out over that crowd and pick out which of those fans are saved? All flesh looks the same to us. We may be different colors, height, weight. But there’s one thing we all have in common. We are covered by flesh, and when we are born, this flesh is our master. And we spend many years doing everything we can to satisfy this flesh. But when God gets ahold of us, breathes His spirit into us, and brings our dead spirit to life, we die to that flesh. In other words, we put to death the desires that had control over our lives—we are to ignore this flesh when it decides it wants to do what it wants to do. When our flesh—that is, our old ways of thinking and acting—when that flesh says, “Hey, remember when…Come on! Just this once!” It’s kinda hard to ignore our flesh because we’re stuck in it. We can't get rid of it. And because to us one person doesn’t look any different from another, how are we supposed to tell whether they are saved or not? How are we supposed to tell the difference between a lost and a saved person? We can't do like we did at Rupp Arena and look for an orange shirt in a sea of blue.

We should act differently. We should talk differently. We should examine things more carefully. I'll give you an example. Suppose we know someone that can probably get through about every other sentence without using a four-letter word. You find out he goes to church. Some people would be very happy that he goes to church. But we really can't be, because we know him. And we know that if someone acts and talks like this, the cause of Christ would be better off if he did not name the name of our Lord. Today’s lesson is on sanctification. Another word we use that means the same thing is holiness. We’re going to talk about how God commands us to be different from the world. If you asked 100 people to name the 5 most “holy” people in the world today, who would they be most likely to name? The Pope. The Dalai Lama. But these are not holy men. They are religious men. And there is a difference between religion and holiness.

In Matthew 23:25-28, Jesus is giving it to the Pharisees. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

When the world thinks of “holiness” they think of ritual. They think of elaborate ceremonies. Being holy has nothing to do with rituals. Has nothing to do with fancy robes and incense and candles and so on and so forth. Those things are religious. That’s the outside of the cup. Those things do not make a person holy. And I'll confess—in the past, on Christmas Eve, I used to love to watch Midnight Mass. Used to love to watch the procession, and the ornate workmanship in the basilica, and the chanting and the dominus ominus—and I don’t even know what that means!—and all the religion that is the Roman Catholic system. It looks holy. On the outside. But that’s not what makes for true holiness. So, let’s go ahead and start with The Comprehension of Sanctification. The word “holy” means the same as the word “sanctified.” It means “Set apart for a sacred purpose.” And if one is sanctified they are a saint. Time out! How many miracles does a person have to do in order to be a saint? ZERO!!!!!

The word “saint” or “saints” is used 62 times in the NT. And not once does it refer to someone who was called a saint because they performed some miracle. They were called saints because they were saved by the grace of God, and the blood of Jesus Christ. They were “sanctified,” set apart by God. There is Past Sanctification. Hebrews 10:10—By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. This is when God saves a person—and when God has done it, it’s done. There are people who say a little prayer, ask Jesus into their heart, and walk out the door and are no different than they were before. But when it is God who does a work in the person’s life, He has taken that person out of the family of Adam, and has set them apart unto Himself. 1st Corinthians 6:19-20—Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which belong to God. We don’t belong to ourselves anymore. We belong to God. He took us out of the darkness we were living in, set us off to the side, opened our eyes, flipped on the light, and set us in the kingdom of His Son. Colossians 1:9-13 (NASB)—We have not ceased to pray for you…so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects…joyously giving thanks to the Father…For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. Past Sanctification.

Then there is Present Sanctification. Hebrews 10:14—For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. That word “perfected.” It means “completed.” “Finished.” “Accomplished.” The Greek is “teteleiwken.” Anybody know when Christ used the word “tetelestai?” John 19:30. “It is finished!” We have been finished. We have been completed. And now, we are being set apart every day from darkness. But even as God sets us apart, we are to set a boundary between ourselves and the world—not that we don’t ever have anything to do with the world. But we do not indulge in the things of the world. 1st Thessalonians 4:3-7 (NASB)—For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. We are to be different. God has set us apart from the rest of the world. On our trip to Lexington, we could tell one side from the other by the color of the shirt. We may not be able to spot a Christian by the way they look on the outside. But we should be able to spot a brother by how they act. And how they don’t act.

1st Peter 4:1-4 says that we should no longer live the rest of our time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. See, this is why the world looks at some in the church and says they don’t want any part of it because we’re all a bunch of…what? That’s why, getting back to that example I gave a few minutes ago, it would be better if he never said he went to church because somebody will look at him as a model of what a Christian can be, and fall into that same excess. Past Sanctification. Present Sanctification.

Future Sanctification. “At a point in the future (our death/Christ’s return/the rapture), there will be a setting apart from the presence of sin forever.” Philippians 1:6—He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. A few minutes ago we looked at the word “perfected.” “Accomplished.” “Completed.” The Greek “teteleiwken.” He who has begun a good work in you will complete—“epiteleo”—same root word—complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. He sanctified us when He saved us. He continues to sanctify us every day. He will completely sanctify us when that day comes. 1st Corinthians 15:51-54—We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. When we are walking in that final glory, we will NEVER have to worry about sin ever again. It will be done away with. Future Sanctification.

