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The Rock Family Worship Center
Taking The Church Outside The Walls
The Rock Family Worship Center
Same But Different
In this episode, we explore how the book of Revelation is often misunderstood through fear-based interpretations, emphasizing instead that it reveals the victory of Jesus Christ. We examine the contrasts between the finished work perspective and the futurist view of scripture, encouraging listeners to embrace their identity as victorious children of God and to live fully in the realities of the Kingdom today.
• Examination of the misconceptions surrounding Revelation
• Understanding the finished work theology as a source of hope
• Discussion on the implications of a futurist perspective
• Importance of reading scripture in its historical context
• The relationship between identity in Christ and present living
• Exploring how sin is viewed through a distorted lens
• The impact of fear in eschatological beliefs on faith
• Recognizing the Kingdom of God as a present reality
• How Jesus' sacrifice fulfills justice and mercy
• Emphasizing that the promises of God are active today
So we've talked a lot about Revelation, the book of Revelation, and the reason I moved into the book of Revelation is because I want people to see that it's not a scary book.
Speaker 1:It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's not the revelation of the beast and the revelation of the end times and the revelation of all this other joke that we've been taught in church. It's actually a revelation of Jesus Christ and when we talk about it, one of the ways that I've tried to look at and I've really tried hard to get you to see two different points of views. There's two different ways to look at it. There's two different theologies, I believe, and mindsets that people in our area have. We have some people that's moving into what we teach as a finished work. I like to call it a finished work theology or a finished work perspective and basically it just simply means that we believe that Jesus died on the cross, he went to the grave, he rose from the grave, he ascended into heaven and he's sitting at the right hand of the Father. It's what the Word of God says and we believe that what he did through that whole process was absolutely sufficient. It's done, it's just like I said before it is finished and we believe that there's things that's already occurred and the work is finished and now, because of that, we are walking in certain things. So that's the finished work perspective and then you have what I just termed and it's not my term, you'll see it, you can research it it's called the futurist perspective. Probably 90% of the church has a futurist view, which means they take the book of Revelation and everything in there is going to happen one day, somewhere in the future, not realizing the book of Revelation is a symbolic book and you can't be read with a literal mindset and that's the way people read it. That's why it's so scary. That's why certain people say it's so difficult, because they try to read a symbolic text with a literal mindset and it just does not make sense. It's never going to. It's always going to be confusing if you read it that way.
Speaker 1:So I've tried to every message I've done on Revelation, I've tried to take and get you to look at it from both views, because I grew up like that. I grew up in the church that told me everything was coming and we're waiting on the rapture and then there's going to be a thousand year millennial reign and then the Antichrist is going to come and then we're going to stand before God in judgment and he's going to look at us and judge us for everything that we've ever done in our life. And then, all of a sudden, we're either he's going to look and say, well done my good and faithful servant, or he's going to say depart from me, for I never knew you, and he's going to cast you down to a hell for a turn. That's the gospel message. Listen, gospel means good news. Burning in hell is not good news to me.
Speaker 1:We have not been teaching a gospel message. We've been teaching a message that scares people and causes fear. And he says I'm not a, I didn't put fear in you, says I'm not a, I didn't put fear in you. He is not a God who instills fear into us. He does not put fear into us to convince us to come and know him. He created me before the foundation of the world. I'm not coming to know him. What he created? He says you're created in my image after my life. See, it's like we're trying to. We're going to come to the altar one day and we're going to get to know somebody that we never knew before, but the fact is he created us. It's not new. We're coming back into a relationship that has always been there. Now that's a different kind of mindset to look at and some people would say that is foolishness and I would say well, it might be to you, but the Bible says that those things of God will be foolishness to some people Because they don't understand it, because they look at it from a totally different standpoint. I'm not saying they're wrong, I'm not saying they're not Christians, but there's a way to read the word of God and understand the written word of God in context and that makes a difference.
Speaker 1:There's many times we begin to compare the difference of the finished work and the future's view and when you do that, I can tell you, I can promise you one thing is going to happen there's going to be pushback from somebody. If you are a finished work person and you believe in looking at things, looking at the word of God, through the finished work perspective, and you talk to somebody who does not understand what you're saying, there's going to be pushback. Always there's going to be a disagreement. They're going to say you're misinterpreting the Bible. They're going to say you're not standing on the word of God. There's always going to be that.
