NT Framework - Perfect Judgement over Suffering

God Himself suffered because of mans sin. That's a bold statement and you should challenge it; but think about this, did Jesus talk about how He must suffer?

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. 

Transcript

Welcome And Series Context

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.

Direct Versus Indirect Suffering

Job And The Angelic Conflict

Connecting The Fall To Messiah

Virgin Birth And Sin Transmission

Why The Sinless Messiah Suffers

The Flood As Judgment And Salvation

Grace Before Judgment In Noah

One Way Of Salvation

Perfect Discrimination In Judgment

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Now, where everybody is suffering because of one thing, one event in the world. It's called the fall. Charles River says the darkest day in human history was the fall of man. And that's right, because all the suffering that you experience ultimately stems from that day. Now there's different reasons we suffer. We went through it. You can go through the Bible and find different reasons. The ones that we're really comfortable with are the ones where they're called direct suffering patterns. They're called direct because guess what? We did something wrong. So we're suffering a consequence. And that makes sense to us. It's the indirect suffering patterns that we experience that boggles us. It's the stuff like Job. You know, his friends keep saying, Well, you did something, Job. I mean, you've done some unrighteousness. It's like, I don't, there's nothing I've done. You know, I don't know. There's nothing to do. And it all turned out that that in fact Job was right. He was not being suffering because of anything he'd done. He was suffering because there was a greater angelic conflict going on between God and Satan, right? It was being worked out. And you know, sometimes we're not comfortable with that. Like, well, why do I have to go through that? Well, you know, the universe is bigger than you, and God's plan and purpose is bigger than me. And he's got a lot going on. And he's he's doing things, okay? And we'll perhaps understand a little bit better later when we're with him, but maybe not. Guess what? Well either way, we should be content with it, right? We should be content with it. But here's the thing can we connect anything with the Messiah back to the fall, sin and suffering? So now I'm saying, okay, let's look at the virgin birth, right? I mean, I'm invoking the virgin birth right now when I bring up the incarnation. How in the world can we understand the virgin birth if we don't understand the fall? I mean, why is he being born of a virgin? What does that have to do with anything? Is that connected to the biblical pattern of thinking, these beads that have been laid down before? Sure it is. It's absolutely connected. You have to have a virgin birth, right, to avoid the transmission of sin to the Messiah. Because if he's sinful, he's just like you and me. Now we've got another problem. Who's gonna pay the penalty for our sin? He's just gonna pay his own penalty, see? So all of these are again connected like beads on a necklace. And if you have an inadequate view of the fall and you say, well, man's not really a sinner, he just makes mistakes. You know, things like that. Well, you're gonna have, you cannot understand the incarnation and the virgin birth. You just can't. Because these are connected ideas, they are totally interrelated. Um, look at the suffering there. Now, this is an interesting one to think through because we know that the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels, he suffered. He says, I have to suffer these things, I'll be crucified, and then I'll rise again. He predicts it like nine times in the Gospels, right? But here's the problem. Why is he suffering? I mean, he doesn't have any sin, right? He was tempted in all things as we, yet without sin. So why is he suffering? Okay, that begins to teach us something. It begins to remind us that when Adam and Eve sinned, somebody's this little lamb, God took a lamb and slit its throat and covered and made skins for them, right? Made coverings. That lamb suffered for them, see. See, it begins to set up in our minds a pattern, a way of thinking about how God is gonna resolve the problem. And so, yeah, he's suffering, the Messiah's suffering, but it's not for anything he did any more than what that lamb did. See, and this becomes the concept of substitution, right? A substitutionary atonement is gonna be made. Okay, and I'm just hanging out on creation and the fall, and we could just be here all day long just on these two. But let's look at some others. Let's look at the flood, because this picture is given repeatedly in Scripture. The picture of the flood, the doctrine is a judgment, salvation. I mean, it's it's uh first of all, there's a big debate, right, on the extent of the flood. Was it global or was it local, just over in Mesopotamia? You know, Mesopotamia was just a bathtub, some people say, and it just kind of flowed, you know, it filled up the bathtub. But everywhere on earth didn't have any kind of repercussions. That's what people like to say. The Christians like to say this. A lot of Christians have written books about this. That's in their commentaries, it's all out there. You can go have a field day with how many Christians have said this. Well, that kind of creates some problems theologically, right? Because if uh you have just a local flood, how many different ways of salvation are there? At least. At least two. You could say, get on the ark and stay in the area and survive the local flood, or you could just leave the area and go somewhere else where there's no flood. See, now you got multiple plans of salvation going on. See, all of these are important because they have theological doctrinal ramification. So we're holding the global flood of Noah, right? And that what God is teaching through that is the global judgment and salvation doctrines. And of course, we learn lots of subsidiary truths here, like grace before judgment. He gave them 120 years, right? It wasn't just like I'm just gonna break the earth open one day and flood it. It was no 120 years. Peter says Noah was a preacher of righteousness. And he went around and he told people, he warned them about the flood that was coming. Grace before judgment. How many ways of salvation? Well, only one. Because why? Well, because the water level would cover all the high mountains under all the heaven, right? So there's only one way to survive. And that, of course, was the ark that God designed and gave the design pattern to Noah and said, build it like this, because I'm sending a flood and I know what it's gonna be like. And so if you'll follow my design patterns, my architecture, then you will be in a vessel that will protect you for those 372 days that I know I'm gonna have the earth covered in water, unfit for habitation. Third, perfect discrimination, meaning when he judges, right? There are those outside the ark and there are those inside the ark. And only those inside the ark are saved, and all of those outside the ark are judged. And nobody in the ark accidentally fell off, you know, and died or something like that. Um, all those in the ark went off the ark the day that the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. Right? And all those who are off the ark were judged. That's the idea of perfect discrimination. God doesn't make mistakes. You know, we get upset in war, you know, if uh you know some country is sending missiles in another country and they're trying to take out a strategic target and it kills people that were not the strategic target. It was a mistake, right? An unintentional God that never happens when God judges. You know, if you're saved, guess what? It's not like you're just gonna accidentally show up at the Great White Throne, and he's gonna be like, Well, sorry, but you're here now. So tough cookies, and you get sent to hell. It's not gonna happen like that. And nobody's gonna go into heaven who somehow just slips by. It doesn't work like that. Perfect discrimination. He knows exactly what's that.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

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 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.