We’ll finish up with The Cultivation of Sanctification. In other words, how do we sanctify ourselves from the world? By the word and by prayer. First, The Word. We need to do 3 things with the word, and we find them in Revelation 1:3—Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. The first thing we need to do is Read the word. 2nd Timothy 2:15-16—Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. We are not to believe everything somebody says about the word of God without checking it first.

There are a lot of preachers who go around reading from this same Bible—but what they say does not line up with what the Bible actually says. But don’t you dare question them. Or they will come back with a Scripture of their own—“Touch not mine anointed!” If you try and show someone why these prosperity heretics are wrong, that’s what they come back with. “Touch not mine anointed! Do my prophet no harm!” So we shouldn’t question what they say, right? WRONG! Acts 17:10-11—Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea…These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. These men dared question the apostle Paul! I speak as a fool. Yet these “anointed” clowns get up there and say nobody should question them. 1st John 4:1—Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Read the word.

Hear the word. That’s why we have church on Sunday. Romans 10:14—How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 2nd Timothy 4:1-4—I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

Finally, we need to Keep the word. Luke 11:28—“Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Luke 8:11-15—“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God…the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” We can hear the word and read the word every day from now until the end of the age. But if we are not doing what it says, it’s no use. In fact, listen to what Christ says about people who read the truth and hear the truth and know the truth—but they do not do it. Matthew 11:20-24—Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.” Think about that! If a person reads the truth, hears the truth, knows the truth, they will be judged more harshly than even Sodom and Gomorrah! Two of the most wicked cities that have ever existed—outside of Las Vegas. That person who knows the truth and does not do it will be wishing they could be with those from Sodom and Gomorrah. Read. Hear. Keep.

Let’s finish up with Pray. What can we do apart from God? Nothing. What can we do if God is with us? Anything. Luke 18:27. It can be Scheduled. Daniel 6:10 (NASB)—Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously. We need to set aside a time to talk to God. I love this old wuote from Corrie Ten Boom: “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” We need to ask God for His guidance, to know how to please Him.

It can be Spontaneous. Do we have to go through ritual to talk to God? We can pray right on the spot. 1st Thessalonians 5:17—pray without ceasing. It should be Steadfast. How often should we pray for something or someone? As often as it takes. Luke 18:1-6—Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God… there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘…because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?”

Prayer sets our hearts on God, helps strengthen our faith so that we do not desire the things of the world, so that we can live a life sanctified to God. We can, as it says in 1st Peter 1:16, be holy for He is holy. We can be separate from the world and we can, as Peter exhorts us, we can be strange!

Systematic Theology--Lesson 7, Salvation (part 4)

What is salvation? What does it mean? I tried to come up with a suitable definition a while back, and this was what I came up with:

Salvation is the restoration of a right relationship between God and a man.

Not God and man—but God and A man. An individual. Salvation is not universal. The relationship between God and man—all of mankind—has not been restored. All of mankind, in their natural state, is set against God. When God created Adam, he had a perfect relationship with God. There was nothing to separate them. In fact, both Adam and Eve walked and talked with God. But then something—someone—led them away from God, and from that point on, even until now, man is separated from God by sin and death. This took God completely by surprise. “Oh no! What ha-happened!! Oh, how am I ever going to fix this?” Right? Isn't that how the liberals and emergents would have you believe? Of course, these are fools. Sorry, there's no other way to say it.

But this did NOT take God by surprise, and that’s why Christ is referred to as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He was slain for those whose names had been written in the Book of Life. He was slain so His blood could cover the sins of those who would believe before He physically came to earth. Kinda like postdating a check. They had the promise of redemption, and when Christ came He made good on it. That is why Jesus told the Pharisees, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). Abraham saw this day, he saw the day when Christ would come to earth, and he rejoiced because he knew God the Son would enter into the Most Holy Place in the heavens with His blood, to atone for the sins of those who not only had already died believing the promises of God, and for those yet to come.

To forgive the sins of those whose names were written in the Book of Life of the Lamb. This brought all those things we talked about last time. But none of those would be possible without the forgiveness of sins. We would still be dead in our sins; we would still be in the kingdom of darkness, and would still be enslaved to sin. We would still be God’s enemy. And it’s only through Christ that we have this forgiveness of sins. There is no way, no how, that we could ever pay the debt that we owe. And that’s why we must never miss and must never, ever compromise on what the cross was all about. It was not so that we could drive a fancy car and always have good health!!! It was because we were enemies of God, and because we owed a debt we could not pay. And the cross was the only way to pay off that debt, and restore our relationship with God.