Speaker 1:Have y'all ever heard the phrase that two things can be true at the same time? I think that's true right here. Two things can be true at the same time. The title of this message today is kind of weird. But look at it Same but different. Now calling sins would say that's not even possible. You can't be the same but be different. I'm going to argue that we can't and I'm going to show you today that we can look at things the same, or they can be the same but yet be different, because I believe two things can be true at once.
Speaker 1:A finished work perspective can be confrontational, because it will always be confrontational to somebody who is waiting on something one day in the bye-bye, and if I tell you it's already done, then there's going to be some confrontation between you. I don't mean fighting, I mean spiritual confrontation. So the finished work perspective can be confrontational while also being conformational. It can be confrontational to somebody, but it can also confirm some things that the word of God says Fetus work confirms many of the key themes and the hopes that futurist people and I hate to use that word because it's like we're just creating some new group of people out there, most of the church are futurist.
Speaker 1:Many of you sitting in this room right now are futurist people. You have a futurist mindset. I don't care how much I preach on revelation up here, I don't care how much I preach on context, you are. It's going to be hard to convince you to get away from rapture, to get away from all the stuff that we've been taught over the years. I'm not trying to convince you to get away from it. I'm just saying open your mind up, be willing to look at both sides, be willing to say that I've always what I've always thought to be the truth may not have been, because I may have read it out of context. Revelation was not written to you. The book of Revelation was not written to you. Actually, the whole Bible was not written to you. Actually, the whole bible is not written to you. It was written for you, but it was never written to you directly in this century. So we have to take that into consideration.
Speaker 1:So the finished work confirms things that a futurist is going to believe, all the things that they hold on to and that they're unwilling to let go of. We're not taking that away. We're just saying we're going to confirm those things, just with a different timeline. That's it A different timeline. We're going to look at things from a different perspective of time. We're not denying it. We're not saying look at things from a different perspective of time. We're not denying it. We're not saying it's not true. It's just true in a different time with a different timeline. And you'll understand that in just a few minutes or more.
Speaker 1:Futurists believe that seeing things from a finished work perspective is wrong because of various reasons. They look at what somebody with a finished work perspective says and they say that can't be right because of this or this or this. So this is some of the things they say. I went through and looked at it and they feel like it takes away the hope of a future literal return of Christ. Okay, they feel like it downplays the significance of the Antichrist and the tribulation, seven year tribulation period. They feel like it downplays that. They feel like it removes the millennial, one thousand year reign of Christ, that it takes it away and that it diminishes that cosmic and that global scale of events that's going to happen in the end of days, that one day in the end of time that this world just going to. You know, we're just.
Speaker 1:We talked about it last week and I do it. You know I try not to do it jokingly sometimes, but it just comes out that way that you're going to be driving down the road and all of a sudden, boom, you're vanished, you're disappearing, you're going into the air and I don't know what's going to happen to your car and all that kind of stuff. That's the questions I have. That's just me. When all these people drive down the interstate and all of a sudden a rapture occurs and boom, boom, there's just total chaos on earth, that's what most people believe. Because how is he going to answer that? You were driving a car and now you're going to win in between me and I, the word says Great disappearance occurs. I'm not saying those things wrong. I'm not just challenged the way we understand those things. I'm okay with challenging some things and asking some questions that just don't make sense to me. I'm okay with that. They also.
Speaker 1:A futurist also believes that if you look at things from a finished work perspective, that you're removing the physical nature of God's kingdom. So we're going to look at some of this stuff and I want to share some stuff that you're removing the physical nature of God's kingdom, so we're going to look at some of this stuff and I want to share some stuff with you on the difference. Futurists view the finished work as a way of spiritualizing or symbolizing prophecy in a way that removes the dramatic literal fulfillment, because they believe that we're here and we're waiting on that day. The only thing we're waiting on right now is rapture. According to futurists I mean, I'm not trying to downright, I'm just being honest what we're waiting on right now is rapture. We just had a hurricane. We got a cold front moving in here, some of the worst weather that we've ever seen. South Georgia never seen a hurricane like we've seen.
Speaker 1:Oh man, the signs are here. The signs are among us. You hear this all the time. It's just a matter of time. It could be tomorrow. I hope not, because that's how I appreciate it, but it could be tomorrow. That might be a sign, because you know, donald Trump's father is an antichrist. I mean, you know how many antichrists we've had in the last few years? Barack Obama was the antichrist. Barack Obama was the Antichrist, george Bush was the Antichrist, hitler was the Antichrist, galilee and North Korea is the Antichrist.
