Dakota Community Church
January 18, 2009
Foundational Truth 9
(Week 10)
Hebrews 5:11-14
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 6:1-3
Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.
1. Christians are to grow up spiritually.
2. Repentance from acts that lead to death.
3. Faith in God.
4. Water baptism
5. Holy Spirit baptism
6. Laying on of hands
7. Resurrection of the dead
8. Eternal Judgment
There is a coming judgment day.
Hebrews 9:27-28
Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Matthew 25:31-46
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
"Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
"Then the righteous will answer him, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
"The King will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
"Then he will say to those on his left, ’Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
"They also will answer, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
"He will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
This idea of our merciful Jesus coming to judge the whole world is not easy to swallow for many people and I have heard the argument made that it is inconsistent with the directives concerning forgiveness that we have been charged with as his followers.
Why does God require us to forgive if He will judge?
a.) God is just.
Psalm 45:6-7
Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.
Hebrews 1:1-9
In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
For to which of the angels did God ever say,
"You are my Son; today I have become your Father"? Or again,
"I will be his Father, and he will be my Son"? And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,
"Let all God’s angels worship him." In speaking of the angels he says,
"He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire." But about the Son he says,
"Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy."
The kingdom of God is an eternal kingdom and the scepter – is justice and righteousness!
(scep•ter - 1. A staff held by a sovereign as an emblem of authority. 2. Ruling power or authority; sovereignty.)
Genesis 4:8-10
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let’s go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"
"I don’t know," he replied. "Am I my brother’s keeper?"
The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.
A just God cannot, will not, ignore the cries of the victims of injustice.
Isaiah 5:12-16
They have harps and lyres at their banquets, tambourines and flutes and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD, no respect for the work of his hands.
Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding; their men of rank will die of hunger and their masses will be parched with thirst.
Therefore the grave [Sheol] enlarges its appetite and opens its mouth without limit; into it will descend their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers.
So man will be brought low and mankind humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled.
But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness.
Our God is merciful, but He is also HOLY and holiness is shown in justice and righteousness!
Isaiah 30:1-18
1 "Woe to the obstinate children," declares the LORD, "to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, to Egypt’s shade for refuge. But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame, Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace.
Though they have officials in Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes, everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them, who bring neither help nor advantage, but only shame and disgrace."
So here’s the picture, while Isaiah is warning of God’s judgment and the folly of Judah making an alliance with Egypt, the leadership is sneaking out the back door to go off to negotiate a treaty for protection from Assyria.
If they want to act like children sneaking behind their parents back, then God will treat them accordingly. The obstinate behaviour was sending envoy’s to two cities in Egypt. But there is no help to be found in Egypt.
The IVP Bible Background Commentary notes:
Zoan, Hanes. Isaiah emphasizes the futility of Hezekiah’s diplomatic overtures to Egypt. He says that despite having ambassadors travel to the Egyptian capital at Zoan (Tanis in the upper Delta, just twenty-nine miles south of the Mediterranean) and to Hanes (Heracleopolis Magna, forty-five miles south of Cairo on the west bank of the Nile), their mission will be in vain. Hanes was an important regional capital under both the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty ruler Shabaka as well as during the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty reign of Psammaticus I (663–609). It would have been necessary for Hezekiah to send representatives to meet with the Egyptian leaders in both of these important cities in order to initiate treaty alliances or plan strategies against Assyria.”
6 An oracle concerning the animals of the Negev:
Through a land of hardship and distress, of lions and lionesses, of adders and darting snakes, the envoys carry their riches on donkeys’ backs, their treasures on the humps of camels, to that unprofitable nation, to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless.
Therefore I call her Rahab the Do-Nothing.
Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness.
These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the LORD’s instruction.
They say to the seers,
"See no more visions!" and to the prophets, "Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!"
Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
"Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant. It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern."
This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
"In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.
You said, ’No, we will flee on horses.’
Therefore you will flee!
You said, ’We will ride off on swift horses.’
Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill."
Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
Justice is a double edged sword! The great Day of the Lord will be a time of rejoicing, of reunion, of vindication and reward; however, there are no one-sided coins; it will also be a day of weeping and teeth gnashing.
Luke 18:1-8
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ’Grant me justice against my adversary.’
"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ’Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’ "
And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"
The parable is not comparing God to the unjust judge, it is contrasting Him.
If persistence can weary an unjust judge into giving justice to a hopeless victim, how much more can we expect it from a loving father, it is not saying to nag God to get what you want, it is saying to trust that a loving Father will bring a day of justice, however, the final words of the passage indicate there will be a faith testing wait involved.
b.) God is omniscient.
In this world justice is exceedingly rare because fallen man does not see and know all that is required to achieve it in any situation.
2 Chronicles 6:28-31
"When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, and when a prayer or plea is made by any of your people Israel—each one aware of his afflictions and pains, and spreading out his hands toward this temple- then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive, and deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of men), so that they will fear you and walk in your ways all the time they live in the land you gave our fathers.
Proverbs 24:11-12
Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?
Wait now fellow believers - don’t fall back under the law, don’t tremble in fear that you are going to get what you deserve; remember God knowing the heart is a good thing for those who have trusted in Jesus for salvation.
Acts 15:7-9
After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.
God is just, God is omniscient, and …
c.) You and I are neither.
To be continued…
PowerPoint available (Free of charge) on request dcormie@mts.net