See, here’s the thing. Even though we are born dead to God, even though we hate Him and reject Him at every turn, we still have the ability to do “good” things. “Wow, that Mr. Jingleheimer. He does so many good things. There’s got to be a special place in Heaven for him.” If he has accepted Christ as his Savior—there is. But if Mr. Jingleheimer has never asked the Lord to forgive his sins, has never called upon the name of Christ, and is depending on his own vile, filthy works of flesh to make him righteous before God—then his place is not going to be in Heaven. That’s not my idea. That’s the clear word of Scripture. Because without forgiveness of sins, there is no way for a person to enter into the Kingdom of God. Period, paragraph. Psalm 130:3-8—If You, YHVH, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared. I wait for YHVH, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning…O Israel, hope in YHVH; for with YHVH there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all iniquities.

Remember in the gospels, those four men brought their friend to Christ—their friend to who was bedridden with the palsy—they couldn’t get in the house, so they went up to the roof, tore off the shingles, and let down his bed through the hole. When Jesus saw their faith, He said, “You need healing! Be healed!” Right? No? Well, what did He say? “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” Kind of an odd thing to say. In fact, when the Pharisees heard this they hollered, “Only God forgives sins! This man blasphemes!” Which is kinda strange if Jesus never claimed to be God. But that’s why Christ came—to forgive sins. Even that was only a part of His main goal. His main mission was not to heal, or to give sight to the blind or to heal lepers—and it sure as heck was not to heal our bank account! Those things were part of His main goal which was what? To glorify the Father. Christ could have gone around giving sight and healing lepers until the end of the age. But we would still be plagued by the curse of sin.

See, the problem we humans have is not sickness, or poverty, or disease, or anything like that. Those are only symptoms. Just like sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever are only symptoms of a cold. We can chug Nyquil™ on the 8’s for a month. But until we get rid of our cold, we’re still going to have sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever. And as long as there is still sin in this world, there will always be sickness and poverty and disease and death. I don't normally quote from paraphrases, and when I do I'm very careful about it. But I do like how the New Living Translation renders Romans 8:20-24—Everything on earth was subjected to [the] curse. All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as [if] in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us…the new bodies he has promised us. Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom.

It is sin that separates us from God. It is sin that causes sickness and poverty and disease and death. And only when all things are made new will those things be done away with. Even we believers in Christ will always deal with these things. But, with forgiveness of sins—and only by the forgiveness of our sins—God can allow us into His kingdom, and we can be truly healed—not in this world, but in the age to come. Habakkuk 1:13—You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. Psalm 5:4-5—For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. Forgiveness. Without it, we cannot be brought to life, we cannot be reconciled to God, and we cannot be redeemed from the kingdom of sin.

Next, Justification. This is another biggie. Because justification goes hand-in-hand with forgiveness. Because we are forgiven of our sins, we are justified in the eyes of God. Romans 4-5 are two of the clearest chapters on justification. First, let me throw out a definition for you. Easton’s Bible Dictionary defines justification like this:

It is the judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and…treats them as righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., [treats them] as being conformed to all its demands. In addition to the pardon of sin, justification declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied in respect of the justified…The law is not relaxed or set aside, but is declared to be fulfilled in the strictest sense; and so the person justified is declared to be entitled to all the advantages and rewards arising from perfect obedience to the law.

Romans 5:1—Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. If I rob a liquor store—put a gun to the clerk’s head, they hand over a bag of money, I run out of the store—and right into a police officer. He arrests me, puts me in jail, I go to trial. Here’s the thing. I am guilty. I committed a crime. No doubt about it. But if I can find a good lawyer, or if some of that evidence gets thrown out on a technicality, I can walk out of that court room a free man. The world knows I committed that crime. I know I committed that crime. I did it. But I don’t get punished for it. In fact, nobody gets punished for it. The requirements of justice are not met.

When we sin, we break God’s law. 1st John 3:4 (KJV)—sin is the transgression of the law. And when we sin, we are in the full sight of God. There’s nothing He does not see. Hebrews 4:13 (NASB)—And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. We sin, He sees it—there must be punishment for those sins. God’s justice demands it. His court is not like man’s court. There is no getting off without some payment being made to the one who was wronged—and who is it that was wronged? Psalm 51:4—against You, and You alone have I sinned. Who decides what the payment will be? Will He have mercy on a person if they stand before Him and they still owe their debt? And when they do stand before God, there will be no lawyer anywhere who can argue against God, and in fact, their fate is already sealed. You see, unlike our courts, there are no technicalities. There are no fancy maneuvers to get a person out of their sentence. None of the evidence will be suppressed. There are no appeals. The verdict will be read, the sentence will be passed. None of His verdicts are overturned. They will be cast, without mercy, without pity, without a second thought, into Hell. And it is fair. Romans 3:19—Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Anyone who stands before the Great White Throne will be judged by the Law.