Speaker 1:I mean, when are we going to stop just saying this and just read the Bible and say what does the Bible say? Not what I think, but what does the Bible say and read it in context, and then we'll quit missing it so much. You know how many times people have missed it over the years. And these great theologians, these great prophetic people who gave these words that the world's going to end in 2012, or 2000,. And then in in 2012 and then in 2018. We're still here. We're still here, and then they come up with all these reasons why oh, this didn't happen. If this would have happened, then I would have been right.
Speaker 1:No, you're a fool and you're taking things out of context and you're saying them and you're not being led by what the Word says and being led by the Holy Spirit. The real world is Jesus. Jesus is the world. Your Bible is a book that is inspired, but it's a book and you can truly understand that book without the leading of the real world, jesus, who is living on the inside of us right now as the Holy Spirit, if you're born again. So it's so easy to get off track with this. Here's what we need to realize Believing in the finished work of Christ does not deny the things that future is believing this today.
Speaker 1:The reason I say it's important is because I know that if you say some of this stuff to somebody from a different congregation or different church, different denomination, you're going to get pushed back. I have in the past, I know that. So this is going to give you some ideas of how do I begin to just share some stuff, even when they're pushing back. How do I do it? So, because you're going to get it. So here's the thing. If somebody says, well, this is going to happen and this is going to happen, okay, we're not taking that away from you. I'm not trying to deny that. I'm not trying to say that there's not a heaven. I'm not trying to say that you're not going to get there. I'm not trying to say that there's not going to be a judgment. I'm not taking any of that stuff away. I simply just shift the timeline up a few minutes.
Speaker 1:Everything that God spoke, I think, is real. It's true, if I believe the word of God, I have to believe that. But everything's not literal and some things that I'm waiting to be fulfilled has already been fulfilled. So I have to see the difference there. There's a different timeline on fulfillment, where future to see events as future finished work perspective. People see many of these things as already accomplished, which, in my opinion, validates the reliability of God's word. God said this and we're not waiting for it to happen. His word is true, it's happening. And when we go through and read the word in context, god said this and we're not waiting for it to happen. His word's true, it's happening. And when we go through and read the word in context, we see that a lot of this stuff has occurred already. It really has. By demonstrating how God fulfilled his promises in the past, it strengthens confidence in his ability to continue to fulfill promises. How do I know that God is who he says he is? Because he's always done what he said he was going to do. That builds confidence. That builds faith when I see that happen.
Speaker 1:So finished work and futurism I keep saying this because I want you to see, I want you to be able to compare Again. I'm not trying to say believe this because I said it, don't believe it because I said it. Take both views and just look at them, open your mind up and just say let me be real and contextual, let me read it in context and let's see which one really lines up with the word of God. Finished work and futurism ultimately point to the same truths. That's what I'm trying to say. We're not that different. We're pointing to the same truths.
Speaker 1:Think about this Christ reigns, evil is defeated, the church is victorious and God is faithful. There's not a person that claims to be a Christian in this whole county that would deny any of that. Don't care what you believe. I don't care what your end time philosophy is. There's not a Christian that does not believe what I just said. Right there, we're all in agreement Christ reigns, evil is defeated, the church is victorious and God is faithful. The difference is in the timing and interpretation of it. The difference is in the timing and interpretation of it. That's why I believe that the finished work view can be seen as confirmation of what some people were hoping for Showing that much of what futures are anticipating and waiting on to happen sometime in the future has possibly already happened or has already begun.
Speaker 1:We're not waiting, are anticipating and waiting on to happen sometime in the future has possibly already happened or has already begun. This gives us the ability. This is what I love about it. You might say what's the difference? Does it really matter if I believe this, or believe that some people might say no, but it does to me. For this reason, right here, it gives us the ability to live in the fullness of these realities. Right now, I can live with the things that God has already given me. Right now, I don't have to wait until I'm dead and gone. What good is it then?
Speaker 1:I always tell this story because it just makes sense to me like this but if somebody left you a million dollars in a wheel and you went to the lawyer and he ran the wheel and he said your great uncle has left you a million dollars and you can get it when you die? Really, that ain't the way a will works. If that uncle put me in the will, you know when I get the million dollars when he dies? Jesus left us in a will and he said there's things that I'm going to give you, there's things that you're entitled to, there's things that I want you to have, and you don't have to get it when you die. You have access to it when I die. It works the same way as a regular will Testament, new Testament, old Testament. It's a will. We're entering into a new covenant. Will we enter into a new covenant. We enter into a new will. That will has been opened. The lawyer, the advocate, has read it, just like if you're in a will You'll go to a lawyer's office and they'll open it up and they'll read it. That's happening. You are entitled to walk in and operate in every promise that God has for us right now.
