NT Framework - How to Seperate Good/Evil

A singular event mixed good and evil on this earth, how can we ever overcome evil and forever be removed from it? We can't and we don't need to for God has already planned this out.

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Frame: Resurrection’s Stakes
• 0:10 Two Destinies In One Doctrine
• 0:53 John 5: Jesus Claims Equality With God
• 2:05 The Son Mirrors The Father’s Works
• 2:15 Spiritual Life At The Moment Of Belief
• 3:18 All Judgment Given To The Son
• 4:10 Experiential Knowledge And True Humanity
• 5:15 Passing From Death To Life By Faith
• 6:09 From Spiritual Life To Bodily Resurrection
• 7:06 Two Resurrections: Life Or Judgment
• 7:42 Creation’s Normal And Abnormal States
• 8:55 Closing And Where To Find Visuals

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament framework. Today, a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01: 0:10

The resurrection, then, is the assurance of a future judgment that will divide this current order from the future order. I want to take you to a couple passages, John 5, first of all, and then Acts 17. Because, as I've mentioned before, the resurrection is not really a comforting doctrine. Well, at least not for everyone. It may be comforting for us, but we have to remember there's two sides to the human race. If you're on one side, that's great if you're a believer. If you're on the other side, that's not, it's not so great. Because the resurrection is consistently taught in Scripture in a context of judgment, as the end of this current order and the bringing in of a new order. So let's walk through one of these contexts, John 5, 18 to 20, just to show the close connection between the resurrection and future judgment. Starting in verse 18. For this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, kill Jesus, right? Because he not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. Isn't it interesting, just as an aside, that you know you have Mormons, you have Jehovah's Witnesses, and groups that deny that Jesus was God, right? Yet here we have a verse where the Jews clearly understood that Jesus was making himself out to be God. So it's definitely something he claimed. So if he's not really God, then I guess he's just a liar, right? But, you know, obviously not. He was making this claim, and it was not just a false claim, it was a true claim. They understood what he was claiming. And so in response to that, Jesus answered and was saying to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself unless it is something he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself is doing, and the Father will show him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he wishes. Now he's talking there about spiritual life. The moment you believe, he's talking about that type of life at this moment. The moment you believe in Christ, you have a new life. You're regenerated, right? Born again. And that's the type of life he was referring to there in verse 21. Verse 22, for not even the Father judges anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son. So no one will ever be judged or stand under the judgment of God the Father. He judges absolutely no one. Why is this significant? Why has all judgment been given to the Son? Well, because the Son is the member of the Trinity who took to himself true humanity. He's the one who came down here, born of a woman, right, and walked in this world, sinless, of course, and was tempted in all things as we, and yet without sin. And so judgeship has been given to him because he's a peer. He is a peer. He is your peer. He knows what you went through in ways that experientially that the Father doesn't know. I mean, we say God knows all things, right? Omniscience, right? But you have to carefully qualify these things. Um in some respects, because as I mentioned before, um, you know, you can present certain, I guess, uh difficulties with the concept that God knows all things. Uh something like, for example, does God know what it's like to kick a football through the upright? Um now he he knows theoretically, but he doesn't know experientially. In other words, there's different ways of knowing things. I may know that driving over fifty-five miles an hour is against the law, but I may not know what it's like if I've never gone over fifty-five miles per hour. So there are different ways of knowing things. Um we can know things theoretically and then have never experienced them, but then we can also experience them later, and now we have a different way of knowing them. And so um the son is the one who knows exactly what it's like to go through the types of things that we as humans go through. And as we've mentioned before, that he went through the temptations. And we talked about some of the problem or difficulties there with this idea, but it's definitely he definitely was tempted in all things as we, yet not uh without sin, or yet without sin. So um he is the one who is given all judgment, okay, a peer, a member of the human race, so that, verse 23, all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. And truly, truly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death and into life. So, how does one pass out of death and into life? What does one have to do? Believe. That's all that you one has to do. You don't have to get water baptized, you don't have to walk an aisle, you don't have to confess your sins, you know, to a priest or something like that. Um, all these other ideas, baptism, you know, walking an aisle, they have other meanings or ideas within the Christian life. But to become a Christian and enter the Christian life, all one has to do is believe. At the moment you believe, you you receive what? Eternal life. Now, um, is eternal life something you can lose? Well, if it was something you could lose, then it was never eternal to begin with, was it? It was only temporal life. So, but Jesus doesn't give temporal life to us. He gives eternal life to us the moment we believe. And at that point, it's said that we do not come into judgment, so he will not stand in judgment to ultimately condemn us, right? Because we passed out of death and now we're into life. We have spiritual life. So this is all still talking about spiritual life, not resurrection life yet. But verse 25, truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. Again, spiritual life. For just as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself, and he gave him the authority to execute judgment. Why? Because he is the Son of Man. He's the Son related to mankind, whereas the Father is not, neither is the Spirit. So all judgment has been given to the Son. And he says, verse 28, do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs. So now we're talking about a different type of life, right? He's been talking about the reception of spiritual life, which it happens the moment you believe. But he says there's an hour coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, and they will come forth, those who did the good to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil to a resurrection of judgment. Okay, then. Do you see that there's a relationship between resurrection and judgment? That these two are tied together. This is not a comforting thought or shouldn't be comforting to an unbeliever because they haven't believed, so they don't have spiritual life. So when they come forth from the tomb, they're not going to be raised to resurrection life. They're going to be raised to a condemned life, a resurrection of judgment. So we have this diagram that I've used before showing the creator creation distinction. On the top line, of course, the creator, who's infinite, that's the infinity symbol there. Infinitely good, right? There's no evil in God. It's impossible for God to do evil, right? But then within the creation, if you note the creation area, first of all, God created everything very good. There was no problem, there was no sin, there was no suffering, there was no pain, there were no tears. Everything was perfectly good for some period of time, which time we don't know. I don't think very long. But nevertheless, this is what we call the normal state of the world. Everything was normal when God first made it. That's how things are supposed to be. When sin was introduced at the fall, now we live in an abnormal period of history when you have a mixture, an admixture of good and evil. Right? And this is what people are frustrated with that we live in a type of world where there's a mixture. And we want, of course, everything to be good, everything to be perfect. But the only way to get there, you see, is through what?

SPEAKER_00: 8:55

Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with him. If you found uh this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app. And until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.