In Revelation 20, it says that books were opened and another book, which is the Book of Life. I believe that “the books”—and this ain't a hill I'm gonna die one--I believe one of these books will be their works, one will be their sins, and the other will be the Book of the Law. And then the Book of Life will be laid out. And anyone whose name is not found in the Book of Life… But, let me tell you why the gospel is gospel. We have committed all these sins. There is no doubt about it. We did it, God saw it, they must be punished. But as Christ hung on that cross, God was justifying us, forgiving us of our sins, and Christ on that cross took the punishment we deserved. We deserved the wrath of God—but God provided a lamb for His burnt offering. He gave His Son to shed His blood on the mercy seat of the cross. He shed His blood so that death would pass over us. 1st Corinthians 5:7—Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

And because He was punished, we aren’t. We are declared “Not guilty” and we are released from judgment. We are justified—how? Therefore we declare that a man is justified by… Romans 3:28, Romans 5:1; Galatians 2:16, Galatians 3:11, Galatians 3:24. All these are very clear, that a man is justified by faith. That when we believe, when we repent from sin and we trust in Christ alone as the one who justifies us, God declares us justified. He declares that we have kept all of the righteous requirements of the Law. “What do you mean? You said that we are all sinners, and now you're saying God declares that we have kept the righteous requirements of the Law? How does He do that?” There’s one last term we need to look at. It’s called “Imputation.”

2nd Corinthians 5:19-21—Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ…God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them…we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Romans 4:5-8—But to him who…believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin. Romans 4:22; James 2:23 both talk about Abraham’s faith being imputed to him as righteousness.

And you know, I had been thinking about that concept. That Abraham believed God, and it was counted for righteousness—he was declared righteous simply because he believed a promise. But here’s why I think this is so. We need to go all the way back to the beginning. Who committed the first sin? Adam. What caused him to commit that sin? He believed a lie. What was that first lie? “Hath God indeed said?” And believing this lie caused Adam and Eve to do what? They doubted God’s word—even though Adam had seen the work of God. But Abraham believed without seeing. What did Jesus tell Thomas after He told him to put his fingers through the nail prints, and Thomas cried out “My Lord and my God,” what did Jesus tell him? “You believe because you have seen, blessed is he who…believes without seeing.”

So many people say, “Oh, if I could only see Jesus, I know my faith would be so much stronger!” No it wouldn’t! If someone has to see Christ in order to believe Him, they don’t have much faith to begin with! Because it’s almost as if they are asking, “Hath God indeed said?” But when we believe, and we continue believing, God imputes Christ’s righteousness to us. To put something into someone’s account. Adam’s sin was imputed to us. Our sins are imputed to Christ. Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us. According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia,

It is not meant that Adam's sin was personally the sin of his descendants, but that it was set to their account, so that they share its guilt and penalty. It is not meant that Christ shares personally in the sins of men, but that the guilt of his people's sin was set to his account, so that He bore its penalty. It is not meant that Christ's people are made personally holy or inwardly righteous by the imputation of His righteousness to them, but that His righteousness is set to their account, so that they are entitled to all the rewards of that perfect righteousness.

It’s kinda like this: If I'm in Argentina, and I need money, I call my friend. I say, “Richard, can you wire me some money?” He goes to Western Union, says “I want to wire $1000 to a Mr. Wood in Argentina.” Does the person on Richard’s end of the wire roll up those bills and physically stick the money through the telegraph wires? What they do is they tell the person on the other end, “There is a Mr. Brittain here, and he has given me $1000 that I need you to impute a Mr. Wood in Argentina.” They take that $1000 that Richard gives them, and they credit—they impute—that money to me.

Adam’s sin is imputed to us; it is credited to us, when we are born. So we start off with a debt—even before we take our first breath. Let’s say.....about $80 billion. Conservative estimate. Probably higher than that. Every time we sin—murder by hatred, adultery by lust, stealing, coveting, etc. We continue to pile up debt every single day of our life. So before we even realize it, our debt has grown from $80 billion to around, let’s say, ballpark, $100 trillion. Now, in order to get into Heaven, we need to have one thing—and only one thing. We need to have the righteousness of God. That’s all you need! All you need to get into Heaven is the righteousness of God!

Ooooohhh.....problem.

How many of us have the righteousness of God? Yeah, pretty much. Well, now, wait. There is one in Heaven Who does have it. Who is that? So we’re going to put a 1 underneath Christ’s side of the ledger, to show that He is the only one who is worthy of entering into the presence of the Father. Ain't lookin’ too promising for us. But here, my friends, is imputation. Watch this transaction. When He saves us, when He calls us, and we respond, we repent—turn our back on—sin, and we trust in Christ as Abraham believed the promises of God and it was counted as righteousness—He takes this $100 trillion debt and places it into Christ’s account. And He takes the righteousness of God, and places it into our account. Christ redeems us from the curse of sin by becoming a curse for us, He saves us from our sins by becoming sin for us, and we receive the righteousness of God that was in Christ as God was reconciling us to Himself through the cross.

God is so unfair!