Speaker 1:I don't have to wait. I ask. Sometimes questions just come to my head and sometimes I say them before I think about it and I'm trying to catch myself sometimes on doing that. But you know, it hit me the other night I think it was Wednesday night when we were sitting there talking and I said you know, he met overnight. I think it was Wednesday night. We were sitting there talking and I said you know, if that's the case and I'm waiting on all of this stuff one day in the future, then what's been going on for 2,000 years since the death of Christ? And we're just having a 2,000 year gap where nothing's happened because that happened and now all we're waiting on is leaving. What's happening here? It's like there's a 2,000 year gap because all we're waiting on is to die and go. I'm not waiting on that.
Speaker 1:I believe that he's got purpose for me here. I believe that he's got purpose for me here. I know that he's got purpose for us here. I know there's a reason that we're here. There's a reason that he said that kingdom come, that we'll be dead on earth as it is in heaven. There's a reason that he never Jesus never preached on escapism, leaving earth and escaping into the sky. There's a reason he said I want heaven to invade where you're living at Now. What I said, that does not take away from heaven.
Speaker 1:There's some people that will take what I just said and say, oh, he don't believe in heaven. I mean brilliant, he don't believe in heaven. He don't believe there's a place. I never said that, but he said you can have it now. Does that mean that there's not somewhere one day that you're going to go to as well? No, but he says I want you to be able to access the things of that place here.
Speaker 1:I mean, if you read, how can I stand up and quote that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven and then turn around and say that's not heaven? That don't even make sense. So people will take what you're saying and twist it and turn it to make it fit what they want it to say. It's time that we take the Bible for what it actually says and not try to make it fit what we want it to say. Let's read it in context, context. I didn't get so far behind. So again Christ reigns. He was defeated. Church is victorious. God is faithful. If you just take those four things, the difference is timing and interpretation. Here's a question for you. How would our walk with Christ be different? How would it change if we realize that much of what we are hoping for in the future was a present reality?
Speaker 1:Right now I have one of the guys that I know online. He made a post I know he really rocks and he messes people up because he was talking about the rapture in hell. He used both of those in one post and he said if people really believed that we was going to be raptured and the people that didn't know Christ was going to spend eternity being tortured and being burned alive forever, we wouldn't be waiting on people to come to the church. We would be doing everything we could to make sure they don't have to go to the back. So at the end of it he said this he said one of two things is true here, either that person really don't believe. If one of two things is true here, either that person really don't believe in either one of those things, but they just don't know what to believe. Or either most people just said well, I know where I'm going, I can't worry about you.
Speaker 1:If we really believe what we say, that we believe and I'm talking from a future standpoint that this is what's going to happen and this you know. Your child that don't know the Lord, your parents that don't know the Lord, your spouse that don't know the Lord, is going to burn forever. We would do more if I really believed that. Nothing would stop me. That's a tough topic, I know that, but think about it like that. If I really, honestly, in the depths of me, believed that man, I'd be evangelizing the world. Just something to think of. So how would I walk me different if we realize that it's now, it's not one day in the future, but it's right now? Revelation isn't a book about future. It's a declaration of the victory that we can experience right now.
Speaker 1:There's two different ways to read this book, the whole book, especially Revelation. I can read it with a fear mindset. Why? Because I've heard what everybody's always told me that one day we're going to be raptured away and all this kind of stuff's going to happen. The trip's ending, your tribulation, and then the thousand year reign and plagues is coming and the seals are going to be opened and all the different horses are coming.
Speaker 1:If I read it from that perspective, then I'm reading it through a lens of fear. And if fear is what I'm reading it through a lens of fear, and if fear is what I'm expecting, then fear is what I'm going to get. But if I'm reading it from a lens of saying, lord, I'm going to read this book that they say is so scary, that they say is just so bad. And I'm going to read it not because I'm going to figure out what's going to happen in the end of days, but because I want to read it. Not because I want to figure out what's going to happen in the end of days, but because I want to understand who you are. I want you to reveal yourself to me through this book. That's a different lens I'm looking through. You know what I'm going to get, exactly what I'm expecting.
