Ets

For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified

[Terri Green @TerriGreenUSA]

For those who have only a record of evil, they will be a part of the resurrection unto damnation. For those who have a record of good, evidences of a transformed life, they will be part of the resurrection of life.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: The Main Event in Redemptive History — John MacArthur

And He gave Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man.

Do not marvel at this for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and will come forth. Those who did the good, to a resurrection of life; those who committed the evil, to a resurrection of judgment.”

God keeps very accurate records - very accurate records. And they’re all going to be held up on the day of judgment. For those who have only a record of evil, they will be a part of the resurrection unto damnation. For those who have a record of good, evidences of a transformed life, they will be part of the resurrection of life. Christ is the judge. On what basis is Christ the judge? On the basis of His resurrection. Verse 26, “Just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son to have life in Himself.” That’s the resurrection. He raised Christ to be the judge.

What this text is saying is that everyone will live forever bodily because that’s what a resurrection is. There will be some who will have a body fit for hell and some a body fit for heaven. For those who hear the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ, they will receive a body suited to heaven. For those who reject the gospel, they will have a body suited for hell. The resurrection of life or the resurrection of judgment, He is the judge, and He is given the authority to be the judge because of His resurrection.

That is more specifically indicated to us in Acts 17. Listen to these words, Paul in Athens, verse 29, Acts 17, “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance” - that would be past times. What does it mean, overlooked? God overlooked in the sense that He didn’t render final special judgment on every sinner on ultimate sins. There was an overlooking.

However, now God is declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent because a universal final act of special judgment is coming, verse 31, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, through a man. What man? A man whom He has appointed. Who is that man? Having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.

Special judgment, God withheld in the past. Final judgment, God withheld in the past, but now He has fixed the day of special judgment on the world, and His judge is none other than the one He raised from the dead, He has raised to be the judge. And every person will face Him, either to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord” or to hear the condemnation that sends that person to hell. He is raised to be the judge. There is no judgment if there is no risen Christ.

Finally, the resurrection proves the eternal bliss of the people of God - the eternal bliss of the people of God. In John 14, just quickly, Jesus said this, “Don’t be troubled in heart, you’re not losing me, I go to prepare” - what? - “a place for you, and I will come again and receive you myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” In that place, we will have a body like unto His glorified body. In that place, according to Revelation 21, there will be no tears, no sorrow, no crying, and no death. The eternal bliss of heaven, purchased for us by His resurrection.

That great fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians where we began this morning tells us the perishable will put on imperishable, mortal will put on immortality, death will be swallowed up in victory. What’s at stake? What does the resurrection prove? That Scripture is true. That Jesus is God.

[Terri Green @TerriGreenUSA]

Most people think that the church is a safe place that sort of once you’re in the church you’re kind of in the ark and you’re safe from final judgment; and that is true. But the church also can be a very, very terrifying place to be, because as Peter says in 1 Peter 4:17, judgment must begin.

Calling the Church to Repent, Part 1 — John MacArthur // April 24, 2016

Most people think that the church is a safe place that sort of once you’re in the church you’re kind of in the ark and you’re safe from final judgment; and that is true. But the church also can be a very, very terrifying place to be, because as Peter says in 1 Peter 4:17, judgment must begin. “It is time,” he says, “for judgment to begin at the house of God.” And if it’s going to begin with us, what’s it going to be like for the rest of the world?

This is a terrifying revelation, not to the unbelieving world; that will come. This is a terrifying revelation to the church. Christ appears as a sovereign, frightening warrior - ruler, judge, executioner - moving through His churches like some kind of omnipotent invader. And John is not comforted; he is terrified. It is folly to think that just because you are in the church, and you call it a church, and you talk about Christ and all of that, that you’re in a safe place. That’s not necessarily a safe place, not at all.

Twenty-five years earlier than this, the apostle Paul laid out in his epistle some warnings. They sort of are summed up in his last letter to Timothy, 2 Timothy, and what he says to Timothy twenty-five years before this is prophetic of what is coming. He says to Timothy things like, “Don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner. Join with me in suffering for the gospel.” He says, “Retain the standard of sound words. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.” All these are warning Timothy.