Systematic Theology--Lesson 7, Salvation (part 3)

Salvation. We’ve been talking about it now for three weeks. We've seen where it comes from, who begins it, who saves us, how we are saved. We have seen all these things. But what do they mean? I mean, I’m saved—now what? Do I go about living my life as if nothing happened? Do I have to be always afraid that if I make one false step that I will be cast out of the kingdom of God? When it comes to salvation and what it means, we could come up with a thousand questions. Can I lose it? Oh, I can answer that one real quick—ABSOLUTELY NOT!!

There are some systems, some organizations that will tell you that outside of their group there is no salvation. That if you do not belong to this particular man-made group, you cannot be saved. The Roman Catholic system makes that claim, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Let me make this abundantly clear. Salvation does not come about by joining a particular “church.” Even this one. Salvation is a work of God. Period. I cannot save anyone. This church cannot save anyone. It is God who works in a person’s life to bring their dead spirit to life, to make that person righteous in His eyes, to redeem them from the kingdom of death and into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, to reconcile that lost sinner who wanted nothing to do with God, and it is only by His grace that he forgives sins so that He might make us able to enter His rest.

We begin today by discussing The Particulars of Our Salvation. What is involved in our salvation? How does God save us? First, by Regeneration. Our pastor calls this, "A secret act of God in which He imparts new spiritual life to us." He has to! He has to breathe life into us because we are dead. We are born dead. When God warned Adam about eating from the tree in the Garden, He said “In that day you shall die.” The Hebrew literally means, “Dying, you will die.” Basically, God was telling Adam that if he ate of that tree, he would begin to die—not only physically, but spiritually as well. Did he die physically that day? Well, yes, in a way. He started to die--he began the dying process; cells in his body began to die. That death is passed on to all of us. Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13 both tell us that we were dead in trespasses and sins. We are dead. We are born dead.

But when God sets out to save a person, the first thing He does is breathe His Spirit into that person to bring their dead spirit to life. Because He sees a person that has done so many wonderful things and so many good works that he has no choice but to save them, right? Uh...yeah. Titus 3:3-5—For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. We are regenerated, brought to life by the Holy Spirit. Check out what the verses following Ephesians 2:1 and Colossians 2:13 have to say. Ephesians 2:4-5—He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, [and] made us alive together with Christ. Colossians 2:13—He has made [you] alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Ezekiel 36:25-28—“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean…I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them…you shall be My people, and I will be your God.” Notice what God says here. “I will cause you to walk in My statutes.” We don’t just decide one day to follow His laws. He causes us to do them!

Why does He do that? Because He HAS TO in order for us to follow them! That’s why He brings our dead spirit to life—so that we can walk in a way that pleases Him. Regeneration. Next is Redemption. Where do we usually see the word “redeem?” Coupons. When I redeem my coupon for 25 cents off a loaf of bread, what do I do? I hand a little slip of paper to the grocery clerk and that clerk removes 25 cents from the price of that loaf of bread. When we talk about biblical redemption, it’s kinda the same, but a bit different. When we are born, we were under the curse of the law. Every single person, Jew or Gentile, when we are born we are born under the law of sin and death. Whose law? God’s law. We owed a debt to God. Why do we owe that to God? Because of our sins. If that debt is not paid in this life, what will the payment be? Eternal punishment in Hell. It will be paid one way or the other. No way around it.

When Jesus died on the cross, He died, He ascended to Heaven, He entered the Most Holy Place in the heavens with His own blood. That blood removed from us the penalty we were due—but only for those who believe. Christ offered His blood to the Father, and--contrary to what the Roman Catholic will tell you, contrary to what the LDS will tell you, contrary to what the Jehovah's Witnesses will tell you--He didn’t just knock a few dollars off of our debt. His blood completely removed from us the price tag that was on our heads—the handwriting of ordinances against us—that price tag was given to the Father, and He destroyed it. No, you're right--God isn't fair! Ephesians 1:7—In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. 1st Peter 1:18-19—you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold… but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Galatians 3:13—Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. Galatians 4:3-5—When we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But…God sent forth His Son…to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Titus 2:14—[Christ] gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Christ offered His blood to the Father as payment for our eternal spirit, that He might remove from us the price tag of eternal Hell. It’s not fair.

Next, Reconciliation. We hated God. Period. There’s no, “Well, I haven’t really made up my mind yet.” A person either loves God or hates God. Period. If someone hasn’t made up their mind—then they have made up their mind. And because we hated Him, He counted us as His enemy. Romans 8:7-8—The carnal mind is enmity against God…those who are in the flesh cannot please God. James 4:4—Friendship with the world is enmity against God. But, guess what God did? He sent His Son. Think about that. If I broke into someone’s house, stole their TV and their stereo, poured lighter fluid on everything and set it on fire. Became their enemy. They come to me, wanting to reconcile our relationship. I ask them, “Well, what can I do?” They tell me there’s nothing I can do. The only way to reconcile the two sides is for them to allow their son to die. “No, no! There has to be some other way!” No, there is no other way. Their son has to die. That’s what God did. We broke into His house, stole His stuff, set His stuff on fire—but He allowed His Son to die to pay for our actions.