Speaker 1:If I expect a revealing of Jesus Christ, then that's what I'm going to get the book of Revelation. Don't scare me. Do I understand all of it? No, I'm not trying to say I'm an expert on the book of Revelation. Don't take it that way. But I'm just saying, if you read it in context and you understand it the way John wrote it, it's not a scary book. It was never meant to be a scary book. It was never meant to be a scary book. It was never meant to be a futuristic book, but we turned it into that.
Speaker 1:And it's so hard to get people to change their mindset and say, no, maybe that's not always, that's not what we've been after. That's a tough thing to do. If you look at the victory of Christ and you think about that, we're hoping to one day live victoriously with Christ. Why not today? Why not today? Why do I have to wait one day? Why can't I have that victory today? He died on the cross for me. Why can't I just say I received that right now? I don't want to wait until I die. I received what he did right now. It was sufficient for me, for my life, right now.
Speaker 1:Revelation shows Christ the triumph of Christ over Satan, over evil, through his death, resurrection and judgment. And if you read it in context it was talking about over Israel in AD 70. Everything, most of what we've seen in Revelation. You can go back to the first century church. I'm not even we've talked about it, I'm not going to go back into that thing. Check out these couple of scriptures here Colossians 2 and 15.
Speaker 1:Having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing, winning, defeating over them. 1 John 3 and 8. He who sins is of the devil. I'd rather we could stop and preach on that. He who sins is of the devil. For the right there with you, stop Preach on that. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested. For this purpose that is so powerful. For this purpose he was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Speaker 1:And again, if you understand what sin is, we're not talking about a behavioral thing that you do that, oh, that person went and done something they wasn't supposed to do and oh, they're sinning, they're such a sinner. That's not even what we're talking about. We're talking about a distorted image. When I don't know who I am and I don't see myself in the image of lightness of God. I am a sin distorted image and then when I see myself as in a distorted image, I'm always going to push out a distorted behavior. That's why I've never believed in when you talk about.
Speaker 1:I used to say this all the time. Some people didn't like it. I hope they understand where I'm coming from when I say it. I don't lie. I never lied to AA and stuff like that because I didn't want somebody to stand up and say I'm an alcoholic. Why? Because if you see yourself that way, you will push out those behaviors. But if you see yourself as a child of God who used to have a problem with alcohol but I'm born again, I'm changed.
Speaker 1:That's a totally different mindset. I understand where that comes from and I understand the meaning behind it and all that. So some people would argue that with me. That's okay. I'm not here to debate that. I'm just saying that was my purpose to say that If you see yourself as an addict, you'll continue to act like an addict, think like an addict and portray yourself as an addict. You can see yourself as a child of God who used to be addicted, but I'm not anymore.
Speaker 1:Different mindset that's what he's saying right here. I mean I've got to see myself in victory, not because I won, but because he won Right here on the cross. I'm going to show you in a minute that. Guess what. You won too. You won too. So what does this say? We don't need to wait for victory. I don't need to wait for victory. I don't need to wait until one day. Christ has already won. And we live in the aftermath of that victory.
Speaker 1:When this hit me yesterday, I was sitting there and I looked at you and I said you don't work for the Board of Education. I do, but every time I get a pay increase guess what benefits, even though I got the raise. Why? Because we're connected. If Jesus is living in me and he's already victorious, how can I not be? We're connected. We're connected so right there. That's why I have a hard time struggling with the idea that one day I'm going to get that victory. No, I got it now Because he says that he come to live on the inside of me.
Speaker 1:He come to the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. I am, I'm the Jew, are. So if he lives in us, how can I not benefit from everything that he brings? The kingdom of God is already here. The kingdom of God isn't some future event, but a present reality that Jesus inaugurated during his earthly ministry. Jesus taught that he would pray for somebody and say the kingdom of heaven Is at hand. He said I'm laying hands on you right now and I'm praying for you and I'm healing you, and the kingdom is at hand. The kingdom is right here With our arm length. And then he left and he said that it's good that I leave, because, as I leave, I'm going to send back a comforter, because Jesus was a man here on the earth and he walked around and wherever he was at, geographically, that's where he was at. He wasn't over there and over there at the same time.
Speaker 1:But the Holy Spirit has been given To all A couple of verses right here Matthew 28, 18 through 20. I'm going to hurry through these verses. I want you to see them, I want you to be able to connect these verses. And Jesus came and spoke to them saying All authority has been given to me, in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you all the time. If you do the right thing, go to the right church and dress the right way and say the right words, I'll come to you. No, he said, I'm with you always, even to the end of the world, age.
