What You Need To Know Before Joining Our Church (Part 4)
Submitted by Pastor Chad Wagner on Sunday, October 7, 2018.
10. End Times and the Return of Christ A. Jesus set up His kingdom (kingdom of God/heaven), which is His church, at His first coming (Dan 2:44 c/w Mar 1:14-15 c/w Mat 16:18-19). B. Jesus reigns from heaven over His kingdom on earth for a figurative 1000 years between His first and second comings (Rev 20:4). C. Jesus bound Satan at His resurrection for a figurative 1000 years (Rev 20:2 c/w Col 2:14-15 c/w Mat 12:29). D. Satan will be loosed near the end of time (Rev 20:7). E. Jesus will return on the last day of time to resurrect the dead (Joh 6:39), gather His people unto Him (1Th 4:16-17), and destroy the wicked (2Th 1:7-9). F. There is no literal, earthly millennial reign of Christ in Jerusalem after the second coming. G. There is no secret rapture of the saints seven years or 3.5 years prior to the second coming of Christ. H. See sermon series on Millennialism, End Times, and the Reign of Christ. 11. The resurrection of the body A. On the last day of time, Jesus Christ will return and resurrect all men from the graves (Joh 11:23-26; Act 24:15). B. The just are resurrected to eternal life; the wicked are resurrected to eternal damnation (Joh 5:28-29). C. The resurrection will be a literal, physical, bodily resurrection of the dead (Job 14:12-15; Job 19:25-27). D. If there is no physical, bodily resurrection from the dead, then Jesus Christ is not risen, and we are yet in our sins (1Co 15:12-19). 12. Eternal punishment A. The soul and spirit of the wicked go to hell immediately upon death where they are tormented in flames (Luk 16:22-24; Jud 1:7). B. The suffering in hell never ends (Mar 9:43-48). i. It is eternal damnation (Mar 3:29). ii. It is a place of everlasting fire (Mat 18:8). C. After the resurrection, the wicked and hell itself are cast into the lake (Rev 20:14-15). i. The lake of fire was prepared for the devil and his angels (Mat 25:41). ii. The devil will be cast into the lake of fire at the end of time and will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev 20:10). iii. After they are resurrected and judged by Jesus Christ, the wicked will be cast into the lake of fire with the devil and his angels (Rev 20:15) where they will have everlasting punishment inflicted on them (Mat 25:46). a. Everlasting - 1. a. Lasting for ever; infinite in future duration; endless; = eternal A. 3. b. Punishment - 1. a. The action of punishing or the fact of being punished; the infliction of a penalty in retribution for an offence; also, that which is inflicted as a penalty; a penalty imposed to ensure the application and enforcement of a law. c. Punish v. - 1. a. trans. As an act of a superior or of public authority: To cause (an offender) to suffer for an offence; to subject to judicial chastisement as retribution or requital, or as a caution against further transgression; to inflict a penalty on. d. Penalty - 1. Pain, suffering. iv. The smoke of their torment will ascend up forever, and they will have no rest day nor night (Rev 14:9-11). D. See sermons on Eternal Punishment. 13. The sabbath A. The sabbath law was only ever given to Israel in the Old Testament (Exo 31:12-17). B. No Gentile was ever under the sabbath law. C. The Old Testament was abolished by Jesus Christ's death which put the New Testament into effect (Eph 2:15; Heb 8:13). i. The ten commandments which were engraven on stones were abolished along with the rest of the law of Moses (2Co 3:6-14). ii. Nine of the ten commandments (all but the sabbath commandment) are repeated in the New Testament and are therefore still binding on Christians today. iii. There is no commandment to keep the sabbath in the New Testament after the death of Christ. D. The NT tells Christians to not let anyone judge them with respect to keeping sabbath days (Col 2:16). i. The reason being is that the sabbath was a part of the law of Moses which was taken out of the way by Christ (Col 2:14). ii. It was a shadow of Christ who was to come (Col 2:17). iii. Jesus is our sabbath (our rest) (Heb 4:3, 9-11; Mat 11:28-30). iv. Christians are not under the sabbath law. v. If they want to rest one day per week, they have liberty to do so, but they are not commanded by God to do so. E. See sermons on The Christian and the Old Testament.
