August 10, 2025 • 48 mins
Blog Post: https://wakinguptograce.com/060-glory-and-honor-and-immortality-romans-2-7/
We explore the concept of "glory and honor and immortality" and how most Christians unknowingly seek what they already possess through the finished work of Christ
• Understanding what the apostles were truly awaiting in the first century—their promised redemption
• Why Christ's return in AD 70 matters and how it fulfilled all promises to the early believers
• The spiritual gifts of the first century and why they no longer exist today
• Israel's exodus from Egypt parallels our spiritual deliverance through Christ
• The change that occurred in believers at Christ's return
• What it means that we now possess glory and honor and immortality rather than just having the promise
• Revelation's "new earth" in its proper spiritual context
• The tragedy of living unaware of our spiritual inheritance
Join us in our ongoing Romans study as we continue to wake up to the grace we already have in Christ, understanding our true identity as eternally redeemed believers in the consummated new covenant age.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and welcome to the Waking Up To Grace podcast,
where we celebrate and explorethe finished work of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Tune in to the Waking Up ToGrace podcast on every major
platform.
You can also listen to ourepisodes and read our full
transcripts atwakinguptogracecom.
And now here's Lenny.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome back to the Waking Up to Grace podcast.
Everyone.
Today's topic in our Romanstudy is glory, honor and
immortality.
I'd like to begin with ananalogy, to get our minds
pointed in the right directionFor a moment.
Imagine that you're on arelaxing vacation.
You walk along the shoreline ofa beach feeling the wet sand on
(00:43):
your feet, the temperature isjust right, there's a calm
breeze in the air, accompaniedby a crystal clear blue sky full
of sunshine.
As you're taken in yoursurroundings, consumed with
thankfulness, you come across aperson sitting in a chair in the
shade.
This person is fully consumedin their smartphone.
Anxiety is written on theirface as they aggressively swipe
(01:06):
and scroll on the screen oftheir device with their
fingertip.
You say to them Hello there,how are you doing today?
They reply oh, I'm justwatching instructional videos
with details on how to plan arelaxing vacation.
Something just doesn't soundright about this, does it?
How can someone have somethingright in front of their face and
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still be looking for it?
Could there be anything morefutile in this life than to be
seeking something that wealready have?
Oftentimes it's downrighttragic.
In my last message, number 59,we left off discussing how the
first century apostles wereawaiting their salvation, which
they believed was coming soon,at the return of Christ Yeshua
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and the resurrection of the dead.
In our Romans passage we readTo those who, by patience and
well-doing, seek for glory andhonor and immortality, he will
give eternal life.
That's Romans 2.7.
The first century apostles werecertainly seeking glory and
honor and immortality.
They were seeking eternal life.
(02:10):
That was the promise theyreceived from their Lord.
I constantly speak out againstdoctrines of legalism that tell
us we have to maintain ourfellowship with Yahweh.
Under the new covenant,salvation and fellowship are
synonymous.
They're one and the same.
Salvation in the New Covenantage puts us in a perfect
fellowship with Yahweh.
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That's what grace is all about.
Apart from knowing we're rightwith God, we can never fully
embrace the grace that we havebeen given If we're honest with
ourselves, while underlegalistic doctrines that teach
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things like positional salvationand positional fellowship,
we'll forever be stuck on thereligious treadmill of becoming
right with God.
Our work will never be goodenough and we'll struggle to
worship in truth due to ourerror.
I discuss these positionaldoctrines in message number 20.
But another tragedy in theChristian world today is the
loose end that most believenever got tied for the
forefathers of our faith in thefirst century.
Most scholars will tell youthat the apostles who laid down
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their lives for the gospel inthe first century believe that
Christ Yeshua would return intheir generation.
And even more shocking is thefact that Yeshua himself told
them this explicitly.
We studied these things in mylast several messages.
If we were to believe, as mostdo today, in a future return of
Christ, then we find theapostles still in the grave,
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sleeping and awaiting theirfinal redemption.
Almost 2,000 years later, theycontinue to wait for the day
they can be united with theirLord and Savior.
This is a reality that those whohold to a futurist eschatology
gloss over.
They often come up with ideaslike the heavenly realms are
timeless, so we'll go right toheaven when we die.
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But that concept is far removedfrom what we see in scripture
and what was believed in ancienttimes.
According to scripture, thedead sleep in Sheol until the
judgment.
The faithful saints, yahweh'select, awaited the promised
resurrection that would come atthe final judgment.
They awaited glory and honorand immortality.
(04:22):
We cannot get around this whenwe study it out.
I go over these details furtherin message number 15 and 16.
If you missed those episodes.
If we ignore what is written,all we are left with is making
up fine-sounding jargon abouthow we travel in time to be in
heaven when we die.
It makes many people feelbetter, but only in ignorance.
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Ignorance does not build us upspiritually.
It only harms us in the longrun.
Those who claim that we goright to heaven when we die are
correct, but their eschatologytells them otherwise.
That's where the time-travelingnonsense comes into play.
They want to believe that allthe work of Christ is finished
without redemption.
But if Christ did not return,redemption and salvation did not
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come.
Glory and honor and immortalityremain as a promise yet to be
fulfilled.
When we believe things in error,we lose the power of the truth,
we lose the context that leadsus to a deeper understanding of
the grace of God and we allowerror into our thinking.
To a deeper understanding ofthe grace of God, and we allow
error into our thinking.
In my experience, as one whohas experienced it firsthand, a
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small error causes a large issuein our understanding.
We should always seek tounderstand what Scripture
actually means, not what itlooks like it means because of
what we've been told.
We need to understand what thewriter was telling their
audience or what Yeshua meantwhen he spoke to his audience.
This takes intentional practiceand a lot of grace and prayer.
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I believe the Spirit of Godteaches us truth when we
genuinely seek it.
Our human pride and ignoranceare the biggest obstacles we
face.
Not Satan, who was thrown intothe lake of fire in AD 70.
I know it's hard to imagineSatan doesn't exist when you
follow the affairs of our world,but study what scripture says
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about mankind apart from theLord, it's actually not that
hard to believe.
We need to take responsibilityfor our own behavior and our own
ignorance.
Did Paul not constantly teachsuch things?
Getting back to the topic ofglory and honor and immortality,
when we connect highlydocumented history with the text
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in our Bibles, we find thatChrist Yeshua was faithful and
did make his spiritual returnexactly as he intended to in AD
70.
The apostles and all of thesaints no longer await
redemption.
No time travel necessary.
This is a big deal, isn't it?
I think so, but in mostChristian circles the whole
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concept of redemption is acomplete mess.
It's taken so far out ofcontext that it gets completely
taken for granted and turnedinto double talk.
When presented the doctrine ofpreterism, many Christians will
respond that doesn't matter tome.
What is the difference?
If he came or he didn't come,I'm saved.
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That's all that matters.
The funny thing is, they'rehappy to carry on proclaiming
that he's coming soon and thatSatan is doing this and that,
even though it doesn't matter tothem.
To say that Christ Yeshua'sreturn in the first century
doesn't matter is to say thatsalvation and Yahweh's promises
don't matter.
If he didn't come in thatgeneration, as he said he would,
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then salvation did not comewhen it was promised.
The new covenant age was neverestablished.
It was never consummated.
The work of Christ was leftundone.
Are you comfortable believingthat?
I don't think I was muchdifferent than anyone else prior
to being introduced to the fullpreterist doctrine.
I believed redemption andsalvation were considered to be
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in the future, because those whospoke of it hadn't died.
We receive the promisedredemption when we die is what I
thought.
That's why we see all this talkabout waiting for it.
Does that paradigm soundfamiliar to you?
It probably does, becausethat's what our Christian
leaders are telling us.
But if we come across a view ofscripture that's contrary to
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what we've been taught, shouldwe not study it out?
Do we want to be that personwho seeks what they already have
, that person on the beautifulsunny beach seeking out a
relaxing vacation while swipingat their smartphone.
This would be like inheriting aplot of land on a large oil
well, all that valuable oil isyours, but you don't even know
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it's there.
You own it but are utterlyunaware of the riches that you
possess, unless somethinghappens to make you aware you
might spend your whole lifestruggling to survive when you
were wealthy all along, had yousimply knew the value in what
you inherited.
Believing that you havesalvation when your eschatology
is in error would be likesomeone telling you that you
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live on an oil well, but youdon't actually know for sure.
How much faith do you have inmankind?
Would you want to drill intothat land and see the oil for
yourself?
Would that not change yourconfidence?
Just a little bit?
Yes, a large bit.
Right?
This is what it felt like for mewhen I discovered the truth
about grace, the truth about ourright standing identity in
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Christ, the truth about theredemption and salvation that we
now have, that is ours aspromised.
The first century apostles hadthe Spirit of God, they were
right with the Lord, sin wasdealt with and they were no
longer under the obligations ofthe law.
They were set free from the sinand the death that came through
Adam.
The Spirit of God was theirpromised seal for redemption.
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They had that golden ticket,promise from Yahweh for entering
the promised land and livingeternally with the Lord.
They were promised glory andhonor and immortality.
But that ticket needed to beredeemed and the event was the
return of Christ Yeshua in AD 70.
To those who think the timing ofChrist's return doesn't matter,
(10:14):
my challenge is this does truthmatter?
In John 8, 31 we read so Jesussaid to the Jews who had
believed in him If you abide usfree, then error must put us in
bondage.
Following this logic, in orderto be free, we must be seeking
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truth right.
We must be living by truth inorder to live free.
John 4.23 reads but the hour iscoming and is now here when the
true worshipers will worshipthe Father in spirit and truth,
for the Father is seeking suchpeople to worship him.
God is spirit and those whoworship him must worship in
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spirit and truth.
That was Christ Yeshua speaking.
When we're born of spirit,we're saved.