Speaker 1:Look at that word up in Greek and you'll see a big difference. Right here, see, we've turned that word right there into the world. That's not what it's talking about. It's not the same word Age. That's a whole other sermon Luke 17 and 21. Nor will they say See, therefore, indeed, the kingdom of God is within you One day.
Speaker 1:I can't wait until we get to heaven and we're going to get into the kingdom of God. He said it's within you. Even Jesus said you don't have to wait on it. You don't believe me? Good, don't believe me, believe him. He said it is within you. It's not something you have to put off for another thousand years. How do you know that? Well, because it's going to be a thousand year millennial reign. So it's going to be at least a thousand years. We don't have to wait that long. It's going to be at least a thousand years. We don't have to wait that long. He's in us now. He said it's been given, it's within you. We are citizens of the kingdom of God, now Living in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, our mission is to bring kingdom to others.
Speaker 1:Now I remember coming up, being taught from a future standpoint. This is the way my mind works now. You may not have ever thought of this, and I remember coming up, thinking, being taught that that we were just getting saved. And then, boom, hopefully, all we want to do is get to heaven. Lord, take me out of this old, nasty place. And I remember thinking one night why didn't he just save us and kill us, save us and kill us, so I didn't take us home before we could have a chance to mess up? If heaven was the purpose, if heaven, if the purpose of God was to get born again and go there, then he would have just saved us and took us. But he didn't. He left you. He said I've left you there with purpose. I've left you there with destiny. I've left you there with gifts on the inside of you. I've left you there to bring what's here down there. I've left you there for a reason. What are you going to do while you're there, here's what I want you to see.
Speaker 1:Both these views affirm the reality of the kingdom and the reign of Christ, but finished work emphasizes present reality, present fulfillment, while futurism focuses on fulfillment coming sometime in the future, one of the things we hear so many people say and I wanted to hit this because I hear it so often yes, he is a loving God, but he is also a just God. You ever heard that Somebody says that when they want to defend their belief that he's an angry God? We got to punish sinners. We got to Listen. I've lived my whole life in church. I'm doing good, I'm doing what I'm supposed to, but that person over there, they're not and they need to pay the price. Think about it. I know that's not the way we teach it, but that's really the way we believe it. That person needs to pay the price for what they've always done, the way they've always lived.
Speaker 1:God's justice means that he is perfectly righteous and cannot overlook sin. So we're on the same page there. He cannot overlook sin, but you've got to understand what sin is. Again, that verse don't make no sense if I look at sin as all the stuff the church has told you it is, but understanding the true nature of what sin is in the Greek. Look it up, I mean, study it up. It means something different.
Speaker 1:Sin must be dealt with. That's a just God. And guess what? I totally agree. It must be dealt with. What if he doesn't prosper? So what they're saying, it's got to be dealt with. One day you're going to stand before him on the great white throne of judgment. Okay, we're not in disagreement. You're just thinking it's going to happen then. And I'm saying it happened here. Now am I saying there's not going to be a great white throne room? No, I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying we're looking going to be a great. From what wrong room? No, I'm just saying we're looking at it from a different time perspective. You're waiting on that. And I'm saying what Jesus do you? Wasn't Jesus dead on the cross? The once for all sacrifice and I'm using those words specifically because that's what Jesus said Once for all. There was a once for all sacrifice that satisfied Jesus Listen to this Satisfied God's judgment and his justice. He said justice, he's got to do. He did. He said y'all messed up so bad, I got to punish y'all. I got to fix. I'm going to send my son and he's going to take care of this for us.
Speaker 1:I need to write this verse out here, but I've got this verse. I didn't even write this verse out here, but I've got the verse for it. It's Romans 3, 25 through 26. Let me see what that says. I'm thinking it's going to go along with this somehow. Romans 3, I don't even know if I wrote that down. Romans 3, 25 and 26. Romans 3, 25 and 26. God's justice demanded a penalty. Whom God set forth?
Speaker 1:I struggle with this word. Y'all got no words. Y'all struggle to say it Propitiation. I don't know if that's how it's pronounced. You can say it without saying it how you want? By his blood, by his blood, by his blood through faith, to do what? To demonstrate his righteousness Righteousness is right. Standing with God, jesus did what he did to bring us into right sin, because in his forbearance, god had passed over the sins that were previously committed. To demonstrate at the present time, his righteousness that he might be just at the present time, his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Speaker 1:We just, we just told somebody's theology all the way up it, angry, resentful, out. To get you. God. These two verses right here totally destroy that. He's not angry with you, he's not mad, he's not out to get you. And I'm going to close with this.
