Why the Grave Could Not Hold Jesus

Acts 2:24, "Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden (held) of it."

God says it was impossible death could hold Him! It was impossible for God to leave His Son in the tomb. 

Why?

1. His Divine person- He was sinless. Therefore death had no victory over Him. “The wages of sin is death.” Jesus died because he was made sin for us. He paid the price and discharged the debt. So it was impossible to be held by death.

2. His Divine power- Death could not hold him because he was the resurrection and the life.

3. His Divine promise- Death could not hold him because Jesus said, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up."

4. His Divine purpose- God intended we be with him in heaven. To do that Christ had to come out of the grave.

Pre-Tribulation

There are many passages in the NT that teach the rapture of the church before the seven year tribulation to come on the earth, but none any clearer than Rev. 3:10

Here we have the seven churches that were actual historical churches, they were contemporary of characteristics of churches today, and they are prophetic of the stages in the present church age beginning with the post-apostolic church till the raptured church of Philadelphia and the apostate church of Laodicea.

Note several reasons Rev. 3:10 is speaking of the rapture of the faithful church leaving the apostate church behind.

vs. 10-11: These verses clearly teach the pre-tribulation rapture.

1. The Philadelphia is the true church raptured [v. 10a].

2.  “From” is used and not “in” or “through.”

3. "Hour of temptation or trial" Speaks not of 60 minutes but a time period- the 7 year tribulation (Dan. 9:24-27; Rev. 6-19).

4. "Shall come" means it's yet future

5. "All the world" means the whole world not a section

6. "Dwell upon the earth [Earth dwellers]" Used several times in Rev 6-19 of those unbelievers left behind after the rapture.

7. This is the first mention of the rapture in Revelation [v. 11].

8. "I come quickly" means suddenly not soon. The imminent return to take His church out of the hour of trial (2 Thess. 2:1).

Eternal Life

Eternal Life is Whole Life not Term Life

Jesus Confronts Our Culture

"Jesus Confronts Our Culture"

Matt. 19:1-6

2-15-15 Sun AM

As Christians, we value all people, regardless of culture, because we recognize that all people are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).

We also recognize that diversity of culture is a beautiful thing and differences in food, clothing, language, etc., should be preserved and appreciated.

At the same time, we know that because of sin, not all beliefs and practices within a culture are godly or culturally beneficial.

Truth is not subjective; truth is absolute, and there does exist a moral standard to which all people of every culture will be held accountable (Revelation 20:11-12).

When we talk of culture then, we speak of the world system headed up by Satan who is the god of this world with its mindset, philosophies, and ideologies apart from God and his Word. There are two world views- the world view and the Christian world view. One is based on fallen man and the other on the inspired Word.

v. 3: This passage is about the Pharisees trying to draw Jesus into a debate between two sects of Jews in regard to marriage and divorce. As a result, he would be at odds with Moses.

1. Rabbi Hillel taught that one could divorce his wife for any reason, including burning dinner or being unpleasant.

2. Rabbi Shammai taught that divorce was permissible on in "indecency."

vs. 4-6: Jesus took them to the Scriptures citing Gen. 1:27 and Gen. 2:24. The Bible teaches marriage is a monogamous relationship between a man and a woman for life.

Except for unfaithfulness (Matt. 19:9; Mark 5:32) and Paul's teaching about desertion of the unbelieving spouse (1 Cor. 7:12-16).

But I see something else here that speaks to the wayward decadent culture we live in the here and now.

TT- In our text today, Jesus confronts our culture with two damning statements:

I. You Have Profaned Creation [v. 4].

Jesus quotes, Genesis 1:26-27 ²⁶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. ²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

This needs no explanation, no exegesis, or no exposition. God created two genders- male and female! He did not create transgender or Adam and Eve and something in between. All sexual perversion would be reversed if they would believe Gen. 1-11.

Biblical manhood and Biblical marriage are under attack. If you disagree with today's culture then you are a right wing, fundamental bigot in need of diversity training in today's political correct culture. Sexual perversion and deviancy is not a civil right nor those who practice it a minority.

Bible teaching is not hate speech, what is hate speech is profaning God's creation design.

Until they tell me they died and were resurrected on the third day, I am going to follow and listen to the one who did.

They will do what they can to silence and marginalize the Christian voice. We must speak because we are ambassadors of Christ speaking and living as salt and light exposing the evil deeds of this wicked world.

Sexual deviants are not born that way and their is no gay gene. What you have is outright rebellion to God and His law. God will not be mocked and America is turned over to our sin (Rom. 1:26-28).

Let me share three modern day cases:

1. Facebook introduced dozens of options for users to identify their gender, although they would not be releasing a complete list. They can select a 'custom" gender option.

ABC News has identified 58 gender options which you can pick up and read on the table. They can come up with 58, but I bet the hospital maternity ward will still have, "It's a boy" or "It's a girl."

2. Ken Ham of "Answers in Genesis- In the UK a high-end department store named Selfridges, is doing away with men's and women's departments to 'unisex clothing."