We're now spiritually alive,according to scripture.
But if we worship in error?
Do we please the Father?
Is it not our calling asChristians to seek truth?
Are you certain that the thingsyou believe about the Lord are
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true?
Do you genuinely seek theguidance of the Holy Spirit or
are you holding on to what isfamiliar rather than challenging
your theology?
Do you seek the counsel of Godor the counsel of man?
When you're confused about atopic?
Are you afraid to be cast outfor being different than the
mainstream church?
I know what it's like to beignorant and naive.
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I think this is the default waythat we come into the world.
It takes a conscious effort tothink for ourselves and question
our ignorance.
If seeking all truth happenedautomatically for all Christians
, we wouldn't have so manydenominations, would we?
When our leaders can't evenagree on things, should we not
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be checking up on those leaders?
Should we even need a leader asa Christian today?
To be clear, I'm not sayingshould there be leaders.
I'm saying should we needleaders?
I want to challenge yourthinking on this and also reveal
truth about your Christianidentity that you may not
realize defines you.
Knowing who we are in Christ isknowing the truth about
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ourselves, and what better wayto worship in truth than to know
who Yahweh made us to be, whatwe became at salvation.
If you're caught up on mymessages, you know that I
believe the spiritual gifts ofthe first century Christians
ended in AD 70.
This concept can only beunderstood under a preterist
view of scripture.
If there's no definitive end tothese things, then they must
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still exist.
Right?
I'm not going to dive into thistopic heavily today, but
Melissa and I talk on it inepisode number 35.
If you want to go back and lookat that.
Here's a quick list of some ofthe spiritual gifts that were
divinely given in the firstcentury century Administration,
being an apostle, discernment,evangelism, exhortation, faith
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giving, healing, helps,hospitality, knowledge,
leadership, mercy, prophecy,serving, speaking in tongues,
teaching, wisdom and there'smore than these.
In fact, pastor is a spiritualgift.
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On top of that, we don't evenknow what exactly makes a pastor
a pastor if we study it out inour Bibles.
We have to make assumptions tocome up with what we see today
in the institutional church.
The main point I want to makehere is that we can claim all we
want that we have a spiritualgift from God, but these gifts
we see in our scriptures did notcome from any human origin.
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They were miraculous.
It wasn't just mere spiritualguidance, it was all-out divine
intervention.
Some had this gift, some hadthat.
Some might have had no specialgifts given.
They were instructed to prayfor them if they desired them.
Why?
Because they were a gift fromGod.
You didn't go to school toenhance your gift of teaching.
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You were given it.
It was yours immediately.
Are you following me?
If knowledge was your gift, youdidn't study to obtain it.
Are you following me?
If knowledge was your gift, youdidn't study to obtain it.
In those times, spiritual giftswere the norm.
Today we call it a miracle.
Have you ever truly met ascholar who didn't study, or a
teacher who wasn't taught?
Or a Christian who could seetruth in scripture without any
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prior knowledge?
Have you heard someone speak alanguage that they never learned
?
That's what many of the firstcentury Christians were doing.
They didn't babble a wholebunch of nonsense to each other
and claim to understand it.
They were given the gift oflanguages, tongues, and the gift
of interpreting those languagesfor others.
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1 Corinthians 12.
There has always been confusionin the churches.
We see this throughout Paul'sletters and in the book of Acts.
But has there ever been suchpoor leadership as we have today
.
Poor leadership began as soonas the apostles faded away into
eternity.
Why is that?
Because the gift of leadershipno longer exists.
The gift of teaching is notbeing given.
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The spiritual gift ofdiscernment is not present.
We now have to follow theguidance of the spirit within us
and learn at a human rate ofability.
We have to train our minds withthe truth.
Testing the spirits is now doneby searching the scriptures and
seeking their intended meaning,and this only humbly, through
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the spirit.
We are fully dependent on theSpirit for these things.
So pride and ignorance willalways blind us if we're not
careful.
Is this still miraculous?
Indeed it is.
Without spiritual guidance wecould never see anything at all.
1 Corinthians 2.14 says thenatural person does not accept
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the things of the Spirit of God,for they are folly to him and
he is not able to understandthem because they are
spiritually discerned.
So it would not be how smart weare or how hard we try, but
rather how spiritual we are andhow much we are led by the
Spirit of God.
Paul continues saying thespiritual person judges all
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things, but is himself to bejudged by no one.
Paul continues saying If we allhave the mind of Christ, why
don't we all see the same truthin Scripture?
Why are there so manydenominations in Christianity
today?
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From my vantage point, it'spoor leadership and poor
teaching, alongside a blindfaith from the audience of those
poor leaders and teachers.
Be honest with yourself.
Do you follow Christian leadersbecause you like the way they
speak or you like the feel oftheir messages, or do you check
the scriptures to be sure whatyou are hearing is true and
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gravitate toward those withtruly good content?
Christians all argue that whatthey believe is in the Bible.
They throw out Bible verses toprove their belief system.
But proof texting is onlyuseful if we know what the
author actually meant in thetext.
Things are not always as theyseem.
For example, what did ChristYeshua mean when he said
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Therefore, be perfect, as yourheavenly Father is perfect?
After all the terrifying thingshe said about sin going deep
into their thought life, heleaves his listeners with that.
I explain this passage indetail in message number 24.
But do people go around quotingthat passage, thinking it will
scare people into acting better?
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And doing the best they can, asmany in error believe is an
acceptable standard to the Lord.
There was no door open to doingthe best we can when Christ
Yeshua laid out the law in itspurest form in Matthew 5-7.
It is my belief that we all havethe mind of Christ when we
receive the Spirit of God, butwe are not always using it.
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I think this is very obvious,whether intentional or not.
I also think we are literallygetting trained not to use our
spiritual abilities by ourleaders.
As I mentioned in messagenumber 50, today's church
environments are so off-basebiblically that we don't even
know what it looks like toworship as a church or share
what we've learned in our ownstudies anymore.
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We just follow the leader.
We go to institutions that makeus comfortable and look for
them to tell us what to believeand what to do.
It's a lot like watching thenews.
Does anyone ever question thesource of their favorite news
network and whether they cantrust that person at the top
funding the whole operation?
It looks good, so we just gowith it, don't we?
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In the first century Christianswould have spent a lot of time
in the temple and varioussynagogues.
That's where the scriptureswere.
So they gathered with the Jewsand were even given the chance
to share their personal views.
Can you imagine the intensityin that environment?
This is how the believersreached the spiritually dead.
Ordinary people could teachothers from the scriptures.
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They had a chance to speak.
There was not one speaker everyweek doing all the talking.
Of course, there was a timewhen they were kicked out of the
temple due to the corruption ofIsrael, but prior to that, the
temple would have been the placeto study scripture.
They could share and learn fromdifferent perspectives.
Later, in Romans, we'll findPaul asking the Gentiles who
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were becoming hostile to theChrist-rejecting Jews to conduct
themselves properly in order tokeep the peace in the
synagogues.
They were representing himwhile he was not there.
Paul wanted to reach as manyJews as possible.
He loved his Jewish brothers.
I have to take a moment to givea quick spoiler for those who
may want to study it out aheadof time.
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You may remember when Iannounced that Melissa would be
going through Romans togetherwith me, kind of like when I
went from writing up studyguides to doing blog posts when
we started our ministry.
Getting started was the mainobjective, but the Lord is
refining our systems as we goand we're just loving it.
I hope you guys are learningand growing with us as well.
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But getting back to my spoiler,melissa recently finished her
personal study on Romans and hastaken incredible notes along
the way, and I get to go overthose with her.
It's a total team effort andour conversations have blessed
us abundantly in Christ, all ofwhich we'll be passing on to you
guys over time.
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I'm far behind her as I'mputting all of our shared
learning into messages andrecording them, but we both gain
insight constantly through thisprocess.
We're teaching each other.
It's just so enjoyable, I can'tsay enough about it.
So the other day in our earlymorning discussions, melissa
asks me who do you think Paul istalking about in Romans 13 when
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he's speaking on submission togoverning authorities?
I responded it's funny.
You would ask that as I've beenpondering it in the back of my
mind ever since I started thisRomans study.
I've read through Romansnumerous times this year and
previous years and thosepassages just don't sit right
with me.
I can't see them as governmententities such as the Roman
government.
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It just doesn't fit.
I'm beginning to believe thatPaul is speaking about the
governing entities of Israel inthe temple and synagogues, but I
can't prove it.
I need to study it out more andreconcile certain parts, to
which Melissa revealed that shedid study it out and that she
believes that my answer wascorrect and it can be proven.
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She explained it all to me.
I asked the hard questions, andwithin a couple days, we both
see it as truth.
If you ever wondered why Paulwould seem to be telling you to
be obedient to a tyrannicalgovernment, he isn't.
He isn't telling you to be likethe rebel Barabbas either.
Case in point governments loveto use this passage to cause
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Christians to submit to theirevil doings, but Romans 13 is
not about them.
That couldn't be further fromthe truth.
Romans 13 was about winning overthe elect Jewish believers in
the synagogues through properconduct.
That's it.
I can't wait to get to thatmessage.
I really wanted to share a biton that.
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Now, though, due to how eviland corrupt our governing
systems are these days, I'mstill going to dive deeper, but
there's a book that I'm sharinga link to here if you're
interested.
It's called the Mystery ofRomans the Jewish Context of
Paul's Letters.
If you're listening by podcast,you'll have to go to my blog
post to get the link.
Otherwise, just look up thetitle on Amazon the Mystery of
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Romans, the Jewish Context ofPaul's Letters.
But getting back to our messageToday, each church has its own
established hive mind.
If you're of that hive, you haveto stay in line with that hive
mind.
They keep you safe byprotecting you from other
perspectives.