Speaker 1:But I want you to see it because, just because I said it, don't believe it. Because I said it, don't look at the word. I'm always trying to back it up. I know sometimes I am running and thinking about it and it's got 14 different verses on it and I'm like man, I'm going to get that all down. But you have to get to it. You have to show that when I say this, I want you to see what God said now. I want you to see what the word says now, because it supports what we're saying. Last thing Right here I promise y'all, I'm coming to you right here Just to summarize that God's justice demanded a penalty for sin, but in his mercy he sent Jesus Instead of you, instead of every one of us having to die on the cross.
Speaker 1:He said I'm going to send my son in place of all of them. I'm going to send you. He provided Jesus as the substitute, ensuring that justice was upheld. See, some people say, oh, if you don't believe in God and justice and all that. You're just saying that you should let sin go and overlook sin. No, I'm not saying that at all. I believe sin needs to be dealt with. The difference is, I believe it already has been. If it hasn't been, then what was the purpose of him going to the cross? It meant nothing. God's justice has been carried out and continues to be because of Christ. We now have the opportunity to live in the present victory that Jesus provided.
Speaker 1:I made a comment last week, and this is the reason I want to end with this. I made a comment that I see. This is the comment. I made a comment last week, and this is the reason I want to end with this. I made a comment that I see. This is the comment I made. I said I see it as a problem that so many people see death as their savior. A lot of people don't look at Jesus as their savior. This is what I mean by this. When I die, I'm going to heaven, so Jesus is not really their Savior. Death is what's saving them. So I made that comment. I said they see death. I see that as a problem. Let me correct that comment. I told you, if I ever find myself saying something wrong. I'm going to come back and I'm going to correct it. Death is your Savior, death is your Savior. Death is your Savior, but not your physical death. His, his death was your Savior. So I'm going to correct myself and say death is your Savior. But we just have to look at it from a different perspective. It's not your death.
Speaker 1:What he did on the cross started this. It not graded this thing. It started it off. Revelation paints a picture of the new heavens and the new earth where God dwells in his people. This isn't a future promise. It's a present reality that we can live in and we can experience right now.
Speaker 1:The Bible says as being one is in Christ. He is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. I just know sinner. Well, you keep believing that. But I'm going to believe what it says in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5. Now, old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. It's just a different perspective. You believe what you want to believe, I believe what I want to believe, but we're going to get a different outcome because of our belief system. So I'm going to choose to believe what the word of God says. The word of God never says just an old sinner, slaved by grace. I know that we feel humble sometimes by saying that, but that's not what the word of God teaches. I'm not a sinner Because he paid the price for me. I am no longer a sinner. I'm no longer what? All that mess that I must have been caught up with in the past. I'm not that anymore. That's what I used to be. That's what I used to be, that's what I used to do. That used to be my identity. But my identity now is found in Christ, and if I can see myself from that identity, I don't keep connecting back to this one.
Speaker 1:In Ephesians 2 it says the church is the dwelling place of God. We're not talking about this building here. We're talking about you as a church, you as a church built on the foundation of Christ, created in the image and the likeness of him. I'm paraphrasing. I know that verse is up there. I'm paraphrasing, but we're because verse is up there. I'm paraphrasing. I'm trying to close right here, but I want you to see this we talked about the new Jerusalem, the passing away of the heaven and the earth. We talked about the new heavens and the new earth and we talked about in Revelation I think it's Revelation 21,. It talks about the new Jerusalem coming down.
Speaker 1:We hit on this a couple of weeks ago and some people say what is the new Jerusalem? A futurist person says it's that city that's going to float down out of the sky one day after the thousand year run. There might be. I can't refute that, but I don't think that's what it's talking about. I think if you go back and you look, we are the new Jerusalem, the people of Christ. How do you say that? How can you even say that? Some people say, man, you're crazy.