There is nothing we can do to repair our relationship with God. Except to believe that He has done everything that needs to be done by allowing us sinful humans to put His Son to death. He sacrificed His Son for our lawless deeds. God is not fair. Colossians 1:19-21—For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight. Romans 5:10-11—For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

We did not want to make peace with God. And if He had not sent His Son, there never would be peace between God and any man. The whole lot of the human race would burn in Hell. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:3-4). Reconciliation.

Finally, Forgiveness. I hope I can do this justice. Because this is the whole purpose of the gospel. That God forgives sinners. This, my friends, is the most important concept when it comes to understanding salvation. Because without God forgiving our sins, there is no regeneration; there is no justification, there is no redemption, there is no reconciliation. There is no way for our salvation to be possible without forgiveness of sins. In fact, without understanding forgiveness of sins, the gospel is not gospel. It is not “good news.” It’s just “news.” To hear some people talk, the only reason God sent His Son was just to show us how much He loved us, and to help us live in luxury. One fellow on TV had the audacity to declare that Christ came so you could pay your light bill and your phone bill. Quote--

“He said, ‘Because I live, you shall live also.’ He wasn’t just talking about breathing. He was talking about living an abundant life. Not a barely-getting-by life. Not a life filled with lack and mediocrity. No, because of the price He paid, we have a right to live in total victory. Not partial victory where we have a good family and good health—but we constantly struggle in our finances. That’s not total victory…He has paid the price so that we may be totally free…Free from poverty and lack. Free from low self-esteem…”

But that’s because Joel Osteen is afraid to talk about sin. Listen up my friends. The cross had nothing to do with your health, or your finances, or especially your self-esteem. In fact, if you were to ask the Lord Jesus Christ, He would probably say “To Hell with your self-esteem.” And I don’t say that to cuss, but that He would say, “Take your self-esteem and send it to Hell.” Because that’s where it belongs. God doesn’t care about your self-esteem!!!

Now, here’s the thing. Even though we are dead to God, even though we hate Him and reject Him at every turn, we still have the ability to do “good” things. “Wow, that Mr. Jingleheimer. He’s such a good person. He does so many good things. There’s got to be a special place in Heaven for him.” If he has accepted Christ as his Savior—there is. But if Mr. Jingleheimer has never asked the Lord to forgive his sins, has never called upon the name of Christ—then his place is not going to be in Heaven. That’s not my idea, folks. That’s the clear word of Scripture. Because without forgiveness of sins, there is no way for a person to enter into the Kingdom of God. Period, paragraph. Psalm 130:3-8—If You, YHVH, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared. I wait for YHVH, my soul waits, and in His word I do hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning…O Israel, hope in YHVH; for with YHVH there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all iniquities. When those four men in the gospels brought their friend to Christ—their friend to who was bedridden with the palsy—when Jesus saw their faith, what did He say? "Thy sins are forgiven!" Kind of an odd thing to say. But that’s why Christ came. To forgive sins. Even that was only a part of His main goal.

His main mission was not to heal, was not to give sight to the blind and to heal lepers—and it sure as heck-fire was not to heal your bank account! Those things were part of His main goal which was what? To glorify the Father. Christ could have gone around restoring sight and healing lepers until the end of the age. But we would still be plagued by the curse of sin in our lives. See, the problem we humans have is not sickness, or poverty, or disease, or anything like that. Those are only symptoms. Just like a runny nose and a hacking cough are only symptoms of a cold. We can take cough medicine and stock up on Kleenex™ all we want. But until we get rid of our cold, we’re still going to have a runny nose and a hacking cough.

And I don’t care what Jesse Duplantis says, I don’t care what Kenneth Copeland say, I don’t care what Creflo Dollar says—just because a person is saved does not mean they will be free from this world’s troubles! It does not mean that we will stop having sickness and poverty and disease—because we live in a world and on a planet ruined by sin. Romans 8:20-24 (NLT)—Everything on earth was subjected to [the] curse. All creation anticipates the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as [if] in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us…the new bodies he has promised us. Now that we are saved, we eagerly look forward to this freedom.

It is sin that separates us from God. It is sin that causes sickness and poverty and disease. And only when all things are made new will those things be done away with. We believers in Christ will always deal with these things. But, with forgiveness of sins—and only by the forgiveness of our sins—God can allow us into His kingdom. Habakkuk 1:13—You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. Psalm 5:4-5—For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. We could not be brought to life, we could not be reconciled to God, and we could not be redeemed from the kingdom of sin without the forgiveness of our sins.