Even if you're one of them, youstand a chance of being
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silenced if you share somethingthat is not approved by their
board members.
We are so far removed from theways church was done in the
first century that we havebecome spiritually deflated and
dull.
In America we talk all aboutfree speech as they take it from
us little by little, but freespeech in the institutional
church was removed long ago,never to make its way back.
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If it were not for free speechin the Jewish synagogues, how
would the truth have spread theway it did in the first century?
It wouldn't have.
Yahweh used thoseestablishments to build the
church and shortly after theapostles' lives on earth,
mankind changed everythingcompletely.
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It's my belief that Christianitywill remain watered down and
dull until we go away from thatstructure that we've been handed
down by man-made tradition.
We need to bring spiritual lifeback into the church in a bad
way.
What authority do our churchleaders have and how did they
receive it From a seminaryschool?
What if the seminary schoolswere wrong?
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If they have the marketcornered on truth, then why are
we not of one mind and spirit?
Why all the denominationsThousands of denominations out
there?
The mind of the seminary isclearly divided, so why do we
put our full trust in it?
At one time, I thought I had thespiritual gift of discernment,
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but then I changed my mind aboutcertain areas of scripture.
Many today think they have thespiritual gift of teaching, but
then we find error in theirwords.
Others claim they have the giftof healing, but the people they
heal get sick again.
And, of course, the healingonly works for those who have
faith.
That's not how it worked in thescripture.
Guys, you can't blame theperson you're healing for your
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lack of abilities.
If we have the spiritual giftof knowledge, we would not have
to study.
Sounds great, doesn't it?
I encountered a person onlinewho claimed to have been given
biblical knowledge from the Lord.
There was only one littleproblem Nothing, he said, lined
up with scripture.
If we have a spiritual gift, itwould have to be perfect.
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The results would have to beperfect.
The results would have to beperfect.
Yahweh does not produce error.
It's plain to see that we don'thave these gifts today, and
it's plain in scripture why wedo not have them today.
I talk on this in messagenumber 35.
Those gifts were forestablishing the church.
The church has been established.
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The perfect is here.
We're in the promised land ofthe new covenant age.
Whether you believe it or not.
We don't need these miraclesany longer.
We have our inheritance.
In Paul's letter to theCorinthians, he told his
Christian audience that theyhave the mind of Christ, but he
said something before that thatwe should make note of.
The spiritual person judges allthings but is himself to be
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judged by no one.
What do you think Paul means bythis?
I think Paul is referring toour identity as Christians and
the fact that we seek spiritualtruth from the Lord and not man.
This is something that takes aconscious effort, an effort that
I observe very few making today.
One of the biggest issues wouldhave to be that we just don't
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realize how good we have it andmost don't realize the value of
what they have.
We can't grasp how great thegift of glory and honor and
immortality truly is.
If you were to receive a greatinheritance, one that would give
you everything you could everneed, maybe like that property
in a large oil.
Well, what might be the biggestproblem you'd face upon
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receiving it?
As time went on?
What might be your biggeststruggle?
Getting lazy, taking it forgranted, forgetting what it was
like to not have it?
I think these things are theprimary issue we have in
Christianity today.
Do you know what one of theprimary things that Yahweh
wanted for his people in Israelwas?
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We read it over and over as wego through the Old Testament of
our Bibles.
He wanted them to remember.
The word remember appears 166times in our ESV translation of
the Bible.
In multiple instances, israelwas told to remember their
deliverance.
In Exodus 13 we read.
(27:25):
Then Moses said to the peopleRemember this day in which you
came out from Egypt, out of thehouse of slavery, for by a
strong hand, the Lord broughtyou out of this place.
Without a conscious recognitionof deliverance, it would be
forgotten.
The strength of faith wouldfade and get lost through the
generations.
Did that person on the beachwho was anxiously scrolling on
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their smartphone to learn how totake the best vacation,
appreciate the fact that theywere already there?
No, they couldn't appreciatethe vacation they were on
because all of their focus wason their smartphone.
We can apply this principle toour total forgiveness and right
standing with the Lord.
When we have that mainstreamparadigm of constantly standing
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before the Lord in guilt, askingfor more forgiveness daily,
hourly or however often neededwe can easily lose track of our
deliverance, not to mention howmuch of the value is diminished
in our daily living.
As we ask for something thatwas given to us as a gift
through Christ Yeshua, we castdoubt on our own faith.
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We can also apply thisprinciple to salvation and
redemption, which is our gloryand honor and immortality.
When we parrot the phraseChrist is coming soon and we're
living in the end times, weactually place ourselves in a
false period of time.
How well will people navigatethrough their day without any
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sense of time If Christ alreadycame?
How pleased is the Lord withyou?
When you go around saying thatkind of we don't realize how
good we have it.
If not for grace, christianstoday would be getting zapped by
Yahweh into oblivion by theminute.
Our salvation and redemption inChrist is a parallel with
Israel's exodus out of Egypt.
(29:12):
Israel's exodus from Egypt wasa shadow of the spiritual exodus
that came through Christ Yeshua.
First, yahweh brought Israelout of the bondage of Egyptian
slavery, just as Christ Yeshuafirst delivered his people from
the bondage of the law and sin.
Next, over a 40-year period ofmiracles, signs and wonders,
(29:34):
israel entered into the promisedland.
Just as, over a 40-year periodof miracles, signs and wonders,
from Pentecost to AD 70, christYeshua came in judgment and
brought his elect into eternityto be with him in the new heaven
that was prepared for them, andhe established his spiritual
kingdom on earth.
But what about those who werestill alive at the judgment, you
(29:56):
might ask?
We can let Paul answer that.
Let's break down 1 Corinthians15, 50-56.
Flesh and blood cannot inheritthe kingdom of God, nor does the
perishable inherit theimperishable.
Behold, I tell you a mystery weshall not all sleep, but we
(30:18):
shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trumpet.
Let's stop here and considersome questions before we finish
the passage.
1.
What would be considered theperishable and what would be the
(30:44):
imperishable?
2.
Before we finish the passage,let's see if the rest of the
passage answers these questionsfor us, and then we'll talk
about it.
Paul continues, for the trumpetwill sound and the dead will be
raised imperishable and weshall be changed.
For this perishable body mustput on the imperishable and this
(31:06):
mortal body must put onimmortality.
When the perishable puts on theimperishable and the mortal
puts on immortality, when theperishable puts on the
imperishable and the mortal putson immortality, then shall come
to pass the saying that iswritten death is swallowed up in
victory.
Oh death.
Where is your victory, oh death?
Where is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, andthe power of sin is the law.
(31:30):
Paul seems to clearly lay outthe answers to our questions
here.
One the perishable would be ourmortality.
Think back on the original sinof Adam and Eve in the garden.
The death was spiritual right.
Yes, they immediately diedspiritually.
That was the original sin.
We all inherit that at birth.
(31:51):
Did Adam and Eve bring physicaldeath into the world?
Not exactly.
They were not immortal to beginwith.
We read in Genesis that Yahwehremoved them from the garden
that contained the tree of lifelest they live forever.
It wasn't taking away hisspirit that caused them to be
mortal, it was the access to thetree of life in the presence of
(32:12):
Yahweh.
Adam was a mortal man living ina spiritual realm with Yahweh
and his divine counsel.
If he had not lost the spiritof God and remained in Eden, it
would seem he had everything heneeded.
But, as we know, the commandcame and the rest is history.
We'll dig into that later.
(32:32):
In Romans, the mystery that Isee here is not the resurrection
of the dead.
Most of the ancient Jews knewthat was the promise of Yahweh.
Not all of them agreed, ofcourse, but most looked forward
to the resurrection of the dead.
It seems to me the mystery herethat Paul describes would be
the change that would take placein those who were living, and
(32:57):
that change would take place inthe Jew and the Gentile, those
who had faith in Christ Yeshua.
As we learn from the OldTestament scripture, sleeping
was often referred to as dead.
Those who died slept in Sheolawaiting the day of the Lord.
The last trumpet was the day ofthe Lord, the final judgment
that we've been studying thelast several episodes.
The living would be changedbecause death had been defeated.
(33:19):
Their golden ticket was nowredeemed, their identity was now
redeemed.
They now had possession of whatwas promised Glory and honor
and immortality was now in theirpossession.
To the Ephesians, paul wrotethe Spirit of Yahweh is our
(33:40):
counselor.
This is true now and it wastrue then.
But we have something that theChristians prior to AD 70 did
not have.
They had the promise of gloryand honor and immortality.
We have glory and honor andimmortality.
Can you see the difference?
They had the ticket with thepromise.
(34:02):
The ticket would be valid forredemption on the day of the
Lord.
Those who were living at theresurrection were redeemed.
They were given eternal life.
It was now in their possession.
Their golden ticket wasredeemed.
The glory, honor andimmortality of the new covenant
age was now consummated.
From that day forward, all whobelieve receive salvation and
(34:25):
redemption immediately.
We receive that highly soughtafter glory and honor and
immortality.
We receive that highly soughtafter glory and honor and
immortality is a change in theinner being.
It's a change in identity.
Prior to the day of the Lord,they were mortal beings.
They had the promise of eternallife within them, but they
would still sleep in the grave.
(34:45):
They would sleep and chillwaiting for redemption.
We who are in Christ in the newcovenant age no longer sleep.
We've been changed.
Our inner being is now eternaland cannot die.
We will go right into heaven tobe with the Lord.
Not only is the spirit ofChrist dwelling in us, but our
(35:06):
life is now as long as his.
Thanks to the return of Christand the resurrection of the dead
.
The cross and resurrectiondealt with sin.
All who believed were maderight with God through the blood
of Christ and through hisresurrection were gifted with
his life-giving spirit.
Christ defeated death at hisresurrection, but did not bring
eternal life to the saints yet.