Huffington Post says they are doing away with male and female mannequins in favor of a more gender-neutral mannequin. "We want our customers to dress without limitations and stereotypes.

3. Olympic star Bruce Jenner- He won the gold medal in the decathlon in 1976. He was on the Wheaties box and cover of playgirl. He is now in transition from a man to a woman through a series of transforming surgeries.

If its not natural its not biblical!

I. You Have Profaned Creation [v. 4].

II. You Have Profaned Marriage [vs. 5-6].

37 states have licensed same-sex marriage and the Supreme Court continues to overturn states who passed the "Defense of Marriage Act." U.S. Supreme Court is considering it now.

Let me share some cases:

1. Atlanta Fire Chief was fired because He wrote a book on his Christian faith in which he took his stand on Biblical marriage and refusal of same-sex marriage.

2. Supreme Court Justices in California can't affirm Biblical marriage and set on the high court.

3. Christian Cake bakers were fined and forced to go to diversity training for refusing to make cakes for same-sex marriages.

4. Secular companies are increasingly producing ads that promote or attempting to what they call “normalize” homosexual behavior and gay marriage.

For example, as a part of its “Put Your Heart to Paper” campaign, Hallmark featured the story of a young lesbian couple. And Nikon featured the story and a gallery of photos of a family of three children with their gay fathers. J.C. Penney had ads promoting two men as fathers on Father's Day.

5. TV shows and movies flaunt same-sex and transgender themes.

6. They are coming into the church to take away tax exempt status and will force us to hire gay people and recognize and perform same-sex marriages. They will declare Biblical teaching as hate speech.

Jesus quotes Gen. 2:18-25

Con: Our nation is sowing the seed of our own destruction.

 

Traits of the Professing Church

The progressive spiral downward

1. Lack of knowledge of what God's Word says and means.

2. Lack of desire to know God's Word.

3. Lack of ability to interpret Scripture correctly.

4. Lack of ability to discern truth from error, right from wrong, and biblical from unbiblical.

5. Anything goes in our doctrine, church music, and living.

Rapture and Revelation

The rapture and the second coming are separate events. Let me contrast the rapture and the revelation:

At the rapture, believers meet the Lord in the air to go to the third heaven [John 14: 3; 1 Thess. 4: 17]. At the second coming, believers return with the Lord to the earth [Rev. 19: 14].

The rapture occurs before the tribulation [1 Thess. 5: 9; Rev. 3: 10]. The second coming occurs after the tribulation [Rev. 6-19].

At the rapture Christ comes to rescue saints from the tribulation and take them to the Judgment Seat for reward [Rom. 14: 10; 2 Cor. 5: 10; 1 Thess. 4:13-17; 5: 9; Rev. 4: 4, 10]. At the second coming He removes unbelievers as an act of judgment and reigns in His kingdom [Matt. 24: 40-41].

At the rapture Christ gathers the elect church [1 Thess. 4:13-18]. At the second coming the angels gather God’s elect Israel [Dan. 12: Matt. 24: 31].

The rapture will be secret and instant [1 Cor. 15: 50-54]. The second coming will be visible to all [Rev. 1: 7; Matt: 24: 29-30; Zech. 12:10].

The rapture is imminent; it could take place any moment [Titus 2: 13; 1 Thess. 4: 13-18; 1 Cor. 15: 50-54]. The second coming will not occur until after certain other end-times events take place [2 Thess. 2: 4; Matt. 24: 15-20; Rev. 6:18].

At the rapture he comes as a bridegroom while at the revelation He comes as “the wrath of the Lamb.”

The Blessed Hope and the Day of the Lord are different Events.

Church Servants

1 Timothy 3:1-13

 

1 Tim. 3:1-7 gives us the spiritual qualifications of those called to lead the church. Paul gave insight into the call, the personal life, the family life, the church life, and the testimony of the one called to lead the church.

 

1 Tim. 3:8-13 we look at those who are called to serve the church, the office of Deacon. When God raises up a man to serve His church, He looks for hearts right with him, not talents, not human abilities, not social status, or occupation, but He raises up a spiritual men.

 

Lets take a few seconds to look at this word “deacon” and its many variations. Originally it meant performing menial tasks such as waiting on tables [Acts 6]. It grew into any service in the church. The word means “servant, minister, ministry, or service.” He is to be “kicking up the dust" in service.

 

What are the duties of a deacon? They assist the pastor in caring for the spiritual and temporal needs of the church under the pastors oversight. They carry out whatever tasks are assigned to them by the pastor or needed by the church.

The office of deacon is one of two ordained offices in the church and serve alongside the pastor meeting the temporal and spiritual needs of the congregation.

Pastors who lead and deacons who serve perform different functions, but the spiritual qualifications are almost identical except for 2 clear differences:

(1) The pastor is to be "apt to teach” [v.2].

(2) The pastor leads, gives oversight, and superintends the work of the church. The deacons serve the pastor and church in the work of the church (vs. 4-5, 8).

W.A. Criswell says, "There is no such thing as a "Deacon Board" but a "Body of Servants." Board has to do with a business or corporation. They are not managers but ministers.