Systematic Theology--Lesson 7, Salvation (part 2)

We pick up where we left off from last time, talking about The Preparation For Our Salvation. We saw that The Whole Trinity Was Involved. We have seen already that it was The Father's Choice, it was The Son's Cross. Next we see it is The Spirit’s Conviction. That there is nothing in us that desires to follow God, but we are drawn by the Holy Spirit.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit to draw us to God because we don’t want to be drawn. When we are going on about our happy little lives, happily sinning our lives away, tra-la-la-ing our way toward the gates of Hell—the Holy Spirit enters in, breathes life into our dead spirit, and makes us alive to God. John 16:7-8—“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” 2nd Corinthians 4:4—But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. We cannot know how to please God unless He shows us. 1st Corinthians 2:11-14—Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received…the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God…But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Why do we think they are foolishness? What condition is our spirit in when we are born? Ephesians 2:1—You, therefore, being dead in trespasses and sins… Colossians 2:13—And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. So that's the Preparation For OUr Salvation.

Next, The Provision For Our Salvation. Matthew 1:21. Mary is with child by the Holy Spirit. Joseph wants to put her away privily (divorce her privately), but the angel tells him, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” And again, when did God decide to send His Son? Before the foundation of the world, God provided an offering for our sins. He provided a Lamb. Why? For God so loved… Here’s a question for ya. Where is the first place we find the word “love” in the Bible? Yeah, Genesis, no kidding! Specifically, Genesis 22.

Genesis 22:1-2—Now it came to pass after these things that God said, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering …" In verse 2, where does God tell Abraham to take his son? Moriah. Many Christian scholars, archaeologists, believe that this Moriah went by a different name by the time of Christ. Guess what that name was. Golgatha. Christ was most likely crucified in the same place where Isaac was offered as a sacrifice. But that Old Testament stuff is so boring! Look at verses 7-8—Then Isaac said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” Who will provide the Lamb? John 1:29—“Behold the Lamb of God!” “Behold the Lamb that God provided to take away the sins of His people! The Lamb that God provided as a burnt sacrifice! The Lamb that will be laid on the wood, and take the fire of God’s wrath!” God provided a Lamb for our sins. A spotless, sinless Lamb without spot or blemish.

Let’s talk about His Sinlessness. We went over this in a previous lesson, but we really need to stress it because there are a lot of “churches” that are teaching that Christ sinned, or that He at least wanted to sin. That is blasphemy. And yes, I will cross that line and use that word. I'll tell that to anybody. To say that Christ was capable of sinning is utter blasphemy! Who was Jesus? He was God! Can God sin? James 1:13-15—Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. So, according to James, what are we tempted by? Our own desires. Where do those desires come from? Our flesh. Our sinful nature that we inherited from Adam.

Adam passed it down to all his children, his sons passed it to all their children, and then who passed it to us? Our human fathers. Did Christ have a human father? Did He inherit a desire to sin? We sin because of our desires, which spring from our sinful nature, which we inherit from our human fathers. Christ did not have a human father, did not inherit a sinful nature, had no desires that were opposed to God—do you think He could have sinned? This also throws out the window the Romish claim that Mary had to be perfectly sinless so that Christ could be born sinless. Jesus did not have a human father--that alone guaranteed He would be sinless.

When we sin, can we say we have been tempted by God? No. Why? Because He cannot be tempted by evil. Is Christ God? Can God be tempted with evil? "Well, wait a minute! Hebrews 4:15 says we have a High Priest who was in all points tempted as we are!" We need to make a distinction—Jesus was tempted with sin—but He was not tempted by sin. Temptation has two sides—the one doing the tempting, and the one being tempted. I can walk in with a bottle of liquor and say, “Hey, come on, let's roll!” But you can look at me and tell me to take a hike. In other words, I tempt you with something, but you are not tempted by it. 1st John 3:5 (NASB)—You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 1st Peter 2:22 (NASB)—He committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth. 2nd Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)—For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. So that’s The Preparation, The Provision, and now The Procurement of Our Salvation. In other words, as the jailer cried out in Acts 16:30—“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

First we need to have A Genuine Humility. Matthew 5:3-4, 6-8 (NASB)—“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted…Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Acts 2:37—They were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?" “Well, first you need to know that that God loves you very much and has a wondereful plan for your life!” How many times in Acts do we find the word “love?” ZERO!! Not once, in the entire book of Acts, do we EVER read anything about the apostles telling people "God loves you." If Rick Warren and Bill Hybels had written the book of Acts, Stephen would have been the most beloved man in all of Jerusalem because he never would have exposed the people's sins.