(35:27):
His promise is as good as gold,but it had not yet come to the
faithful as of the time of ourNew Testament writings.
As Yeshua said in John 5.27,and he has given him authority
to execute judgment because heis the Son of man.
Do not marvel at this, for anhour is coming when all who are
(35:47):
in the tombs will hear his voiceand come out, and those who
have done good to theresurrection of life, and those
who have done good to theresurrection of life and those
who have done evil to theresurrection of judgment.
Now, getting back to our Romanspassage, we read To those who,
by patience and well-doing, seekfor glory and honor and
immortality, he will giveeternal life.
That's Romans 2.7.
(36:10):
Let's take a moment to look atsome passages that talk about
the glory of God, luke 24.
Was it not necessary that theChrist should suffer these
things and enter into his glory?
John 17.
And now, father, glorify me inyour own presence with the glory
that I had with you before theworld existed.
Acts 7.55.
(36:32):
But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the
glory of God and Jesus standingat the right hand of God.
Based on these passages, when,would you say, christ Yeshua was
glorified?
When did he receive back fromthe Father his glory that he had
with him before the worldexisted?
It would have to be at theascension, wouldn't it?
(36:53):
That's when he went back intothe heavenly realms.
In Acts 1, we read and when hesaid these things, as they were
looking on, he was lifted up anda cloud took him out of their
sight.
And while they were gazing intoheaven as he went, behold, two
men stood by them in white robesand said Men of Christ Yeshua
(37:25):
in AD 70,.
How did he appear?
In Luke 21, we read reappear.
In Luke 21, we read and thenthey will see the Son of man
coming in a cloud with power andgreat glory.
So again, at Pentecost, whenthey received the Holy Spirit,
they were reconciled to God bythe blood of Christ and sealed
for the day of redemption.
The saints were not yetglorified, but faithfully waited
(37:48):
for what they hoped for.
They knew they would beglorified, but at the time of
our writings they had notreceived glory and honor and
immortality.
We can see this in the contextof many passages in Paul's
letter to the Romans Romans 2.7.
To those who, by patience andwell-doing, seek for glory and
(38:08):
honor and immortality, he willgive eternal life Romans 3.23.
Romans 5.2.
Romans 6.4.
(38:31):
Rejoice in hope of the glory ofGod.
Romans 6.4.
We were buried, therefore, withhim by baptism into death, in
order that, just as Christ wasraised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, we toomight walk in newness of life
Romans 8.18.
For I consider that thesufferings of this present time
are not worth comparing with theglory that is to be revealed to
(38:52):
us Romans 8, 21,.
That the creation itself willbe set free from its bondage to
corruption and obtain thefreedom of the glory of the
children of God Romans 9, 23,.
In order to make known theriches of his glory for vessels
of mercy, which he has preparedbeforehand for glory.
(39:14):
So there seems to be a changethat took place in the inner
being of those who had the HolySpirit and were still living at
the parousia the return ofChrist.
They received his glory thathad been hoped for.
They were now glorifiedcreatures.
Redemption had come.
The promised salvation wasreceived.
Every believer who comes toChrist now and receives his
(39:37):
spirit receives all things.
We receive every element of hisfinished work.
Glory and honor and immortalitydefine us as Christians.
We are the glory and honor ofour Lord.
We represent the glorifiedChrist Yeshua.
We represent the glory ofYahweh.
We have the spirit of glorydwelling within us.
(39:57):
Glory and honor and immortalityhave been delivered through the
return of Christ Yeshua.
We're no longer hoping forsalvation.
We're no longer hoping forredemption.
We're no longer waiting for thereturn of Christ.
We have everything.
And if you're familiar withscripture and the first covenant
Yahweh made with Israel, ifyou're familiar with life before
(40:20):
the new covenant age, thatreality should wipe every tear
from your eye.
On the note of wiping everytear from our eyes.
I know you're probably thinkingso.
If the new heaven was preparedin AD 70 and the judgment and
resurrection already occurredthen, are we living on the new
earth right now?
It's hard to accept this atfirst.
(40:42):
I do realize that I had thesame initial reaction.
It seems like a total ripoffwhen we read Revelation 21 and
22, with the paradigm that we'reall taught today.
Revelation 21, 4 reads he willwipe away every tear from their
eyes and death shall be no more.
Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more,
(41:03):
for the former things havepassed.
This is the single passage thatnearly every human being will,
proof-text when you share thepreterist view.
But let's not forget the powerof the work of our Lord that was
to come and which we now have.
1 Corinthians 15 reads For thetrumpet will sound and the dead
(41:23):
will be raised imperishable, andwe shall be changed.
For this perishable body mustput on the imperishable and this
mortal body must put onimmortality.
When the perishable puts on theimperishable and the mortal
puts on immortality, then shallcome to pass the saying that is
written Death is swallowed up invictory, o death.
(41:46):
Where is your victory, o death?
Where is your sting?
The sting of death is the crossand resurrection.
Upon his return, he brought thelife and redemption that was
promised to those sealed withhis spirit.
We now also share victory overdeath.
(42:08):
For the Christian, death shallbe no more and the crying and
pain are in the context of theheavy yoke of the law, the
bondage of sin and death.
In the old covenant age, thosewho died died knowing their sin
had not been dealt with.
They died hoping for redemptionand life.
Those who lived lived seekingmercy and forgiveness.
(42:32):
When they made a sacrifice fortheir sin through the blood of
an animal, their sin immediatelybegan counting against them all
over again.
They had to constantly bedealing with their sin and
paying the price fordisobedience.
According to Yahweh's righteousjustice system, even the
faithful paid a price forbreaking faith with Yahweh.
The faithful under the oldcovenant longed to be saved from
(42:55):
their sin.
They longed for redemption.
They died in their sin.
They died waiting for salvation.
And again in Revelation, rightafter no tears or death, we read
to the thirsty, I will givefrom the spring of the water of
life without payment.
Right after no death and notears, we have living water
(43:18):
being given to those who arethirsty, without payment.
What do you think the livingwater is that will be given to
the thirsty?
In John 7, we read On the lastday of the feast, the great day,
(43:44):
jesus stood up and cried out.
In John 7, we read whom thosewho believed in him were to
receive, for as yet the Spirithad not been given because Jesus
had not yet been glorified.
So it seems that there would beevangelism on the new earth,
wouldn't you say?
Why would we need to receivethis living water if we had no
death or tears?
(44:04):
We have to seek a differentunderstanding, don't we?
And to further drive this pointhome, we read in the next
verses a different understanding, don't we?
And to further drive this pointhome, we read in the next
verses the one who conquers willhave this heritage and I will
be his God and he will be my son.
But as for the cowardly, thefaithless, the detestable, as
(44:24):
for murderers, the sexuallyimmoral sorcerers, idolaters and
all liars, their portion willbe in the lake that burns with
fire and sulfur, which is thesecond death.
If we're paying close attentionhere, we see that sin will
still remain on this new earth.
Those who reject Christ, thefaithless, will still face a
fiery judgment.
In the end, they will die andgo right to judgment.
(44:47):
A few verses later we read Forits temple is the Lord, god, the
Almighty and the Lamb, and thenin 21-27,.
But nothing unclean will everenter it, nor anyone who does
what is detestable or false, butonly those who are written in
the Lamb's book of life.
This is a beautiful picture ofthe new covenant age.
(45:10):
Only those who understand gracecould appreciate this.
This is a spiritual glory.
This is a beautiful picture ofthe new covenant age.
Only those who understand gracecould appreciate this.
This is a spiritual glory.
This is grace.
Then Revelation 22,.
A little further down, then,the angel showed me the river of
the water of life, bright ascrystal, flowing from the throne
of God and the Lamb Through themiddle of the street of the
(45:30):
city.
Also, on either side of theriver, the tree of life with its
twelve kinds of fruit yieldingits fruit each month.
The leaves of the tree were forthe healing of the nations.
No longer will there beanything accursed, but the
throne of God and of the Lambwill be in it and his servants
will worship him.
We again see this view of Christbeing preached and his spirit
(45:52):
being given to those who hungerfor it.
Why would the nations needhealing?
Well, after the Tower of Babel,the nations no longer had
Yahweh as their God.
Now, all nations and people whothe Lord calls upon can eat
from the tree of life once again.
If the new earth only hadperfect people who were saved,
why would there be a need forany of this?
(46:15):
And once again, a few verseslater in Revelation we read
Blessed are those who wash theirrobes so that they may have the
right to the tree of life andthat they may enter the city by
the gates.
Outside are the dogs andsorcerers and the sexually
immoral and murderers andidolaters and everyone who loves
and practices falsehood.
(46:36):
The Christians are inside thespiritual kingdom of Christ on
earth, while the unbeliever isoutside the gates.
In a bit earlier backtrackingit is written and its gates will
never shut by day great andawesome day in AD 70, he brought
(46:59):
with him glory and honor andimmortality.
In Luke 21 we read cloud withpower and great glory.
Now, when these things begin totake place, straighten up and
raise your heads, because yourredemption is drawing near.
You who are in Christ Yeshuaare now eternal beings.
(47:19):
Death has been defeated for you.
The sin and the death that weinherited through Adam has been
fully dealt with.
In the Christian, we now havedirect access to the Lord face
to face.
He dwells among us and thespiritual tree of life has been
re-established among mankind.
If that's not good news, Idon't know what is.
That's what I got for now.
(47:41):
Grace and peace to you all, andmay the glory of our Lord shine
within you.
May rivers of living water flowfrom your heart.
See you, guys next time.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
Thank you for listening to the Waking Up to
Grace podcast brought to you bythe finished work of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
If you enjoyed today's episode,we would love to hear from you.
You can send encouragement ourway right from our episodes and
transcripts page or reach Lennyprivately from the contact form
at wakinguptogracecom.