Speaker 1:Because the Bible says you are the temple of God and it also says that you are the dwelling place of his spirit. We don't need to wait for the future to experience God's presence. We can experience it right now. The temple. That first prayer to understand you are the temple of God and you are the dwelling place of His Spirit may not change everything. I ain't got time to get into that. Our hope is rooted in the unchanging faithfulness of God. The promises of Revelation are as sure today as they were in the first century, so I'm not knocking them out and saying that don't matter today. They're as sure today for me and you, as they were in the first century, to the people that he was talking to. He wasn't talking to you and me. He was talking to people who lived in the first century. Those people would have had no problem understanding the symbolism of Revelation, because they knew what the symbolism was in the first century. We don't live in that, we don't speak that language, so we don't understand it.
Speaker 1:Again, when we say heaven and earth passing away, we think the planet we live on and the heaven that God's in is just going to. I mean literally. That only makes sense. How can you say that? Right, because the Word says that it will never pass away. So how do you take something that says this and then something that contradicts it? And we know it's not a contradiction because the Word does not contradict itself. So then I have to say I must be reading that wrong. I must be misinterpreting that. The book of Revelation reveals Christ. It reveals that Christ has already won his kingdom, is already here and we are living in the reality of his promises. Peace, thanks be to God.
Speaker 1:My plan was to be there by 1230. I'm four minutes late. Look at this. You know, years ago, at First Community, one of the reasons we stopped having church on Sunday nights was so that Pastor Dale wouldn't have to rush on Sunday mornings. Man, I wish we could get back to that. I wish we didn't have to worry about time, because there's so much here that if we'll grab a hold of it, will change our lives, because all that other stuff won't happen in the future, maybe, but I ain't worried about it, I'm worried about now. How can I do what he said I could do now? Amen, I said I was going to stay on Revelation for a little while.
Speaker 1:I don't know that I am just because there's so much stuff. I'll probably do a couple more teaching on Revelation, because I want to get to the seven seals, because the seven seals don't really mess people up, and I want to break that down. I want to look at it. We want to talk about what the white horse and the black horse and the red horse and all. We want to talk about all that kind of stuff, that symbolism in there, what it means for today's Christian, because yesterday's Christian knows what it means, they wouldn't be confused. We're confused because we don't understand symbolism. So I'm going to look at it and break it down and just really look at what it means and what it meant to the people about me and therefore what it means to us today. Is it something we're waiting on or is it something that's already occurred?
Speaker 1:I believe most of it. I hope you know that others have been so far. I believe it will finish well and I'm not scared to admit that to anybody. I'm not scared to teach on that. I'm not scared to tell people that I think Jesus Christ is absolutely sufficient, which means that everything that he did, I believe that's what was supposed to be done, and if I feel like that I've got to wait another thousand years or so for it to be completed, then I can't say that his work was sufficient. I have to say thank you for what you did, but we've got to wait to the end for it to be completed. That's just not my. I don't believe that. I think what he does is sufficient and I believe I had the opportunity to live out heaven on earth kingdom here, kingdom now on this earth. What does that look like? We talked about that before. It's a whole nother sermon. We got to understand what kingdom looks like. We know what church looks like, and we've been in church our whole life. We know what it looks like. We know I'm getting into that. I'm going to have to crop the video. That's great.
Speaker 1:Father. God, I thank you for your word. I thank you for what you're showing us during this season. I thank you for the wisdom, the understanding that you've brought to every one of us, father. I thank you that our eyes are open, that our ears are open to hear, our hearts are open to receive, our minds are open to just see things from a different perspective. And I thank you for giving us understanding that sometimes we may not have always been right and sometimes we may have to change the way we see things. And, father, I thank you that we're living in a time right now to where we're not afraid, there's no fear of questions and things, there's no fear in looking at things from a totally different perspective.
Speaker 1:And I pray for every person in this room that they'll take this word and they'll go and they'll study it. Not just take it because I said it, but truly study it out and see what you've shown them in this. And I thank you, father, for what was done on the cross. I thank you that everything the death, the burial, the resurrection, the ascension into heaven and being seated at the right hand of the Father. I thank you that it was sufficient and I thank you that we died with him, that we were buried with him, that we rose with him and that we are seated in heavenly places, as the word of God says.
Speaker 1:Father, I pray for every person in this room right now that you'll go with them this week, that you continue to guide them in week, that you'll continue to guide them in everything they do, everything they say, and that, more than anything, that you'll just continue to make yourself known to them and that we'll continue to see ourselves every day and we'll understand. Our true identity lies in you. It don't lie in the face of the world, it don't lie in what other people have said, but our true identity is in you. So, father, we thank you again. We'll be carefully giving the praise, the honor and the glory for everything, in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.