When the rich young ruler came up to Christ, asking Him how he could inherit eternal life, did Jesus beat around the bush? Did He say, "Well, you're doing pretty good. I mean, you're a good person, and God is really cheering you on. And He loves you very much." Did He try and sugar-coat His message in an attempt to be “relevant” to this young man? No. The first thing He did was to take him to the law. Matthew 19:16-22—Now behold, one came and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." He said to Him, "Which ones?" Jesus said, “'You shall not murder,' 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You shall not steal,' 'You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'” The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Christ simply showed this man the cost of eternal life. He did not want to pay it. Today he would have said, “I’m a successful attorney with high-powered clients! I’ve got a three-car garage, a house in an expennsive subdivision; I belong to to the country club, got a condo in Boca Raton. I’m supposed to give all that up for some pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by?” Around here, someone might say, “All I gotta do is sell a few bags on the corner and I make a ton of loot. I ain't gotta work, ain't gotta pay taxes. I got a shiny car with a boomin’ system and a set of 26’ spinnin’ rims. I got more girls than I know what to do with. I'm supposed to give all that up?” Now, did Jesus go chasing this guy? He simply laid it out there for him, said “Take it or leave it”—and he left it.

I have got to share something with you about this story of this young man. Let me give you one example of what a bold-faced liar Creflo Dollar can be. He was doing an interview with CNN. The lady asked him about this particular passage. Listen to what this man said, word-for-word. “If you keep reading down a few more Scriptures, it says, ‘And he received a hundred-fold, everything that he gave.’” That is NOT what it says. If that man does not repent he will have a lot to answer for one day. That is why I continue to point out people like this. So you will know to avoid them and not be deceived by them.

Eternal life requires A Genuine Humility. It requires A Granted Repentance. 2nd Timothy 2:24-26—And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. It is God that grants us repentance. Do we want to repent? We would like nothing better than to continue our lives sinning and doing every other evil thing we please, thank you very much. Without repentance, there is no salvation. If we are going to teach the love of Jesus, we must teach repentance.

Matthew and Mark both tell of the first thing Jesus taught after He was baptized by John and tempted by Satan. What was that? Some people would have you think that the first thing He taught was for us to love one another and do good things and to help people and to not judge anybody and blah blah blah. NO! The first thing Jesus preached was “REPENT!” Turn away from your sin and return to God! And to us, the Holy Spirit preaches to us all our lives, but we keep throwing up blinders so we don’t see, we stop our ears so we can't hear, and then one day God gets sick and tired of us ignoring Him and the Holy Spirit reaches down and turns on the light in our spirit, and we see what a wretched sinner we are, and that God has been patient with us, not wanting us to perish until we do repent, and He puts a new spirit in us. And He shows us how worthless the things of this world are.

Then we mourn over the years we have spent serving our own desires. 2nd Corinthians 7:9-10—Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner…For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. A Genuine Humility. A Granted Repentance. A Gift of Faith. Not only is our repentance a gift from God, but the faith we need for salvation comes from God as well. Romans 3:28—Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Romans 4:5—But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Ephesians 2:8-9—For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

There are three components to saving faith. Knowledge. Romans 10:14—How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? Assent, or Acceptance of the facts as being true. James 2:19—You believe God is one; you do well… Which brings us to Commitment. The rest of James 2:19—…even the demons believe and tremble. Commitment is a trust in the person of Christ and striving to live a life that is pleasing to God, and show the world that you are His child. And the life we lead is of much more significance than any little prayer we pray. Because if we are going to go around bearing the title “Christian,” then we are telling the world “This is what Christ looks like.”

And for some people, the cause of Christ would be far better off is they would just not claim they are a Christian. Because they are showing the world a picture of a false Christ. I'm reminded of the story my fellow DefCon blogger Desert Pastor told of a young deserter from the army of Alexander the Great. When they brought the young man before the emperor, he asked the soldier his name.

The young man replied, “Alexander, sir.”

The emperor snapped back, “What did you say?”

Again, the reply “Alexander, sir!”

Alexander looked the young man dead in the eye and said, in no uncertain terms, “Then you either change your conduct or you change your name!”

When it comes to those who claim to be following Christ—if they have not changed their conduct, then God has not changed their name. Knowledge and assent are needed. But more than anything, a commitment must be made.

Let me close with an illustration. One of the classes I take for nursing is OB. We learn about the many processes of birth. One of the things that really struck me was when we take our first breath. See, in the womb, the child does not actually breathe. He is supplied with blood and nutrients through the umbilical cord. He doesn’t need to use his lungs, and in fact the only reason his lungs stay expanded and open is because of the amniotic fluid he is swimming in, which is filled with—you don’t even want to know. But here’s the thing—during birth, as the child is making his way through the birth canal, the lungs are squeezed through a tight space, and most of that gunk gets pushed out. And after they get squeezed coming through the canal, when his chest comes out, the first thing that child does is—it’s not to cry. Crying is not the first thing the child does. Before the child can cry, his lungs have to recoil—his lungs have to be filled with breath. Check this out—the Greek word for breath is pneuma. Want to know what else that word pneuma means? “Spirit.” Before we can cry out to God, we have to be filled with His breath—or, literally, His Spirit. Jesus told Nicodemus, “Ye must be…” what? Born again. You must be squeezed through a narrow way, you must push out all the stuff you were filled with before, and you must be filled with the breath—the Spirit—of God, so that you can cry out to God. How cool is that?