Hello and welcome to the Waking Up To Grace podcast,
where we celebrate and explorethe finished work of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Tune in to the Waking Up ToGrace podcast on every major
platform.
You can also listen to ourepisodes and read our full
transcripts atwakinguptogracecom.
And now here's Lenny.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Welcome back to the Waking Up to Grace podcast.
Everyone.
Today's topic in our Romanstudy is glory, honor and
immortality.
I'd like to begin with ananalogy, to get our minds
pointed in the right directionFor a moment.
Imagine that you're on arelaxing vacation.
You walk along the shoreline ofa beach feeling the wet sand on
(00:43):
your feet, the temperature isjust right, there's a calm
breeze in the air, accompaniedby a crystal clear blue sky full
of sunshine.
As you're taken in yoursurroundings, consumed with
thankfulness, you come across aperson sitting in a chair in the
shade.
This person is fully consumedin their smartphone.
Anxiety is written on theirface as they aggressively swipe
(01:06):
and scroll on the screen oftheir device with their
fingertip.
You say to them Hello there,how are you doing today?
They reply oh, I'm justwatching instructional videos
with details on how to plan arelaxing vacation.
Something just doesn't soundright about this, does it?
How can someone have somethingright in front of their face and
(01:27):
still be looking for it?
Could there be anything morefutile in this life than to be
seeking something that wealready have?
Oftentimes it's downrighttragic.
In my last message, number 59,we left off discussing how the
first century apostles wereawaiting their salvation, which
they believed was coming soon,at the return of Christ Yeshua
(01:49):
and the resurrection of the dead.
In our Romans passage we readTo those who, by patience and
well-doing, seek for glory andhonor and immortality, he will
give eternal life.
That's Romans 2.7.
The first century apostles werecertainly seeking glory and
honor and immortality.
They were seeking eternal life.
(02:10):
That was the promise theyreceived from their Lord.
I constantly speak out againstdoctrines of legalism that tell
us we have to maintain ourfellowship with Yahweh.
Under the new covenant,salvation and fellowship are
synonymous.
They're one and the same.
Salvation in the New Covenantage puts us in a perfect
fellowship with Yahweh.
(02:31):
That's what grace is all about.
Apart from knowing we're rightwith God, we can never fully
embrace the grace that we havebeen given If we're honest with
ourselves, while underlegalistic doctrines that teach
(02:52):
things like positional salvationand positional fellowship,
we'll forever be stuck on thereligious treadmill of becoming
right with God.
Our work will never be goodenough and we'll struggle to
worship in truth due to ourerror.
I discuss these positionaldoctrines in message number 20.
But another tragedy in theChristian world today is the
loose end that most believenever got tied for the
forefathers of our faith in thefirst century.
Most scholars will tell youthat the apostles who laid down
(03:15):
their lives for the gospel inthe first century believe that
Christ Yeshua would return intheir generation.
And even more shocking is thefact that Yeshua himself told
them this explicitly.
We studied these things in mylast several messages.
If we were to believe, as mostdo today, in a future return of
Christ, then we find theapostles still in the grave,
(03:38):
sleeping and awaiting theirfinal redemption.
Almost 2,000 years later, theycontinue to wait for the day
they can be united with theirLord and Savior.
This is a reality that those whohold to a futurist eschatology
gloss over.
They often come up with ideaslike the heavenly realms are
timeless, so we'll go right toheaven when we die.
(03:59):
But that concept is far removedfrom what we see in scripture
and what was believed in ancienttimes.
According to scripture, thedead sleep in Sheol until the
judgment.
The faithful saints, yahweh'select, awaited the promised
resurrection that would come atthe final judgment.
They awaited glory and honorand immortality.
(04:22):
We cannot get around this whenwe study it out.
I go over these details furtherin message number 15 and 16.
If you missed those episodes.
If we ignore what is written,all we are left with is making
up fine-sounding jargon abouthow we travel in time to be in
heaven when we die.
It makes many people feelbetter, but only in ignorance.
(04:43):
Ignorance does not build us upspiritually.
It only harms us in the longrun.
Those who claim that we goright to heaven when we die are
correct, but their eschatologytells them otherwise.
That's where the time-travelingnonsense comes into play.
They want to believe that allthe work of Christ is finished
without redemption.
But if Christ did not return,redemption and salvation did not
(05:07):
come.
Glory and honor and immortalityremain as a promise yet to be
fulfilled.
When we believe things in error,we lose the power of the truth,
we lose the context that leadsus to a deeper understanding of
the grace of God and we allowerror into our thinking.
To a deeper understanding ofthe grace of God, and we allow
error into our thinking.
In my experience, as one whohas experienced it firsthand, a
(05:28):
small error causes a large issuein our understanding.
We should always seek tounderstand what Scripture
actually means, not what itlooks like it means because of
what we've been told.
We need to understand what thewriter was telling their
audience or what Yeshua meantwhen he spoke to his audience.
This takes intentional practiceand a lot of grace and prayer.
(05:52):
I believe the Spirit of Godteaches us truth when we
genuinely seek it.
Our human pride and ignoranceare the biggest obstacles we
face.
Not Satan, who was thrown intothe lake of fire in AD 70.
I know it's hard to imagineSatan doesn't exist when you
follow the affairs of our world,but study what scripture says
(06:13):
about mankind apart from theLord, it's actually not that
hard to believe.
We need to take responsibilityfor our own behavior and our own
ignorance.
Did Paul not constantly teachsuch things?
Getting back to the topic ofglory and honor and immortality,
when we connect highlydocumented history with the text
(06:33):
in our Bibles, we find thatChrist Yeshua was faithful and
did make his spiritual returnexactly as he intended to in AD
70.
The apostles and all of thesaints no longer await
redemption.
No time travel necessary.
This is a big deal, isn't it?
I think so, but in mostChristian circles the whole
(06:56):
concept of redemption is acomplete mess.
It's taken so far out ofcontext that it gets completely
taken for granted and turnedinto double talk.
When presented the doctrine ofpreterism, many Christians will
respond that doesn't matter tome.
What is the difference?
If he came or he didn't come,I'm saved.
(07:16):
That's all that matters.
The funny thing is, they'rehappy to carry on proclaiming
that he's coming soon and thatSatan is doing this and that,
even though it doesn't matter tothem.
To say that Christ Yeshua'sreturn in the first century
doesn't matter is to say thatsalvation and Yahweh's promises
don't matter.
If he didn't come in thatgeneration, as he said he would,
(07:39):
then salvation did not comewhen it was promised.
The new covenant age was neverestablished.
It was never consummated.
The work of Christ was leftundone.
Are you comfortable believingthat?
I don't think I was muchdifferent than anyone else prior
to being introduced to the fullpreterist doctrine.
I believed redemption andsalvation were considered to be
(08:02):
in the future, because those whospoke of it hadn't died.
We receive the promisedredemption when we die is what I
thought.
That's why we see all this talkabout waiting for it.
Does that paradigm soundfamiliar to you?
It probably does, becausethat's what our Christian
leaders are telling us.
But if we come across a view ofscripture that's contrary to
(08:24):
what we've been taught, shouldwe not study it out?
Do we want to be that personwho seeks what they already have
, that person on the beautifulsunny beach seeking out a
relaxing vacation while swipingat their smartphone.
This would be like inheriting aplot of land on a large oil
well, all that valuable oil isyours, but you don't even know
(08:45):
it's there.
You own it but are utterlyunaware of the riches that you
possess, unless somethinghappens to make you aware you
might spend your whole lifestruggling to survive when you
were wealthy all along, had yousimply knew the value in what
you inherited.
Believing that you havesalvation when your eschatology
is in error would be likesomeone telling you that you
(09:07):
live on an oil well, but youdon't actually know for sure.
How much faith do you have inmankind?
Would you want to drill intothat land and see the oil for
yourself?
Would that not change yourconfidence?
Just a little bit?
Yes, a large bit.
Right?
This is what it felt like for mewhen I discovered the truth
about grace, the truth about ourright standing identity in
(09:30):
Christ, the truth about theredemption and salvation that we
now have, that is ours aspromised.
The first century apostles hadthe Spirit of God, they were
right with the Lord, sin wasdealt with and they were no
longer under the obligations ofthe law.
They were set free from the sinand the death that came through
Adam.
The Spirit of God was theirpromised seal for redemption.
(09:53):
They had that golden ticket,promise from Yahweh for entering
the promised land and livingeternally with the Lord.
They were promised glory andhonor and immortality.
But that ticket needed to beredeemed and the event was the
return of Christ Yeshua in AD 70.
To those who think the timing ofChrist's return doesn't matter,
(10:14):
my challenge is this does truthmatter?
In John 8, 31 we read so Jesussaid to the Jews who had
believed in him If you abide usfree, then error must put us in
bondage.
Following this logic, in orderto be free, we must be seeking
(10:39):
truth right.
We must be living by truth inorder to live free.
John 4.23 reads but the hour iscoming and is now here when the
true worshipers will worshipthe Father in spirit and truth,
for the Father is seeking suchpeople to worship him.
God is spirit and those whoworship him must worship in
(10:59):
spirit and truth.
That was Christ Yeshua speaking.
When we're born of spirit,we're saved.
We're now spiritually alive,according to scripture.
But if we worship in error?
Do we please the Father?
Is it not our calling asChristians to seek truth?
Are you certain that the thingsyou believe about the Lord are
(11:20):
true?
Do you genuinely seek theguidance of the Holy Spirit or
are you holding on to what isfamiliar rather than challenging
your theology?
Do you seek the counsel of Godor the counsel of man?
When you're confused about atopic?
Are you afraid to be cast outfor being different than the
mainstream church?
I know what it's like to beignorant and naive.
(11:42):
I think this is the default waythat we come into the world.
It takes a conscious effort tothink for ourselves and question
our ignorance.
If seeking all truth happenedautomatically for all Christians
, we wouldn't have so manydenominations, would we?
When our leaders can't evenagree on things, should we not
(12:02):
be checking up on those leaders?
Should we even need a leader asa Christian today?
To be clear, I'm not sayingshould there be leaders.
I'm saying should we needleaders?
I want to challenge yourthinking on this and also reveal
truth about your Christianidentity that you may not
realize defines you.
Knowing who we are in Christ isknowing the truth about
(12:22):
ourselves, and what better wayto worship in truth than to know
who Yahweh made us to be, whatwe became at salvation.
If you're caught up on mymessages, you know that I
believe the spiritual gifts ofthe first century Christians
ended in AD 70.
This concept can only beunderstood under a preterist
view of scripture.
If there's no definitive end tothese things, then they must
(12:45):
still exist.
Right?
I'm not going to dive into thistopic heavily today, but
Melissa and I talk on it inepisode number 35.
If you want to go back and lookat that.
Here's a quick list of some ofthe spiritual gifts that were
divinely given in the firstcentury century Administration,
being an apostle, discernment,evangelism, exhortation, faith
(13:10):
giving, healing, helps,hospitality, knowledge,
leadership, mercy, prophecy,serving, speaking in tongues,
teaching, wisdom and there'smore than these.
In fact, pastor is a spiritualgift.
(13:31):
On top of that, we don't evenknow what exactly makes a pastor
a pastor if we study it out inour Bibles.
We have to make assumptions tocome up with what we see today
in the institutional church.
The main point I want to makehere is that we can claim all we
want that we have a spiritualgift from God, but these gifts
we see in our scriptures did notcome from any human origin.
(13:53):
They were miraculous.
It wasn't just mere spiritualguidance, it was all-out divine
intervention.
Some had this gift, some hadthat.
Some might have had no specialgifts given.
They were instructed to prayfor them if they desired them.
Why?
Because they were a gift fromGod.
You didn't go to school toenhance your gift of teaching.
(14:16):
You were given it.
It was yours immediately.
Are you following me?
If knowledge was your gift, youdidn't study to obtain it.
Are you following me?
If knowledge was your gift, youdidn't study to obtain it.
In those times, spiritual giftswere the norm.
Today we call it a miracle.
Have you ever truly met ascholar who didn't study, or a
teacher who wasn't taught?
Or a Christian who could seetruth in scripture without any
(14:39):
prior knowledge?
Have you heard someone speak alanguage that they never learned
?
That's what many of the firstcentury Christians were doing.
They didn't babble a wholebunch of nonsense to each other
and claim to understand it.
They were given the gift oflanguages, tongues, and the gift
of interpreting those languagesfor others.
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1 Corinthians 12.
There has always been confusionin the churches.
We see this throughout Paul'sletters and in the book of Acts.
But has there ever been suchpoor leadership as we have today
.
Poor leadership began as soonas the apostles faded away into
eternity.
Why is that?
Because the gift of leadershipno longer exists.
The gift of teaching is notbeing given.
(15:23):
The spiritual gift ofdiscernment is not present.
We now have to follow theguidance of the spirit within us
and learn at a human rate ofability.
We have to train our minds withthe truth.
Testing the spirits is now doneby searching the scriptures and
seeking their intended meaning,and this only humbly, through
(15:43):
the spirit.
We are fully dependent on theSpirit for these things.
So pride and ignorance willalways blind us if we're not
careful.
Is this still miraculous?
Indeed it is.
Without spiritual guidance wecould never see anything at all.
1 Corinthians 2.14 says thenatural person does not accept
(16:03):
the things of the Spirit of God,for they are folly to him and
he is not able to understandthem because they are
spiritually discerned.
So it would not be how smart weare or how hard we try, but
rather how spiritual we are andhow much we are led by the
Spirit of God.
Paul continues saying thespiritual person judges all
(16:24):
things, but is himself to bejudged by no one.
Paul continues saying If we allhave the mind of Christ, why
don't we all see the same truthin Scripture?
Why are there so manydenominations in Christianity
today?
(16:45):
From my vantage point, it'spoor leadership and poor
teaching, alongside a blindfaith from the audience of those
poor leaders and teachers.
Be honest with yourself.
Do you follow Christian leadersbecause you like the way they
speak or you like the feel oftheir messages, or do you check
the scriptures to be sure whatyou are hearing is true and
(17:06):
gravitate toward those withtruly good content?
Christians all argue that whatthey believe is in the Bible.
They throw out Bible verses toprove their belief system.
But proof texting is onlyuseful if we know what the
author actually meant in thetext.
Things are not always as theyseem.
For example, what did ChristYeshua mean when he said
(17:29):
Therefore, be perfect, as yourheavenly Father is perfect?
After all the terrifying thingshe said about sin going deep
into their thought life, heleaves his listeners with that.
I explain this passage indetail in message number 24.
But do people go around quotingthat passage, thinking it will
scare people into acting better?
(17:50):
And doing the best they can, asmany in error believe is an
acceptable standard to the Lord.
There was no door open to doingthe best we can when Christ
Yeshua laid out the law in itspurest form in Matthew 5-7.
It is my belief that we all havethe mind of Christ when we
receive the Spirit of God, butwe are not always using it.
(18:11):
I think this is very obvious,whether intentional or not.
I also think we are literallygetting trained not to use our
spiritual abilities by ourleaders.
As I mentioned in messagenumber 50, today's church
environments are so off-basebiblically that we don't even
know what it looks like toworship as a church or share
what we've learned in our ownstudies anymore.
(18:33):
We just follow the leader.
We go to institutions that makeus comfortable and look for
them to tell us what to believeand what to do.
It's a lot like watching thenews.
Does anyone ever question thesource of their favorite news
network and whether they cantrust that person at the top
funding the whole operation?
It looks good, so we just gowith it, don't we?
(18:55):
In the first century Christianswould have spent a lot of time
in the temple and varioussynagogues.
That's where the scriptureswere.
So they gathered with the Jewsand were even given the chance
to share their personal views.
Can you imagine the intensityin that environment?
This is how the believersreached the spiritually dead.
Ordinary people could teachothers from the scriptures.
(19:16):
They had a chance to speak.
There was not one speaker everyweek doing all the talking.
Of course, there was a timewhen they were kicked out of the
temple due to the corruption ofIsrael, but prior to that, the
temple would have been the placeto study scripture.
They could share and learn fromdifferent perspectives.
Later, in Romans, we'll findPaul asking the Gentiles who
(19:39):
were becoming hostile to theChrist-rejecting Jews to conduct
themselves properly in order tokeep the peace in the
synagogues.
They were representing himwhile he was not there.
Paul wanted to reach as manyJews as possible.
He loved his Jewish brothers.
I have to take a moment to givea quick spoiler for those who
may want to study it out aheadof time.
(20:00):
You may remember when Iannounced that Melissa would be
going through Romans togetherwith me, kind of like when I
went from writing up studyguides to doing blog posts when
we started our ministry.
Getting started was the mainobjective, but the Lord is
refining our systems as we goand we're just loving it.
I hope you guys are learningand growing with us as well.
(20:21):
But getting back to my spoiler,melissa recently finished her
personal study on Romans and hastaken incredible notes along
the way, and I get to go overthose with her.
It's a total team effort andour conversations have blessed
us abundantly in Christ, all ofwhich we'll be passing on to you
guys over time.
(20:41):
I'm far behind her as I'mputting all of our shared
learning into messages andrecording them, but we both gain
insight constantly through thisprocess.
We're teaching each other.
It's just so enjoyable, I can'tsay enough about it.
So the other day in our earlymorning discussions, melissa
asks me who do you think Paul istalking about in Romans 13 when
(21:03):
he's speaking on submission togoverning authorities?
I responded it's funny.
You would ask that as I've beenpondering it in the back of my
mind ever since I started thisRomans study.
I've read through Romansnumerous times this year and
previous years and thosepassages just don't sit right
with me.
I can't see them as governmententities such as the Roman
government.
(21:23):
It just doesn't fit.
I'm beginning to believe thatPaul is speaking about the
governing entities of Israel inthe temple and synagogues, but I
can't prove it.
I need to study it out more andreconcile certain parts, to
which Melissa revealed that shedid study it out and that she
believes that my answer wascorrect and it can be proven.
(21:45):
She explained it all to me.
I asked the hard questions, andwithin a couple days, we both
see it as truth.
If you ever wondered why Paulwould seem to be telling you to
be obedient to a tyrannicalgovernment, he isn't.
He isn't telling you to be likethe rebel Barabbas either.
Case in point governments loveto use this passage to cause
(22:06):
Christians to submit to theirevil doings, but Romans 13 is
not about them.
That couldn't be further fromthe truth.
Romans 13 was about winning overthe elect Jewish believers in
the synagogues through properconduct.
That's it.
I can't wait to get to thatmessage.
I really wanted to share a biton that.
(22:26):
Now, though, due to how eviland corrupt our governing
systems are these days, I'mstill going to dive deeper, but
there's a book that I'm sharinga link to here if you're
interested.
It's called the Mystery ofRomans the Jewish Context of
Paul's Letters.
If you're listening by podcast,you'll have to go to my blog
post to get the link.
Otherwise, just look up thetitle on Amazon the Mystery of
(22:48):
Romans, the Jewish Context ofPaul's Letters.
But getting back to our messageToday, each church has its own
established hive mind.
If you're of that hive, you haveto stay in line with that hive
mind.
They keep you safe byprotecting you from other
perspectives.
Even if you're one of them, youstand a chance of being
(23:09):
silenced if you share somethingthat is not approved by their
board members.
We are so far removed from theways church was done in the
first century that we havebecome spiritually deflated and
dull.