“You’ve got to exercise your gift. You’ve got to be willing to accept persecution and suffering. You’ve got to hold on to sound doctrine. You have to guard the treasure of divine revelation given to you. And you must know, Timothy, already all who are in Asia” – the same province where John was ministering, where the seven churches are - “all who are in Asia have turned away from me” - defection twenty-five years earlier, the need to guard against false doctrine, to guard against the decline of interest in the revelation of God.

Chapter 2 of 2 Timothy, Paul’s last letter: “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier,” he says. “Present yourself approved to God, a workman not needing to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

Avoid worldly, empty chatter that leads to further ungodliness and talk that spreads like gangrene and leads to people going astray from the truth.” It’s coming. It’s coming. “Flee youthful lusts, pursue righteousness, refuse foolish, ignorant speculation.”Chapter 3, “In the last days” - they’re beginning now – “dangerous seasons will come.” “Get ready. Persecutions, sufferings that happened to Me are going to happen to you. Evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” Chapter 4, “People will turn their ears away from the truth, turn aside to myths. This is what’s coming.”

[Terri Green @TerriGreenUSA]

John MacArthur discusses with Jonny Ardavanis, “What does the Bible say about the End Times, Tribulation, the Return of Christ, and the Rapture?"

[Jeremiah Knight @iamrjknight]

“It just simply needs to be said: “Why in the world would we expect the nation to repent when the church won’t even repent?” — @johnmacarthur

[Terri Green @TerriGreenUSA]

Unless churches repent and turn from sin and pursue holiness, there’s no hope for the nation.

Calling the Church to Repent, Part 1 — John MacArthur // April 24, 2016

Unless churches repent and turn from sin and pursue holiness, there’s no hope for the nation. But impenitent churches refuse to repent, and that’s how it was in England in the seventeenth century. It was August 24, 1662, Saint Bartholomew’s Day. Two-thousand faithful English Puritan pastors were permanently ejected from their churches by the corrupt clerics of the impenitent Church of England. They did this under a law called the Act of Uniformity; you either get in line with the Church of England or you’re out.

In effect, the active uniformity led to the Great Ejection, which silenced the majority of faithful preachers. This had not only a devastating effect on the church, which goes on even to this day, the Church of England, but a devastating effect on the nation. It was no isolated event. The Great Ejection had no temporary significance. Rather, it was a massive, far-reaching, long-enduring spiritual disaster that some say divides England’s history.

There is England’s history before the Great Ejection and England’s history after the Great Ejection. It is a huge dividing line. One of those ejected was a minister by the name of Matthew Mead, and Matthew Mead wrote, “This fatal day deserves to be written in black letters in England’s calendar,” end quote, and indeed it was. Some said it was the greatest tragedy ever in English history, led by apostate Protestant leaders. It was a wholesale condemnation of the Bible, the gospel, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our friend Iain Murray writes on the subject of the Great Ejection and says, “After the silencing of the 2,000 came an age of rationalism, of coldness in the pulpit and indifference in the pew, an age of skepticism and worldliness that went far to reducing national Christianity to a mere parody of Christianity,” end quote.

J. B. Marsden, writing a couple of hundred years later in the mid-1800s, said, “As proofs of God’s displeasure over the Great Ejection, a long, unbroken course of disasters began in England. Within five years, London was laid waste twice.”The Great Ejection was in 1662. In 1665 there was a plague that came, transmitted through the bite of a rat flea, and before it was done, it had left 100,000 Londoners dead, one-fourth of the population. One year later a massive fire swept through London and incinerated 70,000 homes and people with them, as well as 90 churches. Many historians, including Marsden in his history of the later Puritans, saw this as divine judgment over the Great Ejection.

Marsden wrote, “Other calamities ensued more lasting and far more terrible. Religion was almost extinguished; the lamp of God went out.” There followed in England a culture of liberalism, coldness, and darkness.