In America we talk all aboutfree speech as they take it from
us little by little, but freespeech in the institutional
church was removed long ago,never to make its way back.
(23:31):
If it were not for free speechin the Jewish synagogues, how
would the truth have spread theway it did in the first century?
It wouldn't have.
Yahweh used thoseestablishments to build the
church and shortly after theapostles' lives on earth,
mankind changed everythingcompletely.
(23:51):
It's my belief that Christianitywill remain watered down and
dull until we go away from thatstructure that we've been handed
down by man-made tradition.
We need to bring spiritual lifeback into the church in a bad
way.
What authority do our churchleaders have and how did they
receive it From a seminaryschool?
What if the seminary schoolswere wrong?
(24:12):
If they have the marketcornered on truth, then why are
we not of one mind and spirit?
Why all the denominationsThousands of denominations out
there?
The mind of the seminary isclearly divided, so why do we
put our full trust in it?
At one time, I thought I had thespiritual gift of discernment,
(24:33):
but then I changed my mind aboutcertain areas of scripture.
Many today think they have thespiritual gift of teaching, but
then we find error in theirwords.
Others claim they have the giftof healing, but the people they
heal get sick again.
And, of course, the healingonly works for those who have
faith.
That's not how it worked in thescripture.
Guys, you can't blame theperson you're healing for your
(24:55):
lack of abilities.
If we have the spiritual giftof knowledge, we would not have
to study.
Sounds great, doesn't it?
I encountered a person onlinewho claimed to have been given
biblical knowledge from the Lord.
There was only one littleproblem Nothing, he said, lined
up with scripture.
If we have a spiritual gift, itwould have to be perfect.
(25:17):
The results would have to beperfect.
The results would have to beperfect.
Yahweh does not produce error.
It's plain to see that we don'thave these gifts today, and
it's plain in scripture why wedo not have them today.
I talk on this in messagenumber 35.
Those gifts were forestablishing the church.
The church has been established.
(25:37):
The perfect is here.
We're in the promised land ofthe new covenant age.
Whether you believe it or not.
We don't need these miraclesany longer.
We have our inheritance.
In Paul's letter to theCorinthians, he told his
Christian audience that theyhave the mind of Christ, but he
said something before that thatwe should make note of.
The spiritual person judges allthings but is himself to be
(26:00):
judged by no one.
What do you think Paul means bythis?
I think Paul is referring toour identity as Christians and
the fact that we seek spiritualtruth from the Lord and not man.
This is something that takes aconscious effort, an effort that
I observe very few making today.
One of the biggest issues wouldhave to be that we just don't
(26:22):
realize how good we have it andmost don't realize the value of
what they have.
We can't grasp how great thegift of glory and honor and
immortality truly is.
If you were to receive a greatinheritance, one that would give
you everything you could everneed, maybe like that property
in a large oil.
Well, what might be the biggestproblem you'd face upon
(26:44):
receiving it?
As time went on?
What might be your biggeststruggle?
Getting lazy, taking it forgranted, forgetting what it was
like to not have it?
I think these things are theprimary issue we have in
Christianity today.
Do you know what one of theprimary things that Yahweh
wanted for his people in Israelwas?
(27:05):
We read it over and over as wego through the Old Testament of
our Bibles.
He wanted them to remember.
The word remember appears 166times in our ESV translation of
the Bible.
In multiple instances, israelwas told to remember their
deliverance.
In Exodus 13 we read.
(27:25):
Then Moses said to the peopleRemember this day in which you
came out from Egypt, out of thehouse of slavery, for by a
strong hand, the Lord broughtyou out of this place.
Without a conscious recognitionof deliverance, it would be
forgotten.
The strength of faith wouldfade and get lost through the
generations.
Did that person on the beachwho was anxiously scrolling on
(27:48):
their smartphone to learn how totake the best vacation,
appreciate the fact that theywere already there?
No, they couldn't appreciatethe vacation they were on
because all of their focus wason their smartphone.
We can apply this principle toour total forgiveness and right
standing with the Lord.
When we have that mainstreamparadigm of constantly standing
(28:09):
before the Lord in guilt, askingfor more forgiveness daily,
hourly or however often neededwe can easily lose track of our
deliverance, not to mention howmuch of the value is diminished
in our daily living.
As we ask for something thatwas given to us as a gift
through Christ Yeshua, we castdoubt on our own faith.
(28:29):
We can also apply thisprinciple to salvation and
redemption, which is our gloryand honor and immortality.
When we parrot the phraseChrist is coming soon and we're
living in the end times, weactually place ourselves in a
false period of time.
How well will people navigatethrough their day without any
(28:51):
sense of time If Christ alreadycame?
How pleased is the Lord withyou?
When you go around saying thatkind of we don't realize how
good we have it.
If not for grace, christianstoday would be getting zapped by
Yahweh into oblivion by theminute.
Our salvation and redemption inChrist is a parallel with
Israel's exodus out of Egypt.
(29:12):
Israel's exodus from Egypt wasa shadow of the spiritual exodus
that came through Christ Yeshua.
First, yahweh brought Israelout of the bondage of Egyptian
slavery, just as Christ Yeshuafirst delivered his people from
the bondage of the law and sin.
Next, over a 40-year period ofmiracles, signs and wonders,
(29:34):
israel entered into the promisedland.
Just as, over a 40-year periodof miracles, signs and wonders,
from Pentecost to AD 70, christYeshua came in judgment and
brought his elect into eternityto be with him in the new heaven
that was prepared for them, andhe established his spiritual
kingdom on earth.
But what about those who werestill alive at the judgment, you
(29:56):
might ask?
We can let Paul answer that.
Let's break down 1 Corinthians15, 50-56.
Flesh and blood cannot inheritthe kingdom of God, nor does the
perishable inherit theimperishable.
Behold, I tell you a mystery weshall not all sleep, but we
(30:18):
shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trumpet.
Let's stop here and considersome questions before we finish
the passage.
1.
What would be considered theperishable and what would be the
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imperishable?
2.
Before we finish the passage,let's see if the rest of the
passage answers these questionsfor us, and then we'll talk
about it.
Paul continues, for the trumpetwill sound and the dead will be
raised imperishable and weshall be changed.
For this perishable body mustput on the imperishable and this
(31:06):
mortal body must put onimmortality.
When the perishable puts on theimperishable and the mortal
puts on immortality, when theperishable puts on the
imperishable and the mortal putson immortality, then shall come
to pass the saying that iswritten death is swallowed up in
victory.
Oh death.
Where is your victory, oh death?
Where is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, andthe power of sin is the law.
(31:30):
Paul seems to clearly lay outthe answers to our questions
here.
One the perishable would be ourmortality.
Think back on the original sinof Adam and Eve in the garden.
The death was spiritual right.
Yes, they immediately diedspiritually.
That was the original sin.
We all inherit that at birth.
(31:51):
Did Adam and Eve bring physicaldeath into the world?
Not exactly.
They were not immortal to beginwith.
We read in Genesis that Yahwehremoved them from the garden
that contained the tree of lifelest they live forever.
It wasn't taking away hisspirit that caused them to be
mortal, it was the access to thetree of life in the presence of
(32:12):
Yahweh.
Adam was a mortal man living ina spiritual realm with Yahweh
and his divine counsel.
If he had not lost the spiritof God and remained in Eden, it
would seem he had everything heneeded.
But, as we know, the commandcame and the rest is history.
We'll dig into that later.
(32:32):
In Romans, the mystery that Isee here is not the resurrection
of the dead.
Most of the ancient Jews knewthat was the promise of Yahweh.
Not all of them agreed, ofcourse, but most looked forward
to the resurrection of the dead.
It seems to me the mystery herethat Paul describes would be
the change that would take placein those who were living, and
(32:57):
that change would take place inthe Jew and the Gentile, those
who had faith in Christ Yeshua.
As we learn from the OldTestament scripture, sleeping
was often referred to as dead.
Those who died slept in Sheolawaiting the day of the Lord.
The last trumpet was the day ofthe Lord, the final judgment
that we've been studying thelast several episodes.
The living would be changedbecause death had been defeated.
(33:19):
Their golden ticket was nowredeemed, their identity was now
redeemed.
They now had possession of whatwas promised Glory and honor
and immortality was now in theirpossession.
To the Ephesians, paul wrotethe Spirit of Yahweh is our
(33:40):
counselor.
This is true now and it wastrue then.
But we have something that theChristians prior to AD 70 did
not have.
They had the promise of gloryand honor and immortality.
We have glory and honor andimmortality.
Can you see the difference?
They had the ticket with thepromise.
(34:02):
The ticket would be valid forredemption on the day of the
Lord.
Those who were living at theresurrection were redeemed.
They were given eternal life.
It was now in their possession.
Their golden ticket wasredeemed.
The glory, honor andimmortality of the new covenant
age was now consummated.
From that day forward, all whobelieve receive salvation and
(34:25):
redemption immediately.
We receive that highly soughtafter glory and honor and
immortality.
We receive that highly soughtafter glory and honor and
immortality is a change in theinner being.
It's a change in identity.
Prior to the day of the Lord,they were mortal beings.
They had the promise of eternallife within them, but they
would still sleep in the grave.
(34:45):
They would sleep and chillwaiting for redemption.
We who are in Christ in the newcovenant age no longer sleep.
We've been changed.
Our inner being is now eternaland cannot die.
We will go right into heaven tobe with the Lord.
Not only is the spirit ofChrist dwelling in us, but our
(35:06):
life is now as long as his.
Thanks to the return of Christand the resurrection of the dead
.
The cross and resurrectiondealt with sin.
All who believed were maderight with God through the blood
of Christ and through hisresurrection were gifted with
his life-giving spirit.
Christ defeated death at hisresurrection, but did not bring
eternal life to the saints yet.
(35:27):
His promise is as good as gold,but it had not yet come to the
faithful as of the time of ourNew Testament writings.
As Yeshua said in John 5.27,and he has given him authority
to execute judgment because heis the Son of man.
Do not marvel at this, for anhour is coming when all who are
(35:47):
in the tombs will hear his voiceand come out, and those who
have done good to theresurrection of life, and those
who have done good to theresurrection of life and those
who have done evil to theresurrection of judgment.
Now, getting back to our Romanspassage, we read To those who,
by patience and well-doing, seekfor glory and honor and
immortality, he will giveeternal life.
That's Romans 2.7.
(36:10):
Let's take a moment to look atsome passages that talk about
the glory of God, luke 24.
Was it not necessary that theChrist should suffer these
things and enter into his glory?
John 17.
And now, father, glorify me inyour own presence with the glory
that I had with you before theworld existed.
Acts 7.55.
(36:32):
But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the
glory of God and Jesus standingat the right hand of God.
Based on these passages, when,would you say, christ Yeshua was
glorified?
When did he receive back fromthe Father his glory that he had
with him before the worldexisted?
It would have to be at theascension, wouldn't it?
(36:53):
That's when he went back intothe heavenly realms.
In Acts 1, we read and when hesaid these things, as they were
looking on, he was lifted up anda cloud took him out of their
sight.
And while they were gazing intoheaven as he went, behold, two
men stood by them in white robesand said Men of Christ Yeshua
(37:25):
in AD 70,.
How did he appear?
In Luke 21, we read reappear.
In Luke 21, we read and thenthey will see the Son of man
coming in a cloud with power andgreat glory.
So again, at Pentecost, whenthey received the Holy Spirit,
they were reconciled to God bythe blood of Christ and sealed
for the day of redemption.
The saints were not yetglorified, but faithfully waited
(37:48):
for what they hoped for.
They knew they would beglorified, but at the time of
our writings they had notreceived glory and honor and
immortality.
We can see this in the contextof many passages in Paul's
letter to the Romans Romans 2.7.
To those who, by patience andwell-doing, seek for glory and
(38:08):
honor and immortality, he willgive eternal life Romans 3.23.
Romans 5.2.
Romans 6.4.
(38:31):
Rejoice in hope of the glory ofGod.
Romans 6.4.
We were buried, therefore, withhim by baptism into death, in
order that, just as Christ wasraised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, we toomight walk in newness of life
Romans 8.18.
For I consider that thesufferings of this present time
are not worth comparing with theglory that is to be revealed to
(38:52):
us Romans 8, 21,.
That the creation itself willbe set free from its bondage to
corruption and obtain thefreedom of the glory of the
children of God Romans 9, 23,.
In order to make known theriches of his glory for vessels
of mercy, which he has preparedbeforehand for glory.
(39:14):
So there seems to be a changethat took place in the inner
being of those who had the HolySpirit and were still living at
the parousia the return ofChrist.
They received his glory thathad been hoped for.
They were now glorifiedcreatures.
Redemption had come.
The promised salvation wasreceived.
Every believer who comes toChrist now and receives his
(39:37):
spirit receives all things.
We receive every element of hisfinished work.
Glory and honor and immortalitydefine us as Christians.
We are the glory and honor ofour Lord.
We represent the glorifiedChrist Yeshua.
We represent the glory ofYahweh.
We have the spirit of glorydwelling within us.
(39:57):
Glory and honor and immortalityhave been delivered through the
return of Christ Yeshua.
We're no longer hoping forsalvation.
We're no longer hoping forredemption.
We're no longer waiting for thereturn of Christ.
We have everything.
And if you're familiar withscripture and the first covenant
Yahweh made with Israel, ifyou're familiar with life before
(40:20):
the new covenant age, thatreality should wipe every tear
from your eye.
On the note of wiping everytear from our eyes.
I know you're probably thinkingso.
If the new heaven was preparedin AD 70 and the judgment and
resurrection already occurredthen, are we living on the new
earth right now?
It's hard to accept this atfirst.
(40:42):
I do realize that I had thesame initial reaction.
It seems like a total ripoffwhen we read Revelation 21 and
22, with the paradigm that we'reall taught today.
Revelation 21, 4 reads he willwipe away every tear from their
eyes and death shall be no more.
Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more,
(41:03):
for the former things havepassed.
This is the single passage thatnearly every human being will,
proof-text when you share thepreterist view.
But let's not forget the powerof the work of our Lord that was
to come and which we now have.
1 Corinthians 15 reads For thetrumpet will sound and the dead
(41:23):
will be raised imperishable, andwe shall be changed.
For this perishable body mustput on the imperishable and this
mortal body must put onimmortality.
When the perishable puts on theimperishable and the mortal
puts on immortality, then shallcome to pass the saying that is
written Death is swallowed up invictory, o death.
(41:46):
Where is your victory, o death?
Where is your sting?
The sting of death is the crossand resurrection.
Upon his return, he brought thelife and redemption that was
promised to those sealed withhis spirit.
We now also share victory overdeath.
(42:08):
For the Christian, death shallbe no more and the crying and
pain are in the context of theheavy yoke of the law, the
bondage of sin and death.
In the old covenant age, thosewho died died knowing their sin
had not been dealt with.
They died hoping for redemptionand life.
Those who lived lived seekingmercy and forgiveness.
(42:32):
When they made a sacrifice fortheir sin through the blood of
an animal, their sin immediatelybegan counting against them all
over again.
They had to constantly bedealing with their sin and
paying the price fordisobedience.
According to Yahweh's righteousjustice system, even the
faithful paid a price forbreaking faith with Yahweh.
The faithful under the oldcovenant longed to be saved from
(42:55):
their sin.
They longed for redemption.
They died in their sin.
They died waiting for salvation.
And again in Revelation, rightafter no tears or death, we read
to the thirsty, I will givefrom the spring of the water of
life without payment.
Right after no death and notears, we have living water
(43:18):
being given to those who arethirsty, without payment.
What do you think the livingwater is that will be given to
the thirsty?
In John 7, we read On the lastday of the feast, the great day,
(43:44):
jesus stood up and cried out.
In John 7, we read whom thosewho believed in him were to
receive, for as yet the Spirithad not been given because Jesus
had not yet been glorified.
So it seems that there would beevangelism on the new earth,
wouldn't you say?
Why would we need to receivethis living water if we had no
death or tears?
(44:04):
We have to seek a differentunderstanding, don't we?
And to further drive this pointhome, we read in the next
verses a different understanding, don't we?
And to further drive this pointhome, we read in the next
verses the one who conquers willhave this heritage and I will
be his God and he will be my son.
But as for the cowardly, thefaithless, the detestable, as
(44:24):
for murderers, the sexuallyimmoral sorcerers, idolaters and
all liars, their portion willbe in the lake that burns with
fire and sulfur, which is thesecond death.
If we're paying close attentionhere, we see that sin will
still remain on this new earth.
Those who reject Christ, thefaithless, will still face a
fiery judgment.
In the end, they will die andgo right to judgment.
(44:47):
A few verses later we read Forits temple is the Lord, god, the
Almighty and the Lamb, and thenin 21-27,.
But nothing unclean will everenter it, nor anyone who does
what is detestable or false, butonly those who are written in
the Lamb's book of life.
This is a beautiful picture ofthe new covenant age.
(45:10):
Only those who understand gracecould appreciate this.
This is a spiritual glory.
This is a beautiful picture ofthe new covenant age.
Only those who understand gracecould appreciate this.
This is a spiritual glory.
This is grace.
Then Revelation 22,.
A little further down, then,the angel showed me the river of
the water of life, bright ascrystal, flowing from the throne
of God and the Lamb Through themiddle of the street of the
(45:30):
city.
Also, on either side of theriver, the tree of life with its
twelve kinds of fruit yieldingits fruit each month.
The leaves of the tree were forthe healing of the nations.
No longer will there beanything accursed, but the
throne of God and of the Lambwill be in it and his servants
will worship him.
We again see this view of Christbeing preached and his spirit
(45:52):
being given to those who hungerfor it.
Why would the nations needhealing?
Well, after the Tower of Babel,the nations no longer had
Yahweh as their God.
Now, all nations and people whothe Lord calls upon can eat
from the tree of life once again.
If the new earth only hadperfect people who were saved,
why would there be a need forany of this?
(46:15):
And once again, a few verseslater in Revelation we read
Blessed are those who wash theirrobes so that they may have the
right to the tree of life andthat they may enter the city by
the gates.
Outside are the dogs andsorcerers and the sexually
immoral and murderers andidolaters and everyone who loves
and practices falsehood.
(46:36):
The Christians are inside thespiritual kingdom of Christ on
earth, while the unbeliever isoutside the gates.
In a bit earlier backtrackingit is written and its gates will
never shut by day great andawesome day in AD 70, he brought
(46:59):
with him glory and honor andimmortality.
In Luke 21 we read cloud withpower and great glory.
Now, when these things begin totake place, straighten up and
raise your heads, because yourredemption is drawing near.
You who are in Christ Yeshuaare now eternal beings.
(47:19):
Death has been defeated for you.
The sin and the death that weinherited through Adam has been
fully dealt with.
In the Christian, we now havedirect access to the Lord face
to face.
He dwells among us and thespiritual tree of life has been
re-established among mankind.
If that's not good news, Idon't know what is.
That's what I got for now.
(47:41):
Grace and peace to you all, andmay the glory of our Lord shine
within you.
May rivers of living water flowfrom your heart.
See you, guys next time.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
Thank you for listening to the Waking Up to
Grace podcast brought to you bythe finished work of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
If you enjoyed today's episode,we would love to hear from you.
You can send encouragement ourway right from our episodes and
transcripts page or reach Lennyprivately from the contact form
at wakinguptogracecom.
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