J. C. Ryle, the beloved bishop of Durham who lived from 1816 to 1900, wrote, “The Great Ejection was an injury to the cause of true religion in England which will probably never be repaired.” Simply stated, if a church will not repent, the results are not only devastating on the church, but on the nation in which the churches exist.

[Terri Green @TerriGreenUSA]

Retain sound doctrine, guard the treasure, handle the truth accurately. That’s the mandate. 

An Appeal to Charismatic Friends — John MacArthur // October 18, 2013

Paul is at the end of his life, “Please, Timothy, I’ve given you the treasure, guard the treasure, retain sound words.”  Chapter 2, he carries on the same cry.  “Be strong in the grace that is Christ Jesus.  The things you’ve heard from me, this is the treasure, revealed truth that came through the Apostle Paul, you heard it in the  presence of many witnesses.  Entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”  There’s four generations: Paul to Timothy to faithful men to others also.  You’re in the relay

Now it grieves me all the time to see these sort of quasi-churches that pop up that identify themselves as being isolated from anything in the past. This is not your grandfather’s church, this is not your grandmother’s church, we don’t have an organ, come as you will…anything to create some kind of image that is completely isolated from anybody’s experience of a church. Paul says, “I gave you the truth, you give it to the next generation so they can give it to the next.  It’s all about being faithful to retain what has been handed to you.  Not about creativity.

Then he says, “Suffer hardship like a good soldier of Christ.  Don’t entangle yourself in the affairs of everyday life.  Complete like an athlete.”  He just goes through all of those pictures, the athlete, the farmer, the soldier, the teacher.  Verse 9, after saying, “Remember Jesus Christ, He’s your model of faithfulness.”  I suffered hardship even to imprisonment, but the Word of God is not imprisoned.

This is the ultimate, ultimate word for any young minister.  From the Apostle who is about to put his head on a block, an axe head will flash in the sun and severed from his body and he’ll be with the Lord, and the next generation is going to be in the hands of Timothy.

I think about that when I look at the character and the style of many of these men who are pastors.  What will the next generation be like if what they receive is in their hands?  What must Timothy do?  Verse 14, “Remind them of these things and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.  But be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”  There it is. Retain sound doctrine, guard the treasure, handle the truth accurately. That’s the mandate.

[Terri Green @TerriGreenUSA]

I couldn’t care less what an unbeliever wants in a church service. That is the last thing that I would care about. — John MacArthur

[Ets @ets_vn]

@itrafficgp Any update on this?

[Ets @ets_vn]

@Eskom_SA Because the VAT increase was reversed. Now you punish the people at the behest of your handlers.

[Ets @ets_vn]

@Phil_Johnson_ Amen 🙏🏻

[Ets @ets_vn]

@elonmusk @CyrilRamaphosa He allows it because him that is @CyrilRamaphosa and his cadres are the true racists. He wants to destroy all other races and enslave his own people for him and his cadres benefit. They allow this maniac to do as he pleases because he says what they want to.

[Ets @ets_vn]

@elonmusk Absolutely 👍🏻.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Immediate sanctions for Malema and declaration of him as an international criminal!

[Ets @ets_vn]

@amuse @elonmusk Because these are the true racists. Him and all his cadres.

[Phil Johnson @Phil_Johnson_]

Please continue to pray for John MacArthur. He's been in the hospital for 2 weeks plus and is still undergoing tests and treatments.

[Ets @ets_vn]

@Phil_Johnson_ Absolutely. Send our Love. Praying for Pastor.

[Ets @ets_vn]

@CoE_Call_Centre @CoE_Call_Centre @City_Ekurhuleni please provide an update

[Ets @ets_vn]

@MYANC Terrorist organisation. Always was, always will be.

[Ets @ets_vn]

@vumatel @coolideas_ZA please provide an update on the outage since 14:44 today. No one has made any attempt to post updates? Suburb-Parkhaven

[Ets @ets_vn]

@Bunnzo @Eskom_